Words and photos by Tim Stentiford
Photo by Tim Stentiford
We’d been told that wherever you look there are beautiful Cuban hunks cruising every Havana street corner and back alley. Hunks of metal that is. More than 50% of the cars on Cuba’s empty roadways today are pre-1961 American, Canadian, and European relics, survivors of the half-century standoff between the US and Cuba. It’s the biggest classic car museum in the world and it kept our tongues wagging and our thumbs hitching for a week. Add to that the surprise of finding vintage Soviet Iron Curtain cars we’d never seen before-Russian Volgas, Czech Skodas, Polish Fiats, and East German Trabants–and you have a rainbow of world automotive history waiting for the next green light. Oh yeah, the Cuban men are pretty hunky too.
My partner Tom and I dreamed of visiting Cuba for years. With permission from the US Treasury Department, we recently hopped a flight to Mexico and onto Havana. Walking out of the airport, our dream came true: the very first car we spotted was a gleaming 1955 Pontiac Star Chief-the same model that Lucy & Ricky Ricardo drove on their black & white TV show. Tom elbowed me, “Where’s Ethel?” While Lucy and Ethel were nowhere to be seen, everything else from their 1950s world was in front of us in high definition real life color. This could only be Cuba. Dodg-ays, Pleemouths, DeSotos, Studebakers, Willys, Edsels, Hudsons, and even a rare 1953 Kaiser Henry J share the road with legions of Fords and Chevys. And 10 times out of 10 they can outrun the 1970s Russian junk boxes still on the road. You gotta see it to believe it.
It didn’t take long to understand why Fidel Castro led the revolution in 1959. America’s mid-century getaway for wealthy socialites and mobsters still reveals itself in mile after mile of opulent seaside villas and ornate mansions on broad boulevards. Think of Manhattan as nothing but Park Avenues and you get a picture of Havana today-even if the glory is more than a bit tattered. Cuba was the “It Girl” for American playboys and gangsters.
Boy, how the fab and the mob loved their Cadillacs. They are everywhere today. Elvis would go nuts-you can’t pass a street corner without seeing America’s automotive crown jewel luxuriate in Cuban adoration. With no BMW, Audi or Lexus to consider, every Cuban man aspires to own a Cadillac-still the standard of Havana’s world. If Motor Trend published a Cuban edition, the leading contender for 2009 Car of the Year would be the 1950 Cadillac Series 62 hardtop coupe-clearly the most popular car in Havana today.
Our favorite was Senorita Violeta, a 1950 purple hardtop guarded zealously by Diego, a handsome waiter at a corner bistro on Havana’s oceanfront Malecon Boulevard. With a shaved head and dazzling smile, the impeccably groomed Diego gave us a top to bottom tour of the Cadillac and then offered to drive us back to our hotel after he served us dinner. It was an offer too good to resist. While Tom flirted with Diego, I fawned over the complete original interior and chuckled at the bright purple house paint. “It was the only color we could get,” lamented Diego on the fact they painted over the original gray. Like most relics still on the road, the trim pieces were all gone and the windshield wipers were replaced with a one-arm unit from a 1980s Soviet Lada Niva . “We can only get Russian parts, and they never work that well,” explained Diego.
There are two ways to go cruising in style in Cuba. Pay by the hour or hitch. We did both. If you want to take an old car for an extended ride, you can rent them through Gran Car, a new state-run company that has restored old Chevys, Dodges and Cadillacs to take European tourists around Havana. “Hmmm…do you think they figured us out,” asked Tom when a bright pink 1955 Chevy Bel Air rolled up to pick us up for the afternoon. Or maybe it was because we were heading to the outskirts of Havana to see Ernest Hemingway’s hilltop estate, Finca Vigia, eerily intact from the day he left in 1960. Our driver was Antonio, a buff 30-something chauffeur. Warm and chatty, it turns out he was an ardent automobile enthusiast too. He showed us his favorite car magazine, a single issue about five years old from Spain. “I look at it all the time,” he said. Sad but true as there is no freedom of the press in Cuba and consequently there are literally no newspapers, magazines or books to buy anywhere.
For a quick ride in an old car, there are two methods that work: a hand job or a group encounter. As a gringo, you can raise your arm on any street corner and within moments an enterprising Cuban will pull over to offer you a lift. A 20-minute ride in a 1956 DeSoto Diplomat, 1953 Plymouth, and even a 1958 Edsel Citation cost us about a buck each time. If you want even cheaper transportation, hop into a colectivo or shared taxi. Outside the Hotel Palacio, proudly and oddly celebrating its 99th anniversary, Tom picked an aptly named 1953 Chevy 210 Handyman station wagon as our colectivo of the day. I figured out why when I saw a 6’4″ strapping young buck stepping in on the other side. With Tom strategically seated next to the young man, I knew it could only get worse (or better) as another three people joined us in the back seat over the next two stops. Lucky for me and sadly for Tom, our ride to Habana Vieja was quick. Tom wanted to buy Cuban cigars, an indulgence he decided was worth risking the law to sneak home.
