Executives

Malcolm Bricklin's next bright idea

Malcolm Bricklin: An unorthodox life and career. (JOE WILSSENS)
May 15, 2017 05:00 AM
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The Malcolm Bricklin file
1960: Starts first business venture: Handyman hardware stores, Orlando 1971: Creates FasTrack, a family-oriented racetrack where unsold 360s can be raced against the clock 1972: Hires noted car designer Herb Grasse to draw what will become the Bricklin SV-1, a V-8-powered gull-wing sports car; begins raising money to engineer the car 1973: Starts Bricklin Vehicle Corp.; builds around 2,800 cars before production ends in New Brunswick, Canada, in late 1975 1982: Takes over distribution of the Fiat X1/9 and 124 Spider after Fiat pulls out of the U.S. 1985: Imports $3,990 Yugo, a license-built Fiat, from Yugoslavia. Sales start off strong but fade fast as quality and reliability problems surface. Sells the company in 1988. 1995: Develops EV Warrior electric bicycle with former Hughes Aircraft Chairman Malcolm Currie; sales begin at new-car dealers; Lee Iacocca buys the company. 2003: Forms Visionary Vehicles and begins looking globally for an entry-level car to import to the U.S.; signs a deal with China's Chery Automobile Co. to be the U.S distributor of Chery cars. The deal falls apart in 2006; lawsuits are filed on at least 3 continents; no cars are delivered. 2017: Creates Bricklin Group and begins pitching dealers to invest in a new kind of art gallery and a new 3-wheeled electric car, the Bricklin 3EV.
OEM02_305159996_V2_-1_NLUATFGQSDGX.jpg Automotive News Editor-in-Chief Keith Crain, left, with Malcolm Bricklin, whose venture into the art business was inspired by his wife. (JOE WILSSENS/Joe Wilssens Photography, Inc.)

DETROIT --Malcolm Bricklin has been pretty quiet since a high-profile 2004 quest to sell Chinese cars in the U.S. skidded into court in a slew of lawsuits, some of which are still being litigated.

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