puma gt
bugzla - November 20th, 2007 at 10:24 PM
if u dont know its a kit car which was abig hit in brazil and south africa wondering if any one new someone thinking of selling i remember seeing one
many years ago atthevw nats at parkley.......at a soccer complex if any one has any info wright to me many thanks steve
type_one - November 21st, 2007 at 12:10 PM
Mate it wasn't a kit car. It was made by VW of Brazil. As far as I know it is an official VW.
Stanley - November 21st, 2007 at 01:45 PM
| Quote: |
Originally
posted by type_one
Mate it wasn't a kit car. It was made by VW of Brazil. As far as I know it is an official VW.
|
it was available both in kit form and a production car. I Was recently reading about them in an old VWTrends mag.
The Puma GT, originally called the Malzoni GT after its company founder, Genaro Malzoni, was designed as a race car to compete in the highly
competitive Brazilian GT racing series. Lightweight and aerodynamically designed, the car exhibited spirited performance and, in 1965, won five
impressive victories.
A year later, the car celebrated second- and third-place finishes in the Brazilian 1000-mile race, further establishing credibility as a viable force
within the auto racing community and throughout South America. This was a time when the Puma, the first plant-production, all-Brazilian sports car was
producing only 35 cars annually. Yes, in addition to kit form, the Puma was in fact, manufactured in whole at its assembly plant.
As its popularity grew, so did production, manufacturing thousands of units throughout the '60s and '70s. During this production period, the car
changed in various ways, including its body styling, chassis and engine configuration. These various changes also spawned a number of different
models, including cabrios. Although production was eventually stopped in the '70s, as the company was bought and sold, Puma Marketing Company began
producing replacement parts, as well as a short production run of completed models based on the '73 GTE coupe between 1989-'91. Even C.B.
Performance had a tie to the venerable vehicle as a one-time U.S. distributor.
The Puma GT, GTE and GTS (convertible) proved the most popular versions, each produced using a Brazilian Volkswagen Karmann Ghia (and later Brasilia)
floorpan as well as a VW 1500 (1600cc GTE) engine and drivetrain. While completed versions of the fiberglass car were built for its native country,
exported units were shipped partially unassembled.
bugDbug - November 21st, 2007 at 05:10 PM
One for sale on The Samba
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=504273
fastyman66 - November 21st, 2007 at 05:24 PM
Yeah over 22,000 production Brazilian Puma's were made and around 350 to 380 South African made cars. The kit cars were originally made to ship to
the USA I think.
XXX-1.8T - November 21st, 2007 at 08:51 PM
and then they moved into shoes and sportswear
bugzla - November 21st, 2007 at 09:55 PM
its a shame its a convertable im more inclined to buy a hard top thanks for the info guys many thanks steve