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Cohort Pic(k) Of The Day: Brazilian VW 1600 Variant
– Posted on November 26, 2019
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This is why I love cars as a hobby.
This is one I have not seen, but it is familiar. It is something that I can geek out over, but most people, even those who would be able to tell it’s a VW, would pass by without a thought.
This is why, when I vacation in another country, am constantly looking at the cars, trucks, vans and buses, just hoping to get a glimpse of something we don’t have ‘back home”. To a Brazilian of a certain age, this is probably boring. Kind of like me seeing the 75th Chevelle at a car show. But to me, this is catnip. It’s the little things in life that make it exciting.
These look good from the rear and in profile, only to be led by a face that even the most ardent mother would struggle to love.
The front reminds me of an early 70’s Rolls Royce. The rest looks like a Brasilia. A friend in the Philippines had one. I also remember seeing a “Type 3” Karmann Ghia there.
Yes! That is exactly what the headlights reminded me of as well, I just couldn’t put my finger on it.
I donno…they remind me of the headlamps on a ’60-’64 Corvair, or a ’60-’62 Valiant.
The headlight bezels kind of look like surplus 1959 Chevrolet parts.
These are commonly referred to as Type 3 cars, and I long assumed that’s what they were. But then I learned otherwise: it’s actually based on the EA97, which was designed in Germany to fill a very narrow gap between the Beetle and the real Type 3. The plug was wisely pulled at the last minute, and the tooling and blueprints sent to Brazil.
It used a Type 1 Beetle platform, suspension and even the Beetle’s upright fan engine, in the initial sedan version. But that would have resulted in a very high load floor on the Variant wagon, so a real pancake T3 engine was installed in these. And the variant went on to become the best selling version by far. Eventually the pancake engine found itself into the sedan and fastback too.
Full story here: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1971-vw-1600-tl-turns-out-the-brazilian-type-3-isnt-really-a-type-3-its-the-ea97-reincarnated/
Attach a fake Rolls grill on the trunk lid and it would look like something out of JC Whitney.
Huh! Interesting. Looks like a thoroughly unsafe car—does it even have seatbelts?—but I like the bamboo/wicker/??? shelf under the wood dashboard. As to the front end: I think it’d look better with Ami6/Taunus-type oval headlamps and the licence plate on or below the bumper bar.
It’s like some kind of tiki-themed parody of the knee bolster that V-dubs used in lieu of lap belts.
front end looks like a 1960s Ford Taunus
I think I can identify parts from various VAG cars.
Dashboard = Beetle /Bus
Steering wheel = NSU/Audi
Headlights= NSU Prinz TT
For a “Brazilian” and a “VAG” car, I will say it is trimmed well and not too bare.
I don’t remember the exact years, but there were 3 distinct bodies on the same theme. This Variant, the 2 door fastback Paul refers to in the link in his post, and a 4 door sedan. The weird front lights were later superseded by a rectangular setup, and later still, there was a restyling that gave the whole car a much nicer shape (picture attached is of a circa ’77 4 door hatchback, the Variant shown in the post is probably a ’73)
Picture didn’t attach….
Front end has a slight Bullet Bird vibe to it.