The Santa Matilde, or SM4.1, is a

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

designed and produced in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

by Companhia Industrial Santa Matildeauto katalog, modelljahr 1991, page 85 between 1977 and 1997.

Conception

Equipped with tuned versions of the

Chevrolet Opala The Chevrolet Opala is a Brazilian executive car sold under the Chevrolet brand in South America from 1969 to 1992, by General Motors do Brasil. It was derived from the German Opel Rekord Series C, Opel Commodore Series A, but used local design ...

engine, the first prototype was revealed at the 1976 Salão do Automóvel de São Paulo as one of the most expensive and luxurious cars in the country at the time. It featured items like retractable bumpers,

power window Power windows or electric windows are automobile windows which can be raised and lowered by pressing a button or switch, as opposed to using a crank handle. History Packard had introduced hydraulic window lifts (power windows) in fall of ...

s, hidden

radio antenna In radio engineering, an antenna or aerial is the interface between radio waves propagating through space and electric currents moving in metal conductors, used with a transmitter or receiver. In transmission, a radio transmitter supplies an ...

cassette player A cassette deck is a type of tape machine for playing and recording audio cassettes that does not have a built-in power amplifier or speakers, and serves primarily as a transport. It can be a part of an automotive entertainment system, a part of a ...

, retractable

seat belt A seat belt (also known as a safety belt, or spelled seatbelt) is a vehicle safety device designed to secure the driver or a passenger of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result during a collision or a sudden stop. A seat belt reduc ...

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hogs, ...

seats with fine adjustment and

air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

. The project was run by engineer Humberto Pimentel Duarte and former pilot and race-car tuner Renato Peixoto. The body design came from Humberto's daughter Ana Lídia and was not based on any previous car, although a few details were inspired by many car models.

Characteristics

The Santa Matilde has 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 reinforced with

polyester Polyester is a category of polymers that contain the ester functional group in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include natural ...

. It is a 2+2 coupe, but the rear seats are completely useless and headroom is tight for drivers taller than In 1982 two engines were available; a 4.1 straight 6 cylinder 171 hp (157 kW) (SAE), or a 2.5 4 cylinder turbo, with . The engines originally came from the Chevrolet Opala, featuring a specially designed exhaust manifold and a different

carburetor A carburetor (also spelled carburettor) is a device used by an internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the venturi tube in the main meteri ...

. The car has smoothly integrated direction and rear lights. The lower front air intakes are used for the

and the internal ventilation. The instrument panel resembles the contemporary Porsche models at the time - it had indicators for water temperature, oil pressure,

speed In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quanti ...

odometer An odometer or odograph is an instrument used for measuring the distance traveled by a vehicle, such as a bicycle or car. The device may be electronic, mechanical, or a combination of the two (electromechanical). The noun derives from ancient Gr ...

(full and partial),

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

, fuel level and a clock. One interesting feature about the car, were the retractable bumpers made of a rubber compound with steel frames. Unlike most cars on sale in Brazil at the time, the Santa Matilde had both front and rear

disc brakes A disc brake is a type of brake that uses the calipers to squeeze pairs of pads against a disc or a "rotor" to create friction. This action slows the rotation of a shaft, such as a vehicle axle, either to reduce its rotational speed or to hol ...

Generations

Santa Matilde 78-79

Line-produced between 1978 and 1979, it had 171 hp (128 kW) and a top speed of . Based on the prototype, this version had some problems like overheating, noise and ventilation

Santa Matilde 82

Externally, a new rear design and some cosmetic changes at the front, smoothing some lines. Internally, many of the earlier model's problems were addressed. This model was line-produced in 1982 with small changes in design.

Santa Matilde 83-87

Entering series production in 1983, this model was a sedan style with a top speed of over . Sold as the Santa Matilde SM 4.1, production ended in August 1987.

Santa Matilde Cabriolet

Produced intermittently between 1984 and 1990, this was a convertible version.

Santa Matilde 91-95

Line-produced between 1991 and 1995, this model had square front lights and was also produced by demand between 1991 and 1995.

Santa Matilde 97

A lot of modifications were introduced in this model: * New independent differential from the

Chevrolet Omega The Chevrolet Omega is an executive car sold by Chevrolet for the Brazilian market. Replacing the Chevrolet Opala, which was a development of the Opel Rekord C, the original Chevrolet Omega was based on the Opel Omega A and built locally between ...

* New rear suspension * Many design changes * Digital instrument panel One car was produced by demand in 1997. It has inestimable value for collectors.

References

{{reflist

External links

SMCLube
Sports cars Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Cars of Brazil