The Volkswagen SP2 is one of the “most from the least” sort of sports cars. Built from humble Type 3 origins in Brazil, it manages to look absolutely brilliant for the money.
With an air-cooled 1700cc engine and a Variant floorpan, the dimensions promise a front-mounted V6 or the sort, but all the 75hp business is in the back and there’s a frunk up front. But as Volkswagen-based specials come, the SP2 is simply beautiful compared to the fibreglass contemporaries one could assemble in the comfort of your own garage.
Cream body with red go-faster stripes is the classic SP2 colour scheme. Some 11 000 of the cars were assembled in Brazil up until 1976, and the main competitor was a slightly 246GT Dino -like Puma.
Porsche? E-Type? Toyota 2000GT? Somehow the SP2 brings in mind a little bit of each. And you can still see the Squareback hardware.
The interior is just as simple as the rest of the car, but evocatively styled.
It’s easy to fall to the charms of the SP2, just looking at the brochures. Finally seeing one in the metal was even better, and weird stuff like it is something you’re guaranteed to see at the Classic Motorshow.
Weekend Edition: 1973 Volkswagen SP2
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I was always intrigued by the very existence of these. It’s fascinating to imagine what might have happened if the SP2 was, hypethetically, allowed to develop in the same way as the 356 had been twenty years earlier..
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It would become a bloated luxury express that shares parts of its chassis with successful race cars?
but you are right about its mere existence: it appeared shortly before the Scirocco (1974), and must have been under development when the Audi-(to-become-Porsche-924)-EA425 was taking form on paper. Import taxes hardly brought up such nice autonomous developments here in Norway… to be fair, there were never any VW plants here.
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So tell me more about the Arna behind it!
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We can all get one of these.
Though not in 1:1 scale
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I’ve only ever seen one of these in Grosse Pointe, MI. It must have been owned by a college student so I don’t imagine it survived southeast Michigan winters. It was interesting to look at but not necessarily in a good way though the white with red stripes were striking.
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As mentioned, given this came out the year before the original Golf, it’s interesting to think of this as a good sendoff to the air-cooled era (even if it’d last, largely unchanged, for something like 35 more years).
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If I had all of the cash in the world, I’d love to import one of these from Brazil.
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Slow or not, I love love LOVE this car. Alas, I am unlikely to ever even see one in the flesh.
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WOW! Just this past weekend, at a monthly “Coffee & Chrome” Car Show, one of these was present! It was yellow just like in the photo, but minus the stripes, and had spiffier wheels! I also never expected to see one in the metal!! 🙂
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