(first posted 12/18/2016) I’ve been hoping to see a Chevy Veraneio appear at the Cohort, and since it’s almost Christmas, my wish has come true, thanks to Alberto Simon. The Veraneio is one of the more fascinating South American alternate-universe mobiles, mostly due to its unusual styling, which clearly has GM design elements of the early 60s era. The lip over the top of the windshield evokes the Chevy/GMC trucks from 1959-1966. And the rear upper greenhouse has a Chevy II wagon vibe to it. I suppose one could even peg the unusual B Pillar back to the 1938 Cadillac 60 Special; or is that over-reach? In any case, it’s pretty unique.
Just like the Suburban, the Veraneio was based on the Brazilian C10 pickup, which first appeared in 1964. I assume its frame and chassis followed the US version pretty closely, but detailed specs are not easy to come by. The engines were the old-school 235 and 261 sixes.
Here’s a shot of the C10 interior and dash, which was undoubtedly also used in the Varaneio.
And a look at the C10 rear end. Its bed used wood planks like the US version.
There was also this double-cab version. It looks very much like a Japanese truck of the era, but larger.
Discover Brazil in a Varaneio! Sounds good to me.
This Varaneio is sporting flat black and dual exhausts. At some point in the Varaneio’s long run (1964-1988), the newer Chevy six replaced the old one. And the grille changed numerous times. But other than that, the changes were minimal.
Alberto said this one is from the 1980s. I’ll take his word on that.
The Varaneio was eventually replaced in 1989, by the new generation. Look oddly familiar, but not quite?
*Very* cool ! .
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My first glance made me think ‘ older Toyota but I can see the styling elements your mention .
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-Nate
The grill on the Varaneio in the last photo reminds me of a Ford F-150 from the ’86 to ’91 era.
Obviously it’s a Ford S-10 Suburban 150.
That Veraneio has so much weirdness of line(s) there must be Dodge DNA in the mutt too.
My first impression as well, also with elements of Ranger and Econoline. The earlier version says ’73-’77 F100 in the front quarters and the C10 has 1st gen Bronco in the rear quarters.
I was just thinking that–’74-’91 Suburban, with taller rear windows, and the nose of an ’87 to ’91 F-150, with a bowtie instead of a blue oval.
Looks like an older Transit to me:
What a great alternate universe pickup based on my old ’65 C10 I had in HS.
The single cab pickup really looks great.
I really like the Veraneio. My first thought is that it has a sort of International Harvester TravelAll look about it. I think one of these would look very cool slightly hot rodded. Now the $64 (217 Real) Question: I wonder how compatible the brakes and other running gear are with U.S. models from the same era? I mean, you can drop a SBC in anything; it’s all the peripheral stuff that ends up being a headache.
A semi-related question: Did the GM products of the day use SAE nuts and bolts, or were they metric?
Since the older C10 became quite collectible here in Brazil, I’ve seen a lot of them with a SBC under the hood. Believe me, the engine fits perfectly you can even bolt it on the original tranny but most owners adopted a TH 350/400 instead. Most of the bolts on those trucks are SAE
What a great vehicle! Imagine showing up at the local, weekend car show in one of these. You could tell them it’s a one-off International Travelall prototype.
Early 1960s GM design cues? Try Mopar and Studebaker. That dual-cab looks like a Studie Lark, and the top photo immediately made me think of a ’61 Dodge Lancer station wagon, at least in the greenhouse.
Muito bom.
I could have pegged that orange standard cab pickup as a Studebaker, except for the fact that the bed sides actually match the cab.
Great looking vehicle. Found this pic on Wikipedia which shows the front end.
The earliest example of that unusual B pillar that I can think of is the Duesenberg “Twenty Grand”. Cadillac used it later in the thirties and again in the seventies.
I wonder why they didn’t just use US Suburban body panels. Presumably it sits on an identical frame (maybe not?), so why go through the exercise of designing and building a new exterior?
The second-gen Veraneio is clearly a simpler design than the equivalent Suburban, so I can see why it would’ve been used in the Brazil market (cheaper). I’m no expert in old Suburbans, but I don’t see a big difference for the 1st gen version.
