Dacon was a Brazilian

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

manufacturer founded by Paulo de Aguiar Goulart in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

in 1964 and shuttered in 1996.

Designs

Dacon began as the local

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...

distributor, but after car importation was prohibited in 1976, they chose to become a Volkswagen distributor instead. In 1982 they began work on a car of their own, namely the little rear-engined Dacon 828. The name was supposed to represent the year it was begun (82) and being Dacon's eighth project, but it was also clearly chosen to remind one of the

Porsche 928 The Porsche 928 is a luxury grand tourer produced by Porsche AG of Germany from 1978 until 1995. Originally intended to replace the company's iconic 911, the 928 combined the power, poise, and handling of a sports car with the refinement, comfort ...

. Designed by Puma designer Anisio Campos, the first eleven cars were actually built at Puma's factory rather than by Dacon themselves. The little Dacon 828 used Porsche rear lights and other parts, and looked particularly like a Porsche 928 from the rear. It was sold from 1983 until July 1994, only 47 cars being sold. It was powered by a 1.6 litre VW boxer-four engine connected to a four-speed gearbox. Its was enough for a top speed of , and an alcohol fueled version with three more horsepower was also available. Brasilia Dacon

The 828 is only long, but at a width of it can easily accommodate three (rather than the two for whom it was intended). The first four cars had tiny ten-inch wheels, but after that the cars received thirteen-inch alloys similar to those used on the period

Porsche 944 The Porsche 944 is a sports car manufactured by German automobile manufacturer Porsche from 1982 until 1991. A front-engine, rear-wheel drive mid-level model based on the 924 platform, the 944 was available in coupé or cabriolet body styles, w ...

. Other cars built by Dacon were the 822, a targa-version of 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 ...

, as well as several cars sold under the PAG brand: the mini Nick, the Nick L, the PAG 928, and finally the PAG Chubby. Dacon also tuned various Volkswagen products such as the Brasilia, often equipping them with some Porsche parts. Inspired by a stillborn

Volkswagen do Brasil Volkswagen do Brasil Ltda. is a subsidiary arm of Volkswagen Group, established in 1953 with local assembly of the Volkswagen Type 1 from parts imported from Germany. It produced over 20 million vehicles in Brazil, having been market leader for th ...

project to update their

Volkswagen SP2 The SP2 is a sports car developed by Volkswagen do Brasil for the Brazilian market, and produced from 1972 until 1976. It is based on the Brazilian market Volkswagen 1600 Variant. The abbreviation "SP" is said to have stood for São Paulo or, ac ...

with the water-cooled inline-four engine of the Passat TS, Dacon created such a car and called it the SP3. Due to prohibitively high costs, this experiment did not enter production, but customers could have Dacon turn their existing SP2 into an SP3. The price of the conversion alone was 100,000 cruzeiros, twenty percent more than the cost of a brand-new Puma GTE.

References

{{Reflist Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Brazil Rear-engined vehicles Cars of Brazil Manufacturing companies based in São Paulo