JoLLy 2

The motorcycle portion is built on a Laverda triple 1000cc base, giving it power and grace. And it needs it when it’s hauling around a sidecar that’s as big as a commuter car. But taken together, the motorcycle and sidecar just seem to blend together like they were born attached at the hip, which is likely just what the amazing vehicle’s creator was going for.

The literal sidecar was built from various pieces of a Citroen Xantia, a VW GTI and an Audi 80. Rather than going for the usual configuration of a sidecar attached to a motorcycle with a bridge connector, Snaefell decided to build a smooth body encompassing both parts of this extremely unusual vehicle. The result is something you’d probably have no choice but to stare at enviously if you saw it passing you on the highway.

It’s hard to understand how a car company employing the designer of the original Batmobile could go wrong. But Bricklin Motors amounted to little more than a couple of years of wasted time and a lot of debt in the end. Started in 1974 by American millionaire Malcom Bricklin (who, incidentally, had previously founded Subaru of America), the Canadian-built machines were supposed to be safe and economical sports cars. They boasted a ton of safety features and the world’s only powered gull-wing doors. But the visionary amateur car designers didn’t take into account the massive amounts of weight all those safety features would add, resulting in a clunky car. In addition, the acrylic fiberglass body wasn’t designed well and was prone to failure. Add to that the faulty radiators, and it was a recipe for failure.

But the icing on the fail cake was the fact that Bricklin borrowed over $4.5 million (Canadian) from the government under shady circumstances, then sold the cars at a significant loss: the manufacturing cost was $16,000 but the dealers’ cost was $5000 each. That amounted to gigantic, nonsensical losses. Overall, only 2,854 of the cars were manufactured before the company folded in 1976. The Bricklin SV-1 (which stood for “safety vehicle one”) wasn’t fated to fade into obscurity, though: the car still has a large fan following, and approximately 1100 of them still exist. Canada is still a big supporter of the failed car, and in 1996 issued a commemorative Bricklin stamp. Then in 2003, the Canadian Mint decided to commemorate the historic car once again with a $20 sterling silver Bricklin coin. The company may have been an overall failure, but it apparently has a permanent place in the hearts of Canadians.