Visited Cuba some years ago...many wondrous sights and friendly people but, of course, the cars are fascinating.
As we know, because of trade restrictions with the USA, for many years it has been just about impossible to get parts for cars. Since Castro came to power and imports ground to a halt, the cars in Cuba have been on their own. After using up available stocks of spare parts, they had to make do by cannibalizing similar cars, machining parts, or driving with less than a complete car.
Cubans vintage car owners know what they have...many cars are well preserved in a perfect climate for keeping rust away. I even stumbled on a vintage car show.
There are modern cars in Cuba imported from countries with no trade restrictions but older USA cars are quite numerous...at times the street scene looks like something out of a 1950's film (not only cars, take a look at the Havana hotel and its retro look).
Some of the cars, buses, and trucks have been colorfully painted in a traditional Cuban style. Fun to look at.
My guess is that the normalization of relations with Cuba (which seems to be an real possibility), will have an impact on the US car market. New US cars will be needed to fill an over 50 year vacuum, and for US collectors, the biggest "barn find" ever will take place with some price changes possible for similar vintage cars. "Imported from Cuba" will be a new catch phrase.
I don't foresee a glut of Gullwings driving the price down but the low and middle price cars might become more available with Cubans being able to cash in on the treasures they have been caring for all these years.
Should be interesting.
Richard M, NYC
