(first posted 6/13/2016) As US-Cuba relations keep normalizing, many of us have got to wonder, what might happen to all those iconic classic cars so characteristic to the island? I have no idea, of course. I hope these pre-’59 cars will keep on going on Cuban roads, but I suspect they will be quickly replaced by modern cars, or even recent second-hand cars from the US. Or will these become the equivalent of the Model Ts still ferrying tourists at the Henry Ford Museum’s Greenfield Village?
The few well-preserved classics will then be bought by American collectors and shipped back to the Empire, while all the rest will probably disappear. It makes me sad to think that but make no mistake, I think Cubans deserve decent private motoring after decades of restrictions imposed by communism.
Let’s go back to an era before the Cuba deal… to 2013, when I visited the island and took all the pictures that go with this post. I’m Chilean, so it’s no problem for me to fly directly to the island, as many people here that can travel abroad do. I was expecting to see those famous big gringo cars from the 50’s, and I wasn’t dissapointed. In fact, the quantity of this veterans in daily use everywhere surprised me. I never thought they were so many, and so prevalent.
Being the vacation and gambling destination for rich Americans until 1959, meant that a lot of new cars were sold in the island, like the ’59 Plymouth Fury you see above. In fact, it used to have one of the highest per capita number of vehicles in the world. Of course, the prevailing poverty imposed by Communism has forced most of those cars from the 50’s to keep on running, becoming a traditional sight of Cuba today.
But what surprised me the most what the great number of cars, period. Those yankee cars are still the most common, but they share the streets with a variety of vehicles way wider than what I expected. And I’m not only speaking of Soviet cars arriving until the 90’s, that are plenty, but also European, Korean and Chinese cars, current and 20 or less years old. Above you see an example of that, a ’53 Chevy sharing the pole position with a new Geely Emgrand EC7, made in China.
But let’s start by the begining: Pre-revolution cars. These are abundant and varied, and include all kind of models, from big Cadillacs to little British Ford, Fiats and even one Isetta. The most prevalent are Chevrolets and Buicks. There are also many Ford, Pontiac and Oldsmobile. And even some De Soto, like the ’54 Diplomat you see here, a nameplate used only for export. The car is basically a Plymouth with a fancy grille. All in all, the car scene in 1959 seems to have been pretty much the same in Cuba that it was in the US, from with the island was almost a colony.
Maybe my favourite find was this Henry J! It took me a while of Googling to learn what it was.
And this is an example of the European cars I was talking about. A Simca Aronde, from France. Of course, it is most likely that below the surface there is even less of what would make these cars original. Like some degree of Soviet mechanicals and the like. I didn’t get the chance to learn more about this part of the story of these cars.
These survivors can be divided between two states, basically. Most have been poorly fixed, which because of the overall poverty and the Embargo of parts, involves the use of many handcrafted solutions.
I saw many such contraptions, cars cleverly customized to not only survive for decades without proper spares, but to also serve new purposes, like homemade wagons or pickups out of old sedans, like this ’57 Buick I showed at the top of this post. Bizarre.
Or this amazing Cadillac Pickup truck! In this case its appropiate to speak about owners, as these pre-Castro vehicles are the only ordinary Cubans can own, buy and sell. As can be seen in the pictures, yellow license plates in Cuba denoted cars owned by individuals, in the color-coded system used before later in 2013 (I was there in March).
In the other category are classics beautifully restored… or so it seems from a distance. But they do look stunning, and among these are most convertibles. Lots of them are taxis targeted to tourists. That is why they are so nice, and how they get the money to keep them that way. Some are owned by the state, as indicated by their blue plates, others are private, but their owners/drivers have to pay huge fees in order to get a permit to use their cars as taxis.
There is no doubt that American cars from before communism are everybody’s favourite. And don’t get me wrong, I love them too, specially those a less familiar to me, like this Rambler Ambassador Custom.
But to me, the most interesting were those cars from the Soviet Union and its satellites that are plenty in Cuba, and that save for Ladas and Kamaz trucks, I don’t get to see in Chile. Moskvich (further above, in front of the Cine Yara), Alekos (the light blue Simca copy you see above)…
…RAF vans from Soviet Latvia…
… or even newer Lada models, sold after the brand left Chile in 1998.
I was so happy to see Soviet trucks, like this ZIL-130, in that typical light blue with a white face. Notice how it is being used to haul people, instead (or probably alongside) cargo.
UAZ off-roaders were present too, here between a Lada and an American car, and in front of a Chinese bus.
