History Photos from Matanzas Cuba ""LAST BATCH OF GREAT CAR PICS""

Here are a bunch of pics taken by my son while we were in Cuba in July The first picture is a picture of my good friend Jose's 55 Chevy. We got the Air Conditioning going in the car with a vintage blower I took down last February. He is now working on his other 55 and 56 Chevy Belair's. I hope you enjoy the pictures and if anyone has any interior dash parts etc please let me know as Jose would gladly have me return with some nice Cohiba's if anyone is a cigar smoker.

I have over 100 pics so i will add to it at a later date

Enjoy

 

i think you forgot something.

 

They love the moredoors down there don't they

 

Four doors were imported more for use as taxis not to many two doors went over .

 

How do they keep the 50+ year old cars from rusting at sea level?
They have to be the best mechanics in the world to keep them running with no source of parts?

 

what a sight.

 

Check this out.
http://www.jaman.com/movie/Yank-Tanks/0NCnHWAfrHzk/

 

More pics

 

please , please get them some whitewalls and steelies or smoothies or ANYTHING old school to replace thems nasty rims theyre rolling

 

They don't do too bad concidering a lack of money and available parts, I've got to get goin' on my projects.

 

more pics..please

 

these people don't drive these car because the love them,the only reason they drive them is because they are not alloud to owned new cars.any cuban would traded you the best american car for a toyota or a honda.if you are a cuban citizen and some how had the money to by a brand new car at agoverment dealership (the only dealerships in the island) you would not be alloud to do so and probable be arrested and your money confiscated.most of the cars dont even have the original power trains.I am sorry for my spelling.I AM CUBAN

 

No choice no problem!

 

you want tosee cuban babes come to miami!!!

 

Some cool pics and an interesting vibe.

 

those poor cubans, the calvin pissing on stuff stickers have made it all the way down there.

 

I had a great time when I went to cuba, I was in awe of all the NICE stuff there. I talked to a few of them and if they can they order parts out of canada if they can, one of there better trading parters, alot of the vintage stuff if its restored has volvo or other euro cars there. If you are cuban there is only one way to get a new car and own it. all the older stuff up to 58 is privately owned. To own a new car you must become a professional like a doctor or an engineer and they time trade with some of the south and central american countries. if you sacrifice 3 years the cuban government buys you whatever you want for a vehicle. I saw a brand new 7 series beamer a hyabusa bike........

 

bull shit!!!

 

Bullshit is right.

 

its not bull shit, you ever go to cuba? check it out. the guide I had was cuban he told me all about it

 

BS?? just read this today......


Sep 11, 2:36 PM EDT

Cab capitalism: Cuba allows new private taxis

By PAUL HAVEN
Associated Press Writer
AP Photo/Javier Galeano

HAVANA (AP) -- Jose Obdilio Duran's '57 Chevy has holes in its mottled floor, a passenger window that can't be rolled up and no inside panels on its doors. But the 71-year-old retiree wants to put the old car to work - applying for one of the first taxi licenses this communist country has granted in a decade.

About 60 would-be taxi drivers lined up early Friday at a Transport Ministry office in central Havana to fill out forms for permission to use their own cars as taxis - a rare dose of the free market on an island whose economy is dominated almost entirely by the state.

The new, private taxis are meant to help alleviate chronic transportation problems. In the capital, many people have to hitchhike to work in the morning. Things are so grave in the countryside that entire families wait by the highway for hours for transportation from one town to another.

Those willing to brave long lines at bus stops and endure sardine-like conditions can squeeze aboard former Soviet-bloc coaches that still list destinations such as East Berlin. Cuba has used credit to buy thousands of new buses from China, but they are mostly used to carry tourists and have not been enough to meet Cuban demand.

"This is one of the best decisions the state has ever made," said Luis Pozo, 67, another retiree seeking a license for his Russian-built 1988 Moscovich. Pozo said he didn't think the small free-market opening was out of step with the ideals of Cuba's revolution.

"It's not like anybody is going to get rich from this," he said.

The license gives drivers the right to ferry fellow Cubans - but not foreigners - for a monthly fee of $21.50 a month. They must pay that quota whether they make the money back or not.

