A Visionary Plugs In to the Electric Car Race

Bricklin acknowledged that the bigger car companies have billions of dollars to pour into the development of plug-in electric vehicles and that they are loaded with technological and engineering talent. He said they are serious in their pursuit of electric automobiles. "And that they are smart enough" to eventually bring them to market, Bricklin said.

"But there is no way that they can just walk away from everything that they have invested in current technology, and that includes Toyota's complicated, expensive [gas-electric hybrid] system," Bricklin said.

The yet-to-be-named Bricklin plug-in electric would be "simple and affordable," Bricklin promised. "It's going to be a fabulous plug-in electric that gets the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon. It will be luxurious, and it will cost 30 percent less" than anything produced by the big companies, Bricklin said.

He was sketchy on the details. But he is not alone among senior, rambunctiously visionary automotive veterans in thinking and talking about developing an inexpensive, environmentally friendly, high-mileage automobile.

Other like-minded individuals include two industry icons, racing great and automotive designer Carroll Shelby, who turns 84 this week, and Lee A. Iacocca, 82, the legendary chairman of what was once an independently owned, American-controlled Chrysler.

In recent years, Shelby and Iacocca have discussed the possibility of developing a car that can sell for $10,000 and get at least 50 miles per gallon. Iacocca, at Bricklin's urging, once tried his hand at developing a market for electric bicycles after retiring from Chrysler in 1993.

"The technology wasn't ready to make it work back then," Bricklin said. "But it's ready now. We can do this. We can give America an affordable car that gets 100 miles per gallon. We have to do this."

He said he plans to discuss the idea with Shelby and Iacocca. He beamed at the thought -- what a magnificent last hurrah. Three members of the "automotive over-the-hill gang" beating the big companies to market with a 100-miles-per-gallon car.

"That would be something," Bricklin said. "We can do this. I know we can do this."