Michael Satterfield
Unveiled in 1970 at the Ibero-American Exhibition in Seville, Spain, the Puma GTE was a hit. Based on the Volkswagen Brasilia, side windows, flashes above the front bumper of the same shape of the headlights, with styling that looks more at home in Italy. This Brazilian Sports Car is no kit and this one is my personal GTE.
The Puma GTE was built between 1970 and 1980. This model was based on the Puma GT that started production in 1968, the letter “E” added to the nomenclature means “export”.
The Puma GT was created on a farm in Matão, São Paulo, by Gennaro “Rino” Malzoni, due to restrictions on importing foreign cars to Brazil. He wanted to create a Gentleman’s Sports Car that an average person could afford. These cars were distributed: in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Haiti, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, United States, South Africa, Japan, Italy, Greece, Germany, and the Middle East. Over 8,000 export models were built. (The cars pictured here was owned by me a few years ago, after a light restoration the red car was sold to a collector in New York, the Silver Car was sold as a roller to another collector in California.)
