Urban Style m a g a z i n e

Exactly how long Nathiswaya was abroad in the early sixties setting up hazardous mining operations throughout Africa, Asia, and South America isn't known, but he returned to Southern California in the mid sixties and campaigned this Jaguar XKE in Sports Car Club of America road racing events.

Malcolm Bricklin, right in his prized leisure suit!

A decade later, with his mining operations running themselves, he turned his focus to contemporary exotic cars. He met Malcom Bricklin, former importer of the Subaru 360. Bricklin had just started a company called General Vehicle Corporation, and had sold the Canadians on a "safe" exotic car called the Bricklin SV1. Nathiswaya and Bricklin became fast friends, and compared notes on establishing large labor-intensive facilites using local government backing. Shortly After their meeting, The local government in New Brunswick bought into Bricklin's plan to establish an auto manufacturing facility in Saint John, with bodies built in Minto. Production plans called for 12,000 cars the first year, 30,000 the second, and 50,000 the third. In true Cashiers Checque plus Shipping style, 2,854 cars were built over a three-year period before the venture imploded. For his involvement, Nathiswaya was presented with three Bricklins from Malcolm himself.

Nathiswaya established a dealership network for Bricklin, securing backing from hapless investors in America and Europe based on inflated production projections and vague promises. As Bricklin sputtered out of control, Nathiswaya refocused his auto dealerships as exotic and collector car brokerages. Cars would change hands without ever rolling through the doors, and with elaborate money-wiring schemes, the same car might be sold three times between three different continents.

Perku Nathiswaya in 1975 with one of his new exotic cars, the Bricklin Sv1.

Nathiswaya's international exotic and collector car dealerships really hit their stride with the advent of the internet, and email. Nathiswaya used his old practice of the cashiers check with extra thrown in for third party shipping. He single-handedly started the phenomenon of international copycat buyers.

Nathiswaya isn't one to rest on his laurels. He started a BMW tuning operation specializing in E30 M3 BMWs in 2002, was a key organizer of the Nigerian Email Conference, joined forces with a successful advertising specialty business, and even posed for the album cover of a Kenny Loggins cover band in San Diego CA.

Continue for a rare look at the Perku Nathiswaya Bricklin collection