A Highly Skilled Builder of Vintage European and American Horse-Drawn Carriages
Much of this text was submitted by José for publication here.
José Cardoso Brito in his workshop, with one of his models.
A museum photo from the Portuguese National Coach Museum shows one of José’s carriage models alongside the original coach from which it was based.
Introduction
There was quite a bit of excitement when members of the Craftsmanship Museum were first introduced to the work of José Cardoso Brito. Initially, Mr. Brito sent along pictures and information about his specialty models—featuring vintage European and American horse-drawn carriages. It was quickly apparent that his models were of a higher caliber. This was validated by the fact that José has had his models featured on display with their original coaches in Portugal’s Nartional Coach Museum.
Over the past 20 plus years, Mr. Brito has completed 15 models of noteworthy royal, personal, and mail carriages. Each model seems to have improved on the last in skill and detail. Though José claims to be an “amateur,” this is true only in the sense that he doesn’t build his models to sell. Instead, he makes them simply for the love of recreating such fine original craftsmanship in miniature. When reaching out to the Joe Martin Foundation about his work, Mr. Brito had this to say:
“I am a big amateur in [the] construction of coach miniatures in 1/10 scale. I had the great satisfaction of finding this magnificent museum, [the Miniature Engineering Craftsmanship Museum], a wonder to look at. Many congratulations to the organization. I would like to show and share my works, which are modeled after the original carros (cars, coaches) that are in the National Museum of Cars in Lisbon, Portugal. I usually make my own plans, taking many measurements and photos of the original details to make these works. I also have a model coach made from the original plans for a Napoleonic State Coach, which was offered by the Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild for a contest in the USA during the 1930’s. There are 15 miniature coaches that I have at the moment. It would be a great pleasure to be able to show them in your great museum, through the Joe Martin Foundation.
—José Cardoso Brito
Before model carriages, José built wooden ship models. However, he found them difficult to display and transport. While looking in a ship model catalog, José found a kit for a Wells Fargo stagecoach. He decided to order and build it. From then on, his interests turned to coaches, and all of José’s later models were built from scratch, rather than kits.
Mr. Brito’s Models Have Been Displayed in Several Museums
Panhard & Levassor Automobile Model
Among José’s latest work, completed mid-2019, is this Panhard & Levassor automobile. In 1895, this was the first automobile to come to Portugal. It was bought in Paris, France by the Count of Avilez. The Panhard & Levassor represents the beginning of a transition from horse-drawn carriages to the automobile. This model is in 1/8th scale, and took José 10 months to complete.
An Update From Mr. Cardoso Brito
In May 2021, Mr. Cardoso Brito sent us some photos of a more recently finished miniature carriage. José completed this project over the course of 7 months. He noted that working on the model was a great way to pass the time during pandemic confinement. According to José, this model is based on a carriage that was used to transport prisoners in Portugal. It has been completely restored, and the original is on display at the National Coach Museum in Lisbon.
Mr. Brito’s finished scale model prisoner transport carriage.
A rear view of the prisoner transport carriage.
In 2023, Mr. Brito sent another update on a newly completed Traveling Coach by Fisher Body, which is pictured below. As noted by José, this model represents one of the least known carriages, which entered the Fisher Body competition from 1934-35. It took Mr. Brito 7 months to finish the 1/10 scale coach, and he built it exactly to the original GM plans.
Mr. Brito’s 1/10 scale model of the Traveling Coach by Fisher Body.
A peek inside the miniature Traveling Coach.
Later, in May 2023, Mr. Brito updated us on yet another one of his recent works. The model is a horse-drawn wine barrel wagon. The piece is unfinished, as he still needs to add three mules to hitch to the wagon. Like his other models, the wine barrel wagon was crafted to a remarkable degree of precision and accuracy. Mr. Brito also made a YouTube video to demonstrate the functional aspects of the wine wagon.
Mr. Brito’s nearly completed scale model of a wine barrel wagon.
View photos of more than a dozen different coach models that Mr. Brito has masterfully crafted.
Other sources of information on the work of José Cardoso Brito:
A detailed blog in English with many photos of José’s work.
A YouTube video of a Portuguese TV show featuring José.
More photos of his coaches.
A history of full-size coaches with details on José’s models, too.
Drawings and photos of some of the real coaches.