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VAM Lerma
The VAM Lerma is an automobile that was designed and manufactured by Vehículos Automotores Mexicanos from 1981 to 1983. The Lerma shared parts with other vehicles by VAM's license partner American Motors (AMC) to reduce manufacturing costs. It was VAM's top-of-the-line flagship model after the discontinuation of the Classic (Matador) line in 1976. The VAM Lerma was unusual in offering a hatchback design focused at the top-end luxury market. The model was an indirect replacement of the VAM Classic and to some extent the VAM Pacer lines.
The name for the cars was taken from Lerma, a city in the state of Mexico, where VAM engines were manufactured.
The Mexican-made Lerma was a unique hybrid since it used a chassis and some body panels from the AMC Concord sedan, but the rear of the car featured the AMC Spirit's hatchback design. Although the finished Lerma units were single unit body design (monocoque), a British newspaper article described it as "a bolt-together kit of a car". This is actually confusion in regards to the part of the Lerma production process which was made by hand labor, cutting existing mass production panels (as well as manually creating new panels) and welding them together to create a final single unit body.
The two body designs, a 2-door hatchback and a 4-door hatchback, of the Lerma were versions not available for any of AMC's models at that time. The designs were presented to AMC's management as a potential model, but it would have less cargo capacity than the Concord wagon and the company had other priorities at the time. Considered for other international markets, the Lerma was marketed only in Mexico starting in 1981, and competed in an expanding market segment that at the time was considered the way of the future, the four-door hatchback market. The Lerma's most remarkable and striking hatchback design feature also proved to be its biggest drawback, because the built-in closed trunk resulted in a car with a very limited space for storage. Nevertheless, between 1981 and 1983 it represented VAM's entry in the most exclusive luxury market.
Arguably, the VAM Lerma was the first successful fully Mexican sedan. Vehículos Automotores Mexicanos is remembered as the first Mexican automotive company that created a car that is regarded by many as totally national. With the exception of the instrument panel, the interior of the Lerma did not share several parts with other models and featured uniquely designed and upholstered seats as well as interior door panels.
The 1981 VAM Lerma was available as a single edition and carried a VAM 282 cu in (4.6 L) I6 engine with Motorcraft two-barrel carburetor, 8.0:1 compression ratio, and 266-degree camshaft designed by VAM's engineering department. It was rated at 132 hp (98 kW; 134 PS) at 3900 rpm and torque of 216 pound force-feet (293 N⋅m) of torque at 2200 rpm. The only transmission was the Chrysler Torqueflite A998 three-speed automatic with 3.07 rear differential gear ratio. The suspension consisted of a front independent design with coil springs with heavy-duty shocks and a front sway bar while the rear design incorporated leaf springs with heavy-duty shock absorbers. Brakes were power-assisted units with front disks and rear drums. The cooling system incorporated a three-line radiator, flexible seven-bladed fan, fan shroud, and coolant recovery tank. The car carried the same 70 liter (18.5 gallon) fuel tank as the American line. Tire specification was ER78×14.
