Now that relations are being reestablished with Cuba, and most cars there date back to the 50's, wonder if some of those cars will get bought by car collectors. Though it must be expensive to ship the car by ship, to get it to the USA.

I have heard but don't know if it's true, that most of the old cars there have been cobbled together for the last 50 years from whatever could be found so most are a mess.

PBS did a few stories about Cuba and the cars over the last few decades, also Aljazeera
has done a few stories about how the few entrepreneurial licenses issued there are for
individuals who can re-manufacture parts for the old cars. Brakes are relined, carbs are
rebuilt, you name it. They showed a few old cars mixed in with newer cars just the
other day on a BBC story from Cuba over the current events there... The old cars look
to be in very fine condition, and don't smoke or anything....

To me it looked like they had good equipment, and made parts at least up to,
or better than what you get from China.... I think they are doing ok with
what they have..... I guess we will see.....

.

To me it looked like they had good equipment, and made parts at least up to,
or better than what you get from China.... I think they are doing ok with
what they have..... I guess we will see.....
If the parts were merely made to chinese standards, those cars would be long gone.

The cars, if imported, would have to meet certain US safety standards regardless of when they were made. On an island where you are no more than 50 miles from the ocean, I can imagine the rust is everywhere in those cars, so a bit of removal would be needed at the minimum. I remember transiting through GITMO on my way out to the ship in 2000, and even the steel door frames at the air terminal were eaten up by rust. Humidity+salt air+temperature, and you've got all the makings.

Cheers,

If the parts were merely made to chinese standards, those cars would be long gone.

It seems like all the replacement parts, available at places like Auto-Zone are Chinese made. I just bought a new front wheel bearing assembly for my Prius, that is.
I'm a little familiar with machining, working as an electrician/electronic tech in a factory, where machining operations were done. Both CNC and manual. The part looked like it was built really well. :thmbsp:

The cars, if imported, would have to meet certain US safety standards regardless of when they were made. On an island where you are no more than 50 miles from the ocean, I can imagine the rust is everywhere in those cars, so a bit of removal would be needed at the minimum. I remember transiting through GITMO on my way out to the ship in 2000, and even the steel door frames at the air terminal were eaten up by rust. Humidity+salt air+temperature, and you've got all the makings.

Cheers,

No necessarily true.... When I was a kid there was 2 people in town, NY, one with
a '69 chevelle, and another with a '66 Chevy, both people washed and waxed
those cars all the time. They also drove them all winter..... A lot of, for lack of
the best term, Latin American, people do a lot of cleaning on their cars, fuss
over every inch of the car's appearance. They did another story on the news
last night, and again the old cars were in the story, they were all shiny and
clean.... Keep it waxed, and even if the paint is chipped, or imperfect, and
you can keep the rust away.... Those guys had kept those old cars up to the
late 90's when they retired and moved away.....

There are a lot of really cool secrets to the current way of life in Cuba, and
to the keeping up of those cars we are not going to know looking in from
the outside as we do now....

California has lots of good condition old cars, and they run around all the time,
and California is pretty close to the ocean, and the cars have almost no rust....
Not like in snow areas where they salt the roads....

As for Chinese parts... A lot of people may not remember the news stories of years
ago, as american parts manufacturers closed up, the machinery to make all that
stuff was sold off at really good prices to companies wiling to start up and make
the same stuff in China, and India, and a few others.....

Auto-Zone may just be the Walmart version of auto parts stores..... I have trouble
trusting them after seeing the number of electrical parts me and brother have
had with their stuff..... I went back to OEM pretty quick, brother liked the fact
that stuff was guaranteed forever, even though he had to replace it each year....


.

I am sure the choice stuff will be coming home if
they lift the embargo. My understanding is they do
anything to keep them going so will need lots of work.
I am sure between the mafia & Batistas minions lots
of rare high end cars were left behind. Wish I could
afford one !! As for cigars go you can get just as good
a cigar from other places, that industry has gone to hell
just like everything else in Cuba.

As far as Chincom parts go I always ask my mechanic what to
use OEM or aftermarket. Some of the China stuff is good
BUT you gotta ask & buy the higher priced stuff.

73 Zeno

I am sure the choice stuff will be coming home if
they lift the embargo. My understanding is they do
anything to keep them going so will need lots of work.
I am sure between the mafia & Batistas minions lots
of rare high end cars were left behind. Wish I could
afford one !! As for cigars go you can get just as good
a cigar from other places, that industry has gone to hell
just like everything else in Cuba.

