What kid in the mid-seventies didn’t dream of the red Lamborghini Countach on that poster on their bedroom wall becoming flesh? Oops; wrong poster; the Farrah Fawcett was the one reserved for the flesh. I meant to say aluminum, or perhaps fiberglass. Well materializing Farrah might have been nigh near impossible, but the Lambo wet dreams were just a big shipping box away, thanks to the obliging folks at Bradley.
I’m hardly an expert on the field of fiberglass replicas, but from the sheer number of ads in the magazines, it seems that the big boy in the field was Fiberfab, which got its start making custom panels for the new Mustang back in 1964. The went on to make an astonishing array of kits to transform a number of production cars, especially the Triumph TR3, TR4, MGA, Austin Healey, and of course most commonly, the Volkswagen. They even went on to create a GT40 replica with its own frame to take a mid-engined V8, the Valkyrie. Amazingly enough, Fiberfab is still making the Valkyrie, very similar to this Corvair powered Avenger above.
Of course Fiberfab spawned a raft of imitators, and in that crowded field Bradley somehow manged to carve a relatively prominent place for itself. The gull-wing doors may have been what did it, but I can’t be sure. This example resting in a weedy lot either lost them to…what would someone do with them? Maybe some sort of lightweight shelter for a homeless person? But it did once have them, and here’s the plexiglass proof:
And to give you an idea of just how well the Bradley managed to insinuate itself into popular culture I give you:
Liberace’s own Bradley, featuring that ubiquitous Liberace touch that he bestowed so bountifully on his collection of cars; his version of star dust. Looks like even his pampered GT is suffering from that most common malady, Bradley Drooping Eyelid Syndrome. I suspect the owner (if there is one) of our CC Bradley resorted to that also common cure for it: the Radical Bradleyectomy.
Looks like this one has also suffered an enginectomy too. Yes, a VW engine making somewhere between 36 to 60 hp once lived there (unless it had been massaged), but with the typical noisy glasspack stinger exhaust, one’s imagination only needed to be…overly healthy to mistake it for a V12 ripping down the street. That’s ok, because how many girls in Keokuk in 1975 actually knew what a Lamborghini really sounded like? “Want to go to the Dairy Queen?”
Well, the girls who got into this one probably hoped they were wearing panty hose under that miniskirt (or am I stuck in the sixties again?). Let’s try that again…hoped they were wearing hot pants when they took up that offer, because those seats tend to generate a healthy dose of upswing of the thighs. And you better not have asked one older than 25, because those hard shells definitely weren’t very conducive to any but the most youthful of bodies.
Ah, the sweet memories this Bradley GT must afford its former owner…all those nubile young girls with their thighs pointed skywards in that seat, heading off to…well, as the ad for the Bradley says: “You’ve made your mark”.
Or did the dream turn out to be as elusive as Farrah? Did this Bradley even ever get finished, or is it the incomplete cast off dream fragment, like when you wake up in the middle of one , and you ask yourself…did I really dream that? Whew…I’m glad I woke up.
Ahh! the “replicar”! I used to see lots of these and I guess you can throw in the classic “dune buggy” as well. As far as Lotus goes, someone on base had a Lotus Europa – looked like you had to lay down in the thing to drive it! That was one low car, but really cool! Then came the Opel GT – there’s one in my neighborhood. I liked them, too. THE poor man’s Corvette! The Bradley GT did its best to emulate all of them. I don’t think I ever saw one 100% finished, either, come to think of it.
I’ve seen plenty of these and those derelict dune buggies…. but I nominate this ‘car’ as the UGLIEST thing you’ve yet profiled —
🙂
In my neck of the woods, these were the ultimate poser mobiles. In Northeastern Ohio in the 70’s and 80’s, the top of the heap was the Corvette. You had various other hi-po domestic midsizers and compacts that were further down the food chain, but the lowest of the low were the replicars. It was a shame really, as VW bodies were about biodegradable in that environment and this was a relatively inexpensive way to ‘sex-up’ your ride. But the whole thing ended up looking like a high school auto shop class project gone wrong.
I didn’t spend any time in a Bradley GT, but I did in a Laser 917, and my father in law had a replica MG that I drove occasionally back in the day. My biggest fear with those things was getting much above 60 MPH, those things were so light and the way the fiberglass bodies were shaped, they were a big wing. The front ends would leave the road at the right speed. The other major giveaway was the putt-putt-putt sound from the donor VW’s engine. There was no way to escape the fact that your Lamo Lambo had a VeeDub engine sputtering in the back, even if you did pony up for a Stinger exhaust.
Oh, yeah, I DID have a Farrah poster back then, too. Hours of entertainment.
Seen the Smyth Performance A4 Jetta mod:
https://www.facebook.com/SmythPerformance
I had forgotten about these things until one day several years ago I saw a red sports car that looked from a distance like a Lotus or something of that ilk. It was in the Fred Meyer parking lot but before I could get close enough for inspection someone got in and started it. I immediately knew it was no sports car. And as it passed I could hear the familiar and depressive sound of a VW Bug motor sputtering and whistling under the fiberglass melange of eau de sports car.
