one year, one canadian

Another month, another topic. This month I added ‘transportation’ to the Canadian-only landscape that is my life. It’s one of those topics where, in retrospect, I have no idea what my December, 2010 self was thinking. What is Canadian transportation? And how do I restrict myself to it?

I started by looking into the history of Canadian transportation. Did we maybe invent some unique form of Canadian transportation, like the seaplane (nope, that was the French) or the snowmobile (yep, thank you, Mr. Bombardier)? The list is actually pretty thin. Besides the snowmobile, we can claim partial ownership over the hydrofoil, the CanadaArm and, oddly, checking your bag.

Then I considered what makes a form of transportation Canadian? Well, Air Canada has “Canada” in the name, so that seems safe. I frequently take the “Canada Line” rapid transit service to and from downtown Vancouver. It was built for the Olympics last year, so that feels pretty patriotic. And I belong to a local car co-op, which seems very homespun and Canadian.

What if I wanted to drive a home-grown car? What would my options be? I’m not talking about a Chevrolet that was assembled in Oshawa, but rather a real Canadian-designed and built vehicle.

Enter the Bricklin. Designed and manufactured in New Brunswick from 1974 to 1976, it’s the gull-winged equivalent of Magnum PI’s moustache. It looks like the sort of car that an early-career James Bond might drive. But not Connery or Moore’s Bond, it’s more of a Lazenby vehicle. Frequently called the worst car ever built, the two-door sports door was fraught with mechanical problems, and its creator, Malcolm Bricklin, struggled financially. He only ever built 2854 cars, and bilked the New Brunswick government out of $23 million.The story of the Bricklin was recently retold in that most sacred of artistic modes, musical theatre.

I’ve been poking around various local contacts, trying to determine if anybody in the city owns a Bricklin. According to Wikipedia, roughly 1100 of them still exist. In the meantime, I just sticking to forms of transportation with “Canada” in the name, and my shoes from Roots.

Bricklin photo courtesy of Alden Jewell.