HomeCar CulturePavilions Pick: Volkswagen Brasília  

Pavilions Pick: Volkswagen Brasília  

Brazil’s home-grown VW looks familiar but isn’t

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Volkswagen do Brasil was established in 1953 to build knock-down Beetle kits after the Brazilian government banned automotive imports. After some success, an official Volkswagen plant was erected, with the first VWs emerging from there towards the end of 1957.

The Brasília was introduced in 1973 and, although resembling the 412 that we had here in the States, they are not at all similar. In fact, the Brasília was designed within Volkswagen do Brasil as a neo version of the stalwart Beetle. All Brasílias were three- or five-door wagons powered by the air-cooled 1,600cc from the Beetle. Before production ended in 1982, VW also offered a 1,300cc ethanol version.

Brazil has been home to several unique homegrown Volkswagen variants in the past, like the SP1 and SP2, Karmann Ghia TC, but only the Brasília was built for mainstream consumption. This week’s find at the Pavilions Rock ‘n Roll Car Show is one of these popular South American VWs, though it was also manufactured in Mexico as well as exported to other countries in South America plus Spain and the Philippines.

Diego Rosenberg
Diego Rosenberg
Lead Writer Diego Rosenberg is a native of Wilmington, Delaware and Princeton, New Jersey, giving him plenty of exposure to the charms of Carlisle and Englishtown. Though his first love is Citroen, he fell for muscle cars after being seduced by 1950s finned flyers—in fact, he’s written two books on American muscle. But please don’t think there is a strong American bias because foreign weirdness is never far from his heart. With a penchant for underground music from the 1960-70s, Diego and his family reside in the Southwest.

2 COMMENTS

    • Because it’s a car at a car show, not a car being promoted on our sister sites, ClassicCars.com or AutoHunter.com.

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