Cuba lifts 50-year-old car import ban

[umbertino]

End of the road for 1950s vintage cars as restrictions are lifted in Cuba

 

By AFP

3:33PM GMT 19 Dec 2013

 

 

Cuba will allow unrestricted car imports for the first time in 50 years, marking the end of an era for the 1950s Chevys, Fords and Pontiacs that have survived the ban.

 

The decision to allow cars to be imported for sale at market prices on the island was taken on Wednesday by Cuba's council of ministers, according to the official newspaper Granma.

 

It said the decision will gradually free up retail sales of all manner of vehicles – automobiles, vans, trucks and motorcycles – and ends the practice of granting some Cubans special permission to bring in vehicles as a privilege.

 

Granma acknowledged the so-called "letters of authorisation" issued by the transport ministry had generated "resentment, dissatisfaction and, in not a few cases ... (were) a source of speculation and enrichment."

 

Holders of the letters, however, will still be first in line to buy cars while the new system is phased in, Granma said.

 

 

Opening Cuba's domestic car market to imports is likely to have fateful consequences for the lovingly maintained 1950s cars on the island.

 

But the changes are a long-awaited element of President Raul Castro's attempts to gradually liberalise Cuba's Soviet-style economy.

 

Separately, Mr Castro's brother Fidel praised his brief encounter and handshake with Barack Obama in South Africa.

 

"I congratulate comrade Raul for his brilliant performance, and especially for his firmness and dignity when with a friendly but firm gesture he greeted the head of government of the United States and said to him in English: 'Mr President, I am Castro.'"

 

Mr Obama stopped and shook hands with the Cuban president on his way to the podium December 10 to speak at a memorial in Soweto for the late Nelson Mandela.

 

Neither side made much of the exchange but Fidel's remarks, in an article published in Granma, made clear that he approved of his brother's handling of the moment.

 

The handshake was the first between leaders of the two Cold War adversaries since 2000, when then US president Bill Clinton shook hands with Fidel at the UN General Assembly in New York.

 

It was only the second time that American and Cuban presidents have shaken hands since the Cuban revolution in 1959.

 

Raul replaced Fidel as Cuba's president in 2006, but as the father of the Cuban revolution the elder Castro remains hugely influential.

 

 

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/cuba/10528233/Cuba-lifts-50-year-old-car-import-ban.html

 

[Shabibilicious]

Cuba must be running out of Bondo.    

 

GO RV, then BV

[haymon]

Exporting anyone.....

[flatdawg]

Due to our silly trade embargo, another market opens up for China.

[PD41]

Exporting anyone.....

There is some nice classics down there. Send some over here on a barge.

 

 

[umbertino]

Yep.. I've been there several times and I can testify to it... Lots of beautiful US Classic cars and obviously Cubans turned into Masters ( out of necessity) when it comes to fixing the body and the engine of those jewels

 

 

Of course it also means the  car base quality was there in the first place ..

Edited December 19, 2013 by umbertino

[tamiflyer]

If anyone knows about Cuba then they would know that there must be ulterior motives for this. there are six. (6) Ferraris that were part of reace in Cuba in the 50-60's. They are still missing and in 1986, Ralph Lauren bought one for 12 million. This is more than meets the eye...

If anyone knows about Cuba then they would know that there must be ulterior motives for this. there are six. (6) Ferraris that were part of reace in Cuba in the 50-60's. They are still missing and in 1986, Ralph Lauren bought one for 12 million. This is more than meets the eye...

[Shabibilicious]

If anyone knows about Cuba then they would know that there must be ulterior motives for this. there are six. (6) Ferraris that were part of reace in Cuba in the 50-60's. They are still missing and in 1986, Ralph Lauren bought one for 12 million. This is more than meets the eye...

 

All I know about Cuba is........with hard work, and a good training and diet regimen........you can swim there.     Just kidding. 

 

GO RV, then BV

[Bunk]

  Obama Thought He Was Shaking Hands With The Usher , Obviously ...

[umbertino]

All I know about Cuba is........with hard work, and a good training and diet regimen........you can swim there.     Just kidding. 

 

GO RV, then BV

I met a few Americans there .They loved the place and the People..

Edited December 19, 2013 by umbertino