by Paul Williams
A Canadian company is confident it will build the Corbin Merlin Roadster and Sparrow three-wheeled microcars, despite the bankruptcy of California-based Corbin Motors.
 Corbin Sparrow
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“I guarantee you that both these projects will come back to life within three months,” said Terry Maxwell of SLP Canada, the Lachine, Que.-based firm that has been readying prototypes for the Harley-Davidson-powered Merlin and an updated version of the electric-powered Sparrow.
Corbin, which introduced the egg-shaped Sparrow to huge acclaim three years ago, filed for bankruptcy March 31. It produced about 285 of the single-seat Sparrows, but the cars were reportedly plagued with technical problems associated with their electrical systems.
Corbin Motors has been in litigation with stockholders since 1999. Dissatisfied customers, along with dealer and creditor lawsuits, compounded its troubles. There are over 1,000 creditors. In a letter posted on the company’s formerly elaborate Web site, founder Tom Corbin states: “I would like to thank all of you who bet with us on our dream for the future of transportation. I am sorry this chapter of the journey has to end in bankruptcy.”
Mr. Maxwell said the announcement is “definitely a major kink in our plans” and will cause SLP Canada to lay off a few development staff and postpone hiring between 50-100 production workers. However, SLP owns the tooling for the Sparrow and Merlin, and “I’ll work with anyone who has the rights to the vehicles,” said Mr. Maxwell. “That may yet turn out to be Mr. Corbin,” he suggested.
Plans were underway to build 2,000 to 4,000 Merlin Roadsters a year, starting this year. The revised Sparrow would not have come to market until 2004. “We don’t have deep enough pockets to take on the whole project,” said Mr. Maxwell, “but there are lots of dollars out there, and investors may think it’s a little less risky once they’re dealing with a new company.”
In the meantime, SLP is building the limited production Allard J2X Mark 1 and is also looking at plans to build the revised T-Rex three-wheeled motorcycle.
SLP Canada is well-known for building the SS and Firehawk versions of General Motors’ Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird. The Corbin Motors association was a timely development for the company, given the cancellation of the GM ponycars last year.