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“Isn’t it time to make your own sports car?” That’s probably not a question that has been put to you, but it was one that Bradley Automotive posed to readers of men’s magazines—including Car and Driver—back in the 1970s. Bradley sold kits that you assembled yourself to create the affordable sports car of your dreams.
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The kits were designed to fit atop a Volkswagen Beetle chassis—which had to be a great idea, given how numerous and inexpensive those were back then. Granted, Beetle mechanicals weren’t considered the most sporting, but as Bradley pointed out, with its lighter body “the finished product performs even better than a stock VW.” The company boasted of a top speed that was increased to 100 mph.
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And besides, with that slinky fiberglass bodywork, gullwing doors, and hidden headlights, the Bradley GT looked every bit the part of a 1970s sports car. The company’s trajectory almost exactly spanned the Me Decade. The first kits went out in 1970, and some 6000 were sold (although probably fewer were completed) before the business collapsed in 1981.
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- Iron and Grit: These Moody Images of the Cars of 1970s New York Are Incredible
- These 1970s Car Ads Define a Nation Desperately Trying to Enjoy Itself
- Car and Driver’s 60th Anniversary: The 1970s
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This 1976 Bradley GT, on offer via eBay Motors, looks to be about as nice an example as you’re likely to find. Originally owned by a Bradley Automotive sales rep, it’s finished in Antique Brown Jeweled Metalflake and is optioned with air conditioning and chrome wheels. There’s no radio, but there is an eight-track player—perfect. The only thing that would make it better is if you’d built it yourself.
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“The Spirit of ’76” is C/D’s Fourth-of-July holiday-weekend series highlighting some of the most awesome cars for sale from our nation’s bicentennial year.
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