CARISTAS

Interior isn't all stock, but retains flavour of a '50s sports car.    More of the story of Esterio Segura's 1954 Chevrolet Corvette has emerged. The car's previous owner, we learn from the Spanish language magazin e Excelencias Del Motor , w as Andreas Winkler, a Swiss national who lives in Havana.    Winkler owned the Corvette – serial No. E54S001747 – from about 2000 until a year ago. He bought it after a chance sighting. He and a visiting Swiss friend were on the Malecón, Havana's famous seawall boulevard, when the black two-seater drove by. His companion recognized the American-made sports car as rare and potentially valuable. At the friend's urging, they followed the Corvette to the home of its owner, who, it turned out, was planning to leave Cuba and yes, was willing to sell.    Of the car's history, the owner could supply just one interesting item. Early in its life, it was said to have been raced in Europe. (Whether it was Cuban-owned at the ...

                                                                            Photo by Tracey Eaton    This photo of a 1956 or '57 Continental Mark II can be found in Tracey Eaton's new book, Cuban Thunder: Harley-Davidsons in Cuba . Its Harlista owner, Julio Palmero, says the car once belonged to Marta Fernández Miranda de Batista, wife of former Cuban president Fulgencio Batista.    The Batistas, we know, liked fine autos, so it's easy to understand how such a handsome luxury coupe could make its way into their collection. Continental was established by Ford Motor Co. as a separate division in 1956, reviving a name that had last appeared on a Lincoln model – also now a classic – in the late '40s.    The 1956 Mark II was an elegant cigar of a vehicle, with a lo...

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?