Tuesday, May 17, 2022
VW Beetle former taxi from my hometown
Sure it was not the best option when it comes to interior space and luggage capacity, but the Beetle had a considerable presence in the Brazilian taxi segment until the early-'90s, and even other models with a more modern design were still more common in 2-door bodystyle because this feature was perceived as easier to retain resale value, certainly influenced by the widespread presence of the Beetle in Brazil and the perception of 4-door versions of other cars as rendering them more suitable to taxi or fleet usage.
Access to the rear seat in some 2-door taxis was facilitated by the removal of the front passenger seat, which became an usual practice when the Beetle ruled the segment. It's always worth to remind the usage of seatbelts was not so strictly enforced in Brazil until '99, and little to no effort used to be done by traffic enforcement to prevent carrying passengers in a luggage compartment as long as it was closed, then it was OK to eventually carrying kids in that luggage space right behind the rear seat of a Beetle for instance...
To make it easier for the driver to close the passenger door of a Beetle taxi, the most usual method was to tie a rope at the armrest, while the other extremity of the rope was placed at a convenient location to be simply pulled with little effort. This would seem extremely unlikely to happen nowadays, when most if not every city in Brazil requires only 4-door cars to be used as a taxi.
Monday, May 09, 2022
Why is it a good move to transfer the production of the Chevrolet Joy from Brazil to Colombia?
Having both the hatchback bodystyle which seems to be more viable for other regions where entry-level Chevrolet models are currently sourced mostly from China and to a minor extent South Korea, and also a sedan formerly named Chevrolet Prisma which would most likely fall under the friendly fire from the SAIC-GM joint-venture despite its simpler engine rendering it more suitable to harsher environmental conditions and poorer maintenance, the Chevrolet Joy may be just marginally more expensive than the subcompacts formerly sourced from India. The transfer of its production base to Colombia may render it relevant for Chevrolet to secure its foothold in Latin America, where in 2018 the Joy still named Chevrolet Onix and available with an optional automatic transmission was the best-selling car in the entire region, despite being unavailable in countries such as Mexico and some island nations in the Caribbean partly because of the GM Caribbean operations having mostly mirrored the Mexican range even in strictly-RHD markets such as Trinidad and Tobago while the Onix and Joy are LHD only. Now that manufacturing operations in Mexico and South Korea are more oriented toward SUVs and mostly bound for export to the United States and Canada, and the São Caetano do Sul plant is also becoming devoted to light-truck and SUV manufacturing for the Brazilian market, and the regional exports which are also likely to increase due to the GM retreat from Thailand where truck manufacturing was the core business, it's worth to consider the GM Colmotores as a suitable site for the Chevrolet Joy due to a sustainable demand claimed to be around 35000 units yearly with 70% of the volume bound for the regional export markets in South America such as Argentina, Ecuador and Peru, even though it could be desirable even in countries with a Pacific coastline in other regions such as the Philippines where a geographic proximity is supposed to render the Korean Chevrolet Spark more competitive than a Chevrolet Joy hatchback while the sedan would eventually struggle harder to set a foothold.
While the Chevrolet Joy had a 1.0L engine in Brazil due to tax advantages, in contrast to the 1.4L fitted to export-bound units which is not actually much more expensive to manufacture, eventually bringing back the automatic transmission option could appeal to former buyers of the Korean Chevrolet Spark in regions other than South America while keeping the Colombian manufacturing even more sustainable. Sure there would be some arguments against switching the production site because the president of GM for South America is the Colombian Santiago Chamorro, but it's a smart move to consolidate operations at the GM Colmotores plant which is currently underused as a CKD assembly site for Isuzu trucks and bus frames imported from Japan, so even an affordable car which is supposed to be unprofitable makes sense both at a local level and occasionally beyond South America, considering some other markets are nearly as conservative and budget-conscious. In the end, this is a great opportunity both for GM to keep competitive and for Colombia to become a more important player as a car manufacture and export hub.
Tuesday, May 03, 2022
2001 Ford Ranger with a Brazilian old-style double-cab conversion
Thursday, April 21, 2022
Beer-vending Volkswagen Beetle
This specific Beetle, a Brazilian model presumably from the mid-'70s was turned into a mobile stand for the sale of craft beer at events. This was not the first beer-vending Beetle that I have seen in my hometown Porto Alegre, but its partially-removable roof contrasts with other setups which retained the fixed roof.
