Cuba's Car Culture

“A beautifully photographed documentary . . . and a history of the island’s intertwined politics and passion for cars.” —San Francisco Chronicle

Silver Medal Winner, International Automotive Media Competition

The story of how Cuba came to be trapped in automotive time is a fascinating one. For decades, the island country had enjoyed a healthy tourism trade and American outpost status, and by the 1950s it had the highest per capita automotive purchasing of any Latin American country. But when Cuba fell to communist rebels in 1959, so ended the inflow of new cars. The U.S. embargo forced Cuba’s car enthusiasts to develop a unique and insular culture, one marked by great ingenuity as they kept cars alive with no opportunity to acquire replacement parts; customized cars with no access to aftermarket parts; and drag raced with no drag strip.

In many ways, Cuba is a time machine in which the newest car is a 1959 Chevy or perhaps one of the Soviet Ladas. Cuba’s Car Culture offers an inside look at a unique car culture, populated with cars that have been cut off from the world so long that they’ve morphed into something else in the spirit of automotive survival. Tom Cotter and Bill Warner (founder of the Amelia Island Concours) take readers on a whirlwind tour, beginning with Cuba’s pre-Castro car and racing history and moving up to today’s lost collector cars, street racing, and the challenges of keeping decades-old cars on the road. Illustrated throughout with rare historical photos as well as contemporary images, it’s a scenic ride for anyone who enjoys classic cars, whether they’re old Chevy Bel-Airs, Studebakers, or Ford Fairlanes, and a cruise around Cuba that will make you feel like a kid in a candy store.