De Carlo 700

The De Carlo 700 was manufactured by Metalmecánica SACI under license from BMW. The car was named after the owner of the auto company.

BMW 700 saved the German company from bankruptcy. It was manufactured from 1959 to 1965 and 181,411 units were built. The car had been designed by Michelotti. In Argentina it was manufactured from 1960 to 1963 with some differences.

The engine and transmission were located in the rear. The four-stroke engine was a boxer type, very similar to the Citroën 2 CV. The volume was 697 cubic centimeters. It delivered 35 HP SAE or 30 CV DIN at 5,000 rpm.

The compression was 7.5:1. The cooling was by air driven by a centrifugal turbine. The oil radiator was cooled by the turbine also. It came with Dynastart, an electrical element that doubled as a starter and dynamo. Although unlike other micro cars, its engine was four-stroke and not two.

The De Carlo 700 had no stanchions on both doors, no vents on the windows, and rear windows were fixed. Like many small cars of that time, it had independent suspension on all four wheels. An advance compared to larger cars or the compact ones (Falcon, Valiant, Chevrolet, Rambler) that were beginning to appear in the Argentine market.

Another thing was that his 33-liter fuel tank had 5 liters of reserve. Consumption at 80 km/h was 16 kilometers per liter. In the city, consumption was 12.5 kilometers per liter and at high speed on the road it was 13 kilometers per liter. Maximum speed was 125 km/h.

In 1963, the De Carlo 700 was discontinued. The Metalworking company began producing De Carlo SL. Many people from the José C. Paz area in the province of Buenos Aires remember the Metalworking company, even a neighborhood called De Carlo.