Skip to content

Top Navigation

Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure
  • Trip Inspiration
  • Travel Guides
  • World's Best
  • Destination of the Year
  • A-List Travel Advisors
  • Cruises
  • Travel Tips
  • News
  • Food + Drink
  • Travel Accessories
  • Check-In

Profile Menu

Your Profile

Your Profile

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Help
  • Logout
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Travel + Leisure

Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure
  • Explore

    Explore

    • World's Best

      The greatest islands, cities, hotels, cruise lines, airports, and more — as voted by you. Read More Next
    • The 50 Best Places to Travel in 2021

      Whether you're traveling solo or planning a family vacation, here are the 50 best places to visit in 2021. Read More Next
    • Let's Go Together Podcast

      Start listening to T+L's brand new podcast, Let's Go Together! Hosted by Kellee Edwards. Read More Next
  • Trip Inspiration

    Trip Inspiration

    • Trip Ideas
    • Weekend Getaways
    • Spring Travel
    • Summer Travel
    • Fall Travel
    • Winter Travel
    • Solo Travel
    • Romantic Getaways
    • Luxury Travel
    • Beach Vacations
    • Adventure Travel
    • Road Trips
    • Family Travel
    • National Parks
    • Holiday Travel
    • Travel Photography
    • Photo of the Day
    • Culture and Design
    • Travel Deals
    • Attractions
    • Amusement Parks
    • Festivals and Events
    • Bus and Trains
    • Flight Deals
    • Budget Travel
    • Hotels and Resorts
    • Disney Vacations
    • Airlines and Airports
    • Ground Transportation
    • BookTandL.com
  • Travel Guides
  • World's Best

    World's Best

    • Top Hotels
    • Top Cities
    • Top Islands
    • Domestic Airlines
    • International Airlines
    • Tours
    • Safaris
    • All World's Best
  • Destination of the Year
  • A-List Travel Advisors
  • Cruises

    Cruises

    • Find A Cruise
    • Caribbean Cruises
    • River Cruises
    • European Cruises
    • All-Inclusive Cruises
    • Family Cruises
    • Alaskan Cruises
    • Disney Cruises
    • See All Cruise Vacations
  • Travel Tips

    Travel Tips

    • Travel Trends
    • Packing Tips
    • Points + Miles
    • Budgeting + Currency
    • Customs + Immigration
    • Responsible Travel
    • Travel Etiquette
    • Travel Warnings
    • Weather
    • Mobile Apps
    • See All Travel Tips
  • News

    News

    • Wellness
    • Celebrity Travel
    • Animals
    • Jobs
    • Offbeat
    • See All News
  • Food + Drink

    Food + Drink

    • Restaurants
    • Wine
    • Beer
    • Cocktails + Spirits
    • Bars + Clubs
    • Celebrity Chefs
    • Cooking + Entertaining
    • Food Fairs + Festivals
    • World's Best Restaurants
    • See All Food + Drink
  • Travel Accessories

    Travel Accessories

    • Travel Bags
    • Shoes
    • Travel Tech
    • Shopping
    • Style
    • Gift Guides
    • See All Travel Accessories
  • Check-In

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Profile

Your Profile

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Help
  • Logout
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home
  2. Culture + Design
  3. 14 Reasons to Fall in Love with Cuba’s Antique Cars

14 Reasons to Fall in Love with Cuba’s Antique Cars

By Melanie Lieberman
January 23, 2016
Skip gallery slides
Save Pin
Credit: Getty Images
There’s really nothing more enchanting about Cuba—that time-capsule of an island off the coast of Florida—than its antique cars, which dot the street like colorful reminders of an era long gone.

Travel + Leisure’s 2015 Destination of the Year has enchanted travelers with its vintage postcard-vibe, and people are as excited to see its four-wheel artifacts as they are to sip a mojito in Ernest Hemingway’s favorite watering hole.

Related: The Best Beaches in Cuba

Havana’s cobblestone streets are lined with everything from pristine Ford Fairlanes to rickety, smoke-belching Studebakers. After the U.S. embargo in 1962, it became impossible for Cubans to get new cars from America—or parts for the vehicles that remained after the revolution. And Castro’s socialism prohibited Cubans from purchasing new cars of their own until 2011.

In an effort to keep their relics from the 50s and 60s running, Cubans have learned to improvise: hand-built parts and mismatched innards. That Chevy? It’s likely to be rolling down the street on the power of a German or Japanese engine.

These forces have kept Cuba’s parking spaces full of old-fashioned vehicles, and provided the country with one of it’s greatest tourism draws. After all, you can’t visit without finding yourself in a 1955 Cadillac taxi.

As travel restrictions ease, however, it’s becoming easier than ever to make that once-forbidden journey to Cuba—and people fear that those beautiful Bel-Airs and Buick Specials will be systematically replaced by crappy, used American cars from the 90s. While we keep our fingers crossed that Cubans remain as attached to their family heirlooms as, apparently, the rest of us are, there's no better time to go than now: before the modern car dealerships pop up everywhere from downtown Havana to colonial Trinidad. And in the meantime? Here's a little automotive eye candy. 
Start Slideshow

1 of 14

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Vintage cars in Cuba

Credit: Frederic Lagrange

1 of 14

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 14

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Rearview Mirror

Credit: Frederic Lagrange

2 of 14

3 of 14

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

The Cuban Flag

Credit: Getty Images

3 of 14

Advertisement

4 of 14

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Plaza de la Revolución

Credit: Getty Images

4 of 14

5 of 14

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

On Display

Credit: Getty Images

5 of 14

6 of 14

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Aerial Shot

Credit: Frederic Lagrange

6 of 14

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 14

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

At Night

Credit: Getty Images

7 of 14

8 of 14

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Colorful Display

Credit: Getty Images

8 of 14

9 of 14

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

A Gray Car

Credit: Getty Images

9 of 14

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

10 of 14

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

More Cars on Display

Credit: Getty Images

10 of 14

11 of 14

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Havana

Credit: Getty Images

11 of 14

12 of 14

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Covered Truck

Credit: Getty Images

12 of 14

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

13 of 14

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Yellow American car

Credit: Getty Images

13 of 14

14 of 14

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Shades of Blue and Purple

Credit: Getty Images

14 of 14

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Melanie Lieberman

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 14 Vintage cars in Cuba
2 of 14 Rearview Mirror
3 of 14 The Cuban Flag
4 of 14 Plaza de la Revolución
5 of 14 On Display
6 of 14 Aerial Shot
7 of 14 At Night
8 of 14 Colorful Display
9 of 14 A Gray Car
10 of 14 More Cars on Display
11 of 14 Havana
12 of 14 Covered Truck
13 of 14 Yellow American car
14 of 14 Shades of Blue and Purple

Share options

Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message
Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
  • Sitemap
  • Travel Guide Sitemap

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletters
Other Travel + Leisure Sites
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en Español this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
Travel + Leisure is part of the Travel + Leisure Group. Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. Travel + Leisure is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation Travel + Leisure Group All Rights Reserved, registered in the United States and other countries. Travel + Leisure may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.travelandleisure.com

View image

14 Reasons to Fall in Love with Cuba’s Antique Cars
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.