Here they are! The antique cars of Cuba

Feb 15,
Roughly one fifth of the  half a million cars on the road in Cuba today are vintage American autos. The Cuban word for them is maquina. Keeping these pre-revolutionary relics restored and operational requires thousands of skillful and imaginative mechanics and bodywork artists to apply ingenuity with equal parts body filler. The Chevy is the most widespread oldie in Cuba.
Before we left one of the most frequent requests was to take lots of photos of the cars. When we returned everyone wanted to know if the cars were cool. Yes they were, in fact the majority of the ones we saw were beautiful. They looked as if they had just been to a car show. Not a scratch on them, not a speck of dust and waxed to a blinding shine. Ninety nine percent of the vintage cars were being used as taxis, and of course almost every tourist wanted to ride in one or at least have their photo taken standing next to one. Most of the cars had beautiful interiors but others showed their age. It was not unusual to attempt to roll your window down or open your door to leave and find there were no handles to do either. In a 1952 Chevy that we rode in, that by the way was NOT one of the nicer ones, the window crank was passed around to each of us to open our window. When we arrived at our destination we waited for our driver to open our door. Not out of politeness but because there were no inside handles. All of the cars had been converted to diesel engines. Some Mercedes, others tractor or porsche because those were the engines that were available from Germany.
Some of the drivers in downtown Havana dressed to match their car colors. It was a sight to see!
There were also new/newer cars in Havana. Mercedes, porsches, VW's as well as creatively built cars made from scavenged parts.

                                                        The official taxi cab of the city

                A creative vehicle that serves its purpose. notice the single wheel on the front

We never saw a tow truck and the only car repair shop we saw was in the side yard of a

house. The gentleman had  built a ramp to pull cars up on.

                                              Another creative vehicle

                                                      one of the newer cars

                        Six of us rode for four hours in this car that had no shocks! The roads are terrible. I had a bruise on my side from hitting the post where the door handle used to be. We were a bit crowded in it to say the least.

The vintage cars lined up each day in the central plaza of Havana working the crowd to

provide tours and rides

  These are called coco cars because they are shaped like a coconut. only three people are allowed to ride in them.

                                   This is one way to work on your car. Just tip it on its side