Bricklin SV-1

There are many cars you would not expect to find at a British restoration shop, and certainly a Safety Orange 1975 Bricklin SV-1 is one of them. Peter Brauen, owner of that restoration shop, saw his first Bricklin as a teenager. It was behind his dentist’s office in Metairie, Louisiana, and he would ride his bike regularly to look at it. He thought it was “the coolest thing.” The car was five years old and already a derelict. The owner wanted $10,000 for it—much more than a teenager could muster.

Years later, Brauen was talking with a friend about dream cars of their youth, and he mentioned the Bricklin. His friend knew of one located not far away. A meeting could never be arranged, so Brauen started looking on eBay and discovered that they were cheap. He found his in Abilene, Texas, and, although the photos were poor and the details vague, it appeared original, the acrylic looked good, and it was a low-mileage car. He bought it for $4,500. In the five years he has had it, the car has never been off the road. Brauen made some appropriate improvements, like adding an Edelbrock four-barrel carb on an aluminum intake manifold and changing the gullwing door-opening mechanism from its original problematic hydraulic system to a much more reliable pneumatic system, to make the car his daily driver.