OUR CARS: Mk1 Cortinas
Gavin puts down his tools and goes old Ford-spotting in Cuba.
It’s funny how you build up a mental image of things before you experience them. You take the information that you have been given and construct an imaginary world of your own around them. Everybody has heard of all the old North American cars that you find in Cuba — they are used to describe an image of the country to potential visitors. So the natural assumption is that that’s what you will find filling the Cuban highways. While there is an immense number, I discovered on a recent visit that there’s more to be found on this Caribbean island.
Used and abused
As expected we came out of the airport to be greeted by a lot of North American tin in the car park, but there was also one hell of a lot of Ladas — one of which took us to our hotel. But as we left the car park I was sure that I saw an English Ford out of the corner of my eye. As I came to realise, there are just so many big North American cars you lose sight of anything else amongst them, but keep your wits about you and you’ll find a surprising number of Dagenham classics roaming the streets.
To give a bit of background the Cuban revolution of 1959 and the Cuban’s subsequent political behaviour lead to the USA imposing a trade embargo the following year. Before this, imports from the USA to Cuba had been unrestricted, and with the island being so close to Florida and being a playground for rich North Americans it was only natural that demand for their cars was strong on the island. This was brought to an abrupt end with the imposition of the embargo -—suddenly Cuba was unable to trade with anybody with interests in the USA. This cut off trade to most of the world except the communist countries, hence why there are so many Ladas — they were the only new cars Cubans could buy.
With the lack of trade the Cubans tended to keep hold of what they had and they coveted their cars, many of which have been passed down through the family. All of this results in an abundance of classic cars from 1960 or earlier, the majority of which being large North American cars. But it seems that they also appreciated our own smaller Fords and you’ll find a surprising number of Zephyrs and Consuls, Prefects and Anglias running around. In a one week visit I saw more
than I’ve seen in the flesh in the last five years — I even found a rare Farnham estate. In addition I also saw a scattering of newer models which have sneaked in, including a couple of Mk1 Capris, a 105E Anglia, and a Mk1 Fiesta.
Daily drivers
From our point of view, what is so remarkable is that these cars are used daily, out of necessity rather than as a leisure pursuit. To keep them in use over all this time they aren’t averse to a spot of modifying, but not following fashion as we might, this is purely to keep the owners mobile. At first you wonder why the hell anybody would put Lada door handles on a Zephyr? Then you realise that if they needed to replace the door handles, Lada items were about all they could get hold of. Cuba is like this on many levels, it takes a mind shift to understand what’s going on. To us this leads to a curious array of Frankenstein cars, with modifications we wouldn’t dream of, but somehow in their resourcefulness, it feels so right! Common parts you notice being swapped are bumpers, lights, wing mirrors, door handles and dashboards, all parts which are easily broken. Most of the time you can play ‘which Soviet car have those been sourced from?’. I imagine that there are also all sorts of modifications to the running gear which you can’t see and I wonder how many engine bays you’ll find now accommodating a Lada motor.
There’s certainly no such word as stance here either, instead they seem to rock the ’70s look — more high riding, or jacked-up rear ends. Again, these modifications aren’t carried out to create a given look, but to cope with the state of the roads.
Fresh take
You have to admire the locals in their resourcefulness. With our thirst for modifying our favourite classic Fords, how many are used on a daily basis? While you might be familiar with the picture postcard American classics of Cuba, behind these are a whole collection of everyday classic Fords, modified to survive constant use over the last 55-60 years. So if you want to experience a new take on classic Ford ownership take a trip to Cuba. Their cars may not be pretty, but they are still in use, and that’s really what it’s all about.
“THE CARS MAY NOT ALWAYS BE PRETTY, BUT THEY ARE STILL IN REGULAR USE”