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In Cuba, even the toy cars are classics
Saw this old pedal car – a Pontiac, I believe – in Varadero. Anywhere else, it would be on some collector's shelf. Here, it looks to still be in daily use.
View ArticleIt's a cute little rascal init?
Pretty sure the pedal car from the last entry is a 1941 Steelcraft Pontiac station wagon, same as the one in this video from cheerful Texas banjo-picker R. Peek. Wee doggies!
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Diani's Chinese bicycle
Bikes imported from China included the Phoenix, the Forever and the Flying Pigeon, above. When the Soviet Union came crashing down, an island on the other side of the world felt the shock waves. For...
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Their daily fix
Door repair will have to wait until engine work is complete on this 1953 Dodge. Where I live, I don't see many people fixing their own vehicles. Cars break down less frequently than they did even in...
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Daily Fix, 2
Russian cars have been the workhorses of the Cuban fleet for decades, and that – not their construction – is why you regularly see them undergoing roadside repairs. The Moskvich, above, however, is...
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Daily Fix, 3
A 1953 Plymouth gets some attention in Havana.Newer vehicles are not immune from breakdowns.While one driver-mechanic dives deep into an Asia Motors bus (you can just see his feet), his colleagues look...
View ArticleCuba's Dream Cruise
It doesn't yet rival Detroit's annual event, but the Rusty Nuts Cuba Car Show gets bigger by the year. This year more than 100 vehicles showed up for the exhibition and cruise at Santa Cruz del...
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A year of Cuban classics
BMW Isetta is the subject for May in the 2015 Degler Calendar. You might not get to Cuba as often as you wish. Perhaps you don't get there at all. But with the 2015 Degler Calendar, a premium...
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25,000 photos, and the world's only known derelict Mercedes Gullwing
Piotr Degler Jablonski with the 2014 calendar. Piotr Degler Jablonski is the creator of the Degler Calendar, an automotive-themed calendar that for 2015 presents a series of glorious images from...
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The Cuba Gullwing chronology
How the 300SL would have looked new. Wikipedia photo. In six years, no topic here has drawn more attention than the story of Cubas's rotting Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing Coupe. Visitors from around...
View ArticleAn (almost) Cuban taxi in Toronto
I've never seen a Checker Marathon in Cuba. That's probably because the Marathon, built in Kalamazoo, Mich., didn't go on sale until September 1961, more than a year after the direct export of U.S....
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Stubborn old goat
Russian-built GAZ-69 was introduced in 1953, with a design from an earlier era. In Russia, the nickname for the GAZ-69 is "Kozel," or male goat. It is not a compliment. Call someone a kozel, and...
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Máquina de misterio
A special, Cuba-only UAZ 469? Or something else entirely? In early episodes of television's Highway Patrol, Broderick Crawford as Chief Dan Mathews drove a 1955 Buick Model 68 Century, a police-only...
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Yes, they say, but what about the cars?
Not ready for retirement, a 1955 Dodge taxi looks for tourist fares. The biggest development in U.S.-Cuba relations since the Bay of Pigs Invasion and what are some news outlets talking about?...
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What price significance?
Amidst much breathless speculation about the impact of the new détente on Cuba's classic cars, Time reporter Jacob Davidson offers this cogent, well-researched assessment of their desirability to...
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That mythic Mercedes Gullwing
Boy, facts sure can ruin a good story. Guess that's why Jan Richter of classicdriver.com didn't bother to look for any before reporting on a photographer's pursuit of the Mercedes Gullwing in Cubas....
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Positively festive
Doubt this Girón bus was decorated with any particular holiday in mind, but today, it does make me think of a Christmas tree.Made-in-Cuba Girón, built under licence from Ikarus of Hungary. Hino wings...
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The same the world over
Discussion follows a collision between a 1957 Chevrolet and a Hyundai Accent taxi at a gas station in Varadero.
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55 reasons why Cuba's old cars will keep on rolling
A mid-1950s Studebaker in Havana, one of as many as 60,000 old American cars in Cuba. Just two events would take Cuba's vast stock (30,000? 60,000?) of pre-1960 cars off the island's urban streets...
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Ten cars you'll see in Cuba
The minuscule Polski Fiat 126p is one of Cuba's most affordable cars, writes Ramey, with solid construction and low operating costs. For the car-watcher with catholic tastes – that's catholic as in...
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