We were told by some gay Cubans that on Friday and Saturday nights there are reportedly some special colectivos that cater to gay cruising. With an average monthly salary of $10 USD, it’s hard for young Cubans-gay or straight-to find any privacy as most people live with their families and extended families in large but overcrowded apartments and private homes in this once grand city. Sadly, with gay rights still non-existent and therefore no gay clubs or meeting plates in this repressed police state, the backseat of a ’56 Olds is one of few options for gay expression.
Another afternoon, we jumped into a lime green 1955 Chevy Bel Air to Miramar, the most exclusive neighborhood of Havana. Outside the Embassy of Vietnam, we saw a 1981 Polski Fiat. Nicknamed Polaquito, or little Polish, this tin can’s puny 594cc water cooled engine was never designed for the tropical heat of Cuba. So there’s a required modification. The rear engine hood is permanently bolted open; if you close the hood normally the car will overheat in about 90 seconds.
The miles of mansions often house large extended families who struggle to make ends meet. Some have opened their kitchens as private restaurants, called paladares. One popular spot with diplomats is a stunning mid-century glass contemporary house with original mosaics, to die for retro furniture and an ocean front swimming pool empty since 1959. In the carport, we spied the most amazing sight–a superb antique Russian 1962 series GAZ-21 Volga sedan. I’m not going to lie here when I say that I’m just so glad it was surrounded by a carport because I would hate for anything to happen to it. Although my only wish is that it was built from materials that you can get from somewhere like this Factory Steel Overstock Metal Buildings service, as I’ve heard that these provide better protection for the vehicles within it, and I’m sure we can all agree, that is definitely important in this situation. The car was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever laid eyes on.
I was floored. The slate blue high-end Volga was perfect-the chrome and brightwork all original and impeccable. I searched out the elderly owner and we talked in Spanish. He had owned it for over 40 years; he has been a long time Communist party official and helped the Soviets when they first established diplomatic relations in the 1960s. He loved his Volga and joked that he was a better socialist than Fidel Castro himself. Seems the army-fatigued former leader recently gave up a Chinese Great Wall SUV, a one-of-a-kind stretch-limo SUV given him in 2006 as a gift when the giant Chinese automaker agreed on a deal to bring pickup trucks to the island. Fidel’s replacement: a decidedly capitalistic Mercedes 500 S-Class.
Tom and I decided that Fidel could keep his German machine. We’d take a Cuban antiguo any day. My choice among the thousands of roving relics: a delicious 1960 Corvair 769 four door sedan we spied in Varadero. Once Motor Trend’s Car of the Year, this maroon model is one of few Corvairs that escaped the clutches of Ralph Nader. Incredibly, it has been driven by the same family every day for nearly 50 years. Poor Ralph. Not only did this family challenge his unsafe-at-any-speed argument, but they also have a 1980s Russian Lada-a Fiat knockoff with a quality and safety record that makes the Corvair look like a Volvo.
On our last day, we sipped Cristal beers on the rooftop of the Ambos Mundos Hotel in Havana’s Old Quarter. Ernest Hemingway lived there for many years and a few blocks away there’s a lovely square that’s now a bustling gray-market flea market. We met a handsome and proudly out Cuban gay man selling some old 1940’s Cuban road maps and license plates that I couldn’t resist. We got to talking about old cars and like every other Cuban we met; he knew absolutely everything about American cars from the 1930s right to 1960, the “newest” year for American cars in Cuba. I asked him about his favorite. He liked the 1958 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser best. Indeed, this model is the penultimate of American automotive design excess with chrome and gadgets galore. Over the top as only a queer man could love. “I like it too because it’s well hung”, he said in impeccable English. I knew he was talking about suspension; Tom thought he was a size queen.
Go now to Cuba if you can find a way. The LGBT community needs our support and recognition in their nascent fight for equal rights. The ancient cars, slowly being replaced by faceless Japanese imports, need preservation and protection from export. While 100% are in running condition, 98% are so dilapidated and patched with mismatched parts that they’d have little value off the island. We loved Cuba and its clear Cubans loved their old cars, a source of immense national pride.
Photos by Tim Stentiford. Copyright Tim Stentiford
For a complete slide show of Tim’s Photos from his Cuban adventure, click HERE