Old American Cars in Cuba.

Old American Cars in Cuba.

I was watching some noon day tv news.Something about Cubans are now
allowed to own their own farms and a few other things.Those old American
cars in Cuba, they sure do know how to keep em rolling.
cuhulin

Re: Old American Cars in Cuba.

On May 1, 1:34 pm, cuhu...@webtv . net wrote:
> I was watching some noon day tv news.Something about Cubans are now
> allowed to own their own farms and a few other things.Those old American
> cars in Cuba, they sure do know how to keep em rolling.
> cuhulin  

no kidding. when the US finally opens up trade with cuba, between
those cars and the cigars, they'll be rolling in dollars.

Re: Old American Cars in Cuba.


cuhulin@webtv . net wrote:
>
> I was watching some noon day tv news.Something about Cubans are now
> allowed to own their own farms and a few other things.Those old American
> cars in Cuba, they sure do know how to keep em rolling.
> cuhulin

Yes, some nice antiques there. I expect if we ever normalize relations
with Cuba, most of those cars will be snatched up by collectors in the
US and the Cubans will end up with a wad of cash and a new small car.

Re: Old American Cars in Cuba.

On Thu, 01 May 2008 19:52:52 GMT, "Pete C." <aux3.DOH.4@snet . net >
wrote:


>Yes, some nice antiques there. I expect if we ever normalize relations
>with Cuba, most of those cars will be snatched up by collectors in the
>US and the Cubans will end up with a wad of cash and a new small car.

There might be some nice stuff there somewhere but everything I have
ever seen in the media wouldn't even qualify as a parts car. They
have no money and no parts so they've done whatever could be done to
keep them running. I can get a good parts car right here in this
country to restore for little money... I sure wouldn't pay ship
freight, a wad of cash and a new car to get something that wasn't as
nice.

Steve B.

Re: Old American Cars in Cuba.


"Steve B." wrote:
>
> On Thu, 01 May 2008 19:52:52 GMT, "Pete C." <aux3.DOH.4@snet . net >
> wrote:
>
> >Yes, some nice antiques there. I expect if we ever normalize relations
> >with Cuba, most of those cars will be snatched up by collectors in the
> >US and the Cubans will end up with a wad of cash and a new small car.
>
> There might be some nice stuff there somewhere but everything I have
> ever seen in the media wouldn't even qualify as a parts car. They
> have no money and no parts so they've done whatever could be done to
> keep them running. I can get a good parts car right here in this
> country to restore for little money... I sure wouldn't pay ship
> freight, a wad of cash and a new car to get something that wasn't as
> nice.
>
> Steve B.

Don't worry, the more money than brains set will readily pay the cost
and then pay even more to have someone do the restoration for them.

Re: Old American Cars in Cuba.

Steve B. <none@none . com > wrote in news:1cbk14pe3efeg5ch4belkkfidf8vsocs04@
4ax . com :

> On Thu, 01 May 2008 19:52:52 GMT, "Pete C." <aux3.DOH.4@snet . net >
> wrote:
>
>
>>Yes, some nice antiques there. I expect if we ever normalize relations
>>with Cuba, most of those cars will be snatched up by collectors in the
>>US and the Cubans will end up with a wad of cash and a new small car.
>
> There might be some nice stuff there somewhere but everything I have
> ever seen in the media wouldn't even qualify as a parts car. They
> have no money and no parts so they've done whatever could be done to
> keep them running.



That's it in a nutshell. It's not like they have AutoZones on every corner.

The stuff I've read indicates a lot of these Cuban cars are basically
American body shells consisting of mostly original metal in various states
of accuracy, but not much else that came from Detroit.

Most engines have been replaced with Russian diesels and the like. Many
other mechanical components are of similar provenance.

Another interesting point I recently read that helps explain why there are
so many of these still around: If a car was on the road before
La Revolucion, it may be freely bought and sold. If a car was built after
Castro came to power (post 1959), it is subject to stringent ownership
controls. This biases the market towards trade in the old cars.



--
Tegger

Re: Old American Cars in Cuba.


<cuhulin@webtv . net > wrote in message
news:22243-4819FF36-190@storefull-3254.bay.webtv . net ...
>I was watching some noon day tv news.Something about Cubans are now
> allowed to own their own farms and a few other things.Those old American
> cars in Cuba, they sure do know how to keep em rolling.
> cuhulin

I used to work a lot in the antarctic zone of southern Chile. At times,
people would
buy container loads of parts from junkyards here in the USA, and take them
to Chile
for repairs. The Chileans were very clever in making odd parts interchange.
Alternators
from Fords might be spliced onto Chevvies, etc.

Necessity is a mother.

Re: Old American Cars in Cuba.

cuhulin@webtv . net wrote:
> I was watching some noon day tv news.Something about Cubans are now
> allowed to own their own farms and a few other things.Those old American
> cars in Cuba, they sure do know how to keep em rolling.
> cuhulin
>

I'm a canuck, so I can go to cuba.

Went there this year, the cars are definitely INTERESTING.
Never seen a 53 Buick diesel before.

Apart from the body panels and some of the interior, they're not stock
anymore. They've been pretty creative.

Ray

Re: Old American Cars in Cuba.


"ray" <rollingviolation@domain.invalid . com > wrote in message
news:zetSj.236664$pM4.218196@pd7urf1no...
> cuhulin@webtv . net wrote:
>> I was watching some noon day tv news.Something about Cubans are now
>> allowed to own their own farms and a few other things.Those old American
>> cars in Cuba, they sure do know how to keep em rolling.
>> cuhulin
>
> I'm a canuck, so I can go to cuba.


Actually, a lot of Americans have gone to Cuba as well. The government
doesnt like it
but a lot have ignored the restriction and gone anyway. They say the
fishing is really
good.;>)

Re: Old American Cars in Cuba.

On May 1, 1:34 pm, cuhu...@webtv . net wrote:
> I was watching some noon day tv news.Something about Cubans are now
> allowed to own their own farms and a few other things.Those old American
> cars in Cuba, they sure do know how to keep em rolling.
> cuhulin  

They are nice looking old cars, but if you look under the hood I
suspect you will see all sorts of mis-matched parts pieced together.

Re: Old American Cars in Cuba.

On 2008-05-05, John S. <hjsjms@cs . com > wrote:
> On May 1, 1:34 pm, cuhu...@webtv . net wrote:
>> I was watching some noon day tv news.Something about Cubans are now
>> allowed to own their own farms and a few other things.Those old American
>> cars in Cuba, they sure do know how to keep em rolling.
>> cuhulin  
>
> They are nice looking old cars, but if you look under the hood I
> suspect you will see all sorts of mis-matched parts pieced together.

I read articles way back when that detailed how the vehicles were kept
on the road. It seems ford and chrysler designs for engines and other
vital systems (maybe a few others) were copied by the USSR and eastern
european countries in metric form. So parts could be made to fit from
those vehicles. Chevy designs on the other hand had no soviet bloc
version and were more difficult to keep on the road.

They also did some interesting things to repair vehicles. The one I
remember is worn gears. Metal was welded on and the tooth profile was
re-created by hand.

In one article one of the articles brought with him some old Autolite
spark plugs that were just sitting on the shelf in his garage. He gave
them to a guy with a ford they met. The plugs were like giving out gold
pieces.