five pictures of cars in habana

[raytoei@gmail.com]

48 hours in Habana.
===============
Here are five pictures of cars in habana.
captured on Yashica T4 and M6ttl with 50 cron.

thanks for viewing

raytoei

 

[funkydog]

Nice pix. What's the funny looking bug (HZN 153) in the 2nd picture - is that a Bajaj three wheeler?

Cuba will be a vintage car collector's paradise when the people of Cuba dump their old cars once the US embargo is lifted and the floodgates open to Toyota and other imports.

 

[freax]

Nice pix. What's the funny looking bug (HZN 153) in the 2nd picture - is that a Bajaj three wheeler?

Cuba will be a vintage car collector's paradise when the people of Cuba dump their old cars once the US embargo is lifted and the floodgates open to Toyota and other imports.

It looks that it won't happen soon ...
Nice pictures overall, i go there next month and will try to take nice pictures too.
[]'s

 

[Bob Michaels]

Cuba will be a vintage car collector's paradise when the people of Cuba dump their old cars once the US embargo is lifted and the floodgates open to Toyota and other imports.

Cuba has always been able buy all the Toyotas, or any other brand, they want because they have free and normal trade with every country but the US. They can even buy Fords and Chevrolets as long as they are shipped from Canada or Mexico. Cuba is only limited by their ability to pay for them.

All the old American cars are truly "pieces of sh*t" will assortments of engines, transmissions, differentials from different manufacturers swapped out to keep them running. Most have 4 cylinder diesel engines with a top speed of 50 MPH.

The US has forced Cuba to buy Chinese buses making up the massive Havana transit system as well as their large cross country bus fleet. Now they are buying Chinese locomotives. I would love to hear someone explain the logic of the US decision behind that.

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

Here are 3 more images of Cars in Habana.

raytoei

 

[bigeye]

The US has forced Cuba to buy Chinese buses making up the massive Havana transit system as well as their large cross country bus fleet. Now they are buying Chinese locomotives. I would love to hear someone explain the logic of the US decision behind that.

I don't think they would buy locos from the US, even if they could, and they could have bought them from anyone else, and haven't.

The cars are crap from a collector standpoint. There is hardly a good piece of sheet metal on most of them, the only original running gear are the axles and they're mostly 4-doors from the '49-'55 "bulgemobile" era (not an attractive/desirable period). You don't see many fin cars like the '58 Plymouth (4 door) at the top, that's pretty late for a Cuba car.

- Charlie

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

i bet there are folks calling first dibs on these cars now 🙂

 

[Bob Michaels]

Last Tuesday morning at 5AM, I was in a foggy narrow 2 lane road from Cueto to the Holguin airport in eastern Cuba riding in a '57 Buick. It had dim headlights, cracked foggy windshield, moderately good tires but suspect brakes. The old Russian diesel engine was running at max power to hit 50MPH. The trunk contained my suitcase and an extra 5 gallon plastic can of fuel to get home. And, I specifically arranged to use that car since it was the best of the 3 in town. It was a typical old American car in Cuba which I have ridden in hundreds of them.

Are people going to be lining up to buy cars like this? NFW!

 

[pakeha]

how about some images other than old c#*p cars from Cuba?
I am sure there is more to Cuba than a collection of cars from the late 40`s - early 50`s.
Or would that be too cerebral?

 

[Thardy]

how about some images other than old c#*p cars from Cuba?
I am sure there is more to Cuba than a collection of cars from the late 40`s - early 50`s.
Or would that be too cerebral?

If Raytoei has traveled to Cuba within the last two years I bet he does have some new photos.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

how about some images other than old c#*p cars from Cuba?
I am sure there is more to Cuba than a collection of cars from the late 40`s - early 50`s.
Or would that be too cerebral?

Dear,
one of major attractions of Red Soviet Cuba is in old American Classic cars.
Not as original as they could be, but still running.
The "c#*p cars" most likely is what you are observing every day where you are.
IMO.

Russian diesel means made for trucks and tractors only, BTW.

Thanks to raytoei at gee-mail. I have spotted some Ladas as well. 🙂 My first one.

