Corvette - veeDUB

Above: Rosewood dash sets olf well-finished interior. Steering is light and precise, with
just 2.7 turns lock-to-lock and only 40% of the car's weight on the front wheels. Small
diameter wheel increases thigh room. Below: After arrival at factory, each VW chassis is
completely disassembled preparatory to shortening operation. Output is now at 20 cars a month.
56 MOTOR TREND/ MAY 1971
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front-wheel braking is stronger than it
used to be, and much more fade-resistant,
since discs have been added. The
brakes are powerful and well-balanced.
Designed to run on 76 octane gasoline,
the P uma's home-market engine
offers only moderate performance. Built
in Brazil in 1600 cc size, it's not as
sharp and responsive in feel as the 1600
that Puma used to make out of the VW
1300 engine. Through the gears its typically
VW rumble is louder inside the
car than it should be, yet at cruising
speed (80 to 90 mph) in fourth it quiets
down nicely, enough so it's possible to
appreciate the Puma's impressively low
wind noise. T op speed is just over 100.
Like most production gearboxes annexed
for sports car use, the one in the
P uma feels short-legged in first and second
gears. T hird is very useful, though,
winding out to almost 75 mph. The shift
lever is quick and positive in use but
placed farther forward than it should
be. That lever, the central handbrake
and heater control, and the typical
pedals are the only clues inside the
Puma that it's built on the humble
Bug platform.
T he uprated export engine is used in
the cars destined for the first P uma
target market abroad: Switzerland. It
was originally to have been the United
States. To that end GTE number one
made its bow at the New York Show in
April, 1970. Puma had begun its own
development work on intake-air beating
and other measures to reduce emissions,
in spite of the tremendous difficulties
involved in even getting the equipment
needed to measure emissions, in Brazil.
This work was only partly completed
when sudden demand from the Swiss
market, with its less demanding regulations,
caused a shift in export policy.
Pumas may be coming to the U.S., but
not for a while yet.
Many subtle and practical body
changes were made during the switch
to the GTE (E for Export) Puma in
mid-1970. The lid over the front fuel
tank and small luggage compartment is
hinged at the front instead of the rear.
Curved instead of squared, the lower
corners of the windshield look better
and leak less. A compound-curved rear
window matches the body lines better
than the old flat glass, and with new
fiberglass molds, all the body lines were
sharpened and refined.
New magnesium wheels were commissioned
to match the changed bolt patterns
of the new VW chassis, and the
wheel houses were deepened to give
more jounce travel and clearance. In the
front cowl and below the rear window
are new inlets and outlets for a flowthrough
ventilation system. The former
ventilation inlets below the front bumper
are now used for front brake cooling.
Larger taillight lenses with built-in
continued on page 58