CO-FOUNDER, SALES DIRECTOR

There may not be a single foreigner—and few Brazilians, for that matter—on the planet with more experience driving Bandeirantes (and getting them stuck in difficult-to-rescue places) than Eddie. Our resident spokesperson, Bandy historian, and de facto Test Pilot, Eddie & his beloved 1989 OJ50 “Gaucha” have traversed more than 150,000+ km of exhilarating Brazilian backroads together since 2018, raising awareness about the vehicle & its impressive capabilities in the field (as well as the unsung beauty of the Brazilian backcountry) in the process. While there is no shortage of better mechanical minds out there, there’s no one better qualified to be the primary point of contact between adventurous drivers like yourself & our services as a restoration & adventure outfitter.

OPERATIONS DIRECTOR

An adventurer by nature, an architect by training, and a multi-national small business owner by fire, it sometimes seems like Elisa was specially designed to coordinate the madness inherent to buying, insuring, restoring, documenting, and ultimately transporting highly-prized Bandeirantes to demanding drivers overseas. Refreshingly diligent, supernaturally organized, and uniquely adept at naviagating the daunting beaurocracies of the Brazilian landscape, she is the Project Manager for each of our builds, and your point person when it comes to schedules, payments, progress, and other critical logistics involved with your Bandy.

TECHNICAL & EXPORTATION DIRECTOR

Classic automobiles, global financial markets, south american logistics, and international import & export regulatory policies are a few of the many areas of expertise, and a big reason why Peter is the most interesting (& important) person Eddie ever met in a cave in Mexico during the Pandemic. Our resident behind-the-scenes guy (every good team needs one!), Peter’s unique skillset & years of experience in the Brazilian export business is always priceless, yet never more valuable than when it comes to the processes surrounding the purchase of your donor vehicle in Brazil and (later) its registration it in your home country. A pioneer in the VW Bus export niche, he is currently authoring a book called “How to Not Get Scammed While Restoring & Exporting a VW Bus in Brazil”.

MASTER BUILDER

There aren’t many second-generation Bandy builders in Brazil, but that’s exactly what Leandro Lucio Serafim de Oliveira (“Lucio”, for short) is. The Godfather of modern Bandeirante restorations in Brazil, and the pioneer of Bandy exportations, Lucio & his crew of talented craftsmen at Toyocap have been elevating rusty cabins & decades-old rolling chassis into strikingly beautiful, capable workhorses for the better part of 3 decades. While the nuts & bolts of restoration is science, the finer points (e.g. hand-crafting new door frames, hand-pounding new floors) are unmistakenably art, and no one in the world does Bandy artistry like Lucio & his crew.