South america home to true veterans of the road we join them on a voyage of discovery from the state of go us in brazil to sao paulo and the state of sun to cutting out and finally to the small city of miss a dose in northeastern argentina cut. This means you can. Maintain such as. These trucks may be museum items back in germany but are still valiantly rolling back the years on the roads of brazil cut cut nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing. Cut our journey begins in the brazilian state of call us at a truck stop thats packed with old timers this one looks a little worse for wear head is definitely on the rusty side was fine how come were going to come covina if i want my way. I want to try and load up some watermelons here and bring them to sao paulo. And does he always go the same way. With the prophecy ive been taking the same route for 38 years from sao paolo to bellingham and from the south part of it would be one when i get back to sao paulo ill have a 970 kilometer journey and hire me and i want the fish on my truck is still going after 6000000 kilometers on the clock although i have had to replace the engine a few times i spend more time caring for it then for my family. That. Will might be my life is spent in the truck. I did go to school but i dropped out to fulfill my childhood dream which has now become a nightmare. Market but if you love roses you have to live with the thorns to write. Love in a bad. Song what are those throwing stuff. Roberto if it ever does susa is no 64 years old. His truck has helped him take care of 3 wives and 10 children he says with pride. This is l. Sounds a popular truckers diner in the area. Roberto lovingly calls his truck i might allow the yellow one its 40 years old. Bloomberg keep your money elses husband was a truck driver too. Thats him here with the 1113. There are load of them still on the roads of brazil 1313151320 extension 13 the 1st from mercedes brazil good vehicles becoming a group of. Highly happy. Its diesel not blood that runs through the veins of these men even their families get the bad. People thought here yes cut me open and youll find these all. Your Truck Driving is in our blood. Bank. Drivers can get a meal at el cells for 15 play ice the equivalent of 3 euros 50 party and affordable fair. Treatment if i have the money to get a new truck it will be another mercedes youre not going to move through. The diner is located by the truck stop near sardine polish start a small town about 1200 kilometers north of south palo. From here its just a few minutes drive to the offices of a fruit wholesaler. The company purchases entire harvests from farmers and then sells the proteus at markets in the cities. Roberto is hoping to get a delivery to sao paulo because its close to where he lives. Have faith in the lord with all your heart reads the company sign. Joins other drivers sitting outside. While. Theyre all waiting to be assigned a delivery. Of the little. League world over a little that way it can take hours if not longer. Sometimes its 2 or 3 days depending on demand. At long last a Company Representative emerges and has deliveries to assign to come. Out for 150. 00 per ton of properties with that money youd be broke by the time you got to sell palo but thats all she has to offer. But. Its all about supply and demand when there are fewer trucks available the price rises when there are a lot like now the price goes down market patience is a virtue in brazil and specially for Truck Drivers its the only offer they receive all afternoon. Youre looking maybe itll work out tomorrow god willing is that. We want to keep. The middle class it is an easy. Little but. Nonetheless plan to send them up to the to. Elsa steiner the truckers can recharge their own batteries while also feeling ill. Homesick. Seems to. Be a battle has been on the road for 12 days and today is his beloved wifes birthday. The 2 he sends her happy return stole the tug. To educate you live she told me tomorrow ill probably be able to load a delivery and be in sao paulo on sunday. Love love love. Love love. Love the next morning there are even more trucks lined up outside the wholesaler. The cost of the competition and speculation among buyers is paid by the drivers. Love. Of it is going to be for trucks drive off without a buyer for the watermelons. They load up and set off but they dont know where they will ultimately be unloading. What the wholesale or fruit talk now does is try to find a buyer. I mean they then send a fax for the driver to print out at a gas station. Thats the sales like sims which the driver needs to be allowed into the market. To. The beer goggles to my d. Q. Steel but i dont set out until i know where im headed to avoid stress on the road he. Loses its us who are left with any. Also is there the day its our time thats being spent and money for food theres no point getting the union involved they might resolve your current problem but then youre blacklisted and you wont get any more jobs from anyone to go back to him which might explain why religious mantras are rare source of comfort also seen on the trucks themselves thank you all deals i cant say if ill get on the road today well see about wake up thanks thad midday roberto decides to set off despite not having a precise destination for his delivery 1st he has to have his truck weigh it while empty to ensure the weight of his load can be verified when delivered at the other end thad then he continues to the plantations to pick up 15 tons of watermelon. And. The state of going us is dominated by big landowners especially cattle breeders. They control the farming sector while also Holding Political posts in brasilia the connections they enjoy in the capital enable them to constantly expand their land assets they then lease their fields to local farmers. The farmers sell their properties to the wholesalers thanks. To play. Live. Love. Love. This is the best part of the journey when the trucks loaded up and we can finally get going. Whatever the young ones can do so can the. 15 tons of watermelon on board headed for the state of south. Its a 1200 kilometer journey from here which will take him 3 days. Over half of all goods transported in brazil are delivered by truck along very poor roads roberto has his