written by owen on 2016-May-16.

In a country where importing cars is not easy, not cheap, and the world does not want you to - you just kinda have to take care of the cars that you have. And when you inherit your mom's or dad's car you better make sure you take good care of it or you will find yourself taking the bus.

It is not as tough as it sounds though because Cubans are very calm and courteous drivers. They drive these cars everyday as taxis and everyday commuting. They are not in a rush to go anywhere and wait patiently at intersections to allow people to cross and cars to pull out into the road. While visiting the Plaza de La revolution I was surprised that there is no cross walk to go to the other side. Nor is there any cross walk on the Malecon. Pedestrians including families and children just walk across with minimum stress. This certainly doesn't mean you should act a fool crossing the 6 lanes.

So its easy to keep your car in pristine conditions when everybody aint suffering from road rage and trying to run you off the road like they have pot pon fire as we would say in Jamaica. If you got a car in the sixties its you family car for life. There are new cars in Cuba though but mostly European cars; Peugeot, Lada, MG, VW etc.

Not all the classic cars are like the one in the picture - you do have about a 30% or so total rust buckets wobbling down, the road filling the air with exhaust smoke. And alot of them new korean engines but are still going strong with OG parts.

Pictured is a 1949-ish Ford something. I do not remember exactly what he said it was. They are all American cars. Since Cuba doesn't build cars. If you choose to go on a classic car tour make sure that the guide has a good handle of the english language before you set off.

permanent link. Find similar posts in The wheels project.