And the best of all, this. A GAZ-14 limo, that used to be Fidel’s, before being transfered to Cubataxi, the state taxi corporation. There is a fleet of them in service (the taxi driver said they were 5, but I’ve read that there are more), and to serve as taxis they saw their armour removed, and their engines replaced by diesel Mercedes units. I took a ride on it, and it wasn’t even expensive. I was in heaven…
When I said Soviet cars, I also mean those from its then-satellites. I saw an ARO from Romania, old Skodas (like the white Octavia further above) and more important, there are more than a few Polski Fiat 126, popularly known as “polaquito”, or “the little Polish one”.
When I started wrting this, I almost forgot another “segment” that makes part of Cuba’s traffic: Cars from the time of the revolution, but not of East European origin. They came from Argentina instead! There is still a good amount of Peugeot 404, Ford Falcon, Fiat 125 and Dodge 1500 running on the streets. Here is an Argentine-made Hillman, sold as a Dodge, with a Lada front and Toyota logo. What? Turns out Cubans like to put badges from other brands on their cars, no idea why.
This compatriot suffered the same: Also Argentine, a Ford Falcon with a newer Lada front-end (and a new Kia Morning on the background).
And finally, the newer cars. These surprised me for their numbers, and also for how random the choices seem to be. I don’t know much about their origins, but many of them seem to be bought in bulk by the goverment, like the fleet of Subaru Vivio (that little green thing). Among the most popular brands were Peugeot, with 206 and some 307 models, Hyundai with their Accent, and Skoda and the Fabia. Also, a healthy number of Seat from Spain (you can see a Córdoba, above).
This is the Citroën Xsara, one of the most popular cars from the brand, after they decided to make mostly non-weird cars (luckily, they’ve rectified and even their bread-and-butter models at least look a little odd and charming).
But in terms of new car brand, the darling today (or at least was in 2013) is Geely. One can see their CK in “civilian” guise, but also as taxis and more interestingly, as the new patrol cars of the PNR, “Policía Nacional Revolucionaria”. They are complementing (or maybe replacing) Ladas in that job. This PNR Lada picture I took from the bus, as the officer was attending to the scene of a car crash (involving another Lada).
The bigger Geely Emgrand EC6 and even EC820 were also seen. All I saw from those more luxurious Geely had red plates, which according to Wikipedia meant these were rental cars, for tourists (hence the combination starting with a T).
And lastly, I saw that the Army (FAR) used Beijing-Jeeps.
Did you like this overview? I can go into more detail if you want, on some of these cars. And you can also see the rest of my Cuba car pictures here if you want to: flickr.com/riveranotario/AutosEnCuba
We really should distinguish between classics and antiques. Not all antiques are classics.
Every car has a story, and every story is classic. I don’t think anyone is too concerned about splitting the ‘antique/classic’ hair here. At least I’m not. A good story is a good story, no matter how you define the subject. This is a great article, thank you!
If you’re suggesting we only call cars “classics” that fit the AACA definition, forget it. That’s one the snobs there use for their specific purposes. The general definition of “classic car” is “any old/older car with enough interest to be collectible or worth preserving or restoring rather than scrapping”. (Wikipedia) You’re suggesting that these these Cuban cars don’t fit that description?
They certainly do IM(somewhat less than)HO!!!
+1!
There are a zillion sites to cater to Mr Eggers, but only one CC!
To be fair to the AACA and their list, it was cooked up around the time of the Korean War when 1920s/30s cars were universally seen as cheap clunkers, and a Pierce-Arrow town car, f’r instance, was even less desirable than the same year Chevy sedan that was easier to keep in parts, tires and gas (let alone a two-door Ford which had a following among hot rodders, like a ’90s Civic to the Chevy’s Corolla).
I don’t mean to to disparage the AACA in any way. And they’re right in defining what qualifies for their purposes. But the general argument about what defines a “classic” (or not) is a waste of breath. One man’s junk is another man’s classic.
To me, a term like ‘classic’ or ‘antique’ as commonly bandied about, is meaningless. Any object, be it a car, a refrigerator, or a piece of furniture, only has true worth (I’m not talking about monetary value, which is ephemeral) in relation to the people around it, and how they perceive it, how they feel about it.
A car can be absolutely terrible by any quantifiable measure, and yet be loved by its owner; maybe not so much for its function as a car, but for the comforting memories it evokes. Dad loved his ’35 Chev – ‘best car he’d ever owned’. He had many happy memories of that car; I wish I could remember more of them to tell. Likewise I loved my ’74 Cortina. No way was it the best car I ever had, but I had plenty of happy memories of it, more so than of any other car I had. Those memories are priceless. And it is in those priceless memories that the car has its value. In that sense it is classic.