own motto adorning his precious truck for the sake of life is worth living but it. Does. We should. Know you know if you make the most of. The end. A year after that film was shot german car maker mercedesbenz opened a factory on farmland just 20 kilometers outside sao paulo the factory would make diesel trucks and later buses to. Almost half of the trucks and buses on the roads of the country were built by Mercedes Benz told herself but despite the companys high profile our film crew were not allowed inside the factory gates here in south. Pole. But a privately run museum in the town does open its doors specially for this man a nice surprise for 80 year old quality engineer of the scented dungeon level who used to work at mercedes so personal on. This in the mail this ones from my time at the company it has the heart of mercedes. Although the body was made by nicola fadia soon you call. It there so i feel nostalgic. But somehow i really miss that time. Mason the workers used to call the company bomber sadies had on my mind there sits. In my time there were 15000 people working there he was the there were 3 cooperative stores for the workforce you could buy everything you needed for one month he would even clothes and house or appliances and at the end of the month it would be taken off of your wages for it by me but it was way cheaper than regular stores because the Company Bought it and all of them are bastards. I mean if you also had excellent medical care provided in house for staff and their families i missed this and the company also had a football pitch for staff and a club where we could have dances to celebrate the festival joining us we were there all the time on friday we go home but on saturday well be back again. And say an office i feel. Mom a mercedes since now a distant memory priscillas facing a serious economic crisis demand on the truck market has slumped a Mercedes Benz brazil has already seen redundancies and severance packages perhaps its no coincidence that the management are not keen on a foreign t. V. Crew taking a look around. Its day to have robertos trip to south. India. Follow the money. Love to it. Than a week i love that. Song. That the old trucker songs hope to keep the spirits off while hes on the road. In a haze. Love. To give but. The love playing. Badly behaved. Live. Band. Came to a large that it lasted. Done. For them all who wouldnt fancy something new and better in life. But given the chance to swap im not sure my heart would be enough so when the only thing weve been partners for so many years and my trucks never made me unhappy oh it was well it meets my expectations its a really sound truck no bill got there its perfectly happy when i drive slowly well the get up but when i step on it because i have a deadline to make also no problem a good of doc i get enough to eat that i cant help it i like it. I feel comfortable with it even when im asleep busy been thinking here. Lets. Listen to the sleep. Eat. That. Every cent account says roberto you have to watch your budget to end up with any money in your pocket that means only getting gas where he can get a discount. Diesel here costs 0. 70. A coupe of the moment lose 3 re isolator but i get a discount we dont mind chasing come. Home to me at the. Top. Of. The money we have to cover highway toll charges then Everything Else ourselves the companies dont pay a cent. As long as the drivers are on the road the wholesalers. And Distribution Companies continue to play the market and the drivers. Roberto goes to ask if a fax has arrived for him. Hes expecting one his delivery order from the company through talk. And of course i still dont know where ill be taking the watermelons these are the forms of the strong and the will be. The only information he does have is the approximate direction hes heading with his 1513 model truck and its 15 time load of melons. To fill. It if you. Want to see his journey takes him through the state of maine arise past an ending sugarcane fields. The lights on the horizon are not a city they belong to the enormous Sugar Refinery is. Another tiring day at the wheel comes to an end. Its friday and bankers short and patrons is looking forward to the weekend hes checking the weather. And. Where in the state of pa and in the southwest of brazil. Showdown lives here on a farm belonging to his mother in law together with his wife letitia. And and his many mercedes and their city leo 600 make. You feel old. So you can please excuse me. For the. Year is 23. 00 jordan is 24. 00 the couple are sprucing up a small framed truck for their sunday excursion said. Jordan bought it secondhand and restored it himself. For mercys sake. But ive always been crazy about mercedes. You know when i was 16 i made a paper model of this truck which i still have today. Yes. Its an old love. The top hole and is taken from my fathers 1st truck for half on childhood memories and thats that i see some to that it was really difficult to find the original parts for the restoration. I spent 2 years searching for the white protective hub cap for example. Now theyre going to sit in the 1970 s. And eightys people thought that chrome elements would bring good luck and more jobs. This number plate holder was already made like that by mercedes to sort your feet from or say its an original part that i found and restored. In the t. C. I got married in december during the summer in brazil mars and there were 3 of us in our truck for christmas i. Planned every little detail. I had my dress on with slits down the side to make it easier to get in and out. When you made a little truck for our. People here we were so happy that day. Many of the people in the region are the descendants of european settlers and economic refugees families with now been here for 5 generations. To come even the most of the city my forefathers come from true here in germany they started to farm the fields here back then the brazilian government gave away land to immigrants since in the. Immigrants who settled all the way down to floaty are no police on the coast of Santa Catarina state they also included many italians such as the forefathers apollo luis. Theres a little film playing in my head when i look at this vehicle my father used to drive it i learned how to drive while i sat