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WRECKING YARDS TOURS (URUGUY)
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GALERIA VITESSE



Joined: 26 Apr 2010
Posts: 7

PostPosted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 8:30 pm    Post subject: WRECKING YARDS TOURS (URUGUY) Reply with quote

Uruguay's Treasure Trove on Wheels, Vehicles that would be at home in U.S. museums is common place here. The cachilas have inspired an entrepreneurial subculture. It’s a fine day for hunting cachilas and scooters. Cachilas is Uruguayan slang for "old cars." And in the subculture of artistic mechanics, scavenging entrepreneurs and self-taught automotive historians, who roam the streets of Uruguay, .There goes a Model-A Ford, exclaim a veteran chauffeur and scout for foreign collectors, narrating in an amiable bellow the passing flow of four-wheeled history. There goes a46 coupe. In impeccable condition. An exceptional motor on that model. The best cars are gone now, but Uruguay is still a scooter and automotive museum come to life. A remarkable number of historic cars and scooters grace the landscape of this mellow capital, the country's beloved cachilas are a metaphor for Uruguay: dignified, comfortable, elegantly dilapidated, and rolling along at a defiantly serene speed. Why is this South American nation of 3 million an automotive treasure trove?
During the first half of the century, booming beef and wheat exports and a generous welfare state made Uruguay a bountiful land. Among the bounties was a flood of imported luxury cars and scooters from Europe and the United States.
During the second half of the century, however, the economy foundered. Uruguay entered an era of frozen grandeur. In the 1970s, international collectors discovered the low prices and incredible supply of vintage vehicles, which were so common that Bugattis were used to distribute advertising leaflets and Rolls-Royces rusted in barns. Big-spending foreigners steamed off with shiploads of the choicest models. But cachilas and the entrepreneurial subculture they support managed to survive. Uruguay has resisted the headlong modernization of Argentina, Brazil and other nations in the region whose economic growth and restructuring have a dark underside of inequality and violence.
The international definition of historic cars refers to those that are more than 20 years old. Fleets of cars match that description here; there are also plenty of jalopies from the 1920s and 1930s and rare models such as the 1940s-era HRG, a British line of which only 200 were made. Uruguay had special access to such automobiles through credits granted by Britain in return for wartime grain exports.
A ride with a local scout becomes a quest into a wondrous labyrinth where dusty masterpieces turn up around practically every corner. Nosing his Renault through back alleys and dirt roads, you can find automotive cemeteries where grass grows waist-high through skeletons that have been picked over by collectors and mechanics.
You could find a Hispano-Suiza and other antiques lined up beneath the wings of a peculiar piece de resistance: a passenger plane that belonged to the national airline decades ago. And on the outskirts of town you come
Across a shabby garage with a metal carcass in front that, upon closer inspection, turns out to be a 1969 Daimler Majestic Major. It is the same model that Queen Elizabeth II once owned and the very same vehicle, according to garage manager in which the British ambassador to Uruguay was riding when he was kidnapped in 1971 by leftist guerrillas who shot up the car during the abduction. "A Spanish couple came to us to have it restored, but then they never showed up again," he said. Every one of these cars has a story.
The door rolls up to reveal a dozen classic chariots in various stages of reconstruction, including a burly Studebaker President from 1929, and a sleek blue 1930 Willis that he bought in the town of Rocha from an elderly gentleman who used it to visit his wife's grave on Sundays. His garage is a crowded cathedral of chrome, leather, wood, heroic hood ornaments, ornately scripted insignias, motors the size of plane engines, running boards as wide as cots. It makes you realize that cars used to be works of art. "The work poses thousands of problems, he said. You want to repair one part, and then you realize you need another part, and one thing leads to another. Sometimes we have to get parts from the United States. The business here relies on a network of specialized operatives. Elite mechanics are fundamental; they are often elderly sages experienced with exotic crafts such as carved-wood dashboards and leather upholstery. And scouts troll for vehicles in the sparsely populated interior, where genuine museum pieces chug around waiting to be discovered. These cars are good for the countryside, He said. They are like the Jeeps of today. They are strong, they run forever, and they are easy to fix.




COMING TO URUGUAY?
Want to go through the salvage yards?
This is for you!
WRECKING YARDS TOURS of URUGUAY (WTU)


We will drive you to salvage yards and assist in the removal or do it for you. Help arrange shipping of parts or complete vehicles. You decide on the number of yards, and type you want to tour. Our fee will be based on an entire day, the yards are open from 8AM to 6PM.
Available 5 days a week
$ 200 per day per person
GALERIAVITESSE@GMAIL.COM
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