Milan Ťoupalík

* 1940

  • "'Comrade Director, there's a personal car there under your windows, I'd really like it, and you don't use it for anything.' 'Come and ask in 14 days,' and with that he kicked me out. I was not lazy, that very day I went to the Elektra shop, bought an Avomet, a velvet box with a red cover, it has a device with a hand, it measures about four sizes, it was new with instructions, a warranty card, an invoice, and a stamp. 'Comrade Director, I brought you one device to your labs.' Well you got me there, now I will have to give you the trailer.´ And I replied: ´That would be ideal, I know it does not go that smoothly, but that would be beautiful.'"

  • “Normally, you couldn't collect cars like that, but they invited me to the office, the communists. I have been filming using the cars since the 1970s. They told me directly: 'Think about it, if we find out that you have actually sold a car, the speculation law still applies, we'll use the law regulations with you and the fine will be real hard to pay, and we will lock you up.' Well, I simply did not sell any cars, which was the result of their threats. And those commies taught me to collect them.”

  • "When the Soviets came, I stared blankly. They had interesting cars and those cars had big wheels, in terms of width. There were no such wheels here. I liked that. Then they had Jeeps, I liked that too. And then they had cars that they took from the Germans, using them they came from Ukraine all the way to Kutná Hora. The Germans often abandoned them, or even damaged them, because they ran out of gas. There was an Opel by the Singers, all brown, polished, after some manufacturer from Germany, but it had made the trip to Stalingrad and back, if it was not on a shorter route. And he came to the Czech Republic with the Russians, and I stood by that car, looking at how its beautiful speedometer, and the other alarm clock, made of beige material. Later I learned that when the lights come on, the tachometers - not just the hands and numbers, but the whole glow. It was a transparent material, beige one, and it was glowing all over. I will not go into the technicalities, because you would not be interested, but as I was standing by the car, four young Russian guys came, around twenty years old, they didn't have a tank top like us, we were careful not to catch a cold, they were tough. Smiling, maybe a little drunk, but they were not drunk. They were joking and one of them said to me in Russian: 'Do you want to eat?' I did not understand him, but out of politeness, I nodded my head and he shoved a piece of roll or bun into my hand, it was not bread, they had a commissary. As I was standing by those soldiers, one of them gave me a bun and the other one to trump him, so he said: 'Do you want to ride?' And I was waiting for that and I was already in the car."

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    Kutná Hora, 10.05.2021

    (audio)
    duration: 01:54:26
    media recorded in project The Stories of Our Neigbours
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Cars for life

During car repair
During car repair
photo: pamětník

Milan Ťoupalík was born on June 8, 1940 in Hluboké Dol near Kolín. His mother died in childbirth and he was raised by his grandmother. He graduated from secondary technical school and after the war he got his first job in Tatra Kolín. He worked in the tobacco industry in Kutná Hora for 31 years. His lifelong hobby is cars and he has collected a whole row of them in his lifetime. Even filmmakers noticed his collection, and since the 1970s Mr. Ťoupalík’s cars have appeared in many Czech films, such as Fany, Obecná škola or Muži v naděj. He was married, he is a widower, he has two daughters.