Can YOU Name These Old Cars in Cuba? – Photos of the Classic, Beat Up and All Stitched Together

Some like to say that Cuba is a country lost in time. Or suspended in time. That, of course, is silly. Watching Cubans Facebook and send pictures to each other on their smart phones will quickly cure you of any notion that the island hasn’t kept up with the modern world in many ways.

This is particularly true when it comes to the old cars in Cuba. Travel writers wax poetic about the DeSotos, Fairlanes and crusty Studebakers as if these old, smoke belching, growling beasts are the only thing anyone drives. In fact, there are all kinds of zippy little Chinese cars hustling around and I’ve even seen a few Infinitis on the streets of Havana.

That said, in many ways Cuba is indeed a rolling car museum. Stand on the street for five minutes and you’ll see every type of old-timey American vehicles from Olds to Chevy to Buick to Ford to Plymouth to Chrysler mixed in with all the buses and newer cars. You’ll even see Austins and some Soviet Ladas and Volgas.

(The next Havana Imagined Photography Workshop is November 2-9, 2019

So why are there so many old cars in Cuba?

There are only about 170,000 cars in Cuba, I’ve heard. About 60,000 of those are old American cars. This is in a country of 11 million. Back in the day, the brutal American-supported dictator Fulgencio Batista turned Cuba into a hip holiday destination for wealthy Americans. In those days almost 150,000 American cars were imported to Cuba. But when Castro came to power in 1959 imports of American cars and American car parts were banned. Cars from the Soviet Union only trickled in over the following decades. So Cubans, the most innovative people I’ve ever met, have kept those cars imported in the 1940s and 50s running all this time through some pretty impressive creativity.

When I talk to many Americans about Cuban cars someone inevitably says that Cubans are sitting on a fortune when it comes to those old cars – that American collectors would pay hundreds of thousands for the cars many Cubans use as everyday vehicles.

I’m no expert but I don’t think so. These cars are far from “pristine”. Very few of them even have original parts. They are a heavily modified Frankenstein brew of cannibalized parts, coat hangers, Soviet tractor engines and anything an owner can get be it by beg or barter.  There’s no “vintage” in Cuba.

Can you help me identify these old cars in Cuba? Leave a comment down below and tell me which CAR you are referring to by numbering from top to bottom.

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Check out images from our tour participants here and vote for your favorite!

More of my captures from the 2017 Havana Imagined Photography Tour are here:

Cuban Ballet Dancers

Havana Fishermen of the Malecón – Survival in Cuba

The Green Wall

Rafael Trejo Boxing Gym

From Economist to Millionaire – Cuba’s Tourist Industry Changes the Economy

Finally, I’m posting portraits of Cubans on my Instagram.  The next Havana Imagined Photography Tour is April 7-14, 2018. Only 3 spots left so contact me ASAP if you’re interested.

 

 

 

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