I wonder if there will be an influx of available parts coming out of cuba soon? http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/04/21/cuba.cl***ic.cars/index.html?hpt=C2 .
Man, wouldn't that be nice? But...On one hand, I think that lots of salt air/island rust lurks underneath the paint. On the other, I've seen a lot worse here in the states. Heck, just in the parts section...if they sold some of the parts, lots of us here in the U.S. would probably be able to support the whole nation for quite a while !
i have been to Cuba, most of the cars are in poor repair, i dont think its a lack of parts as much as a lack of money to buy parts, i did see some beautiful private owned cars, as nice as any i have seen anywhere, you can tell if the car is private, goverment or a combo of both by the color of the licence plate, i dont see them allowing anything to leave the country, i was told a Lada was worth $5000 by a cuban guy i got to know a little, that lada would be crushed here.
I've been there as well. If you want to be treated like royalty, make a stop at your local NAPA before you go and stock up on points, condensers, generators, and fuel pumps for any mid 50's six cylinder. It's very unlikely the cars will come here, at least not until they've p***ed through some other country or two. The US has very few people known to the Cubans, while other Central and South American countries are well established as connections there. As Budd said, there are wide discrepancies in the quality, originality, and completeness of the cars, depending on who they belong to.
It would be so cool if theose were the only cars around here. You dont even ever see cars from the 80's any more it real sad. Its like if you dont have the new car on the block your s***.
I read once that Castro had the 50s autos declared national treasures, never to leave the country. Could be wrong, its happened before.
Yes, it's true they've been declared a national treasure, and they can never leave. Cl***ic cars in Cuba are as much a part of their culture as pizza is in new york. No matter how the laws change, those cars are in no danger of leaving the scene. To put it into context, it would be like if the EPA allowed those 75 mpg diesel cars from europe to be sold here, and someone would be fussing that the small block chevy might go extinct because of it... Just because us Americans could suddenly buy a 75 mpg car doesn't mean that motor-heads like us would abandon the V8!
I wish I could remember the name of it but there is a do***entary on Netflix that is all about the cl***ic cars in Cuba and the lifestyle that surrounds them. There was a guy that relines old brake shoes by hand...with not even a dust mask....yeah. Then there is the guy that makes all new trim for anything. You bring him the old piece or a picture of what you want and he and his guys will make it from scratch and it looks NOS if not better!
It's called Yank Tanks, and you can watch it here: http://www.snagfilms.com/films/***le/yank_tanks_carros_cl***icos_de_cuba/
Just watched the film, thanks for posting it! When I lived in Florida I went to Havana a few times, couple of friends of mine in Orlando who were Cuban had me bring a few things to their relatives, was kind of funny... smuggled in a carb, water pump kits, etc.
That was pretty interesting, especially the Hudson Hornet. Its pretty amazing how they get by with next to nothing and improvise all the time. I don't think I'll ever grumble about making a trip to the auto parts store again...yeah I will. Maybe if they end the embargo I can trade some parts for a few boxes of those Cuban cigars. Oh yeah!
I think you are correct, going by what I saw and heard when I was there, I would not be holding my breath in anticipation. Time has not been kind to most of these vehicles. Remember we are still foreigners to them.
Correct. Forget about bringing one out of Cuba. They aren't all disasters, there's a lot of them that are still in good shape with original or at least correct drivetrains in em, but those aren't the ones that get driven daily as Taxis, etc. Remember, parts supplies were cut off down there 50 years ago, and a lot of these cars have been in daily use for 50-60 years, hence eastern bloc drivetrains, cobbled together parts, etc. When I lived in Florida I knew a bunch of Cuban mechanics, what they could do amazed me. One of my neighbors owned a repair shop that worked on m*** market o/t stuff, guy did very well for himself and I remember working on my Bonneville in my garage one day, he comes over and told me stories of what they used to do to cars like mine in Cuba to keep them running and I was humbled.
they could rebuild anything, did you see in the do***entary if someone crashed into a chain link fence they would melt it and make a grill they even make gl*** if i was castro's brother i would make a parts supply for cl***ic cars and ship world wide
the only country not tradeing with Cuba is the US, Canada has never cut off trade, we do make parts here to, China makes 1/2 the parts we buy now and they trade with Cuba, if you earned $25 a month how many new parts could you buy, i'm not sure where all the new cars down there come from or who buys them but there are lots, i couldnt count how many new Kenworth dump trucks i saw
It's just the opposite. They are looking forward to parts that have been unavailable to them for years. A couple years back there was a Canadian guy on the HAMB looking for parts so he could send them to Cuba. I think most of the American cars they got at the time were the standard to cheap models. Even if they were available I don't think you could get much.
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