A Postcard from Havana (WARNING: not dialup friendly)

Thanks for taking and posting all of those!!!

Nobody has mentioned it yet, but almost every car is a 4 door.

Funny, because I noticed the exact same thing when I watched Buena Vista Social Club, which was filmed almost entirely in Cuba. I was amazed at all the old iron down there. Just about everything has four doors though. Weird.

Awesome pics. Thanks again.

 

THANKS FOR POSTING THESE
Looks like the the island of misfit toys ...
where the winged lion moon raker takes the unloved ??? ....


paperdog

 

It's 4 AM.. Need to get up for work in 3 hours and I'm jet-lag'ed like a MOFO.. but here goes..

I wanted to experience Cuba, the real Cuba before it's too late. "Unfortunatly" I think it's somewhat too late already, for good or worse.. But that's not a discussion for a car forum!

Thanks Breeder, baby! Enjoy the seafood

I'm affraid my picture selection set is a bit biased.. The majority of the cars where in a less than good state, estetic wise.. Engine wise I didn't hear many V8s.

There's always the black market for merchandise. But the main problem (I'm guessing) is that the average sallary for a doctor in cuba is like $25 a month or so I heard.. that doesn't leave much for imported car parts. And like I mentioned above.. the nice looking cars where in a definate minority there..

Yeah me too! the only ones I found to buy where crappy replicas of wood. Stealing one didn't seem like that good of an idea!

Lots and lots! I'll try to post more photos after work tomorrow!


Glad you guys liked it

 

dan34, Thanks for the pics. Did you see any junk yards while you were down there?

 

Ok, here are some more pictures. Not all of them are very good though..

 

i sooooo want to visit my relatives down there.

 

Thanks for posting the pictures. Very Cool!

 

Can't say I did, no. There where a few junk cars scattered around on some larger parking lots. But not in any larg quantities.

 

I could live with that 53 Mercury wagon.

 

Sure, they're rusty and have Ruskie running gear, but they're running. What's sad is the minute Castro & Co. cease to exist, we'll flood Cuba with cast off Luminas and Focuses (Foki?) , and they'll disappear, just as they did here 30 years ago. As for me, I want to go... I bet somebody's still got original dual quad intakes and such sitting on the shelf that they took off the cars about 1961.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Canada still trades with Cuba, Soooo if you got the dough in Cuba, you could get parts from Canada, right?

 

The 2 Model A tubs with the VW running gear look like they're Glassic kit cars from '60/'70s.

 

I was going to point out that they're 2 door touring cars, Henry didn't make too many of them, some 1500 I'm told. thus, if those are real, they're extremely rare, note the door hinges on them as well. I certainly wouldn't kick one out of my garage for leaking oil. keep in mind that we stopped exporting to Cuba in, 58?

 

Loved the red 58 chevy just like I had way back when in Pa..

 

There are lots of small diesel motor conversions into everything imaginable. The stock A-arm/ball joint front suspension wears out, just throw a straight axle under it; lots of "GASSERS" over there. They swap parts, rebuild parts, jerryrig parts just to get by. And they customize their cars just like everyone else. They live in ghettos and their cars are their only real form of expresion. Sound familiar? BUTCH.

 

Wife says thanks for sharing pics of the town; she recalls some of the places from her childhood---me? Well I arrive at the tender age of four and been playing with cars most of my life of 49 years. Currently trying to revive a 30's A coupe. Would like someday to go to the island and help out with the cars.

Thanks again!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

love all the schucks hubcaps

 

GREAT post! I don't know if anyone else noticed it but there are a couple of really strange things about those pics:

First:the first pic of the 55 Chevy looks like the body was cobbled together possibly with a 2 door front section.It also might be parallax in the camera angle.

Secondly;the 55 Olds convertible,the green 53 Ford,and the black and red 57 Buick appear to have 2 piece windshields.I wonder if they got broken and spliced pieces together?

Oh and that really nice looking Merc wagon is a 54.

Also that 50 Olds 4 door fastback is probably a Chevy with an Olds front end.I don't believe Olds ever made a 4 door fastback.

 

canadians vacation there on a regular basis. lucky basterds

 

Americans can go there but we have to be processed through another country..my wife went there from Mexico City...I want to go there for the fishing and come home with that 58 convertable!

 

How much time did you spend there?

you have more pics of old iron that I see here in Ca., over a month...

 

amazing

 

Amazing photos! I too saw that PBS documentary about the mechanics who repair and make parts for these cars and it's incredible what they do. It's sort of like in each area there's a guy who specializes in making/fixing one particular part. One dude was "the brake shoe guy" and mixed asbestos and resin together BY HAND and then pressed it into brake shoes. He knew that the dust he was breathing would eventually give him cancer but it was just what he did and so he kept on doing it.

 

what is that 50 buick looking thing?

 

Awesome pics. I saw the same show on PBS years ago. They showed a little underground shop that showed guys making replacement trim pieces by hand with some homemade tools. Ive wanted to go ever since I saw that show.

 

Go before it's too late and we have a Dairy Queen and Starbucks on every corner. An author friend of mine is there right now. Hopefully if all works out I can go legally and be the first Tiki Carver to carve in Cuba in decades.

 

love the pix thanks for posting

 

Awesome pictures, thank you for sharing.....

Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear (the UK BBC Show) did an episode of his "Clarkson on cars show from there several years ago....

He got to drive Castro's rag top something (maybe a Chevy or Caddy) which hadn't been driven in years, the guys dragged it out & got it going, and it caught FIRE!!!

Then they showed another guy making brake fluid....FROM SHAMPOO & something else (can't remember what the other thing was, but these guys over there are amazing)....

 

Ha! I didn't catch the dually rearend until you mentioned it. Wild.

Thanks for sharing these pictures. There's something magical about these cars since they've been in continuous service for 50+ years. Makes them that much more interesting to look at. You really start to notice the modifications when you look at the pictures closely, impressive that any of these cars survive.

I wonder if those cars would really disappear if things changed in Cuba. After a 50 year tradition, wouldn't you think they'd keep those cars still? Perhaps import replacement parts to fix them up?