As far as Chincom parts go I always ask my mechanic what to
use OEM or aftermarket. Some of the China stuff is good
BUT you gotta ask & buy the higher priced stuff.

73 Zeno
Regarding the Chinese replacement parts, I hope it stands up, as I paid $103.95, plus tax and the labor to replace it.
I think, some of our collectors are thinking that they're going to be getting a steal-deal on some of these cars. The present owners are going to have to replace these cars. How many used car lots are in Cuba? :scratch2:

We were just in Cuba for holidays in September and there are a lot of 50's vintage American cars in really good condition from what I could see. I did not go under any hoods or roll around under any to see what was going on but they all seemed to run well and I didn't see any rust.

Gregb

I don't think many people in Cuba are going to be willing to sell their 1950s (actually, a few from the early 1960s as well) cars, because the few that have a car really want a car, and they can't replace them with new.

I had always wondered why their streets had no Moskvitches, Ladas, Dacias or Skodas, and I found out the answer only after decades.

A Cuban law, circa 1962, banned ALL purchases of new automobiles for private use. It is not the US embargo that only stopped the export of US cars to Cuba, it's Cuba's own embargo on the import of any personal cars.

Who knows. Cubans are now permitted to sell produce they grow, and work as individuals for cash payment, so maybe someday they will open the market for new cars.

OK here is how you do it. Bring in 80's-90's GM B-bodies,
crown vics etc & trade them. They still get an easy to fix
car & still reasonably big. They cost nothing here for the
most part. Swap them & some US$$. Bribe the commie
scum government hacks to look the other way. Walk away
with a nice DeSoto for maybe $5000.

Now lets do our wish list. I want
1958 Packard-Hawk A.K.A. the cat fish. Blown of course...
1958 Olds rag top with J-2 motor.
1957 Rambler Rebel
PLEASE no black cars :puke2:

73 Zeno:smoke:

I'd be drooling most over the 40's era cars. There more are of those that I'd like to own than I care to list.
50's cars the list would be shorter.
1958 Chevy Impala, convertible preferred
1958 Olds.
56'-57' Chevy Nomad.
Any Caddy 57'-60' with the 59 and 60 being preferred.
Anything mopar 1957 till the embargo.
Maybe a Packard and maybe a Studebaker Starlite coupe.
Most I'd go for would be 2 door and the wagon body styles.

From what I've read, a lot of them were re-powered with whatever engines were available, like Russian or European diesels. One story I read back in the 90s involved an American reporter getting in via Canada and smuggling in a single spark plug. He gave it to a Cuban and it was like giving him a thousand dollars.

I've seen pix and stories of Russian Lada engines and tractor engines, etc. powering some of those huge, heavy cars. Some also run on mixes of gasoline, kerosene, diesel, propane, even vegetable oil. Many replacement parts are home-brewed or cannibalized from other vehicles.
I'd steer clear of them. They won't be worth what collectors are thinking and hoping they are.

http://jalopnik.com/5926892/in-communist-cuba-car-love-runs-deep-out-of-necessity/1672270052/+pgeorge

I was in cuba in January 2014 - ALL the old cars are powered by Toyota 4cyl diesel truck engines. I gave a cabbie $5 to look under his hood and took a picture, I should post it here! I was in probably half a dozen old cars and looked at many more. The condition is as you would expect - replacemebt windows crudely cut from window glass (yikes!), heaps of body work done, interiors torally redone wirh local materials... Loosing all detail and looking more like a 50s diner, most instruments don't work with the engine conversions, etc. Still, riding in a 1955 Chevy convertible in the tropics with no seatbelt And a crazy driver is a piece of paradise I will never forget.

And the Styling of a 1958 Oldsmobile is something I would never have experienced if not for cuba. Since that trip a 50s car has been on my "to do" list, it's such an amazing era for automotive a which is before my time and if not for cuba I would never have been lucky enough to experience it.

I think Cuba should pass a law prohibiting those cars from leaving the country - they're all old junk individually, but all together it's just beautiful.

From January 2014

The engine is in the '57 fairlane

The limo is an early 60s Soviet limo, this is an extremely rare car. Most pictures are from Havana.

The engine is in the '57 fairlane


The car in front of the limo? The interior shot, as well?

