AUTOS CARS CUSTOM

found on http://caristas.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-gullwing-watch-it-and-weep.html

for a full article on it: http://caristas.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-young-man-and-300sl.html

 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."
and I just learned... there is a car museum in Havana.. the Depósito del Automóvil http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dep%C3%B3sito_del_Autom%C3%B3vil
and inside it are :

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.

The best online photo gallery is http://www.flickr.com/photos/riveranotario/sets/72157633360600664/with/8683984605/

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.



Depósito del Automóvil is at Oficios No. 13, Habana Vieja, C.P. 10100, La Habana, Cuba. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/automobiles/03cuba.html?_r=0

these are most, or all, of the photos, and the full write up is at http://www.velocetoday.com/the-cuban-grand-prix-1957-part-2-of-3/#more-45991 to get part one, you'll have to subscribe to their website. I'm not going to do that. 

Here is an exerpt of the future book being photographied and written by Gunther Maier, a German Photographer installed in Santa Fe NM.
 Gunther is also looking for an publisher, please contact him at : gunther@newmexico.com
 And have a look at his website: http://www.roadhousepictures.net/3/artist.asp?ArtistID=35011&Akey=T568YEK8
Not surprisingly, many Harlistas keep their motorcycles in coveted spots in the living room or on the patio, not the garage. And toddlers began playing on the machines as soon as they can crawl. Some Harlistas ride the same motorcycles their grandfathers owned before the revolution.



After the United States cut off trade with Cuba in the early 1960s, Harlistas couldn’t get any spare parts, not even tires or brakes. So they were forced to improvise. One old-school mechanic used barbed wire to fix broken chains, another started cutting up cake boxes to make engine gaskets. That led to his nickname, Cake Box, which sticks to this day.

Harlistas have done whatever it takes to keep their motorcycles on the road, even it means using:
 * Pistons from Russian trucks.
* Chains stripped from the conveyor belts of a pre-Castro Coca-Cola factory.
* Fiat ambulance horns from Poland.
* Exhaust pipes made from tubes ripped from electrical transformers.
* Tires from VW Beetles.
this is only a small part of the entire post I found on the superb http://southsiders-mc.blogspot.com/2012/01/harlistas-by-gunther-maier.html
Man, I like that blog!