Portaro

PORTARO was the name of a popular Portuguese 4WD offroad utility vehicle and it was based on the earlier Romanian original ARO (Auto Romania) 240 4X4 model produced under license in Portugal but the new PORTARO was a more advanced and different from its Romanian original cousin. PORTARO 4WD models were made between 1975 until 1995 when production ended. They were the most successful and the longest motorvehicle project done in Portugal so far, second only to the similar but much improved UMM 4X4. PORTARO name was an acronym of PORT for Portugal + ARO when joined gave birth to a new Portuguese car brandname, the Portaro 4X4 offroad models.

History

The Portaro was a cross-country 4X4 vehicle manufactured from imported parts in Portugal starting in 1975 by the entrepreneur and industrialist man Hipólito Pires with help from business partner José Megre both men had an everlasting passion for 4WD vehicles; Megre having been a professional racing driver with 4X4 offroad machines while in his youth. The Portaro vehicle was a modern version derived from the original ARO 240 4WD Series a 1970s Romanian classic car and it was the nearest thing to the British Land-Rover 88 offroader of the same decade. Fairly quickly the PORTARO 4X4 first appeared in 1975 and came in two main versions, the PORTARO Jipe 4X4 an offroad utility jeep and later in 1977 the PORTARO Campina 4X4 a pick up truck version although our PORTARO was extensively modified and became a much improved machine than its Romanian cousin. The new PORTARO 4X4 model was built using 1980s engineering and mechanicals becoming the most successful Portuguese automobile ever made recorded so far and they were available for a very long time until 1995. In the early 1980s three modified light PORTARO models even won the famous and very tough Paris-Dakar Offroad Pharaoh Rallye driven by French and Portuguese teams, all with Volvo petrol engines plus there were two more Diesel units a Campina 320 and a Campina Super 350 both of them acted as a mobile workshop vehicle carrying parts & spares that were used on four racing occasions another very first for a recent Portuguese car. The standard output PORTARO model production was an estimated average of 2000 units/vehicles made a year.

Beginning and Development

PORTARO started in the 1970s when Hipólito Pires with José Megre got together as industrial partners and were the mentors of this allnew automobile brandname, that was developed under the name "Projecto Portaro" and received large Portuguese State funds to help this new joint-venture automobile project. Once the cashflow was granted and delivered so did the PORTARO plan started and a few prototypes were made soon in early 1975. The PORTARO vehicles were all built in a large and modern motorvehicle assembly plant that was owned by a company called Sociedade Electro-Mecanica de Automoveis Limitada or SEMAL for short, their factory was based at Parede near Oeiras a suburb in south Lisbon close to the Tejo river. This SEMAL factory was previously engaged into Military Vehicles and Army tanks manufacturing for the Iberian Peninsula countries. There was also a large SEMAL stockparts warehouse at Terrugem near Sintra where GV-SEMAL stocked inside it large amounts of original ARO parts for them to use as parts resource facility. Another small assemblyshop owned by the same SEMAL factory since 1970, was open at Trajouce another town near Lisbon where the larger TAGUS utility offroad model range was going to be assembled and built here.

Meanwhile Pires organized a technical agreement with Daihatsu Motor Co of Japan so that the Japanese would supply them with original Daihatsu running gear to Portugal for SEMAL and the first generation of PORTARO vehicles started production soon, alongside another new model called the GV TAGUS 4X4 Diesel was produced too since 1976. That year was the launch of new GV TAGUS Series, the model itself was the original ROCAR-TV (known as ROCAR-ARO TV-Tudor Vladimirescu utility vehicles in Romania) also known as the ARO-TUDOR-TV 4X4 in the UK, it was available in a variety of versions built with new standard ARO 4WD system and modified new running gear for both the Portugal and Spain automobile markets. They too were powered by the same Daihatsu Diesel and Turbodiesel engines. Meanwhile after 1980, the PORTARO model range kept growing together as was the new GV TAGUS model range were often being sold at the same time. GV TAGUS 4X4 was so called because since these models were made in Lisbon, the TAGUS (Tejo River) served as an inspiration and SEMAL motorvehicle factory believed its name was very adequate.

