Vintage American iron thriving in Cuba

Vintage American iron thriving in Cuba

Posted May 15th 2006 11:03AM by Chris Paukert
Filed under: Time Warp, Government/Legal

At least one of Autoblog's staffers is a sucker for the monthly
'Discovered' and 'Lost & Found' features British rags Thoroughbred &
Classic Cars and Classic and Sports Car. Great 'barn finds' make our
hairs stand up on end and constantly have us peering into farmyards
whenever we drive through the countryside.

In this regard, at least, Cubans have it easy. Their streets fairly team
with vintage iron, particularly American classics from the 1940's and
1950's. While this isn't exactly 'news,' Reuters has put a big number to
the phenomenon: 60,000. That's how many of the buggers it believes are
navigating the communist nation's roads, most of which are in states of
tune that would make the cars' original engineers scratch their heads in
wonder.

Given a 40+ year trade embargo with the U.S., modern vehicles are
essentially unavailable, so many American classics have been pressed
into service as cabs and private transports. With the availability of
quality, affordable replacement parts being similarly non-existent,
locals have taken to jury-rigging their rides with whatever bits they
can muster- ancient Russian diesel engines, tatty Kia bits, baling wire,
used cigar wrappers, anything. From the sounds of it, they're raising a
generation of MacGyvers over there.

Cuban grand pooh-bah, Fidel Castro has announced plans to supplant
privateer hacks out of business by buying some 8,000 Chinese cabs and
busses. If El Presidente grinds the vintage iron to dust, it'd be a real
shame. As it is, there are apparently some genuinely important classics
lurking in Cuba, though efforts by American restorers and collectors
have largely proven fruitless in getting around trade barriers.

[Sources: Reuters via CNN.com; HavanaJournal.com]

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