before the chain's bankruptcy. Subaru In the mid-1960s, after he sold his interest in Handyman, Bricklin moved back to Philadelphia. When he was exploring establishing a network of gas stations that would rent scooters, he went to Japan to meet with the manufacturer of the Rabbit scooter, Fuji Heavy Industries, to arrange for the purchase and importation of their scooters — at a time when Fuji was just getting out of manufacturing scooters and was concentrating on their automotive business. At the meeting, Bricklin saw Fuji’s Subaru 360 mini-car, which got up to 60 miles to a gallon of gas and did not require federalizing in the United States because it weighed under 1,000 pounds. He was able to secure an exclusive contract with Fuji Heavy Industries to import Subaru cars and trucks into the United States, forming Subaru of America. Despite the car's ill fit for American roads and traffic, Bricklin was described as "one of the first auto industry mavericks to recognize that thrifty, inexpensive Japanese cars could be big in the United States." The first Subarus to enter the US were the 1968-1969 Subaru 360 and the 1970 Subaru FF-1 Star. Less than six months after the company formed, it became a public company and has been from 1968. Subaru of America became the only import car company that was publicly traded, making small fortunes for Bricklin and COO Harvey Lamm. FasTrack In 1971, Bricklin created a franchise named FasTrack, combining RV sales with shopping center parking lot race courses, where the public could drive one of 900 unsold Subaru 360s, modified by Bruce Myers. The venture ultimately failed. Bricklin SV-1 Bricklin subsequently founded his own car company, General Vehicle, manufacturing the Bricklin SV-1 two-seat gull-wing door sports car — informally called the Bricklin. "SV" stood for "safety vehicle," and Bricklin applied standards ahead of those the US government was requiring in the 1970s, including exceeding US crash protection standards. The SV-1 protected occupants with a tubular steel perimeter frame, roll cage and a chassis capable of withstanding a high velocity impact without deformation. The car didn't include a cigarette lighter or ashtray, as Bricklin viewed smoking while driving as unsafe. The Bricklin featured a vacuum forming process with color-impregnated acrylic bonded to fiberglass body panels. The car garnered mostly positive coverage from consumer media. In Car & Driver's comparison test, a '75 Bricklin with the Ford