Eliminator shot and posted pics of a car that has not yet seen the light of digital pixels at CC. The Ford Pampa was built in Brazil between 1982 and 1997, and was an early exponent of the compact FWD unibody pickup there, a concept familiar to us from the VW pickup and the Dodge Rampage.
The Pampa is based on the Ford Corcel, which was a Ford in name only, as it was actually a Renault 12 dressed up in new Brazilian duds. The Corcel and its offshoots, the Belina, Del Ray and the Pampa, went through a number of iterations, and in the end, even had VW drive trains. The Pampa’s solid rear axle took it even further away from its R12 origins, but there’s still some of that Renault DNA hiding in there.
Here’s the original 1982 version. It wasn’t the first of its kind in Brazil, as the Fiat Fiorino, a 147-based mini-ute beat it to the market. But the Pampa became the best-selling coupe-utility in Brazil for some years.
It was powered by various versions of the Renault Cléon-Fonte pushrod four, an engine built in many guises from 1962-2004; one might say it was the French SBC . By 1984, Ford had developed its own variant in Brazil, dubbed the CHT. There were 997, 1341 and 1555 cc versions.
Starting in 1989, due to the Ford-VW Autolatina JV, the VW 1.8 L four was also available as the top engine option. There’s no indication as to whether that was used with VW’s transaxle; I assume so, as the 4×4 version was not available with the VW engine. Both the Renault/Ford 1.6 and the VW 1.8 were available right to the end in 1997, so there’s no telling which is under the hood of this one.
The Pampa got a 6″ wheelbase stretch to make room for a decent sized bed. Those straight-edged wheel houses look to be fabricated, not just a single large pressing like we would expect to see here.
Not much to see here…
The R12’s solid rear axle with coil springs was replaced with a solid beam axle suspended on semi-elliptic leaf springs. Load capacity was 620 kg (1367 lbs).
The familiar Ford “lamellen” (louvered) front end was essentially taken from the Del Rey, which had expired in 1991. And yes,t the front end is long, as these cars have their inline fours ahead of the front axle centerline, a key R12 feature, as well as the three lug wheels.
Ruben’s in-depth history on the Corcel is here:
Curbside Classic: 1969 Ford Corcel GT – The Confusing History Of A Multinational Brazilian Classic
It’s the 3-lug hubs that give away the Renault origins for me. There were several cars with only 3 lugs throughout history, but the first time I saw/noticed it was the Renault 5/Le Car, so 3-lug hubs will always bring Renault (and it wasn’t until later that I saw my first 2CV, so maybe French cars in general) to my mind.
Good point. I should have mentioned that in the text. A key give-away.
The correct spelling for the sedan was DEL REY
Delray was a Chevrolet trim level, but only for 1958.
That’s probably why Paul misspelled it.
Nowadays these are few and very far between. I’ve been looking for one for a long time to take pictures. Never seen one in antique car meetings, and will never see, because these are perceived as too underdog to collect.
One cousin owned a 1995 Pampa with the 1.6L. Bench seat with the 5 speed manual on the floor. He used it for 20 years to work in the farm. He told me they never had any major mechanical problem.
These are rock solid.
At the time this body style began to be built (’78) the Corcel was already about 10 years old. Everybody knew it was a R12, moreso because in Uruguay the 12 was a best seller. But from the point of view of the buyer, the car was really different. The Corcel/DEL RËY (which began production in ’80) (yes, the second E had some sort of crown in it, probably because of the REY thing) had a much larger trunk. It had those enormous doors on the Corcel and the DEL REY 2 door, which made one think of an American car, that allowed entry to the rear seat if the front occupant was relatively slim…of course, that had a cost. The rear seat was nowhere as comfortable as the R12’s. especially in leg room. Power, suspension, ride, were similar enough. The Corcel was sold with a 1.6 along the 1.4 that was the normal engine in the local 12. It had a 5 speed in 1980. And it was much better built. At least until the clutch gave up, which in my brother’s Corcel did about 3 or 4 times from brand new up to 60.000 km. He kept it for 180.000 km and 11 years, at which time he couldn’t even get a rear window. I drove it to the dealer to be traded in for a new Chevette….at 10 km/h, as the handbrake by itself wasn’t enough and the brakes had given up totally for the second time (the first time I was also driving it, in an intersection of two wide avenues, I don’t know how I managed then).
Well, so, I have very nice memories of what probably was not a very good car, but I learnt to drive in it. I probably wouldn’t be able to get in it today as it was relatively low, and its steering was very heavy, and you needed a very long arm to reach 5th….a nice car which gave out the ghost 30 years ago.
3 wheel bolts point to Peugeot Citroen Renault or pre Audax Hillman but Renault is favourite being FWD, handy little half ton ute from the look of it.
If you know what to look for there’s a definite Renault 12ness to the doors. Otherwise it looks like a unit body version of the Cortina based Ford P100 pickup.
Came here to say that – definitely R12 doors and front windows, and therefore screen frame, even if the lower corners have been pushed out
No, they’re not. There were a couple of reskinnings in the way. I’m not saying you can’t see a resemblance, but in the “flesh”, only the original 67-74 4 door Corcel was clearly identifiable as a 12 from all the angles.
78 and later models, anyway, were obvious R12s from the time you opened the hood, and not only because of the engine (which could be by the time a Ford CVH or a VW)
The first version of the Ford Corcel (1969-77) had more styling cues from the German Taunus P6 (1966-70) and the British Cortina Mk 1 (1962-70) After all, the initial design was largely modified by Ford when they acquired the project from Willys-Overland do Brasil in 1967.
The R12 had a rigid rear axle with helicoidal springs, not IRS with torsion bars in typical Renault fashion. This “was seen by many commentators as a retrograde step” when the car was launched (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_12). The change to leaf springs in the Pampa was probably very easy.
Oops. I should have looked that up.Corrected now. Thanks.
This has fulfilled my daily requirement of one vehicle I was not aware of.
Here’s Merriam-Websters definition of Pampa: “An extensive generally grass-covered plain of temperate South America east of the Andes : prairie.”
Yes, and by the way, long gone the days when many, if not most, Brazilian cars were named with portuguese/local words. VW Gol and Parati, Ford Corcel and Pampa, Chevrolet Marajó, Fiat Panorama…
Looks to me as though Ford do Brasil used the same taillights on this as they used on the F100:
That’s right, both Pampa and Brazilian F-1000 used the same tail lights from F-100.
The wheel houses are exactly what you saw. Looking at the cabin picture, the shifter knob says it is equipped with the VW 1.8L engine, which was far superior than the CHT. I drove one of these by the middle 90’s, fully loaded with camping gear and 2 girls seated abreast in the bench seat beside me. The suspension worked as a hot knife on butter. Despite being an utilitarian car, it was very smooth, as a typical Renault.
Ford Pampa’s relatives with more penaché. Here, a DelRey Scala wagon.
Ford Pampa’s relatives with more penaché. Here, a DelRey Scala wagon.
Ford Pampa’s relatives with more penaché. Here, a For DelRey Golden Edition.
Do you mean the French “panache”? In Portuguese it is “penacho” (crest for the anglophones).