Quantcast
Channel: CARISTAS
Viewing all 220 articles
Browse latest View live
↧

The Hershey train IV

September 9, 2013, 5:39 pm
$
0
0


Fortunately, control console looks like it was built to last.
    We're between stations when the train stops. I see the engineer descend the stairs from the driver's compartment that are the only easy way off the train between platforms. The conductor and other men come forward and follow him down to the tracks. The passengers continue talking, sleeping, whatever they had been doing before our halt.
   I use the moment to take a closer look at the driver's operating station. One front window is starred by a crack. Tight against the glass is a battered control panel with big levers I imagine are for throttle and brakes. Above the levers are lines of metal-collared buttons that make me think of the old lathes we used in high school machine shop.
   The men climb back up and we resume our trip. As we come into Havana, the views change. We pass structures that could be factories or military installations, or both. At a table next to the track, an outdoor butcher wraps portions. Farther along, garbage overflows from metal drums.
   Then we're moving between houses, so close I wonder if I could reach in a window and pluck a coffee cup from a kitchen table. Moments later we emerge into a broad street — we've reached Casablanca Station, the line's western terminus. Across Havana Harbour, we can see the central city. The railway never got that far. Milton Hershey's efforts to extend his line into Havana proper are said to have been blocked by United Railways, the main operator in Havana Province.
   Frustrating for Hershey, no doubt, but just another fact of travel for those who ride on his electric railway all these years later. In seconds the train is empty, the passengers already moving to the ferry dock next door for the last leg of their journey.

Guarded facility in the Havana outskirts.


A butcher at work trackside.


Casablanca Station: End of the line for travellers heading west.

↧
Search

The Hershey train V

September 12, 2013, 5:11 pm
$
0
0
Car begins to fill for afternoon run between Havana and Matanzas.
   Later that same day I return to Casablanca Station (the ferry across the harbour can be a story for another time). I take a seat on the first car and notice a fellow passenger looking around and taking photos – guess I won't be the only non-Cuban on this trip.
   I glance over at the station and see a woman pointing at me from inside. A man in a purple shirt and blue jeans comes into the car – I find out later he's the conductor – and tells me I must buy a ticket at the office. Here I can't simply pay the conductor.
   I'm North American, I want to say. What do I know about train travel?
Before the train leaves, there's time for talk.
   Inside the station, I hand the woman 1.40 CUC and now, properly paid up, am rewarded with a smile. The train is filling but my seat is still free. We leave on schedule.
   The conductor is busy. The electric door to the car isn't working and he needs to hold it open at each stop. Between stations we chat, and I learn he is also a train driver and a mechanic. The employees rotate through the various tasks. He's also a train buff – not really a surprise – and he asks me about Canada's CP and CN lines, and the train rides through the Rocky Mountains. Now I must confess out loud my ignorance about trains, this time in my own country.
  Other people speak, and I'm told, "The train killed a cow this morning." The mystery of the stop between stations is solved.
A fan of American action movies decides to show off his knowledge of English expletives. "Son of a bitch!" he roars. "Bastard!" "Motherf**er!"
   I cringe, but then I look around and see no one is paying attention. Ah, very good, I tell him.
   At Hershey, my cab driver is waiting. He was early; we're right on time. Far as I'm concerned, you can set your watch to this railroad.

Welcome aboard: Rural stops are frequent.


↧
↧

The Hershey train, postscript

September 21, 2013, 1:41 pm
$
0
0
 

   A quick search will yield numerous warnings about the unreliability of the Hershey train. What's interesting is that few if any of those issuing these warnings seem to have first-hand experience of delays or breakdowns on the route. Still, given the age and condition of the railroad's equipment, it's safe to conclude that problems can be frequent.
   But if you're even a little adventurous, a ride on the Hershey train is a remarkable way to mix with Cubans as they live their everyday lives. At 2.80 CUC for the full, 3.5-hour trip between Matanzas and Havana, it's ridiculously cheap. If you're a train buff, it could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience rail travel of an earlier era, rattles and all.
   And as I mentioned on the onset, if you did find yourself stranded, you won't be far from alternate transportation.

