Honestly I really think that my video portion needs to be worked on. Here’s the kicker though, from the amount of people I had read my submission script, everyone of them said that it sounded exactly like a donut script.
I will be editing it and changing it for my own use. I just wanted to post this somewhere as proof that it is my intellectual property.
I applied on 9/17/19 and was finally rejected 1/14/2020 and this is what I wrote:
Only the most hardcore Volkswagen fans know this little Ferrari/Porsche looking nugget that came out of Brazil. The Brazilian government during the 1970’s told everyone who wanted to import things “nuh uh. Can’t let you in.” So this made it so some interesting cars only popped up in Brazil and few have made it out. The SP2 was designed by a cool guy you’ve never heard about. Let’s talk about him.
Marcino Piancastelli.
He was born in 1936 and his father owned a furniture factory. Little Marcino honed his design skills until the day he entered a design competition that he won with a sports car idea named the Itapuan. (Whisper) It looked kinda like the SP2 but mostly like the first generation Corvette mixed with a type III. for winning that contest his prize was
-Dumb guy- “Pop up headlights?” (start the song and then cut it.)
No. No I wish. Not pop up headlights. A trip to italy to intern with, guess who? GHIA! Our little boy. No our man Marcino went off to work with coachbuilders after working with furniture. Soon his year with Ghia too quickly came to an end but not before he designed a concept car called the Pian GT.
He Moved back to Brazil and was hired by Willys-Overland, there he worked on ‘Project M’. Willys-Overland got bought out by none other than FERD in 1967. That ‘Project M’ would become the Ford Corcel. He left before it was finished and went to Volkswagen which is where he really made a name for himself. In 1969 his Project was redesigning the VW type III. He made it more Brazilian? That’s the best way to put it. He cleaned up some body lines and used his signature headlight bucket style. The head of VW Brazil, Rudolf Leiding liked it so much he gave the team a bonus out of his own pocket.
His next Project was to create a car that was going to be competing with VW based Puma. Another Brazilian sports car. Named the Puma. Sick right?
Well the SP2 is cooler. Way cooler all because VW Brazil liked to be different. That’s right, they stuck it to the man. The man being Wolfsburg.
The Sp2 was coined as ‘Project X’. And you know what, It should’ve been called weapon X. Love you Wolverine. Anything with an X in it is cool as hell. (Xylophone solo ensues.) INCLUDING XYLOPHONES.
The SP2 was presented as a prototype in 1971 but It wouldn’t be in production until 1972. Originally the car had a whopping 1600cc engine but would later have a dual carb 1700cc engine that put out a crazy 75 hrsepwrs in all of its models. It garnered a lot of media attention for its better than usual local Brazilian air cooled cars.
Its name was Offiacally noted as the Sao Paulo but the Brazilians nicknamed it the “Sem Potência” which is Portuguese for ‘Without power’. This things was slow AF. The slowest sports car with its 75 hrsepwrs sending it from 0-60 at a blistering 16 seconds.
The car may have been slow but it was gorgeous. Low slung, ultra long hood, beautiful interior with such a gorgeous sloping fastback shape that even Porsches are envious of. If it had a pointy nose and pop u p headlights it would’ve been a Ferrari.
The problem that brought about the Sp2’s downfall was its performance. The puma was lighter and faster even though it was basically the same platform. All because it was fiberglass.
Sales dwindled and production ended in 1976 with a final number of 11,123 produced. (wipe away a fake tear.)
That wasn’t the end for our man Marcino. He went on to build the VW Brasilia. It was originally supposed to replace the Volkswagen beetle. A journalist was even shot trying to get spy shots of that car.
The sort of spiritual successor could be the porsche 924. The Rear end is decently reminiscent with the overly large bubbly look.
Just recently a Group of Mechanical Automotive design students from FEI college based their final major project on it. They tasked themselves on recreating a “retro car”.
The group members Rafael Tardelli, Fernando Piaya, Rafael Juncioni, Flavio Koiti, Sebastián Honbono and Marco Diniz looked at a few different cars. Just to name a few: Camaro, Mustang, and the Morris Mini. They ended up deciding on the Brazilian born VW SP2.
They wanted to create a design that could potentially be built. They aimed to keep the car about the same height and size. Due to today’s safety standards the car got a lot more bulky and the bumpers much larger.
One could say it got buff.
The plans were to put an engine into it that would kill the cars old nickname and make SP stand for “Super Performance.” instead. It would be mid-engined with similarities to the Muria.
With space for luggage in the frunk and a small space in the rear all I can think is a freaking C8 competitor or a supra competitor if it were to be produced? It most likely be badged under Porsche or Audi if it were to be built.
The SP2 paved the way for the 924 and we can only help that it may be resurrected under this new guise that this design team conceptualized.
That’s the short history of the Volkswagen Sp2 that we hope gets the chance to grow. Grow like the love in my heart for all of you viewers.
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Obviously you can see where I need to change things.
- Vince
Clutch Out Media 