Folks Of Interest My visit to Cuba

I'm not really drawn to traveling to other countries, but I do want to see Cuba. The culture and the cars are very interesting to me. Now that they have kinda opened it up (under certain conditions) I am going to make it a point to go there. Hell, it is only 90 miles from the Keys.

One of the conditions is that the trip has to be of an educational nature, so I am going to pack up some of my old hot rod magazines and some old car parts and go there to "educate" some of the car club guys there on how we do it here. I will try to take some parts that I can donate that they could use.

Don

 

Most of the cars in Cuba you wouldn't really want to buy or export back home because they re so cobbled up, beat up, buggered up and held together with bailing wire and duct tape. Imagine a car restored by Earl Scheib 20 times and you start to get an idea of what you would be dealing with. There are so many better cars available here for less than half of the price.

 

Then there is the issue of the salt air too.


Don

 

First time I was in Cuba 30 years ago only saw a handful of cars considered pristine..most were drivable,,thats about it. You could see the people were maintaining the vehicles the best they could with what little they had..
As far as no 2 door..vehicles were purchased originally for practicality...."cool" did not factor in.

 

Don, Helping fellow car folks in Cuba is a great idea. Hope customs doesn't
interfere with your bringing in a few parts. Would it be possible to mail parts to Cuba?

 

Cool, like stepping back in time!

 

I feel certain that with the renewed relations between the United States & the Cuban government the possibility of that could happen but with the way the Cubans love their cars and the fact you can buy the same cars in much better condition at a fraction of what it would cost to pry them out of their hands,not to mention the shipping and import taxes I doubt we well see few if any end up in the states. HRP

 

What most people don't realize is that these cars are not just cars but a business, and when they change hands 20 THOUSAND US DOLLARS is pretty much where they start at. Not sure what you guys can buy in that price range in your area but am sure it would be in lot better condition than anything you'd find there.

 

I asked two times price and they asked 15 and 20000$

 

3 to 4 times the price i had in mind!

 

Cuban would sell it in a heartbeat for that kind of coin so he could afford to buy a Honda. Many of these people are living hand to mouth. Don't think for a minute they drive those old cars for love of the vintage automobile, the choices are minimal.
Over the years our city has donated shipping containers of hospital equipment to Cuba as well as brought Cuban medical staff over to train how to use such equipment prior to shipping.

 

I was wanting to donate my spare parts to them and caught all kinds of hell for wanting to do it.

 

I've said this for years, when Cuba get straightened out, it will be bigger than Las Vegas ever was, love the pictures you've posted, thanks for sharing with us!!

 

A lot of American cars in Cuba were either left behind or sold to Cubans by Americans who were stationed at the base in Guantanamo Bay.

 

Thats a bit of a mix of some of the pictures I took!
Joel

 

Stock driveline parts like brake drums & shoes and such would be gold to those folks.

 

On the show Cuban Chrome, they went to look at a very beat up 58 Biscayne 4 door needing full restoration, rust repair and missing most of its engine parts. Guy was firm at $10,000 and they bought it and were thrilled to get it. Here, I would have passed on he car at $2,000. They then showed them "restoring" several cars with very questionable techniques, parts and materials. A $400 Maaco paint job would have been an upgrade. I felt sorry for them when something like small block Chevy heads or an intake was a virtually impossible part to find when we have them laying around in useless piles and are often scrapped. When the borders do open up freely, most of the classic cars being imported will be GOING to Cuba, not coming this way. Living in Tampa, I hope one day to be able to list my cars for sale in the Cuban Craigslist.

 

A little insight into automobile ownership in Cuba. The majority of Cubans don't own a vehicle.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...n-light-to-buying-selling-cars/article557923/