The government says it will set price ceilings, but has yet to provide details. Most of those applying for licenses said they hoped to charge 10 pesos - about 50 cents - for standard trips. A separate fleet of modern cabs caters to tourists and they can charge up to $30 for a single trip through Havana.

Cuba stopped granting new licenses for private taxis in October 1999, but lifted the restrictions in January. Authorities started handing out taxi permissions in May, but were so inundated with requests that they quickly suspended the program in Havana, and only resumed in earnest on Friday.

The government has not said how many licenses it will grant. Thousands of Cubans already use private cars, either classic or modern, to give black-market rides. But they risk steep fines and even having their cars seized by the state if caught.

To an outsider's detached eye, Duran's brown Bel Air looks as if it could come apart at any minute, but he sees it differently.

"It's a beautiful car," he said proudly, before slowly puttering away. "The motor is old, almost as old as me, but it works well. It is still going strong, just like me."

Duran says once he gets the license - wait time is supposed to be about a month - he hopes to drive part-time to supplement his monthly pension of $13. He and others waiting to get the licenses said they figure they will be able to pull in about $10 a month after taxes and maintenance costs, often driving their cars along set routes where many Cubans wait for a lift.

While getting new taxis on the road will be some comfort to commuters, not everyone is thrilled.

"This is going to mean more competition," said 35-year-old Manolo Rodriguez, one of about 50 already-licensed taxi drivers waiting under the shade of a tree-lined street next to Cuba's majestic capitol dome, a slightly taller replica of the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

Rodriguez says he spends most of his 12-hour day waiting his turn in line behind other taxis, since cruising for fares uses up lots of fuel. He said he usually only carries four passengers each shift on a set route to the remote suburb of El Cotorro.

Still, that's enough to make more on a good day than Rodriguez used to earn in a month working at a cracker factory - about $15.

"If they keep giving out licenses I may only be able to get three trips a day, and that will really affect my income," worried Rodriguez, standing next to a hulking '53 Oldsmobile whose faded coat of powder blue paint had seen better days.

The loosening of taxi rules is one of a small number of limited reforms taken by President Raul Castro's government. But it seems to expressly defy the policies of his brother Fidel, who singled out private taxis as seeking "juicy profits" and fomenting a black market for state-subsidized gasoline.

Raul took over Cuba's presidency in February 2008 and has spoken publicly about the need to address dire daily life problems like transportation, housing and food shortages. But he has largely failed to solve them, and the global financial crisis has taken a toll on the island's ever-weak economy.

Another hopeful new taxi driver, Rigoberto Lamyser, said he plans to use his Czech-made Skoda sedan on weekends to earn extra cash while keeping his full-time job as a hydraulic engineer.

Vehicle ownership is strictly controlled, and most Cubans can only have cars built before Fidel Castro's revolution on New Year's Day 1959. But the 60-year-old Lamyser said he was able to buy a modern car because his job took him overseas, making him eligible for a special license.

He said he would charge 50 cents a trip unless a passanger is desperate enough to pay more.

"The market decides," said Lamyser. "It's supply and demand and even Cuba can't resist it."

Associated Press writer Will Weissert contributed to this report.

 

I am cuban and I have family there.what your saying is not true just because you went there and someone told you a lie does not make the truth.if I send my cousin 20,000.00 dollards to buy a new car, he is NOT allowed to buy one simply because he is cuban and will be arrested for having such a large amount of money.any foreigner that goes to cuba gets treaded royaly,cubans on the other hand are second class citezens in there owned country.sorry to burst youre boble.

 

thanks for the article brentwood.

 

Cruises? ...we dont need no stinkin cruises.....

 

Many Cubans have spent their lives making a living in the streets repairing cars, cycles, etc. until they were allowed to join family in the US or elsewhere. It has not been a good life in Cuba by our standards but they have done what they must to survive and we should support any effort to afford them the freeom they deserve and desire.

 

Four-door cars have been the standard vehicle virtually worldwide where US makers were involved with assembly plants. Other nations standards of living did not allow the body style choices we have enjoyed these 100 plus years.

 

If a local talks to a tourist they get fined. Don't ask me how I know.
I think it is only allowed to pass on a car or personal property to family members, but you can't sell it .

 

Wow, they have a lot of nice cars there. It is better than walking around anywhere alse and seeing these s***ty new Hondas and what not.

 

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