Cool pix, thanks for posting!

jr

The car in front of the limo? The interior shot, as well?

Cool pix, thanks for posting!

jr

Yes, exactly - Here's a picture of the full car, with yours truly at the wheel. Girlfriend could have done a better job getting the whole car in the picture, but hey we were on a guided tour and I was holding things up looking at cars! Notice how they changed the whole engine but left the single master cylinder brakes in place! Everything there is cobbled together like that... I can only wonder how they get column shifters to work with the Toyota transmissions!

One taxi we took was an absolute beat to hell '58 Pontiac, which looked as though it had been put together from the remains of several cars. The taxi driver removed the gear selector and passed it to me, and continued to drive in second gear, like some sort of carnival act. I guess that must freak out people who drive modern cars, but I swear it was in better condition than the 68 Ford I had at the time, so it didn't phase me one bit :)

I also added another '55 chevy and also a photo of a very creative version of a lock for a trunk.

4 Lug wheels on that 55 Convertible, a lot of weight to be riding on Corolla hubs!

4 Lug wheels on that 55 Convertible, a lot of weight to be riding on Corolla hubs!

And that's just a car, and a really nice one at that - you should see the buildings and infrastructure! The electrical wiring is a sight to behold, and it's Erie to fly in at night and see only the glow of a few CFL lamps in each building marking the presence of a lot of people! They have a major shortage of electricity. The omni present communist propaganda is just about the only advertising visible too, the whole place is amazingly foreign and interesting. I would definitely go back to Cuba, I hope that the writing isn't on the wall for cheap vacations for Canadians!

Hi guys, it is nice to know you Videokarma colleagues are interested in the old American and European cars in my country.
As you may be aware, there are two main classes of Classic cars here. The majority are used as private taxis, and so you have to make them move (and brake as well, if it can be so arranged). On them you can find any make of engine, not just one: Mercedes-Benz, Aro (awful Rumanian jeeps but good engine), Toyota, Peugeot, Mitsubishi, you name it. Mostly diesel. It is true that some of the lighter (not so-heavy) American cars like Studebakers and Ramblers have Lada 80 HP 4-cyl gas engines, or maybe Volga, that is a larger 4-cyl gas eng. Some of them have the brake system replaced with disk brakes on 2 or even 4 wheels. But many of these changes are poorly made, and I don´t rely on them. I like the original construction the engineers designed, period.
Some use a front "eje muerto" (dead axle), that means a rigid front axle from a Soviet jeep or small truck, as if the independent front suspension had not been invented. Back to the 1930 technology. And a makeshift steering system. Curb-side engineers that make such abominations say that our streets are so bad (they are, truly) that you better have a rigid front axle and don´t have to worry about joints and other suspension parts whose English names I don´t know.
And the body work on many of these "taxis" is awful. And you are right: some windshields are made from window glass curved exactly to the original contour. You can tell it because of the way the light is reflected. (Side windows are mostly of hand-cut safety glass. Our artisans can´t make curved windshields from safety glass, because you have to heat them to give the curvature).
Some of those cars expel so much smoke that a power plant in Africa doing the same would be banned from working. Look as if the friends that came here didn´t had the bad luck to see one. I am glad for you guys.
This said, I must tell you that the cars that are around the hotels for the forign visitors to rent are in a much better condition. They can´t be up to 2015 standards, but they are, at least, 90 to 100% as safe as when originally made. Their owners are proud of them, most drive very carefully, and in many cases they have original-brand engines and transmissions, even automatic ones. Don´t ask me how some of them have imported original classic 6- or 8-cyl gas engines, windshields and everything from United States or maybe Mexico.
And several people have classic cars, real jewels, for their private use, and keep them in near-mint condition.
This said, I have a 1953 Chevrolet Belair with its original body, engine and transmission, not to show it, nor as a taxi, but just as my (future) family car. I bought it n-th hand, and have been working on it for several years. I repaired the engine (some other owner put in Volga 92mm pistons in place of the original 3 9/16 inch, and I had to keep them), and everything else is original but the generator (it is very difficult to find the voltage regulator the dynamo needs) and the carburetor (I am repairing a Carter W) So I am a sort of middleman: I want my car as "original" as possible, but am not going to spend tens of thousands of dollars to make it look as the day it left the factory.
Lets hope that we can live as good neighbours, even if there are disagreements. I hope you can even come to Cuba soon, and see for yourselves our country and our good old classic cars.