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my wife Linda and I were looking
forward to our upcoming travel to
Rio de Janeiro and an excursion to
the Amazon with our three daughters, aged
10, 14 and 17. If you have flown to that part of
the world you will be familiar with the difficulty
finding convenient flights from major
US airports to Brazil. Our travels had us
spending about ten hours in Sao Paulo to wait
for a connecting flight to Manaus, the major
city in the Amazon region.
Although our travel arrangements were
made six months prior to our departure, it
only occurred to us the day before leaving
home to look into arrangements for how to
spend the day in Sao Paulo. Like many RROC
members, I belong to a variety of international
organizations, car-related and otherwise.
So on Christmas Day I went into my
study and pulled from the shelf my RROC
Directory & Register to see if there were any
members in Brazil or even Sao Paulo.
The D&R listed a few members in Sao
Paulo, some with email addresses. I drafted a
brief email to someone in Sao Paulo who
owns a Silver Wraith limousine, Roberto
Suga. I chose him because I am the caretaker
of many motorcars of similar nature, Silver
Clouds, a Phantom III and two Phantoms V.
My email stated simply that our family
was flying the next day to Sao Paulo, had an
extended layover, and did he know of a place
for us to spend time shopping near the airport?
Being Christmas Day I actively attended
to family matters and ignored my
email until the following morning, literally
minutes prior to our departure to the airport.
The reply was shocking, to say the least.
Mr. Suga insisted that we call his cell phone
with our flight number and arrival time and
that he would meet us at the airport, spend
time with us and take us shopping. I hurriedly
wrote down his cell number and jumped into
the limousine with my family waiting. En
route to the airport, I called Mr. Suga to discuss
this in more detail. Speaking English very
well, he assured us that it would be his pleasure
to spend the day with us. I provided him
the details of our flight and said good-bye.
Being tired after the 12-hour flight and a
significant delay at passport control, we made
our way through the arrival doors looking for
someone with a sign reading “Harry Clark.”
There he was—a distinguished gentleman in
his early forties, wearing a blue blazer, pressed
khaki pants, and a warm smile. After the initial
greeting and introductions he helped us
recheck our baggage for the connecting flight
and whisked us off to his Honda Accord.
Roberto was no stranger to dealing with people
from different cultures; he is well educated
and has spent his distinguished career as
a diplomat and an import marketing agent for
Friends You Haven’t Met Yet—
An Adventure in Brazil
Or: Pack your RROC Directory
By Harry Clark (CA)
Editor’s Note: Often it is said that it is the people that make this club what it is. A look into your
Directory & Register tells you that the RROC has members in all corners of the globe. For many
of our overseas members, especially in the far-flung regions, there is no such thing as “the daily
life of the RROC.” There are no meets to attend, fellow enthusiasts to socialize with, or RR/B
tires to kick. Read on . . .
a variety of products and services over the
years. He graciously drove us all over Sao
Paulo, giving us an extensive political, economic
and cultural history of the region. We
were amazed to learn that Sao Paulo is one of
the most populated cities in the world with approximately
11,000,000 people, vying for status
of third largest city. This education proved
quite valuable as a primer for the remainder of
our Brazilian experience.
Two highlights of our stopover were a fabulous
traditional Brazilian Barbeque luncheon
in one of Sao Paulo’s finest restaurants and a
couple of hours in a spectacular shopping
mall. Brazilian BBQs are an amazing experience.
They are a 2–3-hour food extravaganza,
this one in a historic brick-walled building
lined with celebrity photos from the twenties
through the forties. Starting with an incredible
display of market-fresh produce and salad bar,
the luncheon graduated to a never-ending selection
of meats that were walked through the
restaurant by an army of gracious servers.
©Rolls Royce
Owners Owners Club Club
(l–r) Roberto Suga of Brazil and Harry Clark of
California, furthering international relations and
making this club a better place.
Who knew there were so many cuts of beef?
The meal was enhanced with the regional lime
cocktail (caipirinha), wine and desserts.
Being from California we are no strangers
to fine shopping malls. In order for my three
daughters to find summer attire in the middle
of December, we deferred the search for
bathing suits until arriving at Sao Paulo.
Roberto walked us through a beautiful shopping
center festively decorated in Christmas
grandeur. The three-story mall was home to
well over a hundred shops with marble, granite
and glass throughout. Most surprising was
the array of people at the mall. If you tuned
out the different language you would think
yourself in Los Angeles or New York. The mix
of cultures and races proved that Brazil is a
true melting pot. Our greatest surprise during
our visit was how unfamiliar the Portuguese
language is from anything we have experienced.
In California we have occasion to communicate
in Spanish and our daughters have
continuously studied French in school. None
of that prepared us to manage even the simplest
requests in Portuguese.
While my wife and the girls browsed
through the mall Roberto shared with me numerous
magazines from the main vintage car
clubs in Brazil. He is very involved in several
of them. The magazines had photos of cars
well known to Roberto and, very surprising to
me, included Duesenbergs, Hispano-Suizas,
Silver Ghosts and, of course, his beautiful Silver
Wraith. In addition, Roberto showed photos
of his family and friends as well as his
collection of American luxury vintage cars.
As the day drew to an end we exchanged gifts
and said our good-byes knowing that we had
made a new friend. His graciousness and hospitality
will forever inform the manner in
which we will host visitors or guests. Most of
all, we confirmed again that car collecting is
far more than a hobby; it is a network of wonderful
people and friends to be made. Thank
you, Roberto!
7264 THE FLYING LADY March/April 2004
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