Cuban Vintage cars: A Time Travel in Cuba: nguptatravelscrapbook.blogspot.com 26/07/2021

Blog number 34 Travels to Cuba. 25/07/2021. nguptatravelscrapbook.blogspot.com

Cuban Vintage cars: A time travel in Cuba

"For a long time now, I have tried simply to write the best I can. Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can". By Ernest Hemingway

Introduction to Cuba, why Cuba?

Galore of vintage cars on the streets of Havana.

The sound of pounding drums, salsa, and the fast Reggaeton, the nostalgic smell of hand-rolled cigars, the sweet-smelling cocktails powered with rum, and the sea waft are all a part of the old and new Cuba. The classic cars, vintage buildings ready to crumble down; this is the heart of Cuba. Cuba is intoxicating, still under communist credentials, but full of exoticness. Havana is the capital city with yellow and pink, and turquoise decaying buildings set against the shiny Caribbean sky and a bright blue sea.  

I have included a selection of numerous vintage cars pictures that I took on the streets of Havana. I do not know the names or makes of these vehicles, but they do appear eye-catching.

As before

Everyone was jetting off to Cuba: The Pope ( Sept 2015), President Obama( March 2016), even the Kardashians( May 2016).

With tourist magazines filled with Cuban holidays, not one to feel left out, we too headed to possibly the Caribbean's 'coolest'  and the most significant island to find out what all the fuss was about.  We made this journey back in February 2017, taking a direct ten-hour flight to Havana with Virgin Atlantic. We were keen to catch this unique country still stuck in a time warp before the anticipated mass arrival of American tourists and the inevitable changes. With travel constraints freeing up over the last decade, Cuba remains timeworn, but this is part of its appeal. We were not disappointed. Yes, in places, it was run-down, but the architecture still oozed character and history. The food was plain and very mild, more or less tasteless, but there was more than just the food.

In a taxi ride

Havana has a proud legacy of history, culture and tradition. It's a nostalgic world of classic American cars too. I initially thought that there would be an occasional vintage car here and there, with a unique photo opportunity. But, these cars are everywhere; motor enthusiasts need to stand on the pavement and drool whilst romantics can take a taxi ride in a soft-top along the Malecon.  The Malecon, alongside the coastal esplanade, is a quintessential landmark of this sea-loving city. Old Havana, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a place to wander around, not worrying about getting lost. We were just around the three famous squares, namely - the Cathedral Square, Plaza de la Revolucion and Plaza de Armas. Pavements are poor, but if you get tired of walking, there are plenty of Bici-taxis, giant pedal-powered tricycles with a double seat behind the driver or coco (so-called because of their coconut shape) taxis to take. The latter, Havana's answer to Asia's tuk-tuk, are great fun and cost less than a regular taxi. 

 

An open roof vintage car ride.

Although in this ten-day trip we travelled by road to Trinidad, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spiritus and Santa Clara, the spirit of Cuba was solidified in and around Havana. 

Cuban cars: An alive classic car museum in Cuba

When you think of Cuba, few impressions spring to mind perpetually? Cigars, maybe? Che Guevara's beret and Fidel Castro's beard? Beaches and palm trees? Sure, these visions are iconic for Cuba but perhaps more iconic than anything else are the Grand vintage cars on the streets of Cuba, mainly in the capital city of Havana. As we travelled within Havana, we came across classic cars in various states of repair and despair everywhere, from glossy Chevrolets to beaten-up Lada taxis that were more rust than metal with gleaming chrome details.

These cars were waiting to take tourists on trips around Havana. Being there was like walking the streets of a living motor museum. The vintage cars were so very eye-catching in the whole of Havana. We took innumerable photos of these brightly coloured cars everywhere as we moved around in Havana. A most strikingly looking car would appear in front of us. To take a photo was difficult at times, but driver and passengers cheerfully and euphorically obliged tourists for a photoshoot. Such was the approachability of the local people! What amazes me, especially in Havana, is not the old classic cars themselves but the surrounding buildings and people having fun in the streets. However, the large number of cars still going around Havana streets, to the extent that sometimes it seems you were in the middle of a traffic jam back in 1950… more than 70 years later.

