CARISTAS

A Dodge, or at least a Dodge-ish, in mid-rebuild in Havana.    For the American car buff, it's a conundrum. One day, yes, relations between the U.S. and Cuba will improve to the point where any U.S. citizen can legally travel to the island just 150 kilometres beyond Key West.     But that reconciliation, the car buff knows, can only come as part of broader political and economic changes that almost certainly will have modernized the Cuban vehicle fleet by the time he can visit.    Those old Cadillacs and DeSotos and Packards he's heard so much about? Too late, amigo. Crushed most of them last year.    Note, by the way, that Cuba does not bar American visitors. It's the U.S., under the Trading with the Enemy Act, that forbids its citizens from making any monetary transaction in Cuba, thus effectively preventing them from setting foot on the island.    There are ways around the ban, however.    Some Americans s...

And who am I to deny you? While Canada, Britain and other nations got the export model Lada with four headlamps (and later, square headlamps), the two-headlight Russian domestic model was among Lada variants that found their way to Cuba. Based on the Fiat 124, Lada's square four-door was produced from 1970 until 2012.  Rear bumper brackets are bent, but the rest of this Lada 2101 is in great shape.

When you can have two big pipes? Lada 2107 with a few custom touches. Of course, you can always skip the replacement pipes and go right to the swoopy-doopy spoiler. Lada 2101 with a whole bunch of custom touches .

   Forgive me for being obvious, but it appears that a certain arbiter of all things Internet has trouble categorizing this site unless its ever-roaming spiders are hit over their tiny robotic heads.    So, spiders, know this:     CARISTAS is a blog about the classic cars of Cuba.     CARISTAS is a blog about the vintage cars of Cuba.     CARISTAS is a blog about the old cars of Cuba.     CARISTAS is also a blog about driving in Cuba, and car owners in Cuba, and the occasional side topic like motorcycles and trains and bridges and sometimes even history and politics.   And now, patient readers, here's a photo I hope you'll enjoy. Outside the paladar, a little Lada with a big pipe.

Sunshine cruiser has lost a few grille teeth and some side chrome, but still looks smart.     For 1953, the Bel Air was Chevrolet's new top-of-the-line model. Chevy built 24,000 Bel Air convertibles that year, plus another 5,600 convertibles in the one-step-down 210 Deluxe trim level, not one of which originally came in the bright metallic pink of this Bel Air in taxi service in the Varadero resort area.  Guess Chevy just didn't realize how rockin' it would look.

  I know, I promised no more motorcycles for a bit. But at least it's not a Harley!   I've come across a number of these Cushman scooters in Varadero. Must have been a dealer there, back in the 1940s and '50s. Cushman Corp. of Nebraska produced heavy-duty scooters like this from 1936 until 1965. See also: A Cushman, No, a Cusman, in Cuba

Mid-50s Harley has no saddle bags or other adornments to obscure its classic silhouette.      HERE'S THAT  Harley-Davidson from the last post, sans band members. It wasn't the oldest or rarest Harley at the meet, but it was my favourite – a 1955 or '56 (they're pretty much identical), finished in honest black and carrying, to my mind, just the right amount of chrome.    With 74-cubic-inch panhead engine, it could be a standard FL model, but given its Cuban heritage – plus the purple auxiliary headlamps – I'm guessing it's the police-issue FLE that was tuned for traffic control duties. The hand shifter for the gearbox is another clue: a majority of civilian buyers were opting for Harley's new foot shifter in the mid-50s, but police and military customers remained loyal to the hand control.    This is the last of my Harlista shots – at least for now. Time to turn back to cars and trucks. Maybe some buses, too.