posted at the Cohort by Rivera Notario
QOTD: What Did This Cuban Taxi Start Life As?
– Posted on April 14, 2020
posted at the Cohort by Rivera Notario
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Travelall comes to mind first.
I started with Travelall too, but the windows don’t seem tall enough. I see early 50s Buick on the hood.
54 Buick headlights
That’s kind of wild looking. Thought the hood was too low to be a pre 1960 IH Travelall or Chevy Suburban.
Im not sure what it started as and really Im even more confused as to what it has ended up as.
I do wonder if it started as heavy Russian truck with the rear portion of the bodywork fabricated or adapted. Its a tough one.
You win!
Mmmm I see a ZIL 130 but with heavily modified fenders and an ad-hoc grill.
I think David Saunders had it.
Screen and door look Zil 130, followed by a bit of fabrication and some old Buick parts
I wonder if the top half began as part of a 1954 Buick sedan that was grafted onto a truck of some kind. The hood ornament, headlights, and windshield/vent windows appear to come from the Buick.
First thing to consider, what year did the Travelall start production? Castro took over in the beginning of ’59. I’m fairly certain by ’60 we were boycotting the country because he was getting too cozy with Khrushchev. So, the chances of anything 1960 American over there is slim, 1961 downright impossible.
I was in Havana in January. Spotted several 1960 models, a couple of ’61s and a ’62 Olds.
According to what Wikipedia has to say, we stopped selling arms to Cuba in 1958, then crude oil in 1960, but the embargo wasn’t expanded to include all trade with Cuba until September 1962.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_Cuba
No, I didn’t read that closely enough. Eisenhower launched the first embargo in 1960, as you said, the only exceptions being food and medicine. Kennedy formalized it in 1962, if I’m understanding the article correctly.
The cowl and windshield are usually key. What vehicle are those from?
It’s the Homer Wagon! Seriously, though, I can also see ZIL-130 doors, but the rest of it is a hodgepodge of whatever they could find and make fit. I’m curious about what might be under the hood. Very inventive, but also a sad commentary on what the Cubans have to do in order to keep a vehicle on the road. Time to end that stupid embargo already.
Wow, the CC Commentariat solves another automotive mystery in a few comments. The Zil is definitely there in the windshield front door shape and in the scallops in the hood. I can safely say that I would have NEVER have figured that out.
I know I’m probably waaay off base but the body makes me think mid 50’s GM station wagon.
Props to the fabricator of that custom grille. Looks a lot better than today’s plastichrome gaping maws.
A collection of wrecks and a welder looks like the basis for this, theres a light truck underneath it judging by the front wheels possibly the same one that donated the firewall and wibdscreen frame but the rest is freestyle with whatever fitted that was laying around, inventive crowd these Cubans, if the US loosened that stupid death grip blockade the placer could do quite well, but its US policy to screww countries into the ground rather than let them live.
Europe trades with Cuba. Cuba isn’t blockaded; they just aren’t welcome to trade with the US.
Yep, used to manage a whisky bar in Edinburgh and a lot of American tourists would go straight for anything Cuban rum cask as they’re unavailable in the states/
Looks like Russian/Chinese mechanicals with IH Travelall main body, ZIL front clip, with Volga-like grille. Suspected is that ZIL was inspired by IH in the first place.
OK, IH windshield slightly different –
1961 IH Travelall – Won’t load
When I squint at the picture it looks like all of the body work was done by hand; look at all of the lumps!