The Alfa Romeo connection
The disappearance of Isotta Fraschini as a vehicle manufacturer left FNM looking for a new technology partner. In 1952, an agreement was signed with Alfa Romeo, another Milanese vehicle manufacturer. Unusually in Europe, Alfa Romeo was (like FNM) a state owned business, following bankruptcy and a government rescue in the 1930s. Under the agreement with Alfa Romeo, FNM would manufacture Alfa Romeo's commercial vehicle range under license. Though little known north of the Alps, Alfa Romeo commercial vehicles were well established in Italy, and other south European markets. Between 1956 and 1960, FNM built more than 15,000 heavy trucks of Alfa Romeo design: it also manufactured the chassis for buses and coaches. In the Brazilian heavy truck sector which FNM dominated till the early 1970s, FNM was initially the only manufacturer. Trucks produced by FNM were generally nicknamed "Fenemê".[2]
In the mid-fifties a company called Fabral S.A. (Fábrica Brasileira de Automóveis Alfa, "the Brazilian Alfa automobile factory"), a collaboration between Alfa Romeo and Brazilian investor Matarazzo, was set up to build the Alfa Romeo 2000 (tipo 102/B, "B" for Brazil).[3] The car was to be built in Jacareí, in the state of São Paulo.[4] The Matarazzo Group backed out in 1958, following troubled discussions about the suitability of building luxurious cars in poor Brazil. After pressure from then-President Juscelino Kubitschek FNM, in which Alfa Romeo already held a minority interest, took over the project.[5] In 1960 FNM's first passenger car was launched, the FNM 2000, a Brazilian version of the series 102 Alfa Romeo 2000 four-door sedan (berlina). The factory ended up being built in the Xerém neighborhood of Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro instead. The engine was the same 1,975 cc twin camshaft unit found in the Italian product, but detuned to produce only 95 PS and the car received the FNM logo. This series of cars was named "J.K." in honor of President Kubitschek who had helped make the deal take place. This was by far the most luxurious, and most expensive, car built in Brazil in the period.
A coupé version was offered from 1966. Known as the FNM Onça ("Jaguar"), the coupé did not follow the line of any Alfa Romeo design, but featured a locally designed body unmistakably reminiscent of the original Ford Mustang. The regular FNM 2000, meanwhile, was followed by more powerful versions, culminating with the 130 PS TIMB ("Turismo Internazional Modelo Brasileiro"), now boasting usefully more power than was claimed for its Alfa Romeo cousins of the time. The TIMB also featured a flat bonnet with a lower-mounted grille, as suggested by Lincoln Tendler aiming a better aerodynamic penetration, and a divided front bumper to accommodate the lower centerpiece. This same front design was also used for the succeeding FNM 2150, with some detail differences.[6]