Even before PORTARO production started, Pires and Megre were kept busy negotiating a very successful mechanical and technical contract deal in the 1970s with the Romanian Government together with the ARO car company who is a State-owned automobile manufacturer. The Romanian firm agreed to supply all the necessary parts arriving by train from Arges, Campulung and Muscel the main three ARO factories that included the deliveries too, while GV-Garagem Vitoria (who owned SEMAL) a Portuguese vehicle export firm would supervise their arrival in Lisbon of these such vehicles all in CKD (completely knocked down) form ready for model production at the SEMAL factory everything was done by ARO and GV representatives at this stage. The partners Megre and Pires attempted to start the export of fully built Romanian-made ARO vehicles to Portugal but that was achieved much later in the 1990s. Meanwhile in 1982, GV or Garagem Vitória (who owned the PORTARO trademarque and its assets) firm bought the Parede SEMAL factory and this whole operation, was soon renamed under GV-SEMAL becoming a very successful manufacturer of every PORTARO model that left their SEMAL plant while production was nicely increased and this allowed Portaro brand to gradually improve and enlarge their original range of four wheel drive vehicles in the 1970s and 1980s with improved new running gear being fitted. The Portuguese automobile market was still small and limited that decade.

After reaching excellent vehicle sales, the recently renamed company GV-SEMAL, was able to reorganize and updated all its PORTARO 4X4 models for 1985. No less than 17 PORTARO 4X4 different models existed so their buyers and customers could choose any PORTARO model they wanted for every need. Before this took place, GV-SEMAL even had the honour of going to Switzerland for the 1978 Geneva International Motor Show with a pair of brandnew original PORTARO 240 4X4 jeeps one was a hardtop model with Daihatsu 2500 TurboDiesel power and a second unit was a soft-top canvas-roofed model PORTARO 4X4 with Volvo 2200 Petrol car engine fitted and this was the very first time ever that a Portuguese automobile manufacturer had its own display-showstand seen, plus it was the first ever Portuguese car brand or marque to be present at this International Automobile Motorshow and was also the very first Portuguese car with TD engine. By the early 1980s PORTARO vehicles were also exported to the UK already with factory-fitted RHD as well as being exported to other European countries often under the names of PORTARO Pampas 4WD' as they were called, at the same time they were transported to our neighbours to Madrid in Spain where they were known as the HISPARO 244D 4X4 Diesel and the HISPARO 242D 4X4 Diesel Pickup. Once there in Spain the large ENASA firm handled their distribution and sales of these new vehicles all of them were assembled under the HISPARO brandname.

A very resourceful in the 1980s GV-SEMAL production was extended to several more other models all available with 4X4. The firm soon redeveloped and re-engineered all its PORTARO range and with that this it announced the arrival of the new Portaro CELTA models and the new Portaro CAMPINA pickup trucks both of them were relaunched in early 1982 and revealed for the first time at the FIL Motor Show in May that year. These two new models had been rebuilt with a choice of modern new DAIHATSU Diesel or else new VOLVO Petrol engines now with new 5 speed manual transmissions only. The last batch of the GV TAGUS DIESEL 4X4 utility models were made until around 1986 but soon removed from the GV-SEMAL catalogue due to their slowsales and easily dominated by the brandnew lighter PORTARO CAMPINA 4WD Pickup truck that was quickly made popular all over Portugal. Later this truck became another big champion seller too and there were some other different Campina 4WD models to choose from, with restyled modern cabs with short & long chassis versions, very unusual 3 seats inside and most of these were powered by new improved & modern Daihatsu Diesel DG 2800 running gear, taken straight from the popular 1980s DAIHATSU Rocky, Taft and Wildcat 4WD offroad model ranges of the same decade, all of these were very popular in the UK.

The new PORTARO CELTA 4X4 itself was a big further development of the earlier 1970s JIPE 240 model which formed its basis, though the CELTA was very much changed from the ground built with several modern parts and featured fresh interiors and included some luxury items inside and outside, it could be turned into a very nice Convertible offroad jeep another first in Portugal for the 1980s. The model was completely revamped with numerous new components fitted underneath and onto it, mostly shared by its other brother the new successful CAMPINA Pickup truck. The new CELTA 4WD was a genuine offroad jeep model and a typical 1980s model using a modern and new DAIHATSU DG80 2800 DIESEL engine or else DG60 2500 TurboDiesel engine fitted. These Daihatsu engines though they sounded noisy were reliable and had good torque too, but customers could choose a thirsty but more powerful VOLVO PETROL 2100 Supercharged and 2300 Turbocharged forms, all four options with 5 speed manual gearboxes plus a new HIGH-LOW dual-range offroad transferbox was adopted with a total of 9 speeds. These mechanicals became standard fitted to all the PORTARO 4WD models, though the petrol versions never sold well with less than 1000 units sold before 1990. Most buyers got their new PORTARO models with diesel engines for fuel economy. Due to the major technical upgrades made and a brandnew generation of PORTARO offroad vehicles they were again suitable for endless potential buyers/customers from farmland owners to the Army, Police Forces and other Public Services.

