CARISTAS

The little Polish-built Fiat 126p will go a long way on a litre.     AN ASSOCIATED PRESS   report in the Washington Post suggests that the Polski Fiat 126p is enjoying a "revival" in Cuba. I don't recall the tiny, Polish-built Fiat ever falling out of favour.    Still, with Cuba's once-cheap black market diesel fuel shooting up in price because of Venezuelan cutbacks, it's not hard to see how the 126p, with frugal air-cooled two-cylinder engine, could gain added allure.    The Polski Fiat was produced from 1973 through 2000 in Bielsko-Biała in south Poland. Cuba has some 10,000 Polskis, according to the article. The 126p has long been an everyday sight in Cuba.

Public transportation in Santiago de Cuba.     IN A LETTER released on his 90th birthday this past Saturday, Fidel Castro paid tribute to the advances that let him continue to contemplate the ways of the world ... and beyond.    "Modern medical techniques have allowed me to scrutinize the universe," he wrote.    For passengers on this 1958 Mercury truck converted into a people-carrier in Santiago, the view is less extensive. Rebadged Ford pickups and medium-duty trucks were sold as Mercurys in Canada  –   and also shipped to Cuba. 

An International truck hauls passengers in Santiago de Cuba.       HAVANA ANCHORS  Cuba's northwest coast; Santiago, the island's next largest city, holds a similar status on the southeast shore. The two cities differ hugely – in terrain (one largely flat; one all hills), in climate (one temperate; one hot), in culture (Havana is hardly sedate, but Santiago, with its Afro-Caribbean roots, has a sensual sway).    In transportation, too. The standard municipal bus in Havana is a modern articulated Yutong from China. In Santiago – as in rural Cuba – converted American trucks from the 1950s are the primary people movers. Seating is tight on the makeshift bus. So is standing.

End of the line: LeSabre was last direct U.S. import, Santiago museum says.    THIS 1960 Buick LeSabre occupies a prime display slot at the Museo Nacional del Transporte , an outdoor car museum near Santiago.    Its significance? According to the museum, the four-door luxury sedan was the final new car exported directly to Cuba from the U.S.    It would have arrived, then, in late 1959, the last of a trickle of vehicles and other items from the U.S. after the new Castro government froze all credit on the island, effectively shutting down commerce.    In his book Che's Chevrolet Fidel's Oldsmobile , researcher Richard Schweid reports that a shipment of 1960 Oldsmobiles plus a few Chevrolets were the last cars to arrive from Detroit. Evidently, a Buick also found its way into the mix to be delivered to the island's Buick agency, Vaillant Motors in Havana's Vedado district. 1960 Buick still bears a sticker from Vaillant Motors of ...

Veteran 10-speed bicycle is a low-cost rental.     THIS MAN  is Canadian, and so is the 10-speed he holds, an iconic Supercycle from the Canadian Tire retail chain. But this isn't his bike. It would have arrived in Cuba, perhaps years ago, with one of his countrymen. It's long been a practice for Canadian visitors to bring old bikes, ride them for the duration of their stay and then leave them on the island in the hope that Cubans can put them to good use. And the Cuban who now owns this Supercycle has done just that, renting it to tourists such as this gentleman for 10 CUC a week.    Good deal all around.

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.