What is the type of classic cars in Cuba?

There are an estimated 70,000 vintage cars in Cuba, from classic American models like Chevrolets, Buicks, Chryslers, Oldsmobiles and Fords to Soviet-era Volgas and Ladas. There are a good number of British cars like Jaguars, Austins, Hillmans and M.G.s in Havana. About half of them date back to the 1950s; the rest are even older. These cars would be historical artefacts in other parts of the world, parked judiciously in a temperature-controlled garage, tenderly buffed every week, and driven only on the most exceptional occasions, including vintage car racing events. But in Cuba, they are people's daily run-around, used as a customary for picking up friends or running errands or as taxis, hence earning a livelihood for their proud owners. Upon our arrival in Havana, we couldn't take our eyes off these beautiful vintage cars waiting outside the airport. We realized straight away that not only we have flown to another country, but we have been winged into another century.

Why there are so many classic and vintage cars in Cuba?

The story of Cuba's cars is inextricably linked to the political history of Cuba itself. Cuba has no car manufacturing industry. Hence for the first half of the 20th century, the USA was the leading supplier of cars to Cuba. Cubans loved their cars – in fact, at one point, Cuba was the top importer of American cars in the whole of Latin America. By the 1950s, the country was booming. With Miami just 90 miles away, Cuba was a hotspot for American tourists, playing host to celebrities like Frank Sinatra and Ernest Hemmingway and the playground for rich and famous. With the celebrities came the fancy cars in Cuba. By the end of the 1950s, an estimated 140,000 classic cars were being imported to the Cuban roads. That all changed in 1959 when Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries took over the country.

Rough Times: Cold War and Embargo (1959-the 1990s)

Till 1959, cars, all needed spare parts, were imported in Cuba from the U.S. Then a radical turn evolved affecting the car trade, with the Cuban revolution; former business partners became foes, and Cuba classic cars were left stranded on one side of the Florida Straits, while the manufacturing plants kept functioning on the other. The Cold War was an undefeatable wall separating both sides of the Straits, but the American embargo on Cuba ended up setting a higher wall. The U.S. responded by bringing in a trade embargo that effectively locked Cuba in a time capsule for over half a century. As of the early 60s, not even a U.S. car part nor a screw would be exported to the island. The American market was closed for Cuba and its old cars.

"The Cadillac does not provide jobs for anyone," Castro said during a speech to the Cuban people in July 1959. "The Cadillac does not increase the wealth of the country. It diminishes it." Castro's stiff laws also prevented Cubans from selling their cars to avoid the expense of maintaining their "máquinas."

How did Cuban cars keep running?

With no way to obtain new cars or spare parts for their cars, Cubans were forced to collect and acquire mechanical skills to mend their cars. When engines wore out, they found ways to fix them. They concocted and fine-tuned, using imagination, resourcefulness and resolutions to keep their cars going. Vehicles were repaired with parts from others, creating 'Frankenstein' models. They may look like they are in top condition to the inexperienced eye, but any car expert will soon spot the jumble of elements under the hood. These old cars have neither the seatbelts nor any of the other safety features of modern cars. Cuban cars are a kind all of their own. Vintage car collectors would probably gasp in horror at this – in classic car owners élites, it's considered blasphemous to mix-and-match models – but Cubans could barely heed since these cars became their livelihood sources. After decades of patchy renovations and rehabilitations, it can sometimes make identifying the original make and model of these heterogeneous cars a little keen-witted!

Cuban cars today

It wasn't until the 90s that Cubans indeed discovered the value of the investment they'd carefully been sustaining all this time. They thought their classic cars were just a practical means of transport. From 2009, when Cuban tourism started to explode, they quickly recognized, their cars were also a major touristic attraction in their own right. Today there are still around 60-70,000 classic cars in Cuba, mainly in Havana. They glide majestically through the colorful streets or assemble proudly outside gorgeous ornate buildings like bright vintage jewels.

