CARISTAS

From the collection of the Biblioteca Nacional José Marti.      I'VE ONLY ever seen this one photograph of the Batista 1956 Chevrolet Corvette. According to the Biblioteca Nacional José Marti, it was taken in August 1957 at the Havana Airport.    In the passenger seat is the Cuban president (and by then, dictator) Fulgencio Batista. If he is concerned about the roiling opposition that has already resulted in an attempt on his life, he doesn't show it here. The driver and owner of the Corvette is identified as Batista's son Fulgencio-Rubén, who would have been 23 at the time.     We see from this black-and-white image that the car is neither Polo White or Onyx Black, but we can't tell whether it is Aztec Copper, Cascade Green or Venetian Red – the other Corvette colours for 1956. We don't know if it had the three-speed manual gearbox that had recently become available. Or whether, beyond its optional whitewall tires, it had the AM radio, e...

   We've known of one functioning Chevrolet Corvette in Cuba – a 1959 survivor seen regularly on the streets of Havana. Check out photos of it here and here .    Now another Corvette has surfaced. And this one, a '54 from just the second production year for Chevy's fibreglass two-seater, is even rarer. Only 3,640 Corvettes were built for that model year, compared with 9,670 for 1959.    Who first owned the '54 in Cuba, and whether it arrived on the island as a new car or used, is unknown – a sweet mystery for someone to untangle.    We do know who owns it now: the artist Esterio Segura, who has earned regard for his provocative paintings and installation pieces, some of them automotive-themed.    The photos you see here were supplied by Rob Simons, a San Antonio, Texas, businessman who visited Cuba in 2011 on a trip organized by the Entrepreneurs' Organization. Simons met Segura on a tour of Cuban artists' studios and had a ...

One last still from the lost Chevy commercial.

    More stills from the filming of the lost Chevy commercial I've been telling you about, again courtesy of Tony Robertson. That's a 1956 Chevrolet, above. In the commercial, it gets some lavish attention from its owner.    And below, of course, is the '57 Bel Air that has the leading vehicular role. But there are many other old Chevies (and proud owners) in the commercial. Check it out.

Bailarinas at Havana's Gran Teatro.     HOW COULD flamenco, soulful and intimate, not find a home in the rhythmic celebration that is Cuba?     The flamenco dancers, or bailarinas , who grace the lost Chevy commercial belong to a troupe that practises at the Gran Teatro de la Habana. In the still shot above, provided by Tony Robertson, the dancers are descending the theatre's magnificent staircase.     Below, our bailarinas wait as a scene is set up with the 1957 Bel Air with which they co-star. Then they share a ride with a Habanero and his rooster, said to be a rare bird used – but not sacrificed! – in Santería rituals.     Just another afternoon in Havana?

    A NEW E-BOOK is out on Cuba's Harlistas, and it promises to be a thumping good read. Cuban Thunder, by U.S. journalist and longtime Cuba watcher Tracey Eaton, is based on interviews with more than 40 Harley-Davidson riders, including Sergio Morales, the mechanic who has kept so many of the bikes running decade-in and decade-out, and Ernesto Guevara, son of the late Ernesto "Che" Guevara.    For Eaton, a former Havana bureau chief for the Dallas Morning News who now is an assistant professor at Flager College in Florida, the book was a chance to tell a story "of sacrifice, valour, ingenuity and friendship." Readers can be confident that Eaton will tell this story well, with the same objectivity and clear style he brings to his Along the Malacon blog.    The 181-page book has more than 1,000 photographs and includes a slide show of images taken at an annual rally for vintage cars and motorcycles.    Cuban Thunder is available for $5.99 from...

   Fans of microcars often drop by this blog to check out the photos and video of a BMW Isetta and Messerschmitt KR201 in daily use in Cuba.    If you count yourself among that number, you may want to also stop by the Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum in Madison, Georgia, on Feb. 15 and 16. That weekend, the museum's entire collection will be sold by RM Auctions, a Canadian firm that specializes in exotic vehicles.    If you're lucky, you'll get to bring home an Isetta, a Messerschmitt or even a Goggomobil Transporter. There's also literature, signs, models and other microcar collectibles.    And if you aren't a successful bidder, you'll at least get to see what is undoubtedly the world's largest and best microcar collection – with some 200 vehicles, many of them rare and all of them cuter than a bug's ear – before it is broken up.    Speaking of which, Weiner himself doesn't seem too broken up about bidding farewell to his marvellous...