Learn more:

www.tramz.com/cu
Allen Morrison, who has written extensively on tramways around the globe, offers an authoritative history of the Hershey train. Interesting historical photos, too.

cubain11days.blogspot.ca
Charming account of one traveller's experience.

www.seat61.com
Thorough guide to all rail travel in Cuba. Includes Hershey train schedule as of July 2013.

www.life-is-a-trip.com
In which two natural questions – What if I have to pee? and, Think they'd let ME drive the
train? – are answered.


For the adventurous, a remarkable ride.


↧

Cheerful Cuban car show

September 28, 2013, 8:35 pm
$
0
0
   If you expect to be in Santa Cruz del Norte on the last Sunday in October – and yes, that's probably unlikely, unless you live in Santa Cruz del Norte, but hey, you never know – you'll want to take in the Fifth Annual Cuba Car Show.
   This exhibition and cruise is organized by the Rusty Nuts car clubs of Canada and Cuba. As we can see from organizer Ian Rome's video from 2012, below (you may need to click through to YouTube to watch it), the cheerful event attracts a nifty selection of Tri-5 Chevies and other 1950s iron, plus well-tended veterans such as a Model A Ford Woodie Wagon and rare sights like a Brazilian-made Gurgel.
   Santa Cruz del Norte, by the way, is midway between Havana and Varadero. Easy to get to, should you find yourself seeking something to do on Oct. 27.




See also:

Gearhead Country/Rusty Nuts official site

Photos from the first Cuba Car Show




↧

Missed Nebraska? Try Cuba

October 4, 2013, 10:39 am
$
0
0

A '55, foreground, and a '56: Classic Chevrolets abound in Cuba.
   Old Chevrolets have been much in the news lately (though always in our hearts) because of a Nebraska auction that drew world-wide attention.
   Roy Lambrecht, a small-town Chevy dealer for 50 years, had the unusual habit of hanging on to unsold vehicles rather than cutting prices to make room for new inventory. Over the years he amassed some 500 cars and trucks – some with single-digit readings on their odometers and the factory plastic wrap still covering their seats.
   Most were the worse for time and weather, if not wear, but when the Lambrecht family finally decided to sell the collection, the two-day auction attracted 15,000 would-be buyers from around the globe.
Of course, we know another place to see old Chevs. These ones might show the marks of many miles, but that doesn't mean we love them less.

Nicely chromed '51 Chev sports add-on bumper guards.

This 1957 Townsman wagon is a working taxi in the Matanzas area.

On the road since 1954.
Gold standard: '53 Bel Air.


Powerglide was first automatic transmission available on a lower-priced car.

Two-Ten Beauville wagon is a 1956 model.
Bumper bars, as on this '55 Bel Air sedan, are a regularly seen accessory.


  Search "Lambrecht Chevrolet" and you'll find a zillion reports on the auction – but this piece by Peter Salter of the Lincoln Journal Star tells a particularly sweet story.
↧
↧

Further to that last item

October 5, 2013, 8:23 pm
$
0
0
Chevrolet produced nearly 270,000 Bel Air sedans for 1956.
   At VanDerBrink Auctions, you can see all the Chevys (plus a scattering of other brands) that were sold in the Lambrecht Chevrolet sale – and marvel at the prices some fetched. Still, looking at the condition of many of the Lambrecht cars, I'd have to say the Chevrolets in Cuba are often in better shape.

A Chevrolet Suburban taxi in Havana.
Suburban is a '52 or '53.

Few cars wear two-tone paint better than a 1955 Chevrolet.


Dash wiring could use a little work.


Another '55 sedan, this one a taxi.


Chevrolet Styleline sedan from 1950.


Rear fender appears to have been reshaped at some point over the years
on this 1951 Chevrolet Styleline De Luxe.
↧

A Plymouth, a Chev and a mystery truck

October 12, 2013, 5:40 pm
$
0
0
Three more images from Tony Robertson, First two are reasonably easy to identify, but the third one has me stumped. Any guesses?

