Hi, yes, Chattanooga and Repair were mentioned, and so my internet friends yelled at me about this. As such, I am obligated to plug the Repair Cafe I host at Chattlab every month to help people fix their stuff for free. If you want to get more involved in repair culture in the US, Chatt is a great place to be! Between the history of Appalachia, Repair Cafe, WOBC, and the recent move of iFixit into town, we have a strong and rapidly growing community of people that live a repair first lifestyle! I encourage you to drop by for the next cafe on the 3rd Saturday from 11a - 3p, or to WOBC any Monday night from ~4-8 and join in on the cool ways to get involved in the community locally!
Hello. I think the car culture part is lacking some key context that would be helpful in understanding why the classic cars still run.
Cubans were banned from buying and selling cars between themselves until around 2011 and couldn't buy new or used cars directly from the state without special permission until 2013. Pre-1959 vehicles were repaired so assiduously, sometimes to the point of replacing their engines entirely with those of Eastern European cars, because cars imported before the Revolution were not subject to the ban on buying or selling individual property over vehicles.
The embargo definitely makes this whole process more complex, but the main barrier to more cars and better replacements has been state policy (a monopoly on import-exports in particular) as shown by the fact that a liberalization of car import rules has left Havana increasingly packed with brand new cars from around the world, even a Tesla that I saw charging in Vedado last year.
Individual car parts brought from abroad are often quite expensive, but this is also connected to the fact that you cannot freely import stuff like that directly, so people would historically leave for Russia, buy some car parts for Ladas, come back weighed down with car parts, and then sell them at huge markups in order to cover the cost of their trip and even make a profit. This may be changing as the import sector gets partially liberalized as a response to the expansion of MIPYMES, but that's also a big part of the 'repair culture' at play in regards to cars.
None of this is to say that it isn't admirable how Cubans have figured out various ways to survive despite all kinds of shortages, just that the fault isn't just that of the embargo. State policy has been a major driver since the beginning, as much or (on a case by case basis) perhaps more than the embargo, and I think it's a key part of this story.
just to chime in, if you set your Facebook Marketplace location to Miami, you get occasional Cuban car listings, and they are more often than not 5-10 year old Geelys, Peugots, stuff of that nature. And some lumbering old Ladas. The old American iron isn't extinct but from what I understand it's evolving into more of an enthusiast pursuit and something kept up in certain cities to woo tourists.
Love this & related to this + coffee - one of my favorite things in the coffee world was Baratza as they encouraged fixing their grinders & made parts & support accessible to customers (for home grinders). I think they got bought by someone but have heard they still do this.
Hi, yes, Chattanooga and Repair were mentioned, and so my internet friends yelled at me about this. As such, I am obligated to plug the Repair Cafe I host at Chattlab every month to help people fix their stuff for free. If you want to get more involved in repair culture in the US, Chatt is a great place to be! Between the history of Appalachia, Repair Cafe, WOBC, and the recent move of iFixit into town, we have a strong and rapidly growing community of people that live a repair first lifestyle! I encourage you to drop by for the next cafe on the 3rd Saturday from 11a - 3p, or to WOBC any Monday night from ~4-8 and join in on the cool ways to get involved in the community locally!
Hello. I think the car culture part is lacking some key context that would be helpful in understanding why the classic cars still run.
Cubans were banned from buying and selling cars between themselves until around 2011 and couldn't buy new or used cars directly from the state without special permission until 2013. Pre-1959 vehicles were repaired so assiduously, sometimes to the point of replacing their engines entirely with those of Eastern European cars, because cars imported before the Revolution were not subject to the ban on buying or selling individual property over vehicles.
The embargo definitely makes this whole process more complex, but the main barrier to more cars and better replacements has been state policy (a monopoly on import-exports in particular) as shown by the fact that a liberalization of car import rules has left Havana increasingly packed with brand new cars from around the world, even a Tesla that I saw charging in Vedado last year.
Individual car parts brought from abroad are often quite expensive, but this is also connected to the fact that you cannot freely import stuff like that directly, so people would historically leave for Russia, buy some car parts for Ladas, come back weighed down with car parts, and then sell them at huge markups in order to cover the cost of their trip and even make a profit. This may be changing as the import sector gets partially liberalized as a response to the expansion of MIPYMES, but that's also a big part of the 'repair culture' at play in regards to cars.
None of this is to say that it isn't admirable how Cubans have figured out various ways to survive despite all kinds of shortages, just that the fault isn't just that of the embargo. State policy has been a major driver since the beginning, as much or (on a case by case basis) perhaps more than the embargo, and I think it's a key part of this story.
thanks for your correction on that detail. I’d be curious to know the reason for a ban on car sales.
just to chime in, if you set your Facebook Marketplace location to Miami, you get occasional Cuban car listings, and they are more often than not 5-10 year old Geelys, Peugots, stuff of that nature. And some lumbering old Ladas. The old American iron isn't extinct but from what I understand it's evolving into more of an enthusiast pursuit and something kept up in certain cities to woo tourists.
Love this & related to this + coffee - one of my favorite things in the coffee world was Baratza as they encouraged fixing their grinders & made parts & support accessible to customers (for home grinders). I think they got bought by someone but have heard they still do this.