Interiors were available in four colors: black, nut brown, sky blue, and wine red. With the only exceptions of the A and C-pillar inner plastic moldings, the windshield and rear hatch inner plastic surrounding moldings, the door latches, the door cranks, the side armrests, the door ashtrays, the steering wheel and column plus the dashboard the rest of the interior is 100% made and designed in Mexico by VAM's styling department.[citation needed] The most striking features of Lerma's interior design relied on its door panels, side panels, trunk, and seats. The first two incorporated premium fabric and lower portion horizontal carpet inserts with fake horizontal chrome (lower portion) and woodgrain (upper portion) moldings. The seats consisted of a fixed rear bench seat and individual reclining front wide bucket seats with adjustable headrests. The pattern on these seats is nothing short of impressive, incorporating a design of four squared buttons forming another square over the seat bottoms and backs. These portions are actually outer ones over the main body of the seat and are not stretched out, giving the feeling and impression of having a cushion over both the main seat bottom and back. The bases of both sets of seats are covered in carpet. The VAM Lerma was the only four-door VAM car not to incorporate a fixed front bench seat, making it also the only four-door VAM car to incorporate individual (reclining) front seats. The Lerma's trunk is unique among VAM (and AMC) cars alike. It is a closed compartment covered in carpet and incorporated both rear stereo speakers at each side of the lid. The lid itself is hinged to the back of the frame near the rear seat back and had a fixed rear light similar to the ones used in the hood, it would flick on and off depending on the position of the lid. Despite how truly elegant the trunk looked, its design made to follow the side lines of the interior of the car as well as the dimensions of the massive rear hatch glass ended up creating a truly low amount of trunk space for barely anything other than the spare tire. This situation forced owners to buy an external roof rack fixed to the side drip rails in order to be able to carry any luggage, which might compromise the looks of the car.
In the exterior, the VAM Lerma showed its influence from the Concord and Spirit models it was based on. The most unusual parts being the rear quarter panels, the rear side windows, the squared grid grille design divided into two sets of four horizontal rectangular portions (not shared with any other VAM car), the gold and black VAM logo on the hood ornament, the manuscript "Lerma" emblems over both fenders and right corner of the hatch. One final detail would be added in the middle of the year production; the round side marker lights used in the Rally (Spirit) models were replaced by rectangular units with chrome frames for a more luxurious appearance. The Lerma incorporated an exclusive design of side protective moldings running through most of the length of the car placed higher than the regular moldings. A bright molding package was standard consisting of wheel lips moldings, drip rail moldings, rocker panel moldings, as well as the already chromed bumpers, dual squared chromed mirrors plus the rear glass and windshield moldings. The wheels used by the model were VAM's in-house five-spoke 14x6-inch units complemented by AMC's "Noryl" wheelcover design. The full length of the Lerma was only two inches shorter than that of the VAM American (Concord) sedan models.
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VAM Lerma
The VAM Lerma is an automobile that was designed and manufactured by Vehículos Automotores Mexicanos from 1981 to 1983. The Lerma shared parts with other vehicles by VAM's license partner American Motors (AMC) to reduce manufacturing costs. It was VAM's top-of-the-line flagship model after the discontinuation of the Classic (Matador) line in 1976. The VAM Lerma was unusual in offering a hatchback design focused at the top-end luxury market. The model was an indirect replacement of the VAM Classic and to some extent the VAM Pacer lines.
The name for the cars was taken from Lerma, a city in the state of Mexico, where VAM engines were manufactured.
The Mexican-made Lerma was a unique hybrid since it used a chassis and some body panels from the AMC Concord sedan, but the rear of the car featured the AMC Spirit's hatchback design. Although the finished Lerma units were single unit body design (monocoque), a British newspaper article described it as "a bolt-together kit of a car". This is actually confusion in regards to the part of the Lerma production process which was made by hand labor, cutting existing mass production panels (as well as manually creating new panels) and welding them together to create a final single unit body.
The two body designs, a 2-door hatchback and a 4-door hatchback, of the Lerma were versions not available for any of AMC's models at that time. The designs were presented to AMC's management as a potential model, but it would have less cargo capacity than the Concord wagon and the company had other priorities at the time. Considered for other international markets, the Lerma was marketed only in Mexico starting in 1981, and competed in an expanding market segment that at the time was considered the way of the future, the four-door hatchback market. The Lerma's most remarkable and striking hatchback design feature also proved to be its biggest drawback, because the built-in closed trunk resulted in a car with a very limited space for storage. Nevertheless, between 1981 and 1983 it represented VAM's entry in the most exclusive luxury market.
Arguably, the VAM Lerma was the first successful fully Mexican sedan. Vehículos Automotores Mexicanos is remembered as the first Mexican automotive company that created a car that is regarded by many as totally national. With the exception of the instrument panel, the interior of the Lerma did not share several parts with other models and featured uniquely designed and upholstered seats as well as interior door panels.
