18 April 2016 / leggypeggy

Cuba—the land of vintage cars

cars, colourful, Havana, travel, vintage

Two vintage cars in Cuba

Cuba’s roads are filled with vintage cars

Virtually everything you read about tourism in Cuba mentions the wealth of vintage cars cruising the streets of this Caribbean island.

Guess what? It’s true!

We arrived in the middle of the night, so didn’t notice much on the road until the next day, and then every second vehicle seemed to be a classic American car from the 1930s, 40s or 50s.

They come in every colour and size, and in all sorts of condition. Some appear to have rolled right off the factory floor, while others have dents and bumps and are in varying stages of being repainted.

Waiting for passengers

So how has this time warp on wheels come about?

It has to do with the long-running, and now-subsiding, feud between Cuba and the USA. In 1962, the US imposed an embargo on American companies doing business with Cuba. This meant Cubans couldn’t buy new American cars or parts.

This ‘speed bump’ became an even bigger problem when Fidel Castro stopped allowing Cubans to buy cars. They could only be given them by the government. But the government never had enough money to import bulk orders of cars.

During the Soviet era, the Russians sent Ladas, but these didn’t last as long as the old American cars. That said, we rode in a few dilapidated Ladas.

But the inability to get parts has led to a strange breed of cobbled-together classic car. For example, the body may be a pristine 1940s American classic car, but the engine might be a Peugeot diesel.

The innovations have been a matter of need—keep the vehicles rolling. Today it seems that most of them cruise the streets as taxis especially for tourists.

One of our guides explained that these vintage cars can cost a fortune in Cuba. Even a car with 300,000 miles on it can sell for up to $15,000 CUCs. The CUC is the Cuban tourist currency and is worth a little more than US$1.

As relations improve between the two countries, you might expect US car collectors to be rushing to Cuba to make big purchases, but this probably won’t happen. As our guide said, the cars may look the part of a vintage model but the extent of ad-hoc replacements mean they will never fetch a high price from collectors.

I’m thinking that’s probably a good thing. Maybe it means these wonderful old cars will continue to rule the roads of Cuba.

P.S. Looking back, I can’t believe I took so few photos of the vintage cars. Bad me. And I’m gobsmacked that so many of the pics I took are from the same direction. Time to go back for another visit. Never mind the luggage debacle. 🙂

P.P.S. I haven’t captioned most of these pics because I’m not always sure of the make of car and because, come on, these are all just eye-candy. So enjoy!

Green vintage car, Cuba Cuban vintage cars