Approximately 22,000 Pumas that were built world-wide and they were produced in Brazil and South Africa. Some were imported with bits missing to sidestep the rules, but they were not “kits” as such. They were produced with DKW parts at first and later switched to VW. Find this 1982 Puma GTI here on craigslist out of Boston, Massachusetts for $10K. It appears that in 1982 Puma had planned to produce 1,000 units, but only 55 were produced that year.
The owner says this is a high output custom 1,640 c.c. engine with a free flow GT exhaust is now installed.
The dash appears to be in order. There isn’t an image of the seats.
We like the clean lines and the panels/paint look to be in good order. Nick, the owner, says he is only taking phone calls, no emails. So if you wish to see this rare Puma please give Nick a call.
Motor-on,
Robert
Cool car but having a VW Beetle engine kills it for me. It will always sound like a VW air cooled, no matter what exhaust you put on it. Maybe a VR6 upgrade would be a cool option?
I agree with Dan h…..to me it’s nothing more than a re bodied VW Beetle
If you consider the Puma a re-bodied Beetle, what do you call a 356, or 912 Porsche?
Rik… you obviously don’t know anything about the 356 Porsches… or the 912 chassis.
I have always liked these.
And you can make a vw engine sound great!
I have heard these actually handle well.
Nice find!!
I like the size and body design on these. Of all the microproduction fiberglas bodied cars with Beetle engines this is probably the only one I would ever own. I could live with the VW engine since I owned a ’60s Beetle once, so it’s not out of the question, especially if it was rodded correctly. But unfortunately we don’t get to see the engine actually installed in the car. If it was, why show the engine sitting on a bench and that dopey picture of dual carbs floating in space?
I’m not sure where Robert got the $10K price since there isn’t a price in the listing now. Maybe the guy saw it on here and pulled the price because he wants a lot more $$$ now.
Trouble is, buying the car from this guy would spoil it for me forever. All those CAPITAL LETTERS and! the!! EXCLAMATION!!! MARKS!!!!
And Vroooom!!! Vroooom!!! ? Buddy, if a car isn’t going to appeal to a guy, putting Vroooom!!! in the listing isn’t likely to change that.
And “A Ferrari 308 REAR DESIGN”…Really? Is that what this car has going for it? Maybe the interior is nice and the trunk is clean and the title is clear and it has low miles and a stack of service receipts. Maybe, but while we get told about the Ferrari rear end, which it doesn’t resemble much, we don’t get any information on all that stuff.
Dolphin,
At the bottom of the CL ad “Nick ..priced at ten thousand..no emails..just call..thanks”
Thanks Robert. I see it now.
I guess I need to learn to focus on details better.
+1 what dolphin wrote
This car has been for sale within the past couple of years and for about half the price. Puma made a few models and the VW based version was probably the highest in production volume. It certainly is a neat little car with all variations of production having nice styling. Having a VW engine and chassis is not a shortcoming for a car of this size and vintage especially with all the goodies available. If a Beetle was such a poor basis the manufacture of Speedster, 356 coupe, Roadster and Spyder 550S models the market would have died years ago. A good Speedster replica will fool 95% of the people that see it.
Interesting model designation. A GTI with a VW engine would make one think of an n injected engine, and I doubt this one would ever have had that.
I love these Pumas and have watched the handful that come up for sale once in a blue moon. I too can do without the VW flat four and would love to see how hard it would be to upgrade the car with a Porsche aircooled 6 and 5spd transaxle. A Porsche drivetrain would give this car the power to go with the good looks.