SEAB or Sociedade de Engenharia Automobilística Brasileira (Brazilian Automotive Engineering Society) is an engineering group turned car maker in the mid-50s. The group’s existence traces back to the first engineers with automotive knowledge to migrate from Europe in the late 19th century. Their existence is known through modifications and one-offs based on imported cars from Europe and the USA prior to WWI. Their badge is a flying bat, as the first slang for the group of engineers, that worked on their automotive endeavours through the night, after the day job was done, was “Atelier Morcego” (Bat Workshop).
1950s
After the war, the Brasmotors group, a fairly big automobile importer, decided to bring the newly released Leutewagen sedan, along with importing parts packs for small manufacturers. SEAB took this opportunity in 1955 to release its first, full in house built car, after a good amount of years uselessly building military vehicles for the Brazilian army, never being used in combat as the country never took part in the wars. The SEAB Onça was a fiberglass-bodied coupé, powered by an Leutewagen 1300 boxer engine, though a 4-speed transaxle. The car’s frame was a custom made, square tube frame, with a bespoke (for the time) 4 wheel independent suspension, along with custom axles to convert the swing axles to IRS. The engine also received custom water-cooled heads and a better carburetor. The works started in 1953, using parts from a newly imported Leutewagen, during the arrangements to import the parts, and the design was based on revamped pre-war drawings, so the car could hit the market as soon as possible. The car was a hit, being sportier than its donor due to being lighter and looking way better. The price tag was high due to its handmade nature, but with the country’s situation normalizing after the war, the medium and high class were ready and eager to have new sports cars. The car was built until 1958. In 1957, Einvagen opened their own factory in Brazil and stopped selling parts to third-party builders, as a way to push their car to the masses
1960s
Since the forced end of production of the first model, and the last cars built using parts in stock in 1958, SEAB searched for a way to maintain themselves on the market, and that opportunity came when they discovered that Cherrier, a french brand that was pushing to enter the Brazilian market, were being held off by Leutewagen’s “executives”. After a trip to France, a deal was arranged. Cherrier would provide inline 4 and 6 cylinder engines to keep the Onça in the market for a little while, along with a facelift, until the co-developed Amazonas/Tikuna lineup was ready to launch. The two utilitarian vehicles were a hit, on a country in desperate need of workhorses to keep up with this brand new world’s evolution, and the money earned, plus the partnership with Cherrier, allowed for the development of a new line of civilian cars. In 62, the Arara was born, utilizing the same I4 used in the second run of the Onça, on a sleeker and more spacious body.
Following decades coming soon.
This thread is “Good end” lore compliant, as there’s no point in creating a RL compliant brazilian car manufacturer, as our car history is exceedingly boring, and is being developed by the members of the brazilian Automation Discord. We’ll be writing and posting more lore about it in the next days, so stay tuned!
