Re: Old cars in cuba
The ambient environment in Cuba is murder on cars (high humidity and high temperatures year round). You ever hear of the Florida Keys being a good place to look for old cars, even 40 or 50 years ago? Many of the Cuban survivors also have had their powertrains seriously altered (Lada engines and transmissions, for example) for lack of service parts.
With respect, Clem, Argentina was/is an entirely different situation. Apart from a much friendlier ambient climate, a lot a very good cars survived there with a very high percentage of them being open cars. While the fenders on the survivors were almost always scrap from being repaired over and over (Argentine drivers were not especially mindful of lane discipline) and the chassis pretty tired on cars who spent their lives out in the provinces, the bodies were more rust-free on average than on average for North American survivors. My experience is hands on as I brought back thirty cabriolets, convertible sedans, phaetons, and roadsters from Argentina, southern Brazil, and Uruguay during the mid-70s and mid-90s, all of which were good or better. It all depended on having the right "pickers".
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