Around 1990, PORTARO CAMPINA and PORTARO CELTA model production was transferred to the much bigger FMAT factory at Tramagal a town near Santarém in Ribatejo a county that is famous as the center of most farm equipment manufacturing. FMAT is short for FABRICA DE MAQUINAS AGRICOLAS DO TRAMAGAL where traditionally every kind of farm machinery have been made there at Santarem area since the 1850s. Today the same FMAT factory assembles current ISUZU and MITSUBISHI medium to large sized lorries and vans, all intended for export to France, Spain, Portugal and North Africa automobile markets. FMAT company are one of the few large vehicle manufacturers left in Portugal with railway sidings connected to the main railway lines for easy export and transporting away all their new vehicles and major production. FMAT then bought the production plans & the manufacturing rights from GV-SEMAL, soon producing another new generation of modern PORTARO offroad vehicles for the 1990s. These last new PORTARO vehicles used cheaper, plentiful and updated 1990s FORD TRANSIT TDI running gear and stronger chassis, with new current 1990s ARO 4WD axles with new restyling design done, four round headlights, inside there was leather seats for 2-9 passengers, carried more extras and equipment fitted with wide opening larger roofhatch, besides several other items the customer could order for his new 1990s PORTARO 250FMAT 4WD model, but sadly at one stage FMAT encountered some unexpected manufacturing problems and production halted.

Unfortunately, PORTARO 4X4 vehicle production suddenly ended in 1995 when the RPTC (Romanian-Portuguese Technical Contract) deal expired and within a couple of weeks that year no more ARO genuine parts arrived to the Lisbon docks. The FMAT factory owners claimed that Portuguese State funds were no longer supporting them, with severe issues about failures to renegotiate again with the Romanians of ARO, that were complaining about the Portuguese who had deserted them and never paid ARO for their ordered CKD components, resulting in an apparent corruption in the whole process. All of these problems forced FMAT to slow down vehicle production gradually and the last 1000 PORTARO vehicles manufactured were actually built with all the leftover stockparts with other spares that FMAT had acquired before in 1990, that were still kept unused by the original PORTARO previous owner & importer GV-SEMAL based in Lisbon. Sadly, the once very successful RPTC deal was soon declared void and little or nothing was done, so that causing the end of the road for our once historic and long-lived PORTARO offroad lovely career and slowly the famous PORTARO brandname disappeared from the Portuguese automobile market during the Summer of 1995.

Although our own automobile brandname PORTARO has since long vanished, its vehicles are still around in daily use and many are popular within the Alentejo and the Ribatejo areas, where many are still driven by local farmers and some are owned by many firms and industrial companies as we speak. They occasionally emerge all over Portugal for sale to prove how durable and reliable they still look, but rather outdated today. Parts for these vehicles are usually very hard to find but in Portugal these can be found and some are still available for most of the models once produced there.

GV-SEMAL was also very creative and genuine too so this company had this very interesting and well known marketing motto: "PORTARO Veiculo Todo O Terreno, O Importante é Vencer." (English: "PORTARO 4X4, Wins On All Grounds".) A famous and frequently repeated slogan of the 1980s that triggered sales quickly. Nevertheless that probably explains why PORTARO models reached enormous vehicle sales while these were available for sale. Today some 1970s-1980s used PORTARO models are available for sale according to other Internet sources, nevertheless finding parts for them as in rebuilding one or restoration projects is usually difficult.

PORTARO marque was made in Portugal since 1975 and had been joined, two years later by another domestic new manufacturer that became known as UMM short for União Metalomecanica another important Lisbon-based motorvehicle company who also adopted an original 4WD vehicle made in France, under a franchised manufacturing project but itself was entirely modified and of course redeveloped to our specific automobile market demands for the during & prolific 1980s that lasted until 2003. Please read more about the famous UMM as there is a very nice UMM article/page at Wikipedia.

