This afternoon I went to the Paulista Avenue to meet some friends. On Sundays, this central avenue transforms itself into the stage for virtually dozens of musical bands and it is also a place for sellers of various products…. among them, I met Milton Cruz. I couldn’t resist but stop when I saw this replica of the 14-bis – the airplane with which the brazilian Alberto Santos Dumont flew in Paris in 1906. Cruz was smily and full of jokes. “It’s R$50, but the tank is empty… With gas it’s R$80!”.
He builds car and motorcicle models as well. “If it is not here, bring a picture and Ican build the vehicle for you!”. He told me some jokes, ones hard to translate to English because they use some double senses or sonority of Portuguese words. All the models are build from material that would go to the trash. He uses mostly oil cans and reshapes them into his models.
“Some people ask me why I don’t make modern car models. Well… you can see a modern car right there in the street! I think I can do better by bringing some of the past back into existence.”
PLACES, PEOPLE AND STORIES 