Models Posing With Egypt And Africa’s First Locally-made Car, Ramses Gamilla In 1960

Egyptian models seen posing with Egypt and Africa’s first locally-made car, Ramses Gamilla sports car in 1960.

Designed by Giovanni Michelotti for Vignale in Turin, the Gamilia was powered by an air-cooled two-cylinder.

Automobile brand, Ramses, was named after the country’s great kings, while Gamilia was named after the President.

Egypt is the first country in the whole of Africa to produced locally-made vehicles called Ramses Gamilla, an idea which began in 1958, according to Adel Gazarin, former president of El-Nasr Automotive Manufacturing Company.

“It is said that any newly independent country longs for three things: to set up embassies, to have a flag, to establish a car industry,” explains Gazarin in an interview for ‘Ramses the Car’ (2008), a short documentary.

Following the formation of state-owned El-Nasr Automotive Manufacturing Company in 1960, the Gamilia, the first model by the brand Ramses (named after the country’s great kings), were presented to the public in 1961.

Designed by Giovanni Michelotti for Vignale in Turin, the FIAT-based Gamilia, a sports car, was powered by an air-cooled two-cylinder made by NSU in Germany, which developed its 16 kW/22 PS from a displacement of 0.6 liters.

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Only 300 pieces were produced in the first two years while 400 units were made in 1965. Due to demands for the Gamila, a waiting list was placed to manage the number of requests.

Per Egyptian Street, Ramses failed to meet expectations both in terms of quality and production speed as it can only produce just five-to-six cars per day. In comparison, an average car manufacturer abroad would produce around 3,000 cars per day at the time.

Between 1959 and 1963, the Egyptian Automotive Company was able to produced 1,130 Fiat-based cars, including GAMILIA and two other models, Utilica and Ramses II.

In 1972, Ramses maker, Al-Nasr Automotives partnered with Italian vehicle company Fiat, to locally manufacture and sell their cars in Egypt, after lost faith in producing Egyptian cars.

By 1974, the former president Gamal Abdel Nasser’s ban on exotic car imports was lifted by succeeding president, Anwar Al-Sadat.

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