Anyone around during the 70's probably remembers seeing one of these rear engine masterpieces around. Anyone could build one of these in the garage. All you needed was the kit from Bradley Automotive, a VW Beetle chassis/floor pan, and some hand tools.
Classic Italian styling aside, it looks like it would blast climbing in and out of the gullwing doors/windows. What do you do, stand on the seat and then shimmy into position? Maybe you sit on the door ledge and swivel your legs in? Being a kit car, the windows probably don't leak too much in the rain either.
Get a look at the size of the headlight doors. They must have gotten these from a garage door company. How many headlamps are housed behind these panels? It looks like at least 4 bulbs could fit on each side. I have never seen the headlamp doors in operation, but my guess is that they would be manually operated. Maybe they are not headlight covers at all, but a way to load repair parts into the trunk(?)
I bet these things perform well in a collision too! :O One tap and you'd be picking up the shards for blocks. This assumes you are still ambulatory, which is highly unlikely if the GT is struck at anything faster then walking speed.
They probably handle better then a Beetle because of the lower center of gravity, but then how well does a Beetle handle anyway? Do you think it sounds like a Ferrari, or a Bug as it drives by? I'm betting on the Bug!
Can anyone figure out why Bradley Automotive went out of business after producing such a fine whip?
4 comments:
Where do you find these wonders? Are you sure you aren't just making these cars up?
I wish I were!
No he isn't making these cars up i saw one yesterday when i went to look at a 67 dodge warlock
The Bradley gt 2 is much better looking and a very fun car! Besides the Bradley gt 1 is more like a dune buggy, you drive it on nice days because its cool and fun(although I hate the headlights on the 1 too, the two's are nice...), not because its super fast or whatever else. Except the ones that they V8 swap have decent lap times. They may have a 4 cylinder VW motor but its also an 1800 pound car (fiberglass!), around a thousand pounds less than a Miata with around the same size motor (depending on year). The gullwing doors on the 2 are practical and cool, plus they are T tops as well. So while you may dislike the Bradley gt, give the Bradley gt 2 a search and i'm sure you won't be disappointed!
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