Have You Ever Seen A Svelte Brazilian Puma 1800 GT Rallye?

Photography by Chico Rulez and Elo Kyrmse

You may not believe us, but we don’t often get to see incredibly rare machines outside of the usual suspects—meaning that we’ve sat in Ferrari 250 GTOs, but not a 1973 Puma 1800 GT Rallye.

James from Belo Horizonte, Brazil is the proud owner of this example, which is colored in one of the nicest shades of violet we’ve seen. This particular car is also pretty special, being one of only eight said to have been based on the Pumas entered into the 5th Rallye Internacional TAP in Portugal. It’s one of only two known to still exist.

As far as Volkswagen specials go, this is pretty special. Fiberglass bodywork, fantastic design—and a hopped-up air-cooled Volkswagen flat-four slung out back, complete with dry sump. So what does one do with such a rare piece of Brazilian motoring history?

James enters it into regularity rallies and, of course, often takes it out for a blast on nearby B-roads. If you’d like to learn more about the car (in Portuguese) you can find its home online here.