Puma GTE

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Puma Automoveis was founded in Brazil in 1963 by the Italian-Brazilian lawyer and car enthusiast Genaro Malzoni. The company’s initial focus was on producing sports cars for racing and road use, in an era when car imports were heavily restricted in Brazil forcing local manufacturers to use locally available parts. Puma specialized in building car bodies from fiberglass mounted on existing, readily available vehicle platforms, which made them lightweight, affordable and easy to maintain.

The Puma 1600 GT was produced from 1969 to 1970, and the Puma GTE 1600 were successful brands, known for combining sporty looks with reliable, easy to service VW mechanics. It featured a two-seater, lightweight fiberglass body mounted on a shortened VW Karmann Ghia platform. Power came from a rear mounted air cooled 1,6 liter flat 4 engine. Due to its lightweight construction, the car offered an agile and responsive driving experience, with handling characteristics similar to early Porsches,

This Example, is available through South African dealer, Crossley and Webb's 

This Puma GTE is number 232 of 383 examples produced in South Africa by Bromer Motor Assemblies in Durban - I didn't realise these were assembled outside of Brazil. These cars used a mix of imported Brazilian parts and local components to meet South African "local content" laws and used the Volkswagen Beetle chassis instead of the Kharmann Ghia chassis which the Brazilian Puma’s used.

It is powered by a 1600 cc flat four Volkswagen engine producing approximately 90 BHP and has covered 102 711km with not more than 10 000km on this engine since a rebuild. It is in very good condition and has been regularly serviced by its current owner

The Puma features exotic Italian inspired design, a lightweight chassis and combines the reliability and simplicity of the Volkswagen flat four engine with the “wow" factor of a sportscar.

From a post of social media, I have been contacted with the following;

1966 .GT Malzoni powered by a DKW 2 stroke water cooled engine . 1967 Puma DKW . 68 and 69 Puma GT 1500 powered by VW 4 stroke aircooled .70 to 75 Puma GTE KG shortened platform 1600cc . The car nickmame is Tubarao ( Shark) From 1976 to 1980 always GTE but Brasilia platform.

#aircooled #vw #aircooledvw #puma #pumagt #pumagte #beetlefloorpan #southafricanvw 

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