When most gear heads think of Cuba, they think of 1950s Detroit iron that was stranded on the island when Castro took over. The reality is most of the American cars wore out a long time ago and were by Ladas and Moskvitchs.
Now these cold war cars are starting to show their age and need parts like brake pads, engines and wheel bearings. A parts store in Florida has come to the rescue by being a middle between obsolete russian parts and american families who visit Cuba.
Send new brakes: Cuba’s Cold War-era cars get spruced up with help from Fla. auto parts shop
By CHRISTINE ARMARIO Associated Press
Somewhere on the streets of Havana is a cherry-red Lada car rebuilt almost entirely with parts that arrived from Miami in a visitor’s suitcases.
A year ago, the 20-year-old Russian-made automobile _ a boxy but remarkably durable model _ was in dire need of repair. The door handles were rusting, the tires on their last mile, the inner workings shot.
“It was in very bad condition,” said Frank Torres, a Cuban-American living in Miami whose cousin owns the car back in Cuba.