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 ALWAYS laugh when I see a TV car restorer in Dallas or Las Vegas open up a project vehicle and complain that it's rustier than expected.
   Rust? Here in Canada, we can show you rust.
   And in Cuba, too, the chapistas know all about corrosion and its insidious appetite for ferrous metal.
   In snowy climes, the liberal spreading of salt on icy roads speeds the electro-chemical process that is rust on any car not tucked away for the winter. In Cuba, where you're never far from the ocean, those same sodium, calcium and magnesium chlorides waft in on the breeze – in smaller quantities, certainly, but just as damaging over the many years of a Cuban car's lifetime.
   The TV restorers from Gas Monkey Garage and Count's Kustoms can fix rust, of course. They just don't want to invest the time.
   Cuban restorers have no choice.
Alongside the Ford, a Dodge is midway through an engine swap.



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