Malcolm Bricklin is an American businessman who’s best known for an unorthodox career spanning more than six decades with numerous failures and successes, primarily in the manufacturing or importing automobiles to the United States.

In the mid-1960s, Bricklin went to Japan to meet with Fuji Heavy Industries hoping to arrange a deal to import their scooters. While there, he saw a Subaru 360, at right, which got up to 60 miles to a gallon of gas and because it weighed under 1,000 pounds did not require federalizing. He then signed an exclusive contract to import Subaru cars into the USA, forming Subaru of America.

The first Subarus to enter the US were the 1968-1969 Subaru 360s and less than six months after the company formed, it went public becoming the only publicly traded imported car company. Barry Staver made the photographs you see at Heuberger Subaru in Colorado Springs, America’s largest volume Subaru dealer.

The Subaru 360’s name was derived from its tax limited (in Japan) engine displacement of 356 cc. It had a curb weight of 1,000 lbs, used monocoque construction and had swing axle rear suspension, fiberglass roof panel, and rear-hinged aka “suicide” doors. It was a classic Japanese Kei car. Nicknamed the “ladybug” in Japan, the 360 was available as a two-door, station wagon or convertible, actually a coupe with roll-back fabric roof much like the Fiat 500. As Fuji Heavy Industries’s first automobile, production reached 392,000 over a 12-year model run. 10,000 of them were sold in the United States, where Bricklin advertised them as “Cheap and Ugly.”

Bricklin later founded General Vehicles to manufacture the Bricklin SV-1 (1974-1976), imported and marketed Fiat’s X1/9 and Spider convertibles (1982), imported and marketed the Zastava Koral hatchback from Yugoslavia under the Yugo nameplate (1985−1992.)

While Bricklin now lives in Monroe, New York at the height of his success he owned a 5,000-acre home in the Colorado Rockies with an indoor shooting range, a riverfront swimming pool, helipad, and pet camel.

If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to buy Joe a cup of Earl Grey tea ($2.50), click here.

Along with photographer Barry Staver, Joe is co-author of Better Available Light Digital Photography that’s now out-of-print but new copies are available from Amazon for $21.88 and used copies are four bucks. The Kindle price, for some reason is really high. ($93.95)

Be sure to make images of parts of cars. Don’t be frustrated by the lack of space and crowded conditions that can be found found at shows or car museums too. Instead use this liability to your advantage by finding small details, such as the delicate nature of a Bugatti’s grille or the sensuous lines of a street rod’s fender and capture them in sharp focus. It doesn’t make any difference if you’re using a one-time use camera or the newest digital SLR it’s a simple tip that can create some interesting images.

Get close to the car. Begin by working in close and gradually back off until extraneous non-car details or if you see that people start appearing in the frame. Wide-angle lenses and wide angle zooms let you fill up the frame with part or even the entire car while making sure distractions are eliminated. Make sure your zoom lens allows close focusing. I once purchased a wide-angle zoom lens only to discover it didn’t focus close enough to do me any good when photographing cars—or much elese. On the other hand, my old Tamron 11-18mm f/4.5-5.6 Di lens focuses as close as 9.8- inches. Since I purchased my lens (admittedly a while ago) Tamron has replaced this lens with the SP AF10-24mm F/3.5-4.5 Di II that focuses even closer at 9.4-inches!

Explore unconventional views of the car. Why not tilt your camera to provide a more dynamic image than shooting it “straight ahead.” The crowds at most car shows—although they are some of the most polite people you will find anywhere—make it almost impossible to use a tripod (and some venues prohibit them) so I seldom bring one.

Monopods can provide a steady platform for low light conditions, such as end of the day shots or you can use a tabletop tripod or on-the-ground low angle shots.

Dress for success. Dress comfortably and wear the kind of clothing you won’t be afraid to get dirty when trying to get an interesting camera angle. For outdoor shows, be sure to wear a hat to keep the sun off your head and like the song says, “be sure to wear sunscreen.

to be continued…

If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to treat Joe to a cup of Earl Grey tea ($2.50), click here. And if you do, many thanks.

Along with photographer Barry Staver, Joe is co-author of Better Available Light Digital Photography is available from Amazon for $21.50 and used copies starting at around nine bucks!

Each workshop will include both instruction and live photo sessions of the action. There will be opportunities to post your images on various series’ websites. Workshops will be limited to eight participants and will proceed rain or shine.

Please contact John Larsen at jlarsen@photograffics.com for details.

Introduction to Motorsports Photography:

• photograph the “Push It To The Limit” auto slalom event at the Powerade Centre in Brampton in a safe environment
• Sunday, June 11
• Cost:  $50, plus hst=

Intermediate Motorsports Photography:

photograph the Canadian Touring Trophy event at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (Mosport) along with the only Canadian stop in the Challenge Club Racing series featuring Ferraris

• Saturday, July 29
• numerous sedan and formula classes will be competing throughout the day
• Cost:  $75, plus hst

Advanced Motorsports Photography:

photograph motocross competition at Gopher Dunes motocross track south of Woodstock

• Sunday, September 17
• Classes range from Peewee kids on 50cc up to Experts on 450cc
• Cost:  $100, plus hst

All workshops will take place rain or shine!

Note: Each participant will be required to sign waivers provided by both the event organizers and Photograffics.

My first car was a brand-new red 1961 Ford Falcon Futura, much like the one pictured below. Over the years I’ve owned lots of different cars and have written about a few of them in the “Our Cars” feature that appears here from time to time.

In a short time the lease on my Range Rover Evoque will be up and I will be car-less. My short term plans are to drive Mary’s personal car for a while but a rear-drive two-seater won’t work in the Colorado winter even in the near term. I want/need a car with some kind of 4WD or AWD setup. In fact, I want a station wagon, something that every time I say it causes Mary to gag.

Like most men, I hate shopping, even for cars. I also wanted a car that was 8-10 years old because Colorado’s punitive car tax aka annual license plate fees are outrageous for new and relatively expensive (even leased) cars.

I started by eliminating what I didn’t want. Even though the Evoque is more crossover than SUV, I’m tired of driving a truck—even a nice one. I’d make an exception for one of my bucket list cars—a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen—but even used ones cost more money than I want to spend. I really didn’t want a Japanese car and the fact that my lease ends on December 7’th has nothing to with that. Again, I would make an exception for the unique Subaru Baja. But used Subies, and used Jeeps for that matter, have big price tags in Colorado.

I like European cars so I talked to my friend John who works at the import specialist where we take Mary’s car for service and sought his advice about maintenance costs for a 8-10 year old Audi vs. Mercedes-Benz wagon. He likes the newer Audi wagons but suggested the Mercedes would be a better fit for me. Sorry BMW fans they’re not on my shopping list and E-Class wagons are too long for my garage space. The only problem is that 4Matic versions are scarce.

I’ve always had a thing for Volvos ever since I bought a 1958 PV444 back in the sixties and Mary and I have owned both 240 and 740 wagons over the years. The V40 is close in length to a C-Class wagon and some were built with AWD. And no, I’m not considering their pseudo crossover Outback clone the Volvo Cross Country—too big, too tall for me.

So if any of my readers come across any of these cars for sale, please drop me a note via the Contact button above. And when I finally get a new (used) car, I promise to do a post about the frog kissing process I went through to get it. Frogs, yuck!

Ford Falcon photo from Motorbase, The Encyclopedia of Motoring.