Even sans chrome, Plymouth wagon is recognizable as a '57 Belvedere Sport Suburban. 

Chevy Town Sedan with jazzy paint scheme is a '37 or '38.















Looks like a GMC or a Dodge, but it's something else.

↧

International celebration

October 22, 2013, 5:52 pm
$
0
0
Built only in 1948, the International KB-5 was offered in several wheelbases.
   International trucks lack the following of old Fords, Chevrolets and Dodges. International was primarily a manufacturer of commercial trucks – even if it did produce some fine pickups over the years – and thus couldn't build the close bonds with generations of owners that have created such loyalty to the other brands.
   International survives today as Navistar, which builds only heavy trucks.
   But there's one place where International gets some love.
Original colour choices: green, red, maroon, black.
   In Cuba, many Internationals that started life as commercial trucks – medium-duty K and KB models from the 1940s and L, R and S series Internationals from the 1950s – live on today in the hands of individual owners. They serve as private taxis and buses and farm vehicles, and often double as personal transportation.
   And whether they have their original Green Diamond six-cylinder gasoline engine or a Soviet diesel replacement, they're valued for their clean and classic lines and rock-solid construction.
   At some point, this 1948 International KB-5 lost its grille and hood trim. Rather than letting it go unclad, the owner fashioned new brightwork pieces and added a bright crown of script spelling out the manufacturer's name. How many hours were spent hand-forming these letters?
   Now, a section of this ersatz emblem has itself been lost. The rest remains in shiny tribute to a faithful friend.

Labour of love.



↧
Search

More from the lost Chevy commercial

October 26, 2013, 9:39 am
↧
↧

Another fatal crash, another visitor detained

October 29, 2013, 8:25 pm
$
0
0
Damain Buksa on YouTube: A long stay in Cuba.
   Again Cuba is preventing a Canadian tourist from leaving after a serious car accident. Like Cody LeCompte, Eli Raffoul and others before them, Damian Buksa has been ordered to remain on the Caribbean island until authorities determine whether charges should be laid.
   Buksa, 34, of Mississauga, has been in Cuba since July, when he arrived for what he thought would be a two-week holiday. His story became public only this week, however, as friends and relatives stepped up calls on the Canadian government to pressure Cuba for Buksa's release.
   Cuban investigations are slow, even in cases that might seem straightforward. Here, however, the circumstances are far from clear.
   Buksa, visiting the Guardalavaca area, rented a car and engaged a Cuban man to act as his guide. He says he was asleep in the back seat and the guide was driving when the car left the road and rammed into a tree.
   The men had been at a bar, drinking with two women. Buksa says he returned to the car with one woman and fell asleep. The guide, accompanied by the second woman, took the keys from his pocket, the Canadian told police.
  The Cuban man died on the way to hospital. One woman was seriously injured.
   Unusually for Cuba, video exists from the crash scene. It was taken by Buksa himself, probably with a phone camera, and posted, somehow, to YouTube.
   Buksa's behaviour is odd, even for someone who has been in an accident – he turns the camera on himself to show cuts on his face and leg – and who no doubt still feels the effects of alcohol. He holds the camera for a long moment on the guide, sprawled across the front seat, and then on the woman who lies bleeding on the ground. Online viewers of the video have questioned why he didn't try to help the victims.
   In another segment, he films rescue workers cutting open the car to free the guide. "I was in the back," we hear him insisting over and over.
   Cuba's police may lack the forensic tools employed by authorities in other countries, but they share the suspicious nature of cops everywhere. In a murky, alcohol-drenched case such as this, they'll take as long as they need to satisfy themselves that all facts are known.
   Damian Buksa may be in Cuba for a while yet.


↧

One camera, three wheels

November 2, 2013, 4:06 pm
$
0
0
Photo: Tony Robertson

   What better mobile vantage point from which to film a commercial in Havana than a motorcycle with sidecar? Sorry, can't tell you what brand of bike that is, but it sure looks Soviet-era.


