Volkswagen SP2 – Cult Classic, Not Best Seller
June 20, 2022
It’s safe to say that Volkswagen has produced some iconic vehicles over the years. In actual fact, they are responsible for perhaps the most famous car ever made, but there are other, lesser-known gems in its back catalogue. Cars that haven’t experienced the same insane levels of success or recognition that a certain insect-inspired runabout has enjoyed, which is strange considering just how capable the company was, and still is at producing popular, well-engineered machinery. But then when the car in question is built for a very small market segment the story become a little easier to understand. Yep, we’re talking about the VW SP2.
You’d be forgiven for not knowing too much about this particular coupé from the German giant as it was never meant for a wider audience, being built, as it was, solely for the good people of Brazil. This wasn’t a case of sticking a pin randomly in a map, however. Volkswagen’s relationship with Brazil dates back to the ’50s when it built a manufacturing plant near São Paulo – its first outside of Germany – in order to circumvent the country’s ban on the import of completely assembled vehicles in 1950. It was an important market for the company and by the time the SP2 came about in 1973 VW was well established in South America.
Not only was the SP2 incongruous to the swathe of domestically produced vehicles in Brazil at the time, it was also somewhat contradictory to Volkswagen’s own output. At the time, VWs were distinctly less, how shall we say, sleek. It was the early ’70s, and the company was still churning out Beetles and vans and we wouldn’t see the likes of the more streamlined Scirocco coupé until a year later. So what prompted this foray into sports car territory? Volkswagen designed it on purpose to look completely different to pretty much anything else that was available at the time in a bid to make it as alluring as possible for Brazilian car buyers.
Dubbed ‘Project X’ and based off of the Volkswagen Type 3 in a bid avoid building a brand new car from the ground up to keep costs down, the first incarnation, the SP1, featured a 1.6-litre flat-four air-cooled boxer engine which only produced a paltry 65 horsepower. This was rather dichotomous with the car’s Itlaian-esque, low slung aesthetic. In other words it was all show and no go. VW attempted to address this issue after just 80 or so SP1s had rolled out of the factory by enlarging the engine’s displacement to 1.7-litres, therefore upping the power to 75bhp. It wasn’t a huge leap by any stretch but it was better than nothing and the SP2 officially went into production.
With around a 16 second 0-60 time straight line performance was still pretty uninspiring but boy did it look good. More akin to the output of Alfa Romeo at the time than Volkswagen the low and slow SP2 was certainly a looker which ever way you cut it. Unfortunately looks alone does not a sports car make and sales were slow due to the lack of grunt. Nevertheless, the SP2 remains a gorgeous piece of machinery and if you can get over the absence of any real performance and enjoy the car for what it is; a rare, beautifully styled head-turner, then you’re sure to enjoy it immensely, along with every other passer by that claps their eyes on the thing.
The interior is a little cramped and although there isn’t a huge amount of space in the cabin the low-slung seating position does give the impression of a more sportier character than the performance figures would suggest. A four-speed manual gearbox was a good decision too and the car was pretty lightweight and fun to drive despite the lack of power. Sadly the SP2 was never brought over to Europe. VW were moving away from its traditional air-cooled, rear wheel-drive format in favour of a new front wheel-drive, water-cooled direction and we got the Scirocco instead. A great car, don’t get us wrong but how cool would it have been to be able to pop down to the local VW dealership and pick up a brand new SP2? Very is the answer you’re looking for. And if it was offered with a more powerful engine, well, it could have been a huge success.
SP supposedly stands for São Paulo in a nod to the car’s birthplace but it soon gained the rather unfortunate nickname of ‘Sem Potência’ which translates as ‘without power’. Harsh, but fair. The fact of the matter remains though, the SP2 is probably the prettiest car VW has ever made, and we’ll die on that hill. Of the 11,000 or so built over its four-year production run only a small percentage remain. The body was made of steel and as such was rather prone to rust and many an SP2 has returned to the earth from whence it came, only exacerbating that rarity factor. Despite low volumes it’s without doubt still a characterful, charismatic coupé that deserves recognition, if not for those gorgeous looks alone.
At the time of writing there’s currently a 1975 VW SP2 available via the Car & Classic classifieds with a mere 23K on the clock. Tempted? We certainly are. And if you miss out on this one, you can keep an eye out for another listed amongst all current Volkswagens for sale.
