Tag: cars

Fusca farming?

Welcome to Life among the Easily Amused.™

At our dog-walk takeoff spot, a nondescript lot has been divided between siblings. The kid* Pablo moved in a rather hideous container, obviously offensive to his neighbor—name unknown but friendly (and has poured money into his property)—who then raised his reasonable wall (A) to a pretty-sure-this-doesn’t-meet-code extreme height (B) to extinguish any view of Pablo’s architectural adventures from his home.

VW Beetles are called fuscas here. The origins of this name go back to how Germans pronounce Volkswagen, which sounds more like “folksvahgen.” That, shortened and pronounced in Brazilian Portuguese, morphed into “fusca.” (source). And Pablo had a rotting old white fusca that one can only guess he imagined bringing back to life one day, an amusingly ambitious idea.

Then, a couple weeks ago, what to our wondering eyes should appear but another rotting white fusca! A mate! A team? A farm?

Stay tuned.

Oh, and by the way, Pablo doesn’t live there, and has a drum set he’s (sort of) learning to play.

*context: anyone under 30

Sweet!

Suddenly, in front of Syd and Gundy’s twice-reroofed-and-sided no-design neighbors’ house, an immaculate 1980s Mercedes 450SL. One of many curiosities swirling about the beginning of this strange new year.

[Note to self: turn off flash.]

A classic

I guess. 1966 Chrysler station wagon. Just parked in front of somebody’s nothing-special house.

Coming home along the Rambla (beach road) I passed a mid-50s Chevy with mag wheels following a mid-50s Ford T-bird. Special day today? It’s fathers day in the US, but not here for another three weeks.

Simca

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I don’t think the Simca we saw parked in the woods today is en route to restoration. This model was the best-selling car in France in 1956.

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Simca (Société Industrielle de Mécanique et Carrosserie Automobile; Mechanical and Automotive Body Manufacturing Company) was a French automaker, founded in November 1934 by Fiat and directed from July 1935 to May 1963 by Italian Henri Pigozzi. Simca was affiliated with Fiat and, after Simca bought Ford’s French activities, became increasingly controlled by the Chrysler Group. In 1970, Simca became a subsidiary and brand of Chrysler Europe, ending its period as an independent company. Simca disappeared in 1978, when Chrysler divested its European operations to another French automaker, PSA Peugeot Citroën. PSA replaced the Simca brand with Talbot after a short period when some models were badged as Simca-Talbots.

During most of its post-war activity, Simca was one of the biggest automobile manufacturers in France. The Simca 1100 was for some time the best-selling car in France, while the Simca 1307 and Simca Horizon won the coveted European Car of the Year title in 1976 and 1978, respectively—these models were badge engineered as products of other marques in some countries. For instance the Simca 1307 was sold in Britain as the Chrysler Alpine, and the Horizon was also sold under the Chrysler brand.

Simca vehicles were also manufactured by Simca do Brasil in São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil, and Barreiros (another Chrysler subsidiary) in Spain. They were also assembled in Australia, Chile, Colombia and the Netherlands during the Chrysler era. In Argentina, Simca had a small partnership with Metalmecánica SAIC (better known as de Carlo) for the production of the Simca Ariane in 1965.