 

[Bob Michaels]

Take a look at http://bobmichaels.org/Cuba_intro.htm That is the product of 20+ trips over 5 years. Of the 50 images there, only 2 have old cars in the frame.

how about some images other than old c#*p cars from Cuba?
I am sure there is more to Cuba than a collection of cars from the late 40`s - early 50`s.
Or would that be too cerebral?

 

[Darshan]

Nice to see such cars on the road, thanks for sharing.

Awesome work in that link, Bob Michaels. Enjoyed going through them.

 

[johannielscom]

Habana, the capital of Cuva you mean?

😛


Nice pictures. And I'm thinking those cars will be worth a fortune, Bob. Anything can be restored to near-original condition and once that has been done, there's always a collector or an aficionado that is willing to pay the price to own it.

 

[xayraa33]

Coincidentally three days ago I happen to view this Cuba in the 1950s video for some strange reason.
My thoughts after viewing the video was that Cuba was modern and well off in the 1950s and all Castro did was to punish the Cubans for half a century in a nasty Jesuit fashion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNixpGx4AV8

 

[pakeha]

Take a look at http://bobmichaels.org/Cuba_intro.htm That is the product of 20+ trips over 5 years. Of the 50 images there, only 2 have old cars in the frame.

Thank you and only one of the two car images have the car as primary subject🙂 . Since the Obama declaration it seems that the fact Cuba is full of old american cars hits the headlines over and above everything else.
I just spent some time looking through your images with my children and we all found them really interesting.

 

[Laviolette]

Take a look at http://bobmichaels.org/Cuba_intro.htm That is the product of 20+ trips over 5 years. Of the 50 images there, only 2 have old cars in the frame.

Bob, thanks for the link, I greatly appreciated your pictures.

My group of students and I will be leaving next week to Bayamo Cuba for a musical trip. They will give a few concerts there and they will receive cuban music lessons from the local musicians. It should be a great trip!

Do you have any photography related tips for Cuba? We will be most of the time with the locals.

I am still debating if I bring my Rolleiflex or my Leica M3....Fuji X100 as a backup.

Sorry for the slight thread hijack.

 

[Ronald M]

Coincidentally three days ago I happen to view this Cuba in the 1950s video for some strange reason.
My thoughts after viewing the video was that Cuba was modern and well off in the 1950s and all Castro did was to punish the Cubans for half a century in a nasty Jesuit fashion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNixpGx4AV8

People will buy into a good reform talker. Look at Hitler, Mussolini, and POTUS who promised to transform the USA. It it is transformed all right.
Dictators are all the same and employ the same tactics, divide and conquer. If one does not study history, trouble comes.

 

[Bob Michaels]

,,,,,, My group of students and I will be leaving next week to Bayamo Cuba for a musical trip. They will give a few concerts there and they will receive cuban music lessons from the local musicians. It should be a great trip!

You will love Bayamo, a very friendly local place. I have heard the Bayamo orchestra give a concert in the park. One of the amazing things about Cuba is the way ordinary people will form groups of cultural organizations, like a local orchestra or poetry group, completely on their own volition.

Do you have any photography related tips for Cuba? We will be most of the time with the locals. ......

Realize that 99% of the Cuban people have absolutely no problems being photographed. They are open, proud, and communicative. Just be aware that they are VERY direct in their communications especially dealing with a foreign language.

 

[Bob Michaels]

..... My thoughts after viewing the video was that Cuba was modern and well off in the 1950s and all Castro did was to punish the Cubans for half a century in a nasty Jesuit fashion.

I certainly am no fan of communism and some of what Fidel Castro did but one must not dismiss facts. While Cuba did have a very prosperous upper class of citizens, it was quite small and economic disparities between upper class and ordinary citizens was huge. No one disputes the Batista regime and his mafia cronies, led by Meyer Lansky, were quite corrupt to advantage of a very few and detriment to the majority. Even JFK acknowledged in a now declassified letter to Fidel Castro that the Revolution was necessary because of the prior actions of the US.

While I believe the Cuban government is going in the wrong direction, I do believe what both Castros have done has been because of they believe is in the best interest of the Cuban citizens. It is a fact that 99% of the Cuban citizens lives are better off now than before the Revolution.