…tv series, shot in cuba, on discovery channel tonite
Thanks for the heads up!
I’m following a series of articles, a magazine project, they are restoring Hemmingway’s Chrysler New Yorker, 1950’s model I think. The car is currently in disrepair, in Havana. The magazine is in England, but the parts they need are in America. Apparently it is illegal to send a starter motor from America to Cuba, so they have to send it to England first, then England sends it to Havana … lol …
Maybe with the new arrangement between the USA and Cuba, they can just send the needed parts to fix up Hemmingway’s Chrysler directly from America to Havana. Now that’s progress!
With the embargo lifted soon, newer US used cars will soon arrive. This will spell the end of the Chrome 50s relics.
no way Doc, that just means that they will get parts! these cars are part of their culture now. the value of those rusted relics by American roadsides just increased and if the embargo is lifted the Cubans will be buying them up.
the Cubans already have the expertise, they just need the relics.
Doc, I very rarely do so but respectfully, I disagree. I defer to Marco Rubio’s comments on the subject. Cuban people have always had access to new cars, new technology, etc., just not from the United States. The reason they still live in the 1960s is because their regime won’t ALLOW them to have new cars and new technology. The regime keeps them as impoverished and ignorant as they can in order to maintain absolute control.
Money that becomes available to Cuba through a lifting of the embargo will not be used to better the plight of the Cuban people. It’ll be used by the regime to make itself even more powerful. I personally believe they’ll use it to try to create a stronger bond with Russia, but that is a guess on my part based on a history that I lived through but Obama clearly is ignorant of.
I’m afraid TSM is probably right. I don’t think they have the money to be buying a lot of new cars and trade is strictly regulated. I don’t know if our current move is right or wrong or what the future impact will be but like all the other communist countries, they really need to loosen up before there will be any great benefit to the people.
I fear we’d best get accustomed to even more Russian military “exercises” right off our coast, and perhaps even over the southern tip of Florida, as well as even more incidents of Russian military aircraft harassing civilian aircraft from the U.S. Expect Cuba to become a base for terrorist training camps too. Cuba IS, after all, a totalitarian dictatorship. Granted, ICBMs don’t pose the threat they did in 1961, but Russia is clearly our adversary and IMHO the path being taken by this administration is a very, very dangerous one. 90 miles in an aircraft is like three giant steps walking.
Lets hope they don’t shoot down any more airliners thinking it is an AF plane. What’s wrong with those people? Then loot the backpacks on the ground in the debris. Special place for them some day.
According to “Air” magazine, there were over 40 incidents in 2014 of Russian military aircraft harassing civilian aircraft from NATO member countries.
I was hoping for something a little meaty but watched about 15-20 minutes of the show and had to bail out on it. The cheesey script, bad acting on staged problems, and sub-kindergarten mechanic talk came across as embarassing to watch; at least to me.
The Cuban scenery and old cars on the street were fantastic to look at but I kept feeling that I should be sticking my head in a hole in the ground; ergo, I tuned out.
It’s the Discovery Channel. I shoulda known…
Yeah I’ve had enough. A diesel boat motor in an old Olds and a soviet school bus carb on an old Chrysler? I’m gonna go read a while.
I guess you can gauge how interesting the program was by my reaction to it–falling asleep.
Then again, I fall asleep in front of the TV most nights, but if there is something particularly interesting on the boob tube, I can usually stay awake to watch it. Cuban Chrome was NOT one of the programs that are interesting enough to keep me awake.
ah well, as a guy who has been keeping a 75 ford going well beyond its natural life span, largely on prayers and ingenuity, and without much moolah, I found it interesting
@wesw & Mountainbike I agree that there is a limit on private car ownership in Cuba now. An end to the embargo from the US will greatly increase the spare part trade with that country. I believe that car ownership will eventually be loosened up.
I was in Iran a few years ago, and there are many 1976 and earlier US cars there. They get spares through the back door via Europe. Iran also has a good manufacturing capability so many are also reverse-engineered and made there.
The local car is there based on a 60s Hillman Hunter from the UK.
With respect, I can’t see any indication over the past 50 years that the Castro regime might easy up on the overbearing restrictions it placed (places) on Cuban citizens. These people are intentionally kept impoverished, and any imports purchased should someone get a few bucks, whether a car or a part, needs to be approved by the Cuban government.
I’m inclined to trust and agree with Marco Rubio’s assessment… lifting the embargo will not benefit the Cuban people whatsoever. I’m unaware of anybody anywhere who knows more about the Cuban regime than Rubio.
yeah, but Rubio s views seem to be colored by a bit of vendetta. justified perhaps, but not conducive to repairing relations.
Remember, the East Germans threw away their Trabants en masse when they got the chance to buy modern VWs.
How does Air know that the Russian aircraft came from NATO countries? Were they on the ground there for some reason, or was it a fly-over? I’m trying to understand exactly what you (they) mean.
It seems to me the Cuban citizens can’t afford anything more than what they currently have. Average salaries there range from $19 to $30 per month. The last figure is for a doctor. How can anyone afford even our cast offs?