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), you will no doubt have further denoted it as a CJ3B, from the series produced by Willys-Overland and later the Willys Motor Co. (a subsidiary of Kaiser) between 1953 and 1968.
   This being Cuba, you know it is far more likely to be a pre-1960 CJ3B than a newer model.
    But wait! You've spotted what looks like an independent front suspension under those flat fenders. A Willys with double A-arms? Never happened.
   The underpinnings, in fact, come from a Lada (with some Toyota parts thrown in). The powertrain? Lada again.
   While thousands of intact Ladas remain on Cuban roads, many other have given up their sturdy innards so that the island's still older vehicles can live on.
   This Willys was for sale, asking price 9,000 CUC ($9,183 Cdn. at this writing). The owner told me he and his wife had a child and needed a more family-suitable car.
    The recent law change allowing private ownership of post-1960 vehicles gave him more options. What was he looking to buy? A Lada, he reported. "They're old but they're good."





For more on this topic:

 The history of the CJ3B and other Willys

 Jeeps in Cuba

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Discovered in Cuba, a rare Mercedes bird

Image
(December 2012 note: See update link, below.)     GUESS I'LL have to set aside my search for the younger Batista’s 1956 Corvette. An even tastier trophy has emerged – a Mercedes-Benz 300SL, better known as the Gullwing.    Even on the Island of Surprises, I’d be astounded to come across one of these rare beauties. But in a brief section on Cuba in Automobiles Lost & Found (Haynes Publishing, 2008), I see a photo of a battered 300SL observed by author Michael E. Ware outside a private garage near Havana.    The Gullwing, unmistakable lift-up doors in place, is dented and rusting and missing its engine, yet still would be prized by collectors the world over . . . if only they could extract it from Cuba. Restored, the Silver Metallic example with Lipstick Red interior might be worth more than $700,000 U.S.    Reached in England, Mr. Ware tells me he was holidaying in Cuba when an acquaintance brought him to an unnamed communit...
Read more

The Cuba Gullwing chronology

Image
How the 300SL would have looked new. Wikipedia photo.     IN SIX YEARS , no topic here has drawn more attention than the story of Cuba's rotting Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing Coupe. Visitors from around the world seem endlessly appalled and fascinated by the sad fate of such a rare and beautiful car.      The same analytics program that tells me the home nations of these visitors tells me where on this blog they land – and it's apparent that many are missing the full story (or as full as anyone has been able to make it). The world's largest Internet indexer – you know who I'm talking about – insists on routing the curious to a five-year post and refuses to make note of subsequent entries.    Why? Who knows?     To provide a more complete picture, here's a list of CARISTAS entries on the Gullwing, which, to be clear, was first brought to the world's attention by British auto historian Michael E. Ware in Automobiles Lost & Foun...
Read more