Here are six more unusual Fords most Americans will never get to see. They have one thing in common: They’re all from Brazil.
When we posted the feature “Seven strange Fords you’ll never see” last month, we noted there was no shortage of vehicles for sequels. Here’s another batch of oddball Fords that all happen to originate with the company’s Brazilian unit, Ford do Brasil.
Ford formally entered the Brazilian market in 1919, shipping Model T cars and Model TT trucks in knockdown form for in-country assembly. Local manufacturing began in 1957, and due to some interesting local conditions and affiliations, the operation has produced a number of distinctive vehicles over the years. Here are just a few.
If this pickup looks a little familiar around the doors and cab, good eye. Yes, this Ford was originally a Willys. When Ford took over Willys-Overland do Brasil in 1967, one of the products it inherited was a Willys pickup. This truck was essentially the same Willys model manufactured in the USA from 1946 to 1965, but with a front sheet metal makeover by Brooks Stevens, who’d also styled the original.
Rebadged as the Ford F-75, the old Willys-based pickup remained in production with Ford through 1980. Available engines included a Ford 2.3-liter inline four (as found in the Pinto) in both gasoline and alcohol versions—sugar cane-derived ethanol is widely available in Brazil.
Before 1967, Ford do Brasil built no passenger cars locally, only trucks. To fill the demand for stylish but rugged automobiles, local coachbuilders (carrocerias) built custom sedan conversions based on F-100 pickups, incorporating both two-door and four-door bodywork
We don’t pretend to be experts on this intriguing corner of the Brazilian auto industry, but apparently there were at least two such body builders, Carroceria Sol ltda and Sturm & Cia ltda, both based in Novo Homburgo. We don’t know who built the sedan above, but we admire the suicide doors, as well as the fancy twin mirrors and radio antennas, trim rings and wide whitewalls.
Here’s another F-100 based vaqueiro Cadillac, this one a two-door with unique rear styling, coach house unknown. Note the deck lid. Ford do Brasil produced the 1957-60 USA pickup platform through 1972, but with some updates, including twin I-beam front suspension. Ford also produced its own club cab pickups and wagons on the F-100 chassis, but they weren’t nearly as distinctive as these custom conversions.
Another vehicle inherited by Ford do Brasil when it took over the Willys operation in 1967 was the Aero Willys, originally produced in Toledo and sold in the USA from 1952 to 1955. In 1958, the tooling for the unibody compact was shipped to the Willys Sao Paulo plant where production resumed in 1960.
In 1963 the Brazilian Aero received a clever reskin with styling by Brooks Stevens—note his characteristic formal roof, also found on the Studebaker Hawk GT. Several models were offered, including the Aero-Willys 2600 base model and the premium Itamaraty with leather and hardwood interior, a popular car with Brazil’s upper class. Ford do Brasil continued production until 1971, when the venerable old Willys was dropped in favor of the Ford USA-designed Maverick.
This 1969 Ford Corcel owes its origins to the Renault 12, oddly enough. The Kaiser-Willys operations in Brazil included the production of Dauphines and Alpines in partnership with Renault. When Ford assumed control of the Willys venture, a local variant on the Renault 12 platform was already under development as a replacement for the Dauphine.
Spotting a winner, Ford sent Project M, as it was known, into production as the Corcel. Originally powered by Renault’s trusty Cléon-Fonte pushrod four, the Corcel was marketed in Brazil, Chile, and Argentina, and versions of the vehicle were produced through 1986.
From 1967 through 1983, Ford do Brasil’s full-size sedans were all based on the body and chassis of the USA-market 1966 Galaxie four-door sedan. Periodic front and rear makeovers were performed, but check out the cab and greenhouse on this 1982 model: ’66 Galaxie.
Another interesting anachronism: while the 292 CID Ford Y-Block V8 was discontinued in American cars in 1962, it remained in production in Brazil through 1972. The only V8 Ford manufactured in Brazil, it was built in both gasoline and high-compression ethanol versions. Three trim levels of the big Ford were offered: Galaxie, LTD, and Landau.
I really like the F-75. It looks like a “modern” flat -fendered Willys, of which I had several. I wonder if it shakes and rattles like the original. And the 2nd one , F-100 derivative, just shows the new car-like pickups of today are really nothing new. Thanks, and Happy and a Safe New Years to all.
Howard, my father wore out several Willys panels as a radio man for the local utility. I do believe they were the crudest, noisiest, and slowest vehicles then on the market, but as a tyke I adored riding in them.
When I was a kid, my old man had a building business, and he had a painter friend that had one. I just remember those THREE shift levers, and bouncing around riding in the back. I owned a ’55 wagon with a small block Chev. and then found a ’51 pickup,( with 19,000 miles) and dropped the V-8 into it , while retaining the Willys drive train. Another one I let slip away. Dr. Joel Fleishman from “Northern Exposure”( one of my favorite shows) drove a Willys.
Love these stories. It’s like going to car school! Looking forward to a great 2014.
Another manufacturer where Brooks Stevens had a significant, though somewhat indirect, influence on design. A whole book could be written about his contributions to the automotive industry as well as his pioneering role in the old car hobby.
We need to find you an Itamaraty. It’s so you.
The full sized car looks more like a Mercury rather than a Ford.
Two things;
First, my dad ran over me with his ’56 Willys 4wd pickup when I was a kid. I used to like to shit it. He’d shove in the clutch, and i’d push the shift lever from the passenger seat. On one particular day, when I got in i didn’t get my door latched, and after the 1-2 shift, I casually leaned my arm on the door, which swung open and out i went. He ran over my hand on the soft sand on the side of the road, heard my yowling, backed up and ran over my hand again. Didn’t break anything, but scared the daylights out of him. Farm kids are always getting run by equipment.
I was more careful after that to latch the door…
Second, somebody should build that suicide rear door F100 sedan! That is cool, and WAY better looking than an Avalanche (who told GM stylist that square wheel openings look good over round tires anyway?). It’d be a hit anywhere, and would be great to pull an old travel trailer with!
Thanks for digging up all this stuff Bill!
O ’66 Galaxie é muito elegante!