classic car

  Ever heard of the Ventura? Liar. You're probably thinking of the Puma, the more common (and admittedly better-looking) Brazilian VW-Based kit car from the malaise era. In this country, where almost every Brazilian kit car is referred to as a Puma, it's almost impossible to find somebody who can identify a Ventura, and even less the extremely rare convertible version, not one of which is known to have made it to the US.

  So what exactly is the Ventura? It was a very similar design to the well-known Puma kit car in that it was a chassis based on VW 4-cylinder power cloaked in a sporty 2-door fastback body that was sold in coupe and convertible forms. Some key differences between the Ventura and Puma are styling, which can be explained by the eras in which each of these cars was launched. The Puma was launched in 1964, with styling reminiscent of Alfa Romeo convertibles that would come a few years later, as well as the Ferrari Dino and other cars. But the Ventura was launched in 1978, fourteen years later, and the auto industry was much different by then. The Venturas were influenced by the Porsche 924 and a "looking towards the eighties" interpretation of the Ferrari 308, and were much more hard-edged and bland. Underneath the differences are slight. Both cars were powered by 4-cylinder VW motors, but the Ventura had the pancake-type engine out of the Type III, unlike the Puma, which used different VW power as well as some early DKW and later Chevy-powered kits.

  The original Ventura design was produced until 1984, when a minor facelift was in order that gave it the aforementioned styling cues and a bland convertible model reminiscent of a more angled Dodge 400 was added to the range. The coupe you see in the photo is a 1984 model. There were now four versions of the car, with two engine and body configuration options. You could either get an 84-horse 1.8 motor or a 1.6, which was eliminated after 1986. Ventura decided due to slowing sales that the car was in for another chenge in 1988, though this one was much more radical. More than just a styling change, the new Ventura II was powered by a 2-liter motor and had major adjustments. Although it was supposed to be an altogether better car, the company stopped making it that same year due to floundering sales, only continuing with low-volume small-truck production, another category it had its hands in. Be wary, though and don't be too quick to tell me production of the Ventura continued after I said. Since many of the VW components used in the cars dated from the sixties and the cars were often titled a few years after they were built due to the owners taking their time with their own personal modifications to the car, the model year was hard to determine by any DMV office. Usually when you find Ventura cars, the model year will have been determined by whatever year they were titled. I've found Venturas that have been titled as 1992 model years or even later.