“Not all antiques are classics”. True, in a sense. With age comes rarity, but age alone does not confer excellence. Something which was a mechanical abomination then will still be a mechanical abomination now – but as a window on the past it will be an interesting abomination. It is that interest, and those classic memories, that we celebrate here.
If my last trip to Jamaica was an indicator of future progress, they’ll all be driving used Crown Vics in the next 20 years.
I was there in April and was absolutely astounded at the number of early 1990s Corolla wagons being used as taxis.
Great post. You may have archived a bit of Cuban culture that may not be around much longer.
Fascinating overview of the Cuban motoring scene! So many focus on just the American classics, so it’s very interesting to see what else is out there, and how much of a mechanical melting pot the roads actually are! Even the ones that have been particularly “frankensteined” like the blue and red Buicks, and the Cadillac pickup, have their own value and I hope they survive in some capacity. And in the background of the photo of the Aronde–that looks like a 1920’s open touring car! Might that win the award for oldest?
I also wonder if there are any of them running their original engines, or if everything still on the road is running a soviet-era I4 diesel for parts availability.
Great photographs; thanks for posting.
Not to split hairs, but given the general style of the hood & grill, that probably was originally an Allstate, not a Henry J.
So even more rare?
If it’s an Allstate, Then yes more rare. How many Sears stores were in Cuba (if any!,IDK.)! But even here they’d be fairly rare. IIRC, they mostly sold in Southern states.
Love the paint job on the Xsara it appears to be the turbodiesel like I have and has its towing eyebolt fitted, it should have become clear by now it was the US that imposed an embargo not the Cuban communist government most other countries ignored that embargo and the US has only just woken to the futility of it and the abject poverty in Cuba caused by the USA policy, the variety of imported cars that are there since the revolution shows how many places still traded and Cuba has become a market for ex JDM cars lately. The light blue Simca clone is a Lada Samara from the late 80s early 90s.
I think blaming U.S. policy for Cuba’s poverty is rather disingenuous. Haiti and the Dominican Republic are in the economic craphole as well and the U.S. has never had any trade embargos with them, and seeing as the rest or the world has been dealing with Cuba all along chances are the problem lies with Cuba’s government, no?
Some cubans I know will tell you its a bit of both.. .More of the governments fault than the embargo. . German and Canadian money has finance the big tourist hotels for years.. Its down to complacency of a government that has been in power for 63 years. . But hay,this problem extends to the “free world to.
I dont think all the ” classics” are going to leave Cuban road soon when a new Corrolla cost $700000 due to import duties…!.
The light blue Simca copy is, as I said, a Moskvich Aleko. Totally different from a Lada Samara.
Communism is what has wrecked Cuba’s economy. You say at the same time that:
1. Poverty in Cuba is caused by USA Policy of embargo.
2. Most countries have ignored the embargo.
You can’t have both. Cuba can trade with all the rest of the world, their Communist government receive billions and billions from Spanish companies managing the tourism industry, for instance. Yet they still have ultra low wages for most people.
I will confirm what RiveriaNotario said, there is absolutely nothing Samara in the Aleko.
There was a very curious Izh Oda hatchback made in the early 90s-mid 2000s at the Izhevsk factory that traditionally made Mosvitches. It was a bizarre amalgamation of parts-bin stuff from the ancient Izh 412/2125 such as the UZAM engine (copy of BMW 1600 slant 4) and rwd, but based mostly on Aleko underpinnings. It had the front end (headlights) from a Samara. After ’96 It got the interior out of the new Lada 2110. Totally bizarre vehicle with unthinkably bad build quality. Remember, this was the “wild 90s” in Russia and graft, corruption were rampant. Curious how a factory that can make the world’s most reliable assault rifles (Kalashnikov) can churn out such utter turds of cars.
That red Buick is crazy. If I didn’t look too closely I’d think it wasn’t a photo, but a painting.
Great Post Surely there is enough interesting rolling stock to do an entire web site – perhaps a companion to Curbside Classics – on the Cars of Cuba.
Great photos and thank you a lot. I suspect that at some point Cuba will get rid of the “T” on Tourist Plates or issue different plates entirely so the tourists blend in easier. While it will be sad to see the Yank Tank’s numbers dwindle the newer cars are safer and not as polluting. Does Cuba still use Leaded Gas? I would love to buy a Yank Tank especially the Caddy Pickup.
The Geely emblem looks like it was crafted from clay and spray painted with that gold paint that never matches the reflective properties of the mirror like cap. The home made custom jobs are better executed than that mass produced detail. The Cadillac truck in particular is my favorite, that’s a very clean execution given the resources, especially for what truly is a utilitarian vehicle, not just a fun hobby build.
