A Brazilian SL-Class

Posted by John Mellberg February 15, 2024

A Brazilian SL-Class

As some readers may know, Brazil closed its ports to the importation of foreign vehicles for nearly 20 years, beginning in the 1970s. At that time three major companies dominated the domestic market: Volkswagen, General Motors and Ford - with Chrysler closing its doors in the country, as well as Fiat. With the lack of competition from international models, little was invested in the diversification of market niches, leaving gaps for smaller entrepreneurs to explore their creative potential, especially to meet the demand for cars with a sporty appeal, as well as the search for alternatives of greater refinement.

Precisely because they tolerated a more spartan finish, the sporty cars were the first to leave the drawing boards of designers, conquering the Brazilian public through a recipe that would be widely used by manufacturers of low-volume cars: fiberglass bodywork on common donor cars that were easily maintained, with a wide availability of replacement parts. As one can imagine, there weren't many options to choose from among local offerings. The VW engines of the Beetle and the GM straight 6cyl. of the Opal, were the most logical choices.

Rendering of the Lafer LL

Appearing in the late 60s, the Puma was the most successful pioneer in this emerging field of the Brazilian automobile scene. Their waiting list and the public reception of their products encouraged other companies to join the game. Among them was Lafer, which had the merit of being the pioneer in the field of replicas or as some would call them, "neo-classics", with the MP Lafer. This car was even lauded in the very competitive North American market, where this type of car was much appreciated and had a loyal audience. The success of the MP, based on the lines of the MG TD and the quality of its construction, showed that it could go further.

Both the Puma and the MP Lafer utilized the air-cooled running gear of the VW Beetle, whose modest performance prevented its aficionados from enjoying a more spirited drive. But the good sales of both gave the go-ahead for the emergence of a second generation of special vehicles, with the strength of the General Motors Opal's six-cylinder engine and with the promise of a more luxurious and comfortable finish. In the mid-70s, the Puma GTB and the Santa Matilde appeared, almost simultaneously, but anyone who thought that Lafer would not follow this trend was wrong.

The Lafer LL, rear quarter view

The project brief of the Lafer LL was ambitious: to offer a select Brazilian consumer the best that could be found in other countries, a luxury coupé with sporty characteristics. The kind of thing that could no longer be brought to the southern hemisphere for legal reasons. The clear benchmark for comparison was the Mercedes SLC series, which represented the paradigm of success, a status symbol both in Germany and in the United States. From this model, the Lafer LL inherited that profile, with clean and aerodynamic lines, anticipating trends that would prevail only a decade later, in the national market.

Only five prototypes were developed, between 1976 and 1979, always with the Opal's 250-S mechanics, whose 4,100 cc straight 6-cylinder guaranteed optimal performance, given the light weight of the fiberglass body, with its 171 horsepower. As a curiosity, the numbering of these rare examples can be checked in the engine compartment, paying attention to the surface on the housing of one of the front wheels.

The Lafer LL engine bay with its GM250 Inline 6cyl.

The engine of the LL left no one in the lurch, as it had a wide range of spare parts available and was used in many of the models that GM manufactured at the time, such as the Opala and the Caravan. In addition, it accommodated a good deal of tuning, and its performance could be tailored to the customer's liking.

The Lafer prototype had an interior that, in terms of fit and finish, was commensurate with such a car. It pampered its occupants with spacious leather seats for up to four passengers, in a two-plus-two configuration, in addition to the use of fine woods in the console. Unlike other automobiles of the time, the windshield was installed flush with the bodywork, a concept that would be common only in the most advanced of cars in the era.

The Lafer LL interior with steering wheel mounted digital gauges and controls

Another of its novelties was its dashboard, which was digital and boasted red LED dials in the middle of the steering wheel. This was a rather futuristic feature, at the time exclusive to the Aston Martin Lagonda in a production car. The Lafer LL, as such, was a pioneer in this use of digital instrumentation. To give an idea of what this represented, something similar wouldn't be shown in concept cars until the Buick Wildcat concept car in the 80's, and it took until the 90's for digital gauges to appear in the steering wheels of Formula 1 cars. But some twenty years earlier, such technology was not yet fully developed, which is why conventional analog dials were ultimately adopted in the surviving prototypes.

Such complexity in the innovative details of the LL helped prevent the vehicle from being launched in series, due to the increasing amount of investment required to move the project forward. After all, Lafer did not have the capital of a large multinational to keep more than a couple of models on the market. It already had two with the MP, in the classic version and the Ti version, recently created in the same period.

A pair of Lafer LL coupes

At the beginning of the 80's, however, Miúra perfected the means to craft the combination of comfort, technology, and good performance, needed to occupy the market share that could have been destined for the LL, at least until the reopening of importation at the dawn of the following decade, which buried a majority of the Brazilian car builders.

Perhaps the Lafer LL was too ambitious and innovative for its market at the time. It was also tremendously expensive. In 1977 the Lafer LL had a USD equivalent price of roughly $17,000. Though it’s unlikely to be a clean comparison, the US price of a Mercedes-Benz 450SLC at that time was $12,750. Nevertheless, the LL should have done better than it ended up doing. The contemporary Santa Matilde and Puma GTB, also Opala-based, were produced in decent numbers for much longer than the Lafer, the last of which was produced in mid-1979.

Lafer continued production of their ersatz MG's until 1990, when Brazil would fully open its car market to imports. However, the Lafer furniture business continues to this day.

Sources:
Driven to Write

MPLafer.net