Cuban "Classics"
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 1,174
Likes: 3
From: Mosquito Land, Manitoba, Canada
I know a half dozen collectors who have been making regular trips to Cuba the past few years. They've scouted out all the good cars and probably have deposits down on them.
Now it seems they can finally ship them back to the states.
btw - Air Tran (Delta) has been running daily Miami to Havana flights for years. None of this is a surprise - except to members of Congress (the dumbest group of people in the United States.)
Tampa will be competing with Miami for your shipping business. You better book the next flight out of Miami. There are a couple of Cuban Corvettes but they may have already been sold.
Richard Newton
Now it seems they can finally ship them back to the states.
btw - Air Tran (Delta) has been running daily Miami to Havana flights for years. None of this is a surprise - except to members of Congress (the dumbest group of people in the United States.)
Tampa will be competing with Miami for your shipping business. You better book the next flight out of Miami. There are a couple of Cuban Corvettes but they may have already been sold.
Richard Newton
Racer
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 482
Likes: 2
From: Florida
St. Jude Donor '14
Cuban cigars yes 
Cuban cars NO!
Don't fool yourselves into thinking anything from Cuba is numbers matching and worth a dollar. You're better off buying a Russian Lada from there...at least that's an exotic. Back to the Cuban cigars...
:fl ag:
Cuban cars NO! Don't fool yourselves into thinking anything from Cuba is numbers matching and worth a dollar. You're better off buying a Russian Lada from there...at least that's an exotic. Back to the Cuban cigars...:fl ag:
Instructor
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 181
Likes: 8
Back to Cuba
Better dust off my Ricky Ricardo bongo drums and puffy sleeved shirts!
Dandy Don
Safety Car
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 4,469
Likes: 275
From: Naples FL
All of the major resorts in the world are already in Cuba. Keep in mind that everyone in the world does business in Cuba. They have never been isolated. The US was the only country that avoided Cuba.
Maybe we were the isolated one. It sure seems that way.
Maybe they need an Autozone? Most of the counter people in Florida are already bilingual. We're ready to go.
Richard
Maybe we were the isolated one. It sure seems that way.
Maybe they need an Autozone? Most of the counter people in Florida are already bilingual. We're ready to go.
Richard
Race Director
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 17,901
Likes: 751
From: Inverness FL
St. Jude Donor '07
All of the major resorts in the world are already in Cuba. Keep in mind that everyone in the world does business in Cuba. They have never been isolated. The US was the only country that avoided Cuba.
Maybe we were the isolated one. It sure seems that way.
Maybe they need an Autozone? Most of the counter people in Florida are already bilingual. We're ready to go.
Richard
Maybe we were the isolated one. It sure seems that way.
Maybe they need an Autozone? Most of the counter people in Florida are already bilingual. We're ready to go.
Richard
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 58,061
Likes: 7,146
Army
They owe us after dumping all of their criminals on our shores a few decades back....watch Al Pacino in Scarface to get an inkling. "Let me introduce you to my lil' friend".... [sound of chattering machine gun]...
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 7,100
Likes: 541
We were in Cuba maybe 10 years ago and I do not recall seeing many older cars that I would just have to have sitting in my garage. Lots of four door stuff chicken wired together.
I will not go back there, I just found it to be an unfriendly place to visit. Perhaps the people had reason to be angry but right from the moment we arrived at immigration I knew this was not going to work out so well. I think the plane out of Toronto was at least half full of Americans. Apparently the Cubans did not stamp their passports, they stamped ours.
The cigars are good, if you like strong cigars. I took a pocket full of Cohibas (sp) to a sales meeting in Chicago one time. Handed them out to the dedicated cigar smokers and they really did not like them. Much too strong compared to the Dominican stuff they were used to.
I will not go back there, I just found it to be an unfriendly place to visit. Perhaps the people had reason to be angry but right from the moment we arrived at immigration I knew this was not going to work out so well. I think the plane out of Toronto was at least half full of Americans. Apparently the Cubans did not stamp their passports, they stamped ours.
The cigars are good, if you like strong cigars. I took a pocket full of Cohibas (sp) to a sales meeting in Chicago one time. Handed them out to the dedicated cigar smokers and they really did not like them. Much too strong compared to the Dominican stuff they were used to.
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Burning Brakes
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 789
Likes: 13
From: Winter Springs FL
not much left in those cuban beauties (the cars!!!, and most are running tractor/industrial engine components...
what concerns me is cuba again becoming a country of haves/have nots. casinos and developers will be in droves and will suck up all the 'good stuff' and leave the dregs to the 'natives', just like many other of the caribbean islands...
what concerns me is cuba again becoming a country of haves/have nots. casinos and developers will be in droves and will suck up all the 'good stuff' and leave the dregs to the 'natives', just like many other of the caribbean islands...
I've thought the same thing for years
Race Director
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 19,777
Likes: 4,592
From: Canada's capital
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (appearance mods)
C1 of Year Finalist (appearance mods) 2019
My brother just got back from his Cuban vacation and they hired a car/driver to show them the sights in old Havana. The car was a 55 Pontiac 4dr, powered by......get this.....a Perkins diesel out of a boat! He said it was pretty gutless but ran good all day.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 801
Likes: 19
From: Moose country Vermont
Burning Brakes
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 789
Likes: 13
From: Winter Springs FL
They kind of go together when you talk about Cuba. However, the vast majority of the late 50s cars there are now just so bastardized and so many components have been cannibalized from other machines (not even other cars!) that they just serve as working monuments to the ingenuity of those folks. It makes for nice fodder, though.
My point is that it will not be a classic car boon and it serves no one, especially those in Cuba, to normalize relations with a communist country. Hell, BHO just smacked Venezuela with trade sanctions and they are merely a socialist state, not a communist one (the next step). WTF?
My point is that it will not be a classic car boon and it serves no one, especially those in Cuba, to normalize relations with a communist country. Hell, BHO just smacked Venezuela with trade sanctions and they are merely a socialist state, not a communist one (the next step). WTF?
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 38,360
Likes: 2,085
From: California
Other than landing there! then following the playbook, which is
Find the line of old Taxi's-- jump in and ride to the cargo plane, pay the fare, negotiate your deal buying yourself a classic taxi, and load it up, then repeat!
You could look at it from a different angle, restrictions lifted and they start buying 2015 Corvettes! Then we have another CRISIS, we embargo them etc.. and 40-60 years from now, our children return and pick up 2015 Taxi cab Corvettes!
You could look at it from a different angle, restrictions lifted and they start buying 2015 Corvettes! Then we have another CRISIS, we embargo them etc.. and 40-60 years from now, our children return and pick up 2015 Taxi cab Corvettes!
Last edited by TCracingCA; Dec 23, 2014 at 12:17 AM.
