the above and below photos (and video) were taken by Miguel Llorente http://www.thiseuropeanlife.com/ , I cropped off the ugly watermarks, (you are welcome dear reader as I already know you don't give a damn about the photographers, just the subject of the photos) and now you won't be distracted from the BITCHIN COOL FIND!
awaiting that dream day when it will emerge better than new, this man's trophies are a Hispano-Suiza race car, a Fiat Abarth 750 Zagato "Double Bubble" coupe, even a Chrysler Special by Ghia show car. And, of course, that Gullwing, a Mercedes-Benz 300SL, engine-less, rust creeping up its sides, lies beached amidst debris in a yard near Havana. In the photos Miguel took of that very car in Nov 2012, the rust has spread everywhere: door sills, window frames, the roof. Worse, the car bends up at either end, its trademark doors jammed open. Because it was transported and stored poorly, Miguel writes at This European Life, "it's almost broken in half."
Also in Cuba are other very rare and incredible cars like a 1926 Rolls Royce Phantom I. Its coachwork has been recognized as the handiwork of Letourneur and Marchand of Paris. http://caristas.blogspot.com/2012/11/rich-relics.html farther into the archives of Caristas.blogspot I found
1905 Cadillac 1926 Rolls-Royce Phantom I 1953 MG TD 1920s Fiat Alfa Romeo roadster 1970s Daimler 1980s Chevy replica of a 1957 Maserati used by Juan Manuel Fangio Cadillac V16 1930 1959 Oldsmobile, owned by Commander Camilo Cienfuegos 1918 Ford T 1930 Baby Lincoln funeral carriage 1977 Ducati 900SS owned by Fidel Castro 1915 Mack AC. Chain drive
the personal cars of Fidel and Raul Castro, as well as the Chevrolet Impala of Che Guevara, Mr. Maestre said he would like to secure what is perhaps Cuba's most important car: Ernest Hemingway's Chrysler.
Eduardo Mesejo Maestre, curator of the Depósito del Automóvil, the country’s official antique car museum arranged Treasury Department permission for Tom Cotter to travel directly to Havana from Miami on cultural exchange visas. Call it spark plug diplomacy.
We were told of the country’s dire economy, where street sweepers and doctors make the same wages. So auto repair for the island’s vintage cars becomes a creative endeavor: shampoo is used for brake fluid; iron pipes are cut up for piston rings; Coca-Cola is used to loosen rusty bolts; and cars are painted with sponges, then buffed with toothpaste.
“We call it the Cuban way,” Abel Contreras de la Guardia, our translator and tour guide, said. “We do anything to keep our cars running.”
Starting out on April 13th, Rainey will drive from Oceanside (Near San Diego) to Julian, 60 some miles East... and then http://joy-across-america.com/the-route/
