Malcolm Bricklin’s dream of building a gullwing, fiberglass-bodied sports car came to a sorry end, with less than 3,000 built before his company went bankrupt. Now the Bricklin story has become a musical, which will take to the stage in the Canadian province of New Brunswick where the cars were built.
Fredericton Playhouse and Theatre New Brunswick, which are co-producing the show, promise that The Bricklin will be “a lighthearted look at an iconic moment in Canadian history,” and one that “tells the story of the shared dream of a premier and a promoter to make automotive history in New Brunswick.”
We don’t want to spoil the plot, but the story line apparently goes something like this: Boy meets girl, boy meets car, boy loses girl, government loses investment. The Bricklin SV1 (Safety Vehicle 1), you might recall, was powered by an American V-8 (an AMC 360, later a Ford 351), and had electric-powered gullwing doors and no ashtray. Production began in mid-1974 and ended in late 1975, with the final cars sold as 1976 models. Bricklin International, with nearly 600 active members, estimates that 1,500 of the 2,854 cars built still exist.
The Bricklin premieres on July 30, and is to run through August 15. You can learn more – and buy tickets – by visiting the theater’s website at www.bricklinmusical.ca. Can’t make the performance, or want to bring the magic home with you? Then you’ll be interested in the original cast recording. “This music is fantastic, without a doubt,” says Tim Yerxa, executive director of the Fredericton Playhouse. “Allen Cole and Paul Ledoux have created a great set of songs, and we know that audiences are going to want to take them home to listen to again and again.”
Combined with Automodello’s recent release of an excellent 1/43 scale model of the SV1, this has turned out to be a banner year for Bricklin lovers.