There’s definitely a bittersweet feeling about the embargo coming to an end, which no resident there deserved to get caught up in a 50 year mess both their and our leaders created and prolonged, on the other hand it’s another step to Cuba becoming like “us”, where our human spirit and our cunning ability to improvise in the worst situation is stifled and crushed by safety, security, reliability, and oblivious faith that we can buy our way out of anything. This of course is a romanticized version of a not so rosy reality, but otoh, I don’t see how your average Cuban resident will benefit once western billionaires start building up cookie cutter resort high rises again, whilst buying up their classic cars for peanuts for “restoration” flips.
Great photos.
I understand how many Cubans have modified their old American cars with diesel engines, home made parts, and truck chassis components etc., but how have they keep rust at bay? Especially in an island nation that must have salty air blowing over much of it.
My 1978 Datsun Z was rusty after just 4 years in the USA Northeast.
My guess would be that the bodies of most if not all of these cars are a collage of patch panels. Soda blast the paint from one of those cars and the underlying metal would not be a pretty sight. Any discussion of the Cuban trove of cars always rolls around to American collectors ready to swoop down on Cuba with cash and snatch up some fine fifties Detroit iron. I would be surprised if any of the cars would be worth the expense to restore them. In unrestored condition, they would, at best, be a museum piece. I hope that the Cuban government maintains their stance that the cars are a national treasure and prohibits their exportation. I would not mind seeing an uptick in the demand for reproduction fifties parts, it could make my 55 Plymouth a little easier to maintain.
For some reason, I saw very few Mopars past about 1953 vintage in Cuba. Quite a few before that vintage though. I recall wondering if perhaps Chrysler pulled out of Cuba early because of this.
I seriously doubt these cars are restoration candidates, you’d have to see how far from stock most of them are to believe it!
I’ve read plenty of stories about Cuban cars, but this one was the best. More would definitely be welcome.
I was wondering the same thing… There must be a lot of good welders/body men.
It’ll be interesting to see how things change in Cuba as relations with the US gradually normalize. While there are a few very rare US models in surprisingly good shape on the island, most have been adapted, modified and bastardized beyond recognition out of necessity by their owners. Some very ingenious engineering too, if you take the time to look. Their owners know of the interest in their cars and most are happy to talk and show you their handiwork. Almost every one would trade for a good 10 year old Accord or Camry in a heartbeat. But collectors looking for vintage iron will be disappointed.
I think (and hope) the average Cuban will benefit from better relations between Cuba and the US, but I do hope Cuba stays genuine and doesn’t turn into just another sea of franchise restaurants and chain hotels.
When I was stationed at Guantanamo 76-77 we had a few beauties on the base as well. A pickup that I used for a while had a chain and latch that served as a drives side door. Not too safe but we sure did not drive fast or far.
Never got the chance to see outside the gate but would love to see this up close and personal. Excellentarticle
This 57 Buick might have been the Cuban response to the 83 Mercury Cougar. Where the Cougar used a Thunderbird back side window flipped upside down, this Buick uses the whole 3 piece 2 door Buick rear window assembly flipped upside-down, mounted on a much steeper angle. Wow!
I wonder whether that Buick still has the Dynaflow. It was the ultimate in smoothness until Toyota introduced the Prius.
That’s a myth. The shapes(albiet similar) and part numbers are both different.
Looking at the front hubs on that 59 Plymouth would indicate that it’s not all Mopar under the skin.
Don’t be surprised that Cuba has skilled welders, panel beaters, and sparkies. I lived in Fiji for 10 years and learned that even developing countries do not lack clever people who are quite capable of learning anything. They can also improvise quite well if circumstances require it.
Thank you all for your kind comments. I really loved spending that week in Cuba in 2013, and was of course blown away by all the cars. I took SO MANY photos, that I will probably post some more here eventually.
Now that you’ll have direct flights from the USA really soon, I encourage you to take a trip, however short, you’ll love it, if only for the cars! And then there’s the people, the architecture, the rum, the cigars, the history, the beaches…
Chinese cars (Geely, etc): Yuuuuuuuuuck! 🙁
I wonder how soon it will be before Geely or some other company establishes a foothold here. If Ben Pon could do it…in 1949 with two VWs, why not them?
I’m not looking forward to the day.
Well, the US will soon get Chinese-made Buick, Volvo and Cadillac models.