on his lap. When i was 14 i started helping him at the wheel although i didnt have a license. Polo is now a Building Contractor and a collector of vintage mercedesbenz models. Areas today covered with tower blocks used to be dense forest land. Back then we were given permission to cut down trees. We would load up a truck like this with timber 4 times a day and then take it to hospital as a shop some floor not us for heating fuel. Paolo has tracked down veteran mercedes models only for the country hes now restored 8. Is. Also. A good. Look his most recent acquisition is this l p 312. And it was already 10 years old when i was born i was born in 67 and the truck in 57. Trucks like this helped to build the roads in brazil by transporting materials. This was the 1st mercedes model the engine brakes tires and axles are all original parts. Dont want to take it for a drive 1st to see if you like it says his mechanic. The starter the clutch theyre all from 1957 theyre. Going to hear they do. You think you know theres no secret to these engines with a pair of pliers and some wire youll never have a breakdown like this one. Will start it up and well see. Thank you all those veterans are not exhibition items theyre used for their original purpose thank you. Theyre in good shape and because theyre more than 15 years old and i dont have to pay any road tax. The maintenance costs are really low to. Those mises i use the flat face as we call the 320 want all the time insurance for a new one to be too expensive plus theres no place a new model can get to get this baby care out of the my good. Book. Let me. Build small pin to buy the sound when i knock on the tires tells me whether they have enough air in them to think i would like to. But there might be a puncture from a nail somewhere was it wasnt until this that he had a tire like this currently costs 800. 00 re ice which is too much. Like it so after a while i swap the front tires to the rear and then get them retreaded. Its just a recent key that only costs 550. 00 s. To the fun of it for me and id love to give it a general overhaul but earning so little and having a pay for all those things while on the road means you have to choose. Either get the truck restored or feed your family so im constantly having to postpone it and in the meantime the rust is getting worse to my. Oh. Its sunday and roberto is around a 100 kilometers away from some follow up and was. About to. Go on but. A lot of. The. Casual mailbox man these guys were most posed to go with these melons got the old. South pole and the sprawling metropolis that never sleeps the main wholesalers market is located in the downtown area its late by the time roberto arrives and he still has no delivery order but he heads down to the market nonetheless. The woman at the gate wants to know what goods he has on board having no delivery order means roberto will have to leave his truck by the entrance to the car park. It will be safe there she assures him. Roberto is now just 50 kilometers from home but hes worried that parking his truck unload there would put them at risk of being stolen. Night and day trucks roll up here from all over brazil 12000. 00 a day in total. Was. Many of the drivers have been waiting several days to unload their deliveries not a good sign for roberto. Their patience man but sometimes the Truck Drivers get fed up especially when they see their fruit beginning to rot sometimes reports roberto they open their truck bed side panels and dump fruit onto the street but unloading their anger like that will only hurt themselves he says theyre basically throwing away their own pay just yet but you can often wait for 4. 00 days or more at the market and no one is paying for your meals let alone all those last days so. Some drivers resort to trying their luck in the lottery. But. The baritone has had enough and goes looking for the representative of his customer for talk who he was supposed to meet here would know that he. Was and this is where the city supermarkets and other retailers buy their property is. Against the backdrop of the economic crisis crime is a growing factor there have even been robberies at the market itself the newspapers have almost daily reports of trucks being stolen and their drivers abducted many do not survive says roberto. Was going to the market is a good shooting location for pay now is thought out on a t. V. Show. That caters to Truck Drivers oh good god no no up to date on the bare toes vocal in his praise of his beloved truck but silence about the conditions he has to work under. He finally tracks down his fruit tax contact. To hold or if the man is still making calls to find a buyer salvi i just want to unload a little bring them to a Company Warehouse in about 2 hours of all predicted that theyre not going to get all i want is my money. And all i have left is 2 and a half 1000 re ice about 640 euros for a journey of 6000 kilometers and 13 work days to the easiest one of the. Great competitive in book video shot of cantina news. Meant that i could all see some fabric of the us every. Hollywood decided. It was the auto makers 1st factory in latin america mercedesbenz argentina was founded in 1951 specializing in trucks and buses. Its management would later face accusations of having collaborated with the military dictatorship in argentina but its products are to this day i dont live by many in the country. This is northeastern argentina. The heartland of the countrys cowboys and rangers the gaucho. Yes. This small city in his province with a population of 45000. 00 just so happens to be called missing it is going to. Be out of my. Mind out. Of the region is the birthplace of the gauchos but also has strong associations with the national drink tonic week i met a team 1st consumed by indigenous peoples. Mercedes the town that doesnt take its name from the card which it predates by several decades. Is a name given to girls in spanish. A mercedes means our lady of mercy in the months dedicated to families she comes to visit School Children at home. Public transportation in the city of my saddest comprises a fleet of old buses all of that vintage Mercedes Benz models. That is drunk everywhere including at this family run car workshop. We saw god and his 19 year old son for condo are th