The Hofstetter Turbo is a Brazilian car created in the 1980s by

Mario Richard Hofstetter is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his cr ...

. In 1980 Hofstetter pulled out his drawing paper and started to draw a

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

of the car. Mario Hofstetter made this car at this time because the Brazilian government was very strict and didn't allow many imports into Brazil. In 1982 he started to put the mid-engined car together with some other workers, and began the Hofstetter company in 1984. Mario Hofstetter only was able to sell 18 cars throughout (1986–1991).

Performance

The Turbo featured a

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...

body with

gull-wing door In the automotive industry, a gull-wing door, also known as a falcon-wing door or an up-door, is a car door that is hinged at the roof rather than the side, as pioneered by Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, first as a race car in 1952 ( W194), and then a ...

s that was reportedly inspired by the

Alfa Romeo Carabo The Alfa Romeo Carabo is a concept car first shown at the 1968 Paris Motor Show. It was designed by Marcello Gandini, working for the Bertone design studio. The ''Carabo'' name is derived from the ''Carabidae'' beetles, as evoked by the car's i ...

concept car. The interior was upholstered in leather and featured an early digital dash. Early models of the Turbo were powered by a 1.8 L

Inline-four engine A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the ...

from the

Volkswagen Passat The Volkswagen Passat is a series of D-segment, large family cars manufactured and marketed by the Germany, German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen since 1973, and now in its eighth generation. It has been marketed variously as the Dasher, Sa ...

which was then equipped with a Garrett turbocharger and coupled to a 4-speed

manual gearbox A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission system, where gear changes ...

. These engines reportedly produced 140 hp (104.4 kW) at 5,000 rpm, and would accelerate the car from in 9.3 seconds and reach a top speed of . Later models used a 2.0 L

out of a

Volkswagen Santana The Volkswagen Santana is a nameplate used by Volkswagen for various Sedan (automobile), sedans and station wagons since 1983. The first generation is based on the second-generation Volkswagen Passat (B2). It was introduced in 1981 while producti ...

that was also turbocharged with a Garrett turbo. This engine reportedly produced 210 hp (156.5 kW) and increased the top speed to .

External links

Hofstetter Turbo at QUATRO RODAS

References

Cars of Brazil Automobiles with gull-wing doors 1980s cars Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive vehicles {{auto-stub