Photo: Tony Robertson








Next: Platform Impala

↧

So right in white

November 6, 2013, 7:47 pm
$
0
0
Impala appears to have all of its original chrome. Broad taillights mark it as a '58. 
   Thought for a second that this was the Chevrolet Impala convertible I photographed near the Hotel Nacional a couple of years back. But I soon spotted the differences between this ragtop, serving here as camera platform for the lost Chevy commercial, and that other Impala.
   For one, this is a '59, while the hotel car, with its round taillamps, is a '60 (and thus one of the last American cars exported directly to the island). But a more notable difference is this Impala's obvious authenticity as a convertible. The other quickly revealed itself as a conversion from a four-door hardtop.
   That '60 Impala was intriguing. This one is gorgeous.

Crew and convertible take a break from filming.




↧

Cubans, Canadians and one South American

November 14, 2013, 2:40 pm
$
0
0

   This year's Rusty Nuts Gearhead Country Car Show in Santa Cruz del Norte looks to have been the fun event it always is, judging by Ian Rome's video and slide show.
   Attractions included lots of the late-1950s Big Three iron that regularly appears, plus some interesting newcomers including a Studebaker or two and what appears to be a Chevy Nova variant from South America. (The story that the "no go" Nova was a sales dud in Spanish-speaking countries would seem to be a myth, by the way.)
   The Canadian-Cuban event will be back in 2014, and organizer Rome promises it will be "bigger and better."
↧
↧

More from the show

November 16, 2013, 5:29 pm
$
0
0
Winners: '57 Chevy, and the happy recipient of a GM-appropriate raffle prize. 
Many of the cars on display bore Cuba's new white Euro-style licence plates.

Cruising through Santa Cruz.
Two-tone 1955 Pontiac sedan gets a thorough inspection.



↧

Birdwatching in Cuba

November 20, 2013, 8:15 pm
$
0
0
   Apologies, first off, to all you birders drawn here by the headline above. While we have seen the Cuban lizard cuckoo, the tocororo and any number of frigatebirds and herons during our visits to the island, my attempts to photograph same have been largely unsuccessful.
   I, of course, blame my camera.

Lavender was not a stock colour for the 1958 Thunderbird, but it does seem to suit it.
   So the bird being discussed here is of the automotive variety – specifically, a 1958 Ford Thunderbird convertible. I spotted this 'bird lending its fine purple plumage as backdrop to a Havana wedding party. But I was unable to get a complete shot – dang camera! – so I didn't bother to put up any of my pictures.
   Now, however, I see that Ralphee of CubanClassics has posted a magnificent photo of this same T-Bird in flight. And as his custom, he provides much entertaining detail about his subject and its habitat.
   Turns out this is a rather rare 'bird – of nearly 38,000 Thunderbirds built for 1958, Ralphee tells us, only 2,134 were convertibles. That being the case, I consider it my
T-Birdwatching duty to share these partial views.

A tour through Havana in a convertible is tradition for brides and grooms.

Why are they smiling? Because they
get to ride in a T-Bird!




↧
Search

More 'birding

November 26, 2013, 5:49 pm
$
0
0
Coupe's long, flat roof was a big contributor to 'Square Bird' nickname.
    The vast majority of Ford Thunderbirds built for 1958 were two-door coupes like this one I came across in Santa Cruz del Norte.
   With the rectangular roof that helped earn the '58-through-'60 T-Bird its "Square Bird" nickname, the coupe is a handsome and distinctive design. Still, I have to say I prefer the convertible version.
This coupe, though clearly having travelled many miles, retained nearly all its original chrome trim. And while the front seats are obvious replacements, I was surprised to see the original "panel console" with auto shift lever still in place. The '58 Thunderbird was one of the first cars to get a console. Ford installed it to disguise the prominent transmission tunnel in this low-slung car.
 
Console was a new interior feature in 1958.
A Ford 352 V-8? Not a chance.

