Gurgel XEF

One of those cars that could've only happened to be made in Brazil during the period between '76 and '90 when an imports ban was enforced (with very few loopholes which still rendered an imported car out of reach for the average Joe), the Gurgel XEF relied on a traditional Volkswagen air-cooled engine, and most of its driveline was sourced from Volkswagen, yet it had a proprietary tube-frame wrapped by the fiberglass bodywork, which had its design inspired by the Mercedes-Benz cars of the late-'70s and early-'80s. Less than 200 were made between '82 and '86, and it had accomodation for the driver plus 2 passengers on a single row. For a 3.12m-long and 1.7m-wide car meant for city usage, it is surprisingly not as cramped as it would be supposed - I once spotted 3 guys, all of them around 2-metre tall, getting inside one of these...

Dongfeng Sokon C35 van, that Chinese minivan "inspired" on the 3rd-generation Ford Transit

Chinese automakers have had a good time in Latin America, and even some markets which used to be somewhat conservative such as Argentina also experienced a presence of Chinese-made vehicles such as the Dongfeng Sokol (DFSK) C35 van, noticeable for its design which is obviously "inspired" by the facelifted 3rd-generation Ford Transit. This model was never available in Brazil, where some other DFSK models have been imported, yet this one registered in Argentina showed up in downtown Florianópolis. On a sidenote, the C35 is originally either a 2-seater panel van or a 5-seater "crew cab" van, so the side windows fitted to this one are clearly aftermarket.

Possible Grosspal SuperVan body in a Brazilian Bumpside Ford truck?

Between the late '80s and early '90s, the Argentinian company Elio Agustín Grosso, famous for its Grosspal trucks, made an attempt to develop a full-size van similar to the American ones. Resorting to the same underpinnings of the Ford F-100 of that era, it relied on a fiberglass reinforced plastic body, and allegedly the plan was to feature a 2.4L turbocharged 4-cylinder VM Motori Diesel engine made under license by Borgward Argentina. Lighting on this bodyshell, which was assembled on a Brazilian Ford F-1000 frame, was clearly not the same featured in the original prototypes of the Grosspal SuperVan, but most of the proportions seem to be exactly the same of the Grosspal SuperVan. How did a somewhat obscure Argentinian prototype which never reached full-volume production found its way to hit the roads in Brazil, I have absolutely no idea, but the '80s and '90s were still a time when creativity was high in the field of custom trucks in Brazil.

Brazilian Ford F-85 military truck, now de-militarized

It had been well documented that Ford bought the Brazilian branch of Willys-Overland in 1967, with the Jeep range and the Aero-Willys remaining in production for a while, and more specifically the Jeep CJ range soldiered on until around 1983. There was a model specific for Brazil, meant to replace WWII-era Dodge 3/4-ton trucks, based on the Willys Pick-Up and with a more clearly visible difference being the soft-top cab with a fold-down windshield. Officially named Camioneta Militar Jeep Willys 3/4-ton 4X4 at its introduction in 1961, to be later renamed Ford F-85 while its civilian counterpart was named Ford F-75, at a first moment it had the Willys Hurricane engine in a 6-cylinder version, replaced around 1975 by the 4-cylinder Ford 2.3 OHC engine, both gasoline-powered. There were some trials in 1964 with a Perkins 4-203 Diesel engine, but it was never officially available for this model.

The one in this picture is a 1976 model, but the cargo body which used to be the same of the civilian model was replaced by one which resembles more its Dodge predecessor. And the engine was replaced by a 4-cylinder Chevrolet of the 153 series.