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Cuba Chrome: Should be real interesting TV
According to its badge, this 1949-1952 Oldsmobile has Nissan ingredients. I can't wait to watch Cuba Chrome, the new reality television series about Cuba's famous classic cars and the struggles of...
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A Gullwing for the gullible
THE STORY OF Cuba's decaying old Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing Coupe lives on. For the latest chapter, we can thank a New Hampshire prankster who last week listed the Gullwing for sale on Craiglist....
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U.S. shows colours, Cuba shows cars
Havana's former flag thicket. Wikipedia photo by Angelo Lucia. Not so long ago, the plaza separating what was then the U.S. Interests Section building in Havana from the Malecón waterfront boulevard...
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Nomad on an island
Rare sight: A 1955 Chevrolet Nomad two-door wagon SOME TIME back, CARISTAS reader Paul voiced a hope that any Chevrolet Nomad in Cuba had not been irreversibly altered, and I realized that I had...
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Taking a shine to Cuban Chrome – scripts and all
Central casting: Demetrio Montalvo with sons Michel, left, and Hernan and the family's 1953 Oldsmobile taxi. Photos courtesy of Discovery Communications. WE ALL understand that "reality show" is an...
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A fresh and thoughtful view of Cuba
A CONSTANT STREAM of outsiders try to take Cuba's measure. Few succeed. An island that sets communism to a Latin beat is no easy place to figure out – especially when the island itself is adjusting...
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Not so fearsome fins
Export-model 1957 Dodge makes a dramatic parting statement. FINS – THE KIND that are attached to sharks – have been sighted in nervous-making numbers this year in places like California, Australia...
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More smart than sporty, but it IS a Suburban
Badging, intricate trim proclaim this wagon's top-of-the-line status. HERE'S ANOTHER confuser from Chrysler. First, the Sport Suburban script on the side of this station wagon could surprise anyone...
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Scene 1, Type 2
Caught on camera: a first-series Volkswagen Type 2 Deluxe Bus. SO TAKEN was I with the Sport Suburban of the previous post, I didn't realize until checking my photos that I had also captured a...
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Date the Beetles
Turn signals atop the fenders probably identify this Matanzas gold Bug as a pre-1975 model. VOLKSWAGEN Beetles, as mentioned, are plentiful in Cuba (as they are in many countries). I'm thinking the...
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Angle parking only
Two-wheeled horse carts at rest on a quiet afternoon (i.e., pretty much any afternoon) in Aguacate, an agriculture centre 80 kilometres west of Havana.
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More images from the 'Jurassic Park for car lovers'
Ford meets Chevy in a scene from photographer Piotr Degler's Cuba collection. PIOTR DEGLER was the talk of the automotive Internet last year for his photos of a Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing Coupe...
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An eye for detail
Sunset special: 1959 Chevrolet on Havana's oceanfront boulevard. Carros de Cubawill be far from the first published collection of Cuban car photos, but it may well be the best-crafted....
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Where there's no evading the battle with rust
In a garage in the town of Aguacate, huge portions of what appears to be an English Ford are being rebuilt with new metal. I ALWAYSlaugh when I see a TV car restorer in Dallas or Las Vegas open up a...
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The boss drives a Bel Air
AT THE VERY back of this body and mechanical shop was the proprietor's own car, a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air sedan undergoing its own slow restoration. No telling how many times it had been rebuilt...
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Latest find in Cuba: a race-prepped Aston Martin
ANOTHER RARE and desirable car has surfaced in Cuba – this one a race-prepared Aston Martin DB 2/4. And unlike Cuba's infamous, rotted-to-ruins Mercedes Gullwing, the 1958 Aston Martin is...
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The Aston Martin's story, and the probable truth
A 1957 DB 2/4 similar to the Aston Martin in Cuba. Wikipedia photo. THOUGHTFUL AND entertaining, Jonathan Ward's account of his foray to Cuba is a happy change from the usual breathless first-timer's...
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Another sneak peek at Carros de Cuba
WITH 18 days left, the fundraising campaign for Piotr Degler's photo book has attracted €24,800 in pledges, or roughly 83 per cent of its €30,000 target. Here are more of the images that campaign...
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What a Mercedes mechanic drives in Cuba
Complete, but for a headlamp bezel. The owner of this 1955 Buick Special two-door hardtop works at the Mercedes-Benz heavy-vehicle repair depot in Matanzas.Nicely executed continental kit, and a whip...
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