And what about the Bricklin. I saw one for 1500 dollars a few years back on the street.
I was young when these were “popular”. They didn’t fool me.
As for Keokuk, I lived there in 1983, and my Corvair convertible was a fun car to have. Gave lots of rides in it.
Wow, you guys sound like a bunch of pompus Corvette owners! I admire Vettes, Lambos, Ferraris and the like, just like EVERYONE, however, those of us who can’t afford a $50,000 ride can have a ton of fun in one of these (now) vintage buggys! I just aquired one (Bradley GT) on a 1968 MG Roadster chassis, talk about ZIPPY! And talk about an attention getter! Stop knockin em, they’re just as fun, at a fraction of the cost, unless that is, you’re just in it for the “status”!
See Yall!
Neat car. What’s the engine access like with a front engine under a Bradley? Bradley was at the 1977 Atlanta Auto Show, and I wanted one from then on as a child. I think the reason none of them have their original gull wing plexiglass doors is because they all broke. Do you have them for yours?
The dune buggys can be that bad, the King of Cool drove one in a movie.
There’s a memory brought back. Neighbors a few doors up bought (built?) one of these. White with black trim. I don’t recall a lot about it. I don’t think they had it long, or maybe it was about the time they moved. I wonder if there was any resale market for these, or if it just all about the experience of building your own, and then it was just a novelty to play with until you tired of it.
The 70s was such a nutty decade what with Rolls-Royce grilles on VW Bugs, the Excaliburs and Clenets and kit cars like the Bradley GT. Here is a long forgotten kit car I shot behind our local Acura dealer in Torrance. It’s called a Sterling and this one had a rotary engine.
That is based on the Nova kit car from the UK styled by Richard Oakes with engineering by Phil Sayers. The Sterling was a licenced copy along with about a dozen other versions in different countries.
They were built in Australia as the Purvis Eureka from 1974-1989 with 680 sold. There was a brief interview with Alan Purvis on a tv show in the last couple of weeks.
wow, that’s a really grotesque mutation of a sport car, it hurts my eyes 😮 !
I remember 2 of these around Texas A&M when I was little (early 80’s)- both with glitter-sparkle (metal flake) paint, one dark blue and one white. The white one still had the plexi roof/window gull wings and driving behind it they constantly fluttered like they would blow off at any moment. The blue one was a permanent convertible/ T-top and I thought it was the coolest thing when the 2 guys jumped in it “Duke’s of Hazzard” style and sped off, which at the time meant that it was just REALLY LOUD!
So there must have been some that were completed at some point, it just seems that there are a ton out there in various stages of completion that the dream has been passed from 1 person the other for the last 40 years. I think the “Gumball Racer” design of the original has held up much better than the subsequent GT2, which seemed awkward even in it’s time. They also seem to be popular among those that want to convert a unique/ light car to home-built electric.
The Fiberfab Valkyrie looks pretty decent — like a serious effort by serious people — but the Bradley GT and other low-end replicars were generally pretty pathetic. The idea that anybody old enough to get a driver’s license would be naïve enough to mistake this for a Lambo or other high-end exotic, is laughable. The Valkyrie looks to be a reasonable facsimile of a real car; the Bradleys and their ilk are unreasonable facsimiles.
The gullwings are especially hilarious — and, I’m sure, totally watertight! I’m also amused by the stand-up turn signal lamps rather un-aerodynamically sprouting from the front bumper on the brown one in the ad. Kind of detracts from the swoopy shark-shape. Plus the lamps look like they came from Pep Boys for use on the back of trailers and campers.
Closest I ever came to dabbling in this dubious end of the auto industry, was a bit of MMing I did circa 1990 for a faux AC Cobra laid over an MGB that was looking for a home. I’m sure it was a piece of crap, and I’m glad I didn’t buy it — but I will confess to thinking impure thoughts along the lines of, “This may be the only chance you ever get to own something that looks like a Cobra.” Alas, as I eventually realized, something that LOOKS like a Cobra is all it could ever be. I suppose the MG engine could be replaced by something more robust and Cobra-like, but underneath would still be the handiwork not of Carroll Shelby, but of malaise-era British-Leyland. I had my Fiat Spyder 2000 at that time, and would have had little to gain and much to lose by swapping a real car for a fake one.
well mine has vids and pics all the time… trophys too!!!
do you have any pics of the car,not the distorted pixilated mess you provided?
i still got one Bradley Gt the gold metal flake one ,still running good but i need the passenger side door(window) is there anyone who got one? please write me.jojopi@hotmail,com and if there’s a collector who wants to offer me a ggod price ,we can discuss.it’s exactly the 1975 one the fifth picture one this page.