The Suburban of that vintage was only a two-door. I suspect the Brazilians wanted a full four door.
Obviously, the 1964 Brazilian C10 also had new styling too.presumably the 1959 styling of the then-current American Chevy trucks was a bit too out of date for them. So they gave it some new locally-sourced skin. I suspect it wasn’t all thta expensive to do so. And they had plenty of time to amortize it, since these trucks were built until 1988.
The styling of the ’64 US model seems more handsome to me, but maybe that’s just familiarity–this one certainly isn’t homely. But I do wonder why, if they share a frame and running gear, they didn’t just wait until ’67 and standardize it with the home market truck? That seems like it could have paid dividends in the long term. I understand that they had to produce locally because of market restrictions, but you’d think they could have saved R&D dollars by not producing an entirely separate truck.
From 1965 to 1968 the Veraneio vas named C-1416.
That front end looks to have a bit of a 1961 Dodge vibe to it.
And the 1964 pickup was the C-14
As far as I could find out, the grille is the third and final version – the pic posted by Joe is the second, and that’s late sixties and seventies; so I presume it must be 80’s unless the owner changed the grille – the Veraneio remained virtually unchaged until the very end, but has a sort of bad rep because it was so widely used by the different police departments or rather the repression apparatus during the military regime which lasted from 1964 till 1985 – to see a Veraneio was always a mixed feelings event: nice vehicle but beware of its occupants!
I am almost certain I’ve seen at least one photo of a Veraneio with rectangular composite headlamps. Or was that a custom job?
The lines of the featured era one are just screaming for someone to give it the dual cowl treatment, cut off the roof above the driver and put a windshield that follows the rear door’s front pillar.
Amazing to see that the Brazilians went for totally different sheetmetal on the pickup in ’64. At first I thought it was just a reskin, but the cab greenhouse is totally different. Wonder what the GM Design Staff thought of these?
The one in the first picture reminds me of and overgrown Studebaker Lark SW and the 5th picture reminds me a Studebaker Champ PU.
Wow does that last picture look exactly like one of those late 80s centurion bronco 4 door conversions
Seeing these foreign GM vehicles for the first time is like spotting a space alien. Intriguing and odd but still so cool. I love seeing them! No, I haven’t seen a space alien, I’m just guessing how it would feel….
The second grille.
Something very odd, but in a very cool way.
I don’t care for the four-door, because it looks like a bad kit-bash, but the regular cab is awesome, and I’d like to have one – that’s just my style!
This is really cool – I like the flat black on the feature Veraneio . For some reason, though, it reminds me of what might happen if an early 60’s Studebaker truck bread with a Jeep Wagoneer.
The 1989 replacement looks like a generic SUV straight out of Grand Theft Auto V.
How long was the bed on these pickups? Looks longer than 6.5′, but not quite 8′.
Saw this one in Sao Paulo, was told it was a 77. They appeared to be a bit smaller than US C/K trucks in person.
The bronze one in the advertisement has a bit of an Opel appearance.
Saw these all over South America in the 1980’s …… in every form imagineable……
So thoroughly utilitatarian !
Leaving aside the styling, this is yet another example of Detroit’s contradictory Not Invented Here syndrome.
Detroit grudgingly copied various types and sizes of vehicles from foreign examples after OTHER foreign makers forced their hand. But all of those types and sizes were already made by foreign branches of the SAME American companies. Copying from their OWN Brazilian or Australian or British division was unthinkable. Copying from VW or Toyota was permissible. Makes no sense.
I remember those from my visit to Brazil in 1978 and they are indeed smaller than the Chevy/GMC trucks from 1959-1966. I would not be surprised to discover not even the chassis is interchangeable. Understandable given that everything was – generally – one or even two sizes down over there when compared with the US. I like them – they would be better suited for our roads here in Austria than a full size US pickup and look very nice when modified, see below:
https://revistacarro.com.br/chevrolet-veraneio-um-suv-politicamente-correto/
According to the brochure, these models sat on the same 115″ or 127″ WB as the C/K-Series, and they were definitely full-size trucks, with 78″ body width and room for three (or more, if you were skinny) in the cab. But the styling isn’t as bulky.
http://storm.oldcarmanualproject.com/chevroletc101972.htm