Cars Glorious Cars

If you go to Nashville and you like history you owe yourself a visit to the Lane car museum.

That was a nostalgia trip seeing cars I had known in my youth, thanks to a friend who introduced me to the place. So Layne found this place near the Brasilia airport. 

It’s actually a Volkswagen car dealer and a Royal Enfield motorcycle dealer. 

You get the impression the dealership that funded the V12 Auto Club was a Chevy dealer as there are lots of them on display. Not my youth. 

And they sponsored car racing, with a Ford logo on their car…lots of irons in fires at this dealership. 

Brazil is known for the  Volkswagens built here under license till 2014 when pollution controls killed them off finally. 

The gray van, the second from the left was one of the last off the production line. Cute but it’s not a Promaster and I had a couple of VW camper vans breaking down all over the place when I was a youth. Not great memories, like riding into snowy Gallup in a tow truck.  

Anyway I walked around and looked at stuff because I am a product of the age of internal combustion. I like traveling by van and I like looking at cars not as status symbols but as objects to make me free.

My first car, a Mini 850. 

The original Fiat 500 Topolino.  I had friend with one and it was an antique even then but great fun to drive with the roof folded back. 

Fiat 500 station wagon. 

A Brazilian sports car, the Lobini. 

From 1948 Jaguar Mercedes and Citroen, postcard European recovery:

Overlanders today love Toyota Troopy 4 wheel drives but Brazil built a Troop Carrier under license the Bandierante, the cult vehicle that has clubs dedicated to keeping them on the road and on goat tracks: 

I’m guessing they used to import Jawa motorcycles from Czechoslovakia: 

Then it was time to call an Uber to take us home to a Rusty who was fast asleep. Slight problem: our phones had stopped working. We had no internet. That was a moment of cold realization how dependent on them we are. After a time  spent staring at  the useless screen I fell back on my youthful training. 

I walked to the curb and waited for what seemed an eternity to flag down a cab. It worked.

At home with the WiFi coming to the rescue we discovered Verizon was having an issue, not Brazil which was embarrassing as I had a bit of a private gringo moment. Bloody third world can’t run a phone exchange. My bad. After dinner service was restored as was my equanimity.

It was a good day. 

Here Be Indians

 A friend asked how we are doing living in a comfortable apartment and though one doesn’t want to be churlish I have to admit the cage is starting to feel a bit gilded.

I cannot take for granted the privilege of living here in this vast compound on the edge of the city because Lakeside is a beautifully maintained landscaped complex. I am forced to shake my head when people who want to travel in Latin America are afraid they will stick out in an expensive car. This place is packed with German sedans and Jeeps and large motorcycles. 

The fact is we both enjoy bring nomads and not speaking Portuguese has become tedious not least because Brazilians are lovely people and I’d love to be able to shoot the breeze with my neighbors. Or even with an Uber driver, instead we live in monastic isolation. It really is a First World Problem, and thus rather embarrassing. 

Time to get back on track. Yesterdays outing was to the Indigenous Museum. 

It’s the usual eccentric Oscar Niemeyer style with no corners, everything circular and a starship Enterprise central atrium.

Weird huh? 

The museum itself is contained inside the circular building surrounding this space. Admission is free. 

So we wandered. 

Flat “stools” are for women to perch on uncomfortably. 

There is a reason things took on an orange hue as we walked round the museum. 

A list of tribal names from across Brazil a country the size of the Lower 48. 

We’ve driven much of this.

 

The visit ended on a sour note when Layne went to buy some earrings and the seller first charged one price 30 reals I think and when she packaged them the price doubled.