In 2016, Raul Castro finally relaxed the rules on car ownership, and new, modern cars from Europe and Asia gradually started making their way back to the island. However, they are still expensive, highly regulated, and far beyond the means of most Cubans, sparing plenty of expanse for the glorious vintage Cuban cars to shine.

Can you take a ride on Cuban vintage cars?

It's almost impossible to see a row of these attractions parked on a Havana street, all glowing colors and shimmering chrome accessories, and not want to take one for a spin.

The easiest way to do this is to book a city tour. These usually cost about US$25-30 for an hour, during which you'll get to cruise the streets of Havana in one of the most sparkling Cuban cars of all, perhaps an open-topped Chevrolet or classic Buick, pretending you're a character in an Ernest Hemingway novel. We took these trips more than once in these cars. Exhilarating indeed!

Cheaper, but slightly less glamorous, is to hail a taxi. Many Cuban taxis are classic cars, so almost any time you grab a cab, you'll be riding in a piece of history. These usually are the beaten up, shabby ones, though, since anyone who owns a pristine specimen will be using it for the fancy tours mentioned above. Perhaps the most dominant note of the hardened US-Cuban relationship is the 60,000 retrofitted metal relics clunking around the streets of the stagnant island nation. A lot of Cuban taxis are now ancient Russian Ladas.

Americal car trade-in Cuba in the past.

The United States was the origin of more than 70 percent of goods imported into Cuba, with cars were an exceptional part of that trade. The Ford T from the USA was the most greeted car on the island, nicknamed "fotingo" (Cuban slang). To continue the same, any old car is still called a Fotingo. 

Cuba became a vast and successful business for American car brands such as Chevrolet, Ford, Cadillac, Dodge, Buick, and Chrysler. Authorized dealers in Havana sold Plymouth, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Mercury, Studebaker, and Packard automobiles at a steadfast rate. Cars were exported directly to the Port of Havana, taking a few days only. Some models touched Cuban roadways before being available for sale in the States. Cuban roads used to assert test track for American car companies with ferries sailing between Havana and Florida. In 1951, a legendary and most coveted Latin American magazine named Bohemia published that a car equipped with a T.V. set, the second one manufactured worldwide, was roaming around in the streets of Havana!

The view outside the hotel from the rooftop

The first Cuban woman known as La Macorina owned nine cars gifted to her by her lovers and admirers and was seen driving these cars herself over and over again. American writer Ernest Hemingway, who lived in Havana for twenty years, had seven cars at his Finca Vigía, in the city's outskirts. These cars included a black Buick Sedan convertible, a grey Buick, a black Lincoln Cabriolet Continental, a grey Plymouth Deluxe Special Wagon, and a blue Buick Super Road Master convertible Chrysler New Yorker, a Plymouth Cranbrook convertible etc. etc.

Modern car

Many old classic cars changed ownership and were put to new uses; some remained abandoned in old garages or repairing shops, some were conserved as relics. One way or another, old cars adapted to the new times and moved on. With increasing Cuban Russian friendship, American cars were repaired with spare parts from newer cars that would arrive mainly from the USSR and the Socialist Block: Ladas, Moskvitchs, Volgas, Polish & Argentinian Fiats. Some cars from other markets were also entering the country during the 70s: V.W. "Beatles", Ford Falcons and Italian Alfa Romeos can still unravel on Cuban roads. 

Old American cars, today's valued Cuban vintage cars, survived and were kept running just because their owners needed them as a means of transportation and to provide for the family, mainly since the 90s, when the economic crisis and the boom of tourist industry made these classics attractive again, an excellent possession. People started to look at them as vintage cars, not just old heavy iron pieces over wheels. More than 70 years later, the fact that almost 50 percent remains functioning must be a world record. In terms of the city panorama, indeed, it is a one-of-a-kind vintage cars show. People call them "almendrones" (big almond) and their drivers "boteros" (boatmen).