The 1981 VAM Lerma was available as a single edition and carried a VAM 282 cu in (4.6 L) I6 engine with Motorcraft two-barrel carburetor, 8.0:1 compression ratio, and 266-degree camshaft designed by VAM's engineering department. It was rated at 132 hp (98 kW; 134 PS) at 3900 rpm and torque of 216 pound force-feet (293 N⋅m) of torque at 2200 rpm. The only transmission was the Chrysler Torqueflite A998 three-speed automatic with 3.07 rear differential gear ratio. The suspension consisted of a front independent design with coil springs with heavy-duty shocks and a front sway bar while the rear design incorporated leaf springs with heavy-duty shock absorbers. Brakes were power-assisted units with front disks and rear drums. The cooling system incorporated a three-line radiator, flexible seven-bladed fan, fan shroud, and coolant recovery tank. The car carried the same 70 liter (18.5 gallon) fuel tank as the American line. Tire specification was ER78×14.
Interiors were available in four colors: black, nut brown, sky blue, and wine red. With the only exceptions of the A and C-pillar inner plastic moldings, the windshield and rear hatch inner plastic surrounding moldings, the door latches, the door cranks, the side armrests, the door ashtrays, the steering wheel and column plus the dashboard the rest of the interior is 100% made and designed in Mexico by VAM's styling department.[citation needed] The most striking features of Lerma's interior design relied on its door panels, side panels, trunk, and seats. The first two incorporated premium fabric and lower portion horizontal carpet inserts with fake horizontal chrome (lower portion) and woodgrain (upper portion) moldings. The seats consisted of a fixed rear bench seat and individual reclining front wide bucket seats with adjustable headrests. The pattern on these seats is nothing short of impressive, incorporating a design of four squared buttons forming another square over the seat bottoms and backs. These portions are actually outer ones over the main body of the seat and are not stretched out, giving the feeling and impression of having a cushion over both the main seat bottom and back. The bases of both sets of seats are covered in carpet. The VAM Lerma was the only four-door VAM car not to incorporate a fixed front bench seat, making it also the only four-door VAM car to incorporate individual (reclining) front seats. The Lerma's trunk is unique among VAM (and AMC) cars alike. It is a closed compartment covered in carpet and incorporated both rear stereo speakers at each side of the lid. The lid itself is hinged to the back of the frame near the rear seat back and had a fixed rear light similar to the ones used in the hood, it would flick on and off depending on the position of the lid. Despite how truly elegant the trunk looked, its design made to follow the side lines of the interior of the car as well as the dimensions of the massive rear hatch glass ended up creating a truly low amount of trunk space for barely anything other than the spare tire. This situation forced owners to buy an external roof rack fixed to the side drip rails in order to be able to carry any luggage, which might compromise the looks of the car.
In the exterior, the VAM Lerma showed its influence from the Concord and Spirit models it was based on. The most unusual parts being the rear quarter panels, the rear side windows, the squared grid grille design divided into two sets of four horizontal rectangular portions (not shared with any other VAM car), the gold and black VAM logo on the hood ornament, the manuscript "Lerma" emblems over both fenders and right corner of the hatch. One final detail would be added in the middle of the year production; the round side marker lights used in the Rally (Spirit) models were replaced by rectangular units with chrome frames for a more luxurious appearance. The Lerma incorporated an exclusive design of side protective moldings running through most of the length of the car placed higher than the regular moldings. A bright molding package was standard consisting of wheel lips moldings, drip rail moldings, rocker panel moldings, as well as the already chromed bumpers, dual squared chromed mirrors plus the rear glass and windshield moldings. The wheels used by the model were VAM's in-house five-spoke 14x6-inch units complemented by AMC's "Noryl" wheelcover design. The full length of the Lerma was only two inches shorter than that of the VAM American (Concord) sedan models.