And Geely is doing a great job with Volvo, by the way. And showing some striking looking concepts in China. I think they won’t go into the US market until they are ready. That won’t take them long, but by then their cars will be attractive and Americans will like them, already used to buy Made in China cars from Volvo and GM.
Check the video on YouTube of a China Brilliance BS6 sedan undergoing crash testing in Germany a few years ago and failing miserably. I won’t rule out China making decent cars some day–look how far Hyundai has come since the Excel. But at this writing they have a long way to go.
That Crash test is from 2007, almost a decade ago! I think it’s time to look past that, Chinese cars will be in the US before you expect it 🙂
I think my favourite was the ambassador taxi altho with that kind of ground clearance I question how much rambler was left under the skin!
The most surprising car I saw in Cuba when I was there about ten years ago was a Porsche 356. I guess it was easy to keep running with 50’s era VW parts.
I think a lot of these car will be kept and restored due to sentimental grounds, in the same way people restore old East German cars (check out “Ostalgie” here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostalgie). But some will be scrapped as soon as people can afford the latest Chinese car they can get their hands on.
By all means, I’d like to see more of this!
That gas station–“Your friend 24 hours.” Is it really open 24/7? I wouldn’t expect that in Cuba.
I wouldn’t either. Havana was mostly dark by night, I imagine it’s more of an empty slogan, but I don’t know for sure.
That Argentine Hillman Avenger/Dodge Cricket/Dodge 1500 was a surprise find, among a great selection. You have to suspect that it had a Lada drvietrain transplanted into it
I would love to have an Argentine Ford Falcon. They had some really cool variations on the original car (yes, I’m aware that the one pictured has been crudely modified). I’d like to apply some of their styling to a two-door American bodystyle.
I like how Bryce found a way to blame everything bad on the U.S., again.
The Cadillac pickup is wonderful – looks factory!!
Nothing is remotely straight on that black 1959 Cadillac. It is also a four door convertible, so it’s really a four door sedan or hardtop with the roof cut off. Like probably almost all of these, it’s really just worthless junk.
Six years later and after four years of a back-to-my-childhood administration re Cuba, and now back somewhat to realism, I wonder what the situation there is with cars and all the rest.
Great article and photos. I saw an identical GAZ Chaika limo at a car show here in Toronto back in 2006. If we ever visit Cuba I can imagine that I’d spend a lot of time checking out and photographing all those old cars and trucks. I have a lot of respect for the Cubans who keep these old beasts running, and while tourists might marvel at their old cars, many Cubans don’t have any other option.
Great to see a post from the early era of relaxed relations with Cuba. We saw photos of patched up American cars throughout the revolution era, but the idea of “snapping them up” for restoration in the States never survived any level of serious consideration, for reasons already discussed here. As one hopes all peoples of the World can enjoy a better standard of living that brings a safer environment in which to raise children, there is no reason to think the average owner of a Frankenbuick would not jump at the chance to own a newer, more cohesively constructed vehicle if they could afford one and spares were readily available. To be honest, that Buick’s bodywork, while doubtless response to a need, is a hatchet job. You do that sort of thing as fast as you can, because that car is your source of income, and you can’t let it sit while you create a sheaf of drawing proposals to consider. You jump in with whatever skills you have access to, and do it as fast as you can. It’s not with nostalgia that these cars should be saved when no longer needed, but with a reverence for the heritage of inventiveness that makes them so special. I looked for one, but didn’t find a museum dedicated to such vehicles, demonstrating that it is surely too early for them to be retired. Twenty years from now, perhaps that will have changed, and that red Buick will be part of a permanent exhibit, along 100 others in the Cuban Car Museum, which seems only to have rare but unmolested oldtimers now that are less representative of Cuban history.
https://havanatimes.org/features/a-new-classic-car-museum-in-old-havana/
The first thing to come to mind when I saw the ’59 Plymouth was rust. A rust prone car among rust prone cars.
While I can see what appears to be some rust repair in some of the cars, there is a certain point of entropy that will bring a vehicle to its end. I would imagine that few of these cars are ever sheltered, get plenty of salt air, and plenty of rain.
Just amazing that key points in these haven’t brought these cars to their knees in a pile of iron oxide.
I visited Havana and then the West of Cuba in 1999 from the UK. On many prior trips to USA I was very interested in riding in and photoing as many interesting cars as I could find. Cuba was a real treasure trove, as was Turkey back in teh ’60s and ’70s. The red ’50 Buick here was a taxi, most of the others were private cars but you could usually just flag any down and take a ride somewhere. In Santiago in the west I hired a car and drove around the west coast , hardly any cars on the roads there, a wonderful change from England. Took hundreds of photos, these are just a few interesting ones.