Bradley GT: Channeling your inner Burt Reynolds

Back when I was a kid, I thought the Bradley GT was a pretty neat-o ride.  But then again, since my first name is Bradley, the idea that a cool sports car shared my name was enough to catch my 6-year-old brain's fancy.  A Yellow and black one lived in the parking lot of a local gas station and whenever I'd pass by, I'd say to myself "that's my car."  But by the time I had reached that tender age of 6, the Bradley company had in fact already been shuttered for 5 years.  The idea was born in the late 60s, and was but one of many kit cars based on the stalwart VW beetle.  Perhaps another post is in order on all the various and sundry cars built on the Beetle platform, but this has got to be one of the cooler ones (as opposed to replicar Mercedes SSKs just to name one example that sends a shudder down the automobiliac's spine).  It was a swoopy fiberglass bodyshell with gullwing doors, a T-top and shag upholstery.  Basically, it looked like the love child that might have resulted from a one night stand between a Dune Buggy and an early 70's Vette at some party where the host might have had a sunken living room and a mirrored coffee table covered in blow.  Some more astute observers might compare it to a Matra 530, or even to Raymond Loewy's BMW 507 body, but let's not get carried away here: Liberace owned one in Gold with glitter metal flake.  Are we going to split hairs here? I think it's safe to say that along with Prince, the Bradley GT is one of the more outlandish things to come out of Minneapolis.

Be that as it may, the car stayed in production for about a decade (several thousand cars were made according to wikipedia) and went through two versions, the GT and the GT II.  There are still some well cared for examples about today, and many more decrepit ones.  You can pick one up for a song, compared to the price of other "desirable" fiberglass sports cars (in case a Lotus Elite is just out of your budget). I'd say go for it.

Click on the pic below to see the full page magazine ad.