Spotted this beast of a van when in Havana earlier this week. Seems like some sort of split, other bus hybrid!
Anything goes in cuba , could be half russian ! Not to hijack the thread but Found this today , ever see one ? Did they make these ?, its in the wolfburg museum,,,ive never seen one , open air bus....
No idea! Do you think they'd put the front of a different bus on to a vw? Maybe made the front panel themselves? We had lots photos of smashing old cars in Cuba until nobby IT "specialist" accidentally wiped our hard drive @dubsurftones I've seen one like that but it was home made by a local garage chopping the roof off a normal van
Went to Cuba 4 years ago thinking should be able to see a few old cars, what a surprise, there were thousands of the old big beasts but alas a lot of the v8 lumps had been replaced with smokey joe Russian straight sixes (just did not sound right). Loved the whole Island and people. glad we went then before the big hotels and Mcdonald set decide to move in as USA are now becoming friends again. Found a strange cafe on a beach which had been built out of sea coral and just hope the coral was dead before being removed from sea bed and cemented together to make the walls! If you are still there, enjoy the Island.
Sorry I couldn't take more photos. I was going past on a 'Coco-Taxi' with my wife and kiddos on a quick ride about town. Seriously fun place though. The classic cars were just awesome and it is quite inspiring how they have kept them all going. Considering most of them are 50's cars still being used as commercial taxis everyday.
Went there about 8 years or more ago, loved the place want to go back before the yanks invade and ruin it. On the street most of the cars were patched up hybrids but there were some really cool original cars hidden away which will probably appear on the market when democracy takes hold !!!
One of the reasons that all the old 1950's cars keep going in Cuba is because of the incredibly inventive 'cottage industry'. Hardly any, if any at all, parts are actually still in production for these beasts.... and Cuba previously limited trade links mean they wouldn't be able to source them anyway, so they are made by José round the corner, and Carlos down the road, and Juan who works with your brother in law's next door neighbour, that kind of thing. It would be no surprise to think that a new front panel for a VW might not look exactly correct if it was knocked out in a side street in Havana. Whether this is the case or not, I have no idea, but the Cubans are damned resourceful so who knows. Great place. Glad I got there, as said above, before the US and McDonalds move in.
Ernest Hemmingway's Buick ( I think) is being restored by David Sole (Hutch) and Practical Classics Magazine....google it as its two old boys in a cottage industry stylee. There's a TV program to come on it.
