FMU was the a car company born in Uruguay in 4 of april of 1954 as a consecuence of the influx of wealth brought by the WW2. Mr Machado was an engineer by trade but since he didnt had much cash to begin with for 10 years her Purchased engines from Continental specially the 2.2 liter 4 cylinder hich he designed an OHV head for that engine. (this will be a tendency of the company: taking old outdated engines and make them young again)
In 1955 the pampero was introduced: a comfortable reliable 4 door sedan with, amazignly: DISC BRAKES!
The Pampero was a great hit: to the point that the name remains until today:
Mr: Machado passed away in 1964 and his son Sebastian took office and the first things he said: “I want speed and flash”
after some development a new car entered the scene: The Cacique: a luxury sedan with sweeping lines powered by a big 337 cui V8 which was FORD engine and now was revised by the engineers of FMU to bring it up to date…
and this is the engine… the design was purchased fron a very large american engine supplier, but the engineers made some improvements like a new cylinder head (it used to be a flathead)
Enter de Cacique (chieftain foir those that dont handle spanish) a comfortable very long and stylish 4 door sedan equipped with a 5517cc long stroke V8, another purchased design upgraded with 2 4 barrel carburetors and pushrod heads. this model would remain with succesive facelifts and motorization changes until the early 90s where the mark 2 would replace it
Durings its lifetime it enjoyed a moderate success against the imported luxury vehicles because it featured an unuasual formula. Big asan american car but moves like a jaguar thanks to the monocoque and independent rear supsension in the back.
A 1972 Cacique was the getaway vehicle for one of the most famous bank robberies In buenos aires, still they gaot caught because one robbers of them was a snitch.
year 1966, the last mk1 pampero rolled of the assembly line a few weeks ago; time for a major renewal.
this renewal was the mk2 pampero, a new sedan that resembled the Cacique and the car had a neat feature: the door handles were hidden (like the 2 door Citroën AX)
to match the new body it also came a new engine family, the HBS, based on the Hurricane motor that preceeded it but with a shorter deck and the camshaft was moved to the cylinder head.
THis is the Cacique Mark 1 GBX a limited run of 200 cars (less then 20 survive most have been dismantled to supply parts for racer examples, and others have been totaled, and only a handful are street cars)
It has a Typhoon 242 dohc engine with the stroke stretched just enough to be as close to 4 liters as possible, this is one of the few cars by FMU to be equipped with MFI
it can crank out 582 HP, and that power then is transfered to both axles., wishbone suspension in the 4 corners
The Cacique mark 1 is getting old style-wise so why not make it go with a bang? Also uruguay has just gotten rid of the Junta Government and democracy is back in the seat, and naturally Uruguay smells like patriotism and optimism
