At 08:31 PM 12/30/99 -0500, you wrote:
>in response to the e-bay auction on
>bricklin items, a seller has a 1974
>rare 4-speed with an (AMC-390 cu).
>Is this a missprint?, or was there
>acctually a 390 cu standard in
>this vehicle? I know the 360 cu
>was put into these vehicles, but
>not the 390 cu. Looks like the
>vin.# is 701. Any info?
Ken,
Almost everything in his blurb about the car is WRONG!
Then eng. should be a 360, but I know of at least 1 car that
had a 401 put in when the 360 blew.
The seller states:
You are bidding on a 1974 BRICKLIN. This particular model is the rarest
of All Bricklins produced. VIN # 0004IAB4S000701. This is an original
1974, first year of issue, 4 speed MANUAL transmission White beauty. It
has it's Original AMC 390 engine. This baby moves!! Torque for
days.
*********** THE TRANSMISSION: Bricklin built less than 90 cars of
his 1,700 total run with manual transmission. WHY? If you remember, the
Bricklin was built as a safety vehicle. Malcom Bricklin thought the
attention a driver had to pay to working the clutch, and shifting the
gears, distracted a driver from where his concentration should be, the
road. So, he stopped production of stick shifts with only 90 produced,
total!
**********THE ENGINE: American Motors could not supply enough of the 390
to Bricklin, so he was forced to switch to the less powerful , and
(arguably), inferior FORD 351 Windsor engine. Therefore making the
combination of an AMC 390 stick, the RAREST Bricklin of them all......
As has been pointed out, the eng. should be a 360!
He states that there were less than 90 4sp xmissions cars built. This is
incorrect. The number is closer to 150. We know of at least 144.
He also incorrectly, states the production of 1,700 car built. The number
is actually 2914 or so. This is up for debate also. We know of a car
VIN 2914, but the last car accepted by the Gov. was 2864ish. Out of the
approx 2900 cars built, the 74s only account for about 750 cars (actually
just under 750 - but I don't remember the exact figure).
He goes on to say that because of the "safety" concept shifting was NOT
a good thing. This is NOT correct. The reason there were NO 75's built
with the 4sp was that Ford had NOT gotten EPA certification for the 351W
with a manual xmission.
He states: "American Motors could not supply enough of the 390 to Bricklin"...
This also is incorrect. The reason that Bricklin switched to the 351W was
that Ford HAD an EPA cert. for the 351 but AMC did NOT have a cert for their
360. In fact AMC had a waver for all the cars from the EPA until the end
of the 70's or early 80s. I don't remember exactly when they finally got
EPA cert'ed.
About the only part that is correct is "the rarest of the rare". A 4sp car
is indeed the rarest of a very rare car.
John
John T. Blair WA4OHZ email: jblair@exis.net
Va. Beach, Va Phone: (757) 495-8229
Editor/Publisher The Brickline
Quarterly Magazine of Bricklin International
48 TR1800 48 #4 Midget 65 Morgan 4/4 Series V
75 Bricklin SV1 77 Spitfire
Morgan: www.team.net/www/morgan
Bricklin: www.bricklin.org
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