This is the Bricklin SV-1. It was one car importer's supercar dream of the late ‘70s and it was a miserable, if spectacular failure. Surprisingly, a few served police duty, but that didn't pan out very well either.
Yes, a number of these things actually went to the police department in toasty Scottsdale, Arizona. Just as it is with Nissan Leafs today, the Southwest heat proved to be a problem for these Bricklins, as DennyCraneDennyCraneDennyCrane explains.
Bricklin lived in Scottsdale Arizona when they were being built, and decided to donate a few to the Scottsdale Police Department.
They ended up not being used as pursuit vehicles because even though it was fast as hell with the giant Ford engine it had, it was hard to get out of in a hurry, so it ended up being used for an application where it looking cool helped, but not being particularly useful as a police vehicle didn't matter: School PR programs.
The problem?
The doors were electrically powered, so when the battery died, you couldn't open the doors. And, in the heat of Arizona, and being parked outside in the sun all day, the batteries died. A LOT.
No matter how much we try, we just can't hate Bricklin. Just look at it! What a bizarre footnote in automotive history.
Photo Credit: Bricklin