   The owner popped the hood so I could photograph the engine. I thought at the time it was the original 352-cubic-inch gasoline V-8, perhaps still coupled to a three-speed Cruse-O-Matic transmission. Now, looking at that rear-mounted distributor, I realize that's no 352.
    An earlier Ford Y-Block? A Chevy small block? No, I'm calling it a Chrysler V-8, and not an "A" engine from the 1950s, but Chrysler's later "LA" V-8, a 273 or 318, from the 1960s. How that engine reached Cuba to find its way into a Ford Thunderbird, and what brand of automatic transmission it connects to, will remain mysteries.

Survivor: 1958 Ford Thunderbird has obviously seen much use.






See also:



↧

The Soviet-era tractor in a word? Jaunty

November 30, 2013, 8:46 pm
$
0
0

Belarus MTZ-50, or maybe a MTZ-52, from the Minsk Tractor Works.

↧
↧

Rental car death row

December 7, 2013, 8:52 pm
$
0
0

Tripod Geely: Apparently, not a spare tire to spare.
   These Chinese-built Geely CKs look to have had a short life as daily rentals in Cuba.
   In their defence, however, let's remember that the CK is the island's cheapest rental vehicle. That makes it the first choice of Cuban nationals looking to rent a car, and thus likely to spend most of its time on the battered roads that are a fact of life away from the tourist areas.
   Appearances notwithstanding, these Geelys may not have reached the end of their road. A rental official thought they could be destined for Venezuela, as partial payment for the oil the South American nation ships to Cuba.

Unhappy diagnosis.

That probably won't buff out.

Cuban sun isn't kind to plastic parts.
An array of CKs: Next stop, Venezuela?


↧

More from the corredor de la muerte

December 12, 2013, 4:19 pm
$
0
0
Geely CKs, retired from Cuba's daily rental fleet.
Plastic discolouration is a problem.


Newer MK appears not to have fared much better.

Black bumper covers could have been in-service replacements.
↧

Car news in Cuba: Nothing much has changed

December 20, 2013, 5:24 pm
$
0
0
   Several news outlets got excited about the announcement this week that the Cuban government will allow "unrestricted" car imports.
   This, reported the Telegraph, meant the "end of the road" for the island's vintage vehicles. Others declared it "the end of an era"– a phrase not used by most more than three or four times a week in conjunction with, well, pretty much any change anywhere.

Mercury station wagon from 1948 or '49. 

 The Agence France Press, meantime, predicted that "opening Cuba's domestic car market to imports is likely to have fateful consequences for the lovingly maintained 1950s cars on the island."
   Fateful consequences do sound ominous, though not as ominous, we'll all agree, as ominous consequences, which are just a degree below dire consequences.
   Reuters, rather confusingly, explained that Cubans now will be able to buy "new and used vehicles from the state without government permission," which is actually correct, though requiring some amplification.
   Cuba has been loosening the rules on the fringes of its centrally planned economy, allowing, for example, citizens to operate small businesses such as restaurants and taxi services. It's doing this, however, not because the Castro government has suddenly recognized the merits of free enterprise, but as an attempt to gain some control over the black market commerce that underpins a growing shadow economy.

Harbourside: 1952 Chevrolet convertible.

  One of Cuba's "reforms" two years ago allowed the transfer of registered vehicles of any year, rather than just the pre-revolution cars that could always be bought and sold, plus the purchase – but only from state agencies and only with a government permit – of new and late-model vehicles brought in from outside.
   Such authorizations were hard to obtain, however, and soon took on a value of their own. "The card, apart from being overly bureaucratic, became a source of speculation and illicit self-enrichment," reported the Community Party newspaper Granma.
   Now no permit is required, but would-be import buyers will still be required to make the purchase through the state, and will still need to prove that their money was obtained by approved means. And, because Cuba has said pricing will be based on current values in the island's restricted used car market, they won't be finding any bargains.
   The "fateful consequences" of all this?
   Cuba again deregulates in the interests of more control. A few more new cars will trickle in.
   And the old cars will drive on, their era far from over.

Airport cab is a 1951 Ford sedan.




↧
Viewing all 220 articles
Browse latest View live
Search
<script src="https://jsc.adskeeper.com/r/s/rssing.com.1596347.js" async> </script>