In 1982, the only TV Channel in Portugal was, RTP which broadcast an original TV soap-opera called Vila Faia a well known drama/crime story shown in fullcolour that became one of the most successful TV shows at the time. One of the main characters Manuel Marinhais (played by a young Luis Esparteiro, a Portuguese actor) who is the owner of a red & white PORTARO CELTA 4X4 Diesel nine seater model. Manuel runs the family estate and farmhouse, working around his family wine production company and managing their winesales business, who is later charged of being involved in a crime of one of his colleagues in a warehouse. He can be seen driving his big PORTARO 4X4 jeep many times during the Vila Faia TV show.

Model Range

This is a complete list of all the original GV-SEMAL brand, makers of the TAGUS and the PORTARO Model Range of 4X4 vehicles manufactured 1975-1995 also made by the FMAT agriculture company.

GV SEMAL Tagus Range

(Made 1976 to about 1986)

GV SEMAL PORTARO Range

(From 1975 to 1995)

FMAT

See also

Gallery

Other ARO derivatives and trivia

HISPARO Todoterreno 4X4 or the Spanish ARO, another relative

Besides the PORTARO 4X4 utility model range assembled and made in Portugal from Romanian, Japanese and Swedish parts, ARO of Romania also started another derivative based on its own offroad designs although this one appeared much later, this time in Spain. This new model was powered again with foreign mechanicals as this was the easiest method ARO could find to start their new model project another modern offroad vehicle called the HISPARO Todo Terreno 4X4, this new model lasted from the early 1980s to around 1991 the last for the HISPARO offroad production and it was assembled by the ENASA factory at Sagrera in Barcelona where most Pegaso light models were manufactured. These new HISPARO Todoterreno 4X4 models had a strong styling resemblance to the Japanese classic 1981-1983 Datsun Safari Estate 4X4 / Nissan Patrol Long 4WD both names were used for the same offroad utility vehicle.

HISPARO 4X4 Development and Start

Before the new HISPARO 4X4 even existed, Aro of Romania believed it could also produce its own models in Spain, in a similar way the earlier PORTARO was a huge investment and reached a huge commercial success with SEMAL-GV as their manufacturer, so ARO contacted the largest Spanish motor vehicle manufacturer ENASA company based in Barcelona, Madrid and Valladolid as a huge firm that made everything from crawlers, roadtractors to large cranecarriers and other roadvehicles to help ARO launch and produce a complete & original brandnew offroad utility vehicle designed in Romania but made in Spain, under the chosen brandname of HISPARO Todoterreno 4X4 built with modern current EBRO, PEGASO and VIASA running gear and numerous imported Romanian parts in CKD form.

HISPARO 4X4 Launched and Production

ENASA of Barajas near Madrid agreed to produce the new HISPARO Todoterreno 4X4 as long as they carried most ARO components and main parts, but the Spanish had to find another source for its mechanicals somewhere else and then launch their new HISPARO 4X4 jeeps & pick up models to the Spanish automobile market during the mid-1980s. So ENASA contacted the local VIASA company based in Zaragoza the most experienced Spanish offroad vehicle manufacturer and placed an order for a prototype go-anywhere vehicle complete with running gear fitted and two new different offroad vehicles were delivered to the ENASA factory for a complete evaluation. These were called the ENASA-VIASA EV1 4X4 and the EV2 4X4. Standard HISPARO vehicle production was given the go-ahead.

One of the prototype models was powered by a Perkins Diesel 2700cc 4 cylinder engine and was a 6-seater jeep and the other one had an EBRO-Nissan Diesel 2800c 4 cylinder engine and was a 3-seater pickup truck, both vehicles had 4WD axles, with its own 5 speed manual gearbox and VIASA-JEEP dualrange transfer gearbox for offroad driving and the cars were made in 1984, one of the few road vehicles that VIASA-JEEP made for other firms, after a week evaluation these prototypes became the basis for the then new original HISPARO Todoterreno 4X4. Current HISPARO Todoterreno production models were powered by standard PEGASO TD and PERKINS Diesel 4 cylinder engines, but very soon customers had also the choice of optional EBRO-NISSAN TD or ISUZU TDI modern running gear.

