A New Brunswick business professor says it's time to revisit the Bricklin – one of the biggest industrial failures to come out of Saint John – because interest remains as strong as ever.
It's been more than 40 years since the last Bricklin rolled off the line in Saint John. Since then, the Bricklin has been the subject of books, song and theatre.
Lee Jolliffe of the University of New Brunswick Saint John business faculty says there’s enough of a story that it could become a tourist attraction.
"I think there's a great interest, and I think we're far enough away from the embarrassment of the story that we might be able to look at it in a different light,” says Jolliffe. “After all, the province could make some money off it."
The New Brunswick government lost millions in the scheme to build flashy sports cars in a Saint John industrial park.
Doug Simpson bought a Bricklin a few years ago – a car he says is still eye-catching.
“It's unique with the doors and the carbon fibre body,” says Simpson. “They were just ahead of their time."
Sampson’s Bricklin was built in April of 1975, in the days before Bricklin became synonymous with failure.
"It probably doesn't hurt as much now as it did 40 years ago," Sampson says.
Four decades after the debacle, Jolliffe says the Bricklin now needs to be seen as a resource for the region, and a way to bring car buffs to the Maritimes and entertain them while they're here.
"For any of those car enthusiasts who are coming here on cruise ships, and they're able to take a shore excursion or take a ride in a Bricklin, or get their picture taken with Bricklin. So it could add to our tourism product,” says Jolliffe. “We're always trying to differentiate Saint John with new ideas and new things going on. Maybe it's time to use the Bricklin in that way."
Simpson also believes it could benefit the province.
"I don't see why not. It was a huge part of our history, was here for years and here's what's left."
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Mike Cameron.
