Brazil Mopar Nats 2010 !!!
LH23H2R,
Here in Brazil we had a quite different marketing tag for the Darts because they were considered some "luxury & expensive cars" for Brazil, that's why they had some changes from the original project that was made in the USA.
The Chrysler factory started life back in 1959 at São Bernardo do Campo, SP when Simca Motors was able to build their own cars. Eight years after Chrysler bought the Simca lines here and refurbished the old "Vedette" car, rebadging it "Esplanada".
Here's a factory picture of the car:
And here's the first Chrysler of Brazil headquarters shot:
This car had a two-year's life and was dismissed in flavour of the 1969 Dodge Dart, the exact car that was made in the US market at that time. The only configuration possible here was the four-door sedan with the 318 V8 engine and the classic three-on-the-tree trans combo.All stuff was locally made, including the engine, a very few parts came from the US.
Here are some pics from the very starting, taken back in 1969.
The upholstery being installed:
The final assembly line:
The water inflitration test in the final assembly:
The production on the pillarless coupé started back in the end of 1970, again using the 1969 american project.
Here's a shot taken from the very first model in front of the factory with some brazilian staff workers:
And here's a picture taken from inside the assembly line, back in 1973 when Chrysler started the small Dodge 1800 lineup as you may see a rolling body in the left (in US market this one was dubbed as the Plymouth Cricket):
This brazilian factory was again sold to Volkswangenwerk only ten years after, in 1979, and again the Dodge lineup products stopped production in early 1981. By that time they produced exactly 92.492 Darts in all configurations, including the variants like the Charger, Magnum & LeBaron types. This was made in favour of building the first VW trucks in the world, these were started by early 1981 too.
The truck production line was transfered to a brand new location at Resende, Rio de Janeiro VW plant in early 2000 and the original Chrysler buildings were put on sale. They finally sold all abandoned complex in 2004 and after two years later they finally put all buildings down. Today this place held a huge deposit for a local department store.
These pictures were taken by some very good fellas that could go inside the empty buildings just some days before the plant was finally dismantled.
Today this exact place held a huge deposit for a local department store.
LH23H2R,
Here in Brazil we had a quite different marketing tag for the Darts because they were considered some "luxury & expensive cars" for Brazil, that's why they had some changes from the original project that was made in the USA.
The Chrysler factory started life back in 1959 at São Bernardo do Campo, SP when Simca Motors was able to build their own cars. Eight years after Chrysler bought the Simca lines here and refurbished the old "Vedette" car, rebadging it "Esplanada".
Here's a factory picture of the car:
And here's the first Chrysler of Brazil headquarters shot:
This car had a two-year's life and was dismissed in flavour of the 1969 Dodge Dart, the exact car that was made in the US market at that time. The only configuration possible here was the four-door sedan with the 318 V8 engine and the classic three-on-the-tree trans combo.All stuff was locally made, including the engine, a very few parts came from the US.
Here are some pics from the very starting, taken back in 1969.
The upholstery being installed:
The final assembly line:
The water inflitration test in the final assembly:
The production on the pillarless coupé started back in the end of 1970, again using the 1969 american project.
Here's a shot taken from the very first model in front of the factory with some brazilian staff workers:
And here's a picture taken from inside the assembly line, back in 1973 when Chrysler started the small Dodge 1800 lineup as you may see a rolling body in the left (in US market this one was dubbed as the Plymouth Cricket):
This brazilian factory was again sold to Volkswangenwerk only ten years after, in 1979, and again the Dodge lineup products stopped production in early 1981. By that time they produced exactly 92.492 Darts in all configurations, including the variants like the Charger, Magnum & LeBaron types. This was made in favour of building the first VW trucks in the world, these were started by early 1981 too.
The truck production line was transfered to a brand new location at Resende, Rio de Janeiro VW plant in early 2000 and the original Chrysler buildings were put on sale. They finally sold all abandoned complex in 2004 and after two years later they finally put all buildings down. Today this place held a huge deposit for a local department store.
These pictures were taken by some very good fellas that could go inside the empty buildings just some days before the plant was finally dismantled.
Today this exact place held a huge deposit for a local department store.
