Volkswagen SP2

The Volkswagen SP2 was a sports car developed by Volkswagen do Brasil and built from July 1972 to December 1975. It grew out of Projeto X, started in 1970 under the company head Rudolf Leiding to give the Brazilian range a sporty image, and it was the first Volkswagen to wear the shark-face nose. It used the steel backbone chassis of the Brazilian Type 3 with a long-nosed two-door hatchback coupe body and a rear 1.7 litre air-cooled flat-four engine. Sales were slow because of modest power, and 10,205 were built, 681 of them exported. A cheaper SP1 with a 1.6 litre engine sold only 88 units. Today the SP2 is a sought-after collector car.