Some cars have been modified, run on diesel engines instead of the original V8, and their interiors have been changed to accommodate more passengers. However, many of them keep their bodies intact and need some renovating work to look as they did decades ago. The elite of Cuban old cars consists of two groups: those with chromed lively colors and almost perfect bodies that amaze tourists at Havana. The other group of cars has not been modified and keeps original parts, seats, and decoration details. These are the minority, a small 5-10 percent of all classic cars running in Cuba today, and have been carefully preserved by their proud and persevering owners.

Cubans restarted to buy original parts in the States a few years ago. Certain companies are still manufacturing parts and components for classic models and then importing them into the island. The national sales market of these cars has grown in recent years. A digital portal, Auto Cubana, showcases cars for sale: These cars may be priced anywhere from $ 30,000 to $100,000. 

A collectors club, named A Lo Cubano, founded in the early 2000s, often organizes parades, rallies, and exhibitions of such cars around the city.

Can you buy a Cuban vintage car?

A law from 2010 prevents foreigners from exporting cars from Cuba. Classic Cuban cars can be bought by Cubans and foreigners who are permanent or temporary residents within Cuba.

Near decaying buildings in the background.

What is the future of Cuba's classic cars?

It is not an easy matter to predict the future of Cuban vintage cars. There is a significant apprehension. Suppose there is a further improvement in Cuban-American relations. In that case, owners could develop their income transporting more American travellers and subsequently invest in their cars or order original parts manufactured in the United States. But many people think that come that day, owners will use those earnings to buy new modern, and better gas mileage cars. In that case, the old classics would end up in junkyards or abandoned anywhere. 

Let us not forget that even today, amid difficulties and lack of spares, many of those in possession of old American cars in Cuba stick to them because they didn't have a choice. They do not necessarily have a taste of vintage cars. Eventually, there will always be heritage lovers who know the value of their property (even looking at it also as an investment, an asset) and choose to preserve their old Cuban automobiles as closest as possible to the appearance they had back in the 50s. 

The day vintage Cuban cars are no longer part of Havana's panorama; they will be missed. Havana will not be the same without these old machines, with dazzling colors, decoration, and beautiful curvatures. Speckled among the classic American relics are the boxy Soviet-made Ladas, another clear reminder of the USSR's friendship with Cuba. Drivers park their cars outside the government-run hotels to entice tourists. Having a well-maintained car is essential for booking a job. The owners wash their cars three to four times a week and immediately after it rains to ensure the paint stays in excellent condition. Most drivers will insist on opening and shutting the doors for each passenger, another measure of preserving these delicate cars.

Just a few words about Ernest Hemmingway

In my younger years, I had read a few short stories from Ernest Hemingway’s collections famously called In Our Times. Since then, Hemingway's name has been in my teen years' memories. When Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1954, his writing style was singled out as one of his significant achievements. The committee recognized his "forceful and style-making mastery of the art of modern narration."One iconic element of Ernest Hemingway's writing style was the simple words he used in his writing. There have been few autobiographical TV programs here in the UK, watched in my earlier years. So when the same name became noteworthy while I was doing my initial homework on Cuba before traveling, I knew that I would visit his memoirs in and around old Havana. He lived in Havana for nearly 20 years ( 1940 to late  1950s). 

Hemingway statue at La Floritida bar

Today his spirit is alive in the famous bar La Floridita within Old Havana, where it is almost customary to try his famous cocktail named Mojito. Hemmingway was lovingly called Papa, who could consume up to 25 Mohitos in a single sitting at the bar.

Cigars and Rum are, of course, Cuba's most prized products. 

La Floridita bar with famous Rum6

Tobacco is the most intrinsic element of Cuban culture. Though Sugar cane crops and sugar are more vital to the economy, tobacco farming and cigar smoking are more closely linked to history and the spirits of this Caribbean country. 

Cuban Rum factory scenes

A glimpse of a cigar factory. 

When Columbus arrived here, the indigenous islanders were already cultivating tobacco and smoking in pipes, inhaling their nostrils. Finding a rum distillery or cigar farm in Cuba isn't exactly hard. I'm not exaggerating when I say these world-famous exports are found on every street corner in every town in the country. The trouble comes in what to choose and why?

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I have included a picture of my travel journal written during the actual travel time.