Because the huge ENASA heavy vehicle plant at Madrid was never geared up for light and small vehicles, it was decided to transfer HISPARO 4X4 production to their other smaller ENASA factory at Sagrera in Barcelona next to the railway lines where PEGASO light delivery model range were made since 1960, these were mainly pickup trucks, combivans and vans plus the new HISPARO 4X4 model range starting in early 1984. Near them in the same industrial estate, there is also the EBRO MOTOR IBERICA another motorvehicle factory, that makes similar vehicles and its also a large company, now owned and run by the NISSAN MOTOR CO of Japan.

After the new HISPARO Todoterreno 4X4 models entered the Spanish automobile market of the 1980s, there were already many other makes & models, and most carried the words " Fabricado En Espana" with a wide choice of many other 4WD vehicles available made under these names: AVIA, BARREIROS, EBRO, IASA, IBESA, IPV, LUNA, NAZAR, PEGASO, SANTANA, SAVA, UROVESA and VIASA besides the well known SEAT car company of Martorell near Barcelona the best known Spanish automobile manufacturer. At the beginning HISPARO sales were reasonably good during the mid-1980s to early 1990 with many of them being acquired and were going to the local Fire Departments, Emergency Services, Police Forces and the Spanish Army to join the other locally made vehicles mostly Pegaso and Santana along with other offroad vehicles but a decent large number of them ended or bought by civilian buyers too as the needed spareparts and engine components all were plentiful.

Unfortunately by 1990 sales were becoming slow because some customers were more interested in longer established offroad makers like EBRO-NISSAN, SANTANA-LANDROVER and VIASA-JEEP that were better known and more popular than other 4WD models, so this soon overtook the HISPARO Todoterreno 4X4 in sales and it was decided that ENASA would cease their production in the early 1990s and ARO soon realized they had to quit exporting components and parts for Spain to keep HISPARO vehicles under production without demand. By the early 1990s the original HISPARO 4X4 lifespan was also short-lived too as the large Italian IVECO Group bought the Spanish ENASA-PEGASO truck business in September 1990 and ENASA was no longer interested in the HISPARO automobile project but assembled around 1800 HISPARO models before this brandname vanished and ENASA itself later merged into IVECO.

The HISPARO 4X4 model, could never be quite compared to its cousin, the Portuguese relative better known as the PORTARO. Sales were always slow and were never helped by the much stronger and longer established Spanish motorvehicle industry that dominated most of the Iberian Peninsula automobile markets that became frequently popular for being an immense country with much better developed resources with growing mechanical industry, heavy engineering and fast growing conditions all were helped using State funds which led to many Non Spanish car brands to develop and expand into the Spanish motorvehicle industry and has always been noted for its amazing and growing success.

HISPARO TODOTERRENO The original Model Range

HISPARO 241D 4X4 A Perkins Diesel 2600cc engined 3 seater van model with modified ARO bodyshell.

HISPARO 242D 4X4 A Perkins Diesel 3000cc engined 3 seater van with 3 doors built on a new Pegaso chassis.

HISPARO 243D 4X4 A new Pegaso Diesel 2700cc engined jeep with 6 seats and new interior built with many ARO parts.

HISPARO 244D 4X4 A new Ebro 2800cc TD engined jeep with 9 seats fitted with new suspension and restyled interior.

HISPARO 245D 4X4 A luxury jeep with 9 seats, new interiors on an extended chassis with a Pegaso 2700cc Turbodiesel engine.

HISPARO 241DP 4X4 A new Perkins Diesel 2600cc engined 3 seater 2 door pick up with a standard ARO chassis.

HISPARO 242DP 4X4 A new Isuzu TDI 2800cc engined closed 3 door pick up truck with new longer ARO chassis.

HISPARO 243DP 4X4 A new Ebro Patrol 3000cc Diesel pickup truck with new interiors, allround suspension and 3 seats.

HISPARO 244DP 4X4 A new Ebro 2800cc Turbodiesel crew cab pickup truck model with 4 doors and seats for 6 people.

HISPARO 245DP 4X4 A new Pegaso 3000cc Diesel powered restyled sports/leisure pickup truck 5 door model with 6 seats.

References

    External links

    Wikimedia Commons has media related to Portaro.