A Cuban Love Story: Cars and their Owners
Photo by Alex Schwab
Family heirlooms are normally considered to be very precious. In Cuba, many cars on the road have been in use for over half a century. Passed down from one generation to another, like family heirlooms, cars have long been a symbol of privilege. But the story gets more complicated. There’s more than one reason that Cubans are so deeply attached to their vehicles.
While Cuba is renowned for its abundance of almendrones, vintage American cars from the 1920s to 1950s, there is also a strong preference among Cuban drivers for the boxy Soviet cars imported from the 1960s to 1990s.
Two brands became instantly popular: Lada and Moskvitch. The most commonly found Lada models include the 1600, 2107 Riva Sedan, and 2101 Sedan which were released in 1969, 1987, and 1980, respectively. From Moskvitch the most known models that arrived in Cuba are the 2140, 1500 SL, and 2140 Aleko.
An advertisement for the LADA when it entered the mass market in the USSR.
For those who are not familiar with these Soviet cars, it would be difficult to see obvious differences between the Lada 2107 and Moskvitch 2140. Their bodywork is very similar except for the front, where you can find nuances in the personality of each model. The Lada has a more plain and discreet front while Moskvitch shows a more aggressive front with an elevated hood.
In terms of design, the almendrones are much more elegant and exotic than their Soviet counterparts. But in the ensuing years after 1959, Cubans started to shed consumerist tendencies in exchange for functionality and long-term reliability - something that the massively produced USSR cars addressed perfectly.
When the U.S. broke diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1962 and utilized the trade embargo to asphyxiate Castro’s government, Cuba lost access to the parts and materials necessary for the maintenance of their vehicles. With no international providers allowing Cuba to acquire car parts on credit, the revolutionary government turned to the USSR for the supplies they needed, and much, much more.
Just two years prior, the car industry in the USSR had made a shift. The Soviet communist government decided it was time to design a car for the masses. Many designs were shamelessly copied from leading western car models during these times. These mechanically simple and uncomfortable cars were built with the intention to “never die” - a very Soviet idea.
Most of these cars were exported. The higher-quality and more expensive models went to western countries while the rest of the production went to the communist block. Since Cuba had proclaimed the socialist character of its revolution they also received many of these new cars.
Bureaucracy, in the middle of our love story
In communist Bulgaria, there was a common joke that said parents should apply for a new car as soon as their child was born, that way the car would arrive just in time for their child’s 18th birthday. When the mass car sales opened, an approval letter was required from the government to be able to buy one - a process that took years.
In Cuba, the bureaucracy got between cars and their owners. The distribution of new cars was mostly a privilege reserved for senior members of the communist party, prestigious professionals, and members or veterans of the armed forces. If your family owned a car at that time, it meant you were of great importance to the government. During the 70s the Cuban government also gifted cars or offered them at very low prices to doctors, farmers, athletes, engineers, and scientists.
The price of love
Purchasing a car in Cuba carries a price tag that may be shocking to most. You must understand that Cubans are very possessive of their cars because of the time they have invested in them and the relentless effort it takes to keep them in motion.
Given the lack of spare car parts in general and the difficulty of acquiring spare parts for cars built decades ago repairing a car can be very expensive. Cubans are forced to improvise and find alternative solutions. Components of everything from washing machines to refrigerators have been utilized in the repair of cars. Also, many car engines have been switched with diesel engines to reduce fuel costs.
Almost any Cuban can change the spark plugs and most can swap the brake pads and fuel pumps. Apart from music and air conditioning systems, changes to the bodywork are very rare. Sometimes the only original part of a car is its bodywork.
Thanks to this ingenuity and perseverance we see these vintage cars moving on the street. Since Cubans don't need a visa to travel to Russia today an informal market has emerged in which Cubans travel to Russia for the sole purpose of bringing back spare car parts. In fact, it’s a very profitable enterprise. This trend has subsided a bit as new, state-operated Convertible Free Currency (MLC) stores were recently opened offering similar car parts for sale in foreign currencies.
No one would think about selling their Lada for less than 15,000 CUC (approx. 15,000 USD). Prices can even reach 40,000 CUC for a Lada in great condition. With this same amount, you could buy an apartment in Havana. Even more impressive is that these transactions happen in cash because there is no governmental institution that mediates the deal. The Cuban government only represents the legal aspects of the transaction such as the car’s title.
Lada is still made today by the car manufacturer, AvtoVaz, in collaboration with Renault-Nissan. It seems that Lada is a brand that the government still prefers. In 2017, new models of Lada were imported to Cuba for use in the tourism sector as taxis. Cubans are anxious about the possibility of buying new modern cars but these new Ladas are not available to the public. In 2014, the government offered new cars for sale but prices were astronomical. The prices were the laughing stock of the country. A Peugeot 508 cost 262,000 CUC while in Europe it cost between 25,000 and 40,000 euros. This failure only further reinforced Cuban’s love of their antique but sturdy Soviet cars.