CARISTAS

Apart from the modern mirrors, export-model Crosley looks largely original.        A LONG while back, I put up photos of this tiny wagon in Havana. Most students of automotive history would have identified it as a Crosley, from the short-lived Crosley Motors Inc. of the United States.    As the additional photo above reveals, however, it's actually a rarer yet Crosmobile, which was Crosley's export nameplate. The change was reportedly necessary to avoid conflicts with England's Crossley Motors. To illustrate the diminutive dimensions of a Crosley for sale on topclassiccars.com , a Texas dealer parked it beside a Ford F-150 pickup. It might have fit in the truck bed.    Crosley made cars from 1939 through 1952, less a four-year interruption for military production in the Second World War. The station wagon was its most popular model, but it also offered  convertibles and sedans, a sports car and even a tiny pickup truck. This ...

    WE ALREADY  know the names of the Hollywood stars who will appear in Fast & Furious 8 . Now, thanks to videos emerging from filming of the action movie in Cuba, we can identify two of their Havana automotive co-stars.   One is a 1956 Ford Customline Tudor. With black paintwork and red rims, it resembles the Ford driven by "Piti" in the Havana Motor Club film documentary, but that car is a more upscale Fairlane Victoria hardtop.    The other, missing fenders, hood and even doors, is harder to peg, but close inspection reveals it as a 1949-51 Chevrolet Fleetline Deluxe.   There appear to be some motorcycles, too. But primarily, this looks to be Ford versus Chevy.   We also see that the producers prepared two copies of each car for the filming. That's s tandard practice for a big-budget undertaking, of course, but especially prudent in a country where you always want to have a spare.