Driving Around Cuba
And then there were the cars! The cars! The cars! You won’t believe how stupendously amazing the cars in Cuba were! The cliched image we all have of the country isn't wrong. For there really are classic cars still in daily use across the island. And when juxtaposed against the fading buildings and creaking streets, at many moments I felt transported back in time, thirty or fourty years back. It just didn’t feel like the 21st century.
So how did it come to be so? After the Cuban revolution, the embargo by the US began, and soon, imports of new American cars ceased, resulting in many of the existing makes having to be carefully preserved. And given the circumstances, Cubans have become ingenious, devising ways to keep their cars running, even to the point of installing totally new engines into old bodies and chassis.
What’s the end result? Cubans retain their mobility, while us visitors get to see these virtual museum pieces on the streets – old Cadillacs, Chevrolets and Dodges – little different from a generation ago.
Still trying to figure out what I mean? Here’s a good selection of just some of the old vehicles I saw in Cuba:
So how did it come to be so? After the Cuban revolution, the embargo by the US began, and soon, imports of new American cars ceased, resulting in many of the existing makes having to be carefully preserved. And given the circumstances, Cubans have become ingenious, devising ways to keep their cars running, even to the point of installing totally new engines into old bodies and chassis.
What’s the end result? Cubans retain their mobility, while us visitors get to see these virtual museum pieces on the streets – old Cadillacs, Chevrolets and Dodges – little different from a generation ago.
Still trying to figure out what I mean? Here’s a good selection of just some of the old vehicles I saw in Cuba:
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