Growing up in South America

I grew up in Uruguay where Beetles were a common sight; my first encounter with them was in 1952 when my father bought a brand new split window. He kept it till 1966 when he took delivery of a new 1300 beetle and not knowing what to do with the old one he gave it to me, I was 16 at the time therefore not legally able to drive it. But South America being what it is (any thing goes) did not stop me and for 2 years I drove the car to school. On turning 18 my father decided that the old beetle was not what a youngster must drive so he gave me his battleship grey 1966 beetle with hardly any mileage on it. The old Beetle was pension off to my grandfather garage already containing his discarded 1937 Cord, 1949 Cisitalia and 1953 Porsche 356. By then he was driving his fourth car a Mk2 jaguar.

The grey Beetle served me well for many years but I wanted something a bit sportier so I bought a 1948 Morgan. What I did not know was that somebody fitted a Renault front suspension. Obviously it handled so badly that I went back to my old Beetle.

The beetle and the Morgan were put on storage with the rest of the old family cars.

The Porsche was not in very good condition specially the in the engine department. Due to lack of spare parts I decided to try the engine from my 66 Beetle, it worked.

Picture #1 (location Montevideo Uruguay) shows the car at the beginning of my ownership with square taillights and early VW bumper bars. My grandfather was an early convert to the "cal look" and therefore he dropped the front and fitted very hard shocks. The result was that this car really handled.

As time went by I decided to say farewell to my bachelor life and to get married. By then the 66 beetle's engine was very tired so my future wife and I decided to have our honey moon in Brazil and at the same time get a new Brazilian engine. The day before the wedding a garbage truck hit my open driver's door folding it 45 degrees. Luckily an old panel beater was able to fix it so I could close it again. By then the car was in 2 colours: the original silver and a brownish red "rust stopper paint"

Brazilian scenery was magnificent somehow similar to Tahiti, the temperature was high (November -December is the beginning of Brazilian summer) mixed with short heavy rains

Coming from Uruguay where most cars were imported and of some vintage, Brazil was a surprise: only new Brazilian cars were visible: Beetles, DKW's, Simcas, Alfa Romeo, Wyllie, Renault Alpine etc. (locally called interlagos) etc.

	Picture #2 (location close to Porto Alegre Brazil) by that time the car had "proper" taillights and bumper bars from a 1500 after shortening.
	Picture #3 we made it to the VW workshop in Porto Alegre where the transplant was going to take place
	Picture #4 the transplant in progress
	Picture #5 the transplant was a success and the proud doctors’ pose with the patient ready to continue. (Note Brazilian VW van)
	Picture #6 shows a Puma with standard VW chassis and fibreglass body
	Picture #7 shows a Brazilian Karmann Ghia Mk 2 (as far as I know their Mk 1 was the standard Karmann Ghia)
	Picture #8 shows a VW SP-2 steel body and factory made.
	Picture #9 shows a DKW "munga" again Brazilian made and 4 x 4. I understand that in the early 50's the German army opened a tender for the supply of a German manufactured "jeep", this model was chosen over Porsche own version of a 50's Kublewagen
	Picture #10 was taken few years later; it shows the 2 doors Brazilia that had influences from the Passat and the 412 with a rear beetle 1600 motor

Brazilian VW’s are interesting and some even good looking unfortunately the Brazilian operation never heard of the word quality. Brazilian VW’s rust badly because they do not undercoat them properly and the steel gauge used seem to be thinner than the German product. Their engines have a very short life (my engine lasted 3 years and the clutch only one)

The Porsche, the Morgan, jaguar Mk 11 and the 66 beetle were kept till the 80's when we migrated to Australia. The guy who bought the Porsche is still restoring it after almost 20 years of ownership.

The Cisitalia we sold it to an Italian friend and he uses it on vintage car races in Europe.

Growing up in South America.