I'm not kidding, walk down the street in any Cuban town and every third car is a cherried-out, '55 Thunderbird with white walled tires, that drives like a dream. Sometimes like a bad dream, they're often MacGyvered back into service with makeshift parts day after day after day. After the Revolution, as the only communist country in the Western hemisphere, Cuba relied almost exclusively on the USSR to provide the entirety of its imports, so a fair amount of Russian Ladas and the like are on the roads here still. But once the USSR collapsed in 1991, the Russian imports dried up. Still, the classic American cars from the 50's are the icon everyone knows, and the envy of every collector that lives in the USA only 90 miles away. Even the run of the mill appliances are, in many homes, from the days of pull handle fridges. Cuba is a techonological time capsule that will change almost overnight once the US blockade against Cuba ends (and hopefully that will be soon, it's long overdue). But for now they plug on with their 50 year old cars, and baby them into unnatural ages even amid the humid weather and corrosive salty air. Still I managed to hire plenty of Chevy taxis that broke down, mid-route.
Havana Vieja
La República de Cuba