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It is estimated that 60,000 pre 1960 cars still drive the streets of Cuba
American cars from the 40's and 50's dominate the Cuban landscape. These cars have served over 50 years in many cases as taxi cabs and daily drivers with no signs of stopping. It is estimated that 60,000 pre-1960 automobiles still travel the streets of Cuba. About 150,000 existed at the time of the 1959 revolution, shortly after which the Detroit auto giants and all American manufacturers were forced to stop sending goods to Cuba to conform to the United States' embargo.
There are no swap meets in Cuba, no antique car parts catalogs to browse thru and order from. Simply, parts are hard to come by. But owners become creative when backed into a corner and this creativity keeps many of these classic American cars on the road. Perhaps Havana is the king of 'backyard mechanics' as some of the owner's shown in the video find ways to keep their old cars running - would you believe a Japanese diesel engine in a '57 Chevy convertible?
Watch the video and you will see that '57 Chevy along with many other classic American cars on the island that are not collected and shown off, but continue to provide transportation as they were originally designed to do.
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Comments
Nice piece, David. Readers can learn ALL about classic Cuban cars and the folks that maintain them in my coffee-table book: "Cuba Classics: A Celebration of Vintage American Automobiles," available through my website.
Christopher P. Baker
www.christopherbaker.com
Only pre-revolutionary cars may be owned entirely free & clear by private individuals. All other cars are either owned by foreign embassies, diplomats or joint venture businesses, or are owned and assigned by the Cuban government to persons, offices or groups because of their function in society. During my visit to Cuba, I was impressed how Cubans kept these old machines, along with old household appliances, running long past their life expectancy. Imagine if the ingenuity, creativity & dedication invested in the old privately owned cars and appliances were invested in productive private enterprises currently banned by the government under the ideological assumption that, outside of government enterprises, a Cuban supervisor of a Cuban employee is by definition an exploiter. This internal blockade on economic activity vastly trumps the effects of the U.S. trade embargo as a cause of Cuba's dismal economic performance, as was also the case in the other late unlamented Soviet economies.
I agree, good article, David. Christopher Baker's "Cuba Classics," by the way, offers some spectacular photography of the cars of Cuba. Another source of information and photos for those who, like us, find this topic so fascinating is my blog, caristas.blogspot.com
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