The Cars Of Havana!

So I got on a time machine and went to Cuba.  One could not help but notice all the classic cars being used as if they were still in current production.  Time stopped at the end of 1958...at least when it came to American cars. That was the year the revolution finally succeeded and Fidel Castro ousted President Batista.  American businesses, and even the mafia, had to drop everything and leave the country in a hurry.  They left their cars behind too.

The Cubans are a resourceful people.  No doubt about it.  60+ years later, with virtually no access to spare parts, the vintage cars are still running.  They fashion their own replacement parts or...as one local confided with a wink, open the hood and one might find a Chinese engine block inside!

There were a lot of old Russian Ladas running around too...

...while the newer cars tended to be Hyundais (Korea) and Geely's (China) "...which look just like Hyundais, you can hardly tell them apart!" observed one local.  There were also a sprinkling of small Toyota sedans.  All buses I rode on were also Chinese-made...but they looked like they came straight from the Volvo catalogue.

No, I am not dissing the Chinese.  Though you won't see many Chinese tourists, the Chinese are actually one of Cuba's biggest trading partners and I suspect are providing a lifeline to the country.  Most of the heavy equipment I saw on construction sites were Chinese. The Chinese model of economic growth could also be a template for Cuba.  Private enterprise in retail and restaurants are slowly being encouraged, as well as some parts of the agricultural sector (mainly in vegetables).   Other trading partners: Venezuela, Spain and Canada.  There is a bit of oil in Cuba...though not top quality as they contain too much sulphur.  (So said our horse carriage driver!)  Many small oil drilling platforms dotted the coast.  I learned later that there was a Canadian-Cuban oil refinery joint venture.  Cuba produces nickel too.

What I have told you is information gleaned from conversations with locals.  I cannot attest to their veracity.  I didn't do any research.  What I write is from hearsay and my own eyewitness account.  

Wait a minute.  This blogpost is supposed to be about the cars of Havana!  So here are more cars... the one on the right is called a "Coco Taxi", a relative of Bangkok's tuk tuk...basically a rickshaw pulled by a motorcycle.

This car looked turbo-charged!  :-)

...and the horse carriages brought us further back in time!

(All photo credits: Yours truly.  All rights reserved.)