The Puma is a Brazilian sports car built between 1964 and 1992. The first Pumas were built strictly for racing, but it was not long before they were being built for street use. Pumas were sporadically imported into the U.S. during the 1970's and 1980's  in kit form. Less restrictive regulations permitted the import and marketing of Pumas in Europe (through a distributor in Switzerland), Canada, Australia, Latin America, and South Africa.

Production of the PUMA began in 1964 using DKW components. In 1967 production switched from the DKW front-engine front-wheel drive to the classic 4 cylinder VW air-cooled rear-engine rear-wheel drive. This engine was perfect for this great car. It was inexpensive and easy to work on, easy to maintain, and with little effort it could turn into a powerful engine.

The two-seater packed many luxury items for its time, including fully reclining seats and leather trimmed 3-spoke steering wheel. The instrument panel provides all needed information to the driver: 200 Km/h speedometer (120mph), 6,000 rpm tachometer, oil pressure and temperature gauges, trip odometer, gas gauge, emergency warning lights, windshield washer, a clock, and windshield wipers. Controls for headlamps flash and directional lights are in the steering wheel column.

The car is powered by the incredibly reliable air-cooled 1.6 VW engine fueled by twin Solex carburetors and matted to a 4-speed manual transmission. This makes it a fun car to drive. The car is fitted with front-disc brakes and drums in the rear. Suspension is traditional VW: 2-torsion bars and 2-double-action telescopic shock absorbers in both front and rear.

Until its closing down in 1992, Puma made 21,595 cars: hardtops (GTE and GTI) and convertibles (GTS and GTC). Of those, only 7,077 GTSs were made. Puma also made trucks and another sports car (GTB) based on GM technology.

The VW Pumas were extremely successful and a cult-following developed over the years as the number of web sites around the world attest. There are numerous sites in the US -- prominent among them VW PUMA PAGE which carries a Puma registry; in Germany; in South Africa; and of course in Brazil -- PUMA CLUB BRASIL and CLUBE DO PUMA. These sites contain lots of information about this great sports car, pictures, and links to articles and to other sites of interest. You can even find a Puma entry in the Wikipedia Encyclopedia.

Among the hundreds of articles available about the Puma, these two are of particular interest The Brazilian Corvette published in Motor Trend in May 1971 by Karl Ludvigsen and WildKatze published in the German Magazine VW Speed in August 2002.