This Brazilian Two-Stroke Off-Roader Has A Name That Was Originally Kind Of A Slur

Generally, car names tend to avoid slurs. This is just good marketing, really. Names or nicknames for groups of people seem to work, though, as we have Comanches and Cherokees and Rambler Americans and the cars like the Sabra, the Autocars/Reliant sports car named for the prickly desert fruit that became the nickname for Israelis. These are are all generally acceptable names for groups of people, though. Candango – a term that was once used derogatorily for the poor, often uneducated itinerant workers who built much of Brasilia, the capitol of Brazil – once wasn’t that acceptable, but it also became the name of a Brazilian jeep-like vehicle with German Origins.

The car is the DKW-Vemag Candango, and while the “candango” name has been reclaimed by the people of Brasilia and is now a term of pride, it didn’t start out that way, which puts the Candango in the very select group of cars that was named for a slur, kind of like the Studebaker Dipshit my uncle used to drive.

The Candango was really a DKW Munga, a 4×4 two-stroke utility vehicle initially designed for use by the West German army, and built between 1956 and 1968. Around the time that Munga production was starting, Brazil was working to develop their economy, and part of that meant producing as much locally as possible, including cars. They had a plan for how much local content would go into these “Jipes” as they called them initially, a variation of, of course, Jeep. You can see their goals in this chart:

So, the plan was to go from 60% locally-produced content in 1957 to almost entirely locally built by 1960! Bold! With these lofty goals in mind, the Vemag version of the Munga hit the market, initially just called a Jipe:

Compared to the Munga, the biggst difference was probably that the Jipe had four doors, as you can see above. The Munga never had that many doors, or, usually, doors at all:

The Jipa name didn’t last too long. In 1960, Willys-Overland must have gotten wind of what was going on below the equator, and demanded that DKW-Vemag change the name of the car. That’s when the Jipe became the Candango:

The Candango was a tough little brute, with its 1000cc inline-three two stroke making a respectable-for-the time 44 horsepower (up from 38 and 900cc) and the four-wheel drive system proving quite capable off-road.

Look at that! That’s extremely off-road!

Here’s an interesting promo film from 1958 showing the Candango being used as an agricultural utility vehicle and a great way to take your cow friends (possibly lovers, I’m not here to judge) for a ride:

Look at that thing go! It fords a pretty deep stream there, too.

This ad kind of makes it look like that kid is pushing the Candango while the butcher and Mr.Slickhairbusiness look on, laughing. I think the kid is just getting something out of the back, but I would have reconsidered the positioning of him there.

I do rather like the two-tone vinyl doors they used on these, with the contrasting color (and maybe padded?) elbow rest area. Also, this is a very hat-positive ad, always nice to see.

The Candango 2 seen in this ad was an interesting lower-cost option, being a FWD-only variant. In this sense it’s sort of like a reversed VW Thing, or perhaps a Citroën Mehari or Mini-Moke or other cars in that wonderful “fun car” category.

Also interesting were these hardtops available for the Candango:

I’ve rarely seen thicker pillars on any car, ever. Those windows are so tiny it almost feels like an armored car. It’s strangely charming, though.

I’m not sure there’s any other slurs I’d like to see rehabilitated into car names, though. And I think even typing some options would be a terrible idea, so maybe let’s just leave that thread unpulled.