Cuban cars

[Guest greg walsh]

Now that it will be o.k. to travel to Cuba. Do you think it will help the old car hobby as I've always seen pictures of 50's cars or older there which seem to be their main means of transportation. As far as what's for sale or shipping costs, even parts.

[keiser31]

Now that it will be o.k. to travel to Cuba. Do you think it will help the old car hobby as I've always seen pictures of 50's cars or older there which seem to be their main means of transportation. As far as what's for sale or shipping costs, even parts.

I think that it will mostly help the Cubans. Most of their cars are cobbled together to keep them running and they will welcome access to some original parts.

[Rusty_OToole]

A few years ago I saw pics of a car lot in Cuba full of fifties cars to sell to tourists.

I wouldn't want one myself. Most of them were run into the ground and kept going with bailing wire repairs. In other words they are worn out, beat to death, original parts missing and filled with incorrect parts and backyard repairs. You will do MUCH better to find a good car in the US.

[Rusty_OToole]

I could never figure out what was with all the pre 59 cars on the road in Cuba. So, they couldn't buy American cars. So what. There are lots of other car making nations in the world. Hell, by the 70s even Americans weren't buying American cars anymore.

Guess it was because the Communist regime would not allow imports except from the USSR. Given the choice between a 20 year old Chev and a brand new Lada I can't say they made the wrong decision, if they kept the Chev.

[keiser31]

A few years ago I saw pics of a car lot in Cuba full of fifties cars to sell to tourists.

I wouldn't want one myself. Most of them were run into the ground and kept going with bailing wire repairs. In other words they are worn out, beat to death, original parts missing and filled with incorrect parts and backyard repairs. You will do MUCH better to find a good car in the US.

Not to mention the fact that Cuba is an island......hello rust!

[Dave Mellor NJ]

I watched a shabby Model A roadster imported from Cuba sell on E-bay for pretty good money last year. Must have been a headache to title.

[D Yaros]

The March of 2010 edition of Car Collector Chronicles did a spread on the classic cars of Cuba. It is an interesting read.

It may be found here - Car Collector Chronicles 03-10

[cobravii]

I've spent a lot of time in Cuba and may have some insight.

There are a lot of 59 and older cars there but it isn't their only cars. Most of the cars on the road there are from Russia. They do build a lot of their own parts but they really haven't had problems getting parts for their cars either. In case you didn't know, Canada has always had good relations with Cuba allowing a good supply of parts along with Mexico and many other central american countries. So finding parts for North American built cars is as easy for them as it is for you or I.

As far as rust goes, it is amazing that the vehicles are in as good a shape as they are. I rarely saw anything rusted out. It was strange.

Something that they did modify on most of them though was the drive line. Gasoline is out of this world expensive for them and diesel is plentiful so a lot of the vehicles have been converted to diesels.... Lada to be specific.

Seeing all those old vehicles driven regulary is quite a treat. Most of them are used for the tourist trade as taxis. Many times I have flagged down a '56 chevy convertible, lit up a Cohiba and sipped Havana rum as I am being toured around with the top down.

HTH's