Nine funky Brazilian cars with Volkswagen engines

No, not that Miura. This was a Porto Alegre-based manufacturer that launched its first car – the rather tamely titled Sport – in the late 1970s. Like so many Brazilian market cars it used a rear mounted, air-cooled VW engine under its wedgy fibreglass body.

How good does the fastback L’Automobile Ventura look? And yep, despite that long bonnet it sat on a Brazilian-built VW platform, so featured a rear mounted 1.6-litre flat four engine. The headlights were borrowed from Dodge, while the tail-lights came from the Alfa Romeo GTV.

Ottorino Bianco was another Italian who designed and built his own German-engined sports car in Brazil. The swoopy, low slung S used the Beetle’s 1.6-litre engine for around 60bhp. It also shared its headlights with the Volkswagen SP2.

Penned by former Lotus designer Graham Holmes, the Lobini H1 was a dinky roadster powered by a mid-mounted 1.8-litre turbo Golf engine. The first customer car was delivered in 2005 and it was actually facelifted in 2007, but only 70 H1s were built before the company went out of business.

Arriving in 1973, the Xavante X-10 was Gurgel’s first major success as a manufacturer, with dune buggy vibes and both the engine and gearbox from a Beetle. It was designed to go off road and was built using a clever mix of steel and fibreglass.

When Paulo de Aguiar Goulart could no longer import Porsches into Brazil, he decided to create his own tribute. The Dacon 828 was a teeny city car that used a Beetle chassis shortened by 31 inches, but viewed from behind it had more than a hint of shrunken Porsche 928.

Looking like a cross between a Lotus Esprit S1 and the Alfa Romeo Carabo concept, the exceptionally ’80s Hofstetter Turbo featured gullwing doors, a digital dash and a VW sourced 1.8-litre turbo four pot.

While they may not have been brilliant at naming them, lots of Brazilian firms were clearly excellent at shaping cars from fibreglass. The gorgeous little Puma GT was designed by Italian immigrant Rino Malzoni and sat on a Volkswagen Karmann Ghia chassis.

Another local firm that made hay while imports were banned in the 1970s and ’80s, Adamo was founded in 1968. Its first GT was actually a doorless convertible with a fibreglass top and Beetle underpinnings. Around 170 were built.