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Doing the Harley math
So how many Harleys are left in Cuba? The Cubanharlistas website, citing the country's National Register of Vehicles, pegs the number at 150, of which about 80 are in regular use. But...
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Whole Lada Love
As the news broke that Russian automaker AvtoVAZ was finally dropping its Lada Classic, car-watchers the world over cried out as one: "What? They still make those things?" Turns out they do, at...
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Whole Lada Love, II
Lada police cars are gradually being replaced with Geely CKs. A few more Cuban Lada shots. And for more on the Lada story, check out this entry at CubanClassics. Just one fascinating fact? Home...
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Whole Lada Love, III
You may already have identified this as a Willys Jeep, the embossed name above the grille being what we car-watchers like to call a Clue. Should you be a student of Jeeps (a worthy academic pursuit),...
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From Russia, Unloved
Unscheduled pit stop for Moskvich 1500 (sold in home market as 2138/2140). The Lada and Moskvich look so squarely similar, it's easy to confuse them. (Hints: The Moskvich has a vent plate on its rear...
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Ford blue, perfect hue
I'd say the painter got just the right shade of Robin's Egg Blue on this 1956 Ford private taxi. Probably not this car's original paint scheme, however. As the hood badge and the holes for the...
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It's a Geely – really!
OK, the headline works best if you pronounce this automaker's name with the intended soft "g." But yes, this is a Geely, of Chinese manufacture, meaning that any resemblance to a Cadillac –...
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Spicy little number
If you find the Emgrand EC8 too costly a rental, a Kia Picanto could be an attractive alternative. And not just in price (though as an "A segment" subcompact, it's bound to be cheaper than the EC8,...
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Sons of Moscow
The first Moskvich was built on an assembly line seized from Germany. Moskvitch, or Москвич in Russian Cyrillic script, means, you guessed it, a resident (literally "son") of Moscow. The English...
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Convertible craving
Still working away on Part 2 of the Moskvich story (yeah, I know, so unfair to keep you in suspense). In the meantime, just to satisfy your Cuba car craving, here's a convertible from the Gran Car...
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Discovered! The lost Havana Chevy commercial
Coming across a neat old car in Cuba is always a pleasure. But getting to see a rare, auto-related artifact from Cuba – one that I feared might never surface – is a singular delight. I had heard...
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The family jewel
Tony Robertson of Toronto served as location scout and production co-ordinator for the Havana Chevy commercial. His duties included finding all the cars, identifying places to shoot and organizing a...
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A whole lot of little
Fans of microcars often drop by this blog to check out the photos and video of a BMW Isetta and Messerschmitt KR201 in daily use in Cuba. If you count yourself among that number, you may want to...
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Sacrifice and ingenuity: The Harlista story
A new e-book is out on Cuba's Harlistas, and it promises to be a thumping good read. Cuban Thunder, by U.S. journalist and longtime Cuba watcher Tracey Eaton, is based on interviews with more than 40...
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The daily dance
How could flamenco, soulful and intimate, not find a home in the rhythmic celebration that is Cuba? The flamenco dancers, or bailarinas, who grace the lost Chevy commercial belong to a troupe...
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Treat it like gold
More stills from the filming of the lost Chevy commercial I've been telling you about, again courtesy of Tony Robertson. That's a 1956 Chevrolet, above. In the commercial, it gets some lavish...
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One more Corvette in Cuba
We've known of one functioning Chevrolet Corvette in Cuba – a 1959 survivor seen regularly on the streets of Havana. Check out photos of it here and here. Now another Corvette has surfaced. And...
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Young Batista's 1956 Corvette
From the collection of the Biblioteca Nacional José Marti. I've only ever seen this one photograph of the Batista 1956 Chevrolet Corvette. According to the Biblioteca Nacional José Marti, it was...
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Another Batista classic
Photo by Tracey Eaton This photo of a 1956 or '57 Continental Mark II can be found in Tracey Eaton's new book, Cuban...
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