I didn't even try the beer which was being sold at this Beetle, but I'm sure it's a great marketing tool.
Thursday, April 07, 2022
150cc Yamaha motorcycle with trailer
Sunday, April 03, 2022
'89 Ford Pampa with a crew-cab conversion
Though a double-cab was never a factory option, there were some aftermarket conversions done either by specialized companies or smaller businesses, with different degrees of craftsmanship involved, and once in a while some distinctive feature. This one is just 2WD, but in order to clear the footwell for the passengers of the rear bench seat it had the fuel tank relocated to the rear overhang, where an auxiliary fuel tank would be featured in the 4WD versions which soldiered on from '84 to '95.
Friday, March 25, 2022
Brazilian Chevrolet S10 with underbody CNG kit and roof-mounted spare wheel
Saturday, March 05, 2022
3 reasons why it could make sense to use a copy of the Suzuki F10A engine in some versions of the Opel Corsa B
1 - easy availability: many Chinese factories still make copies of the Suzuki F10A engine, which used to be widespread in the early days of entry-level car manufacturing in China and retain a foothold in the light-duty commercial vehicle market;
2 - torque output not much worse than the Brazilian 1.0L engine: even when Chinese copies of the Suzuki F10A engine resorted to carburettors, the torque rating was roughly the same as the Brazilian 1.0L engine which resorted to a single-point electronic fuel injection at the same time;
3 - ease to overcome the more stringent rules enforced against the Guandong-based CKD assembly operations: with such an essential component being sourced inside China, qualifying for a lower taxation would remain possible for a longer time.
Wednesday, February 16, 2022
Custom-built trail rig resembling a somewhat oversized flatfender Jeep
Wednesday, February 09, 2022
Honda CBF 250/CBX 250 Twister converted into tricycle for a disabled rider
Sunday, January 16, 2022
Yamaha XTZ 150 Crosser and the front drum brake
Thursday, January 06, 2022
5 cars which had been made in Spain and could've been well suited to a Mercedes-Benz OM636 engine
2 - Ford Escort Mk.5: even though Ford's own Endura-D engine within a similar displacement range had been available in some markets on both naturally-aspirated and turbocharged trims, and actually its power and torque ratings were slightly more appealing, the Endura-D it's undeniably a maintenance nightmare due to the timing arrangement. Having the injection pump driven by a crankshaft-driven belt or duplex chain according to the version, with the overhead camshaft driven from the injection pump through another belt, it adds a considerable amount of complexity which becomes quite annoying for a conservative operator. As the 1.8L Endura-D was itself developed from the 1.6L Dagenham/LT engine designed with some input from German Diesel engines specialist Deutz, and Ford has also resorted to assistence from other automakers such as the former PSA (now Stellantis) for light-duty Diesel engines, outsourcing from either Mercedes-Benz España or the former licensee ENMASA could be suitable to address the preference for a simpler, more reliable engine. Not to mention Ford resorted to Volkswagen engines for an overwhelming majority among regional variants of the Escort Mk.5 made in Brazil and Argentina, yet none was Diesel-powered;
3 - SEAT Inca: before the Volkswagen takeover, SEAT had resorted to license-made Mercedes-Benz OM636 and OM621 engines for some of its Fiat derivatives, so there would've been some precedents to an eventual fitment of the OM636 to models developed already under Volkswagen ownership just like the Inca. On a sidenote, during Volkswagen's buyout of Auto Union from Daimler-Benz, a part of the deal was the access to development of what would become the EA827 engines range which originated the indirect-injection 1.9D and the direct-injection 1.9SDI engines fitted to the SEAT Inca;
4 - Peugeot 205: sure it would sound hard to justify outsourcing a Diesel engine when PSA had been highlighted for its own powerplants, such as the XUD7 which was offered as an option for the Peugeot 205 either naturally-aspirated or turbocharged. As the XUD7 was also part of a modular engines range which embraced both spark-ignition and Diesel options, presumably the economics of scale would mean any other approach unlikely. On the other hand, basically the fitment of Simca Poissy engines to some Spanish-made versions of the 205 could suggest otherwise, as it was made at the former Barreiros Diesel factory in Madrid;
5 - Renault 12: its Spanish variants were made under license by the former FASA-Renault, only with gasoline-powered 1.4L Renault Cléon-Fonte engines. The absence of any Diesel variant of the Renault 12 or its derivatives elsewhere could've justified the outsourcing.