Car of future past

RM Sotheby’s, Indiana, USA 10-12 May

OFFERED AT NO reserve and estimated at just $10,000-15,000, the well-weathered Bricklin SV-1 coming up at RM’s everyman Auburn auction is a chance to acquire one of the great what-might-have-beens. While not quite on a par with the Dymaxion or the Tucker, Malcolm Bricklin’s vision of the safety-conscious sports car of the future was an intriguing prospect. Its rapid demise into receivership, after barely a year and 3000 cars, put paid to a car that was influential but not universally loved – especially from an aesthetic point of view.

Bricklin, who made his mint importing Subarus into the US, had the idea of using glassfibre to reduce weight, which could then be plumped back up with extra safety equipment. Assembled in Canada with an integral rollcage and side-impact beams, the SV-1 came only in lurid colours… as a safety feature. It was powered by a V8 (AMC, then Ford), but it simply wasn’t quick enough to match its own job description. That, plus increasingly poor build quality, meant it was soon doomed.

Retractable 5mph impact bumpers and the deliberate omission of an ashtray on health grounds were innovative, but the SV-1 will be remembered for its dash-button-operated (when they worked) gullwing doors. Buy this one for the UK and you’ll join a select band of owners. There’s one in the Haynes Museum, but we don’t know of another. rmsothebys.com