Well, they have no choice. On the one hand, if the vehicle IS properly maintained it does not HAVE to suffer catastrophic failure; OTOH, under the circumstances in Cuba the drivers do not have access to spec-compliant parts and it is moot to seek to fix the cars “up to standard”. The old cars in the streets of Cuba are kept up through a whole series of jerry-rigged repairs simply for the sake of keeping them rolling, whether that takes replacement parts that were machined in backyard shops or maybe cannibalized off of some discarded Soviet farm equipment or literally holding things together with baling-wire. So classic car buffs from stateside would face disappointment and heartbreak if they headed for Cuba looking for bargains.
As linked before by myself and boytyperanma, Cuban government motor vehicle market policy makes ANY car that enters Cuba, whether factory-new or “preowned”, unaffordable for most Cubans.
I can’t really speak specifically to this policy, but from what I read, the Cubans have two currencies: an internal currency (CUP) and a currency which is pegged to dollars for foreign exchange (CUC). The CUP, because it’s an internal currency, can’t be used to import anything. And one tool the Cuban government can use to maintain the CUC peg is to restrict imports. So, that may be why the Cuban government makes owning cars so difficult. But, like I said, I can’t speak specifically to the origins of this policy.
Apparently, the Cubans are going to merge the 2 currencies soon.
As was said, the “classic cars” of Cuba are frankencars literally held together with baling wire and parts from everything. The reason they don’t just buy newer used cars from Mexico or Japan or Germany is that average Cubans don’t have any money and the government won’t let you buy a car unless you can prove you need one. And it turns out that according to the Cuban government the only people who need new cars are connected to the Cuban government.
You can get rusted out old car bodies for dirt cheap here in the US. The Cuban cars aren’t lovingly maintained originals, they have no collectable value. It would be much easier to buy a chassis sitting in a junkyard here in the US and restore it, because it will have a much higher percentage of original parts. The price of a restored classic car is extremely high not because old car bodies are rare, but because it takes so much skilled labor to transform a heap of junk into a showpiece.
The reason you hardly ever see street legal cars for less than $1000 or so is that it takes a certain amount of work to keep a car running, and if it’s not running and it costs more than a couple hundred to get it running then it’s often cheaper to just get a new running beater and the old one is scrapped.
Also, we’re not lifting the embargo. That would require an act of Congress, and the Republicans aren’t going to vote for that. We are restoring diplomatic relations, which is the prerogative of the president and doesn’t require Congressional approval. We’re also changing certain administrative rules about who can qualify for permission to visit Cuba, and how much you’re allowed to spend there and how much you’re allowed to bring back, all things which are rules created by executive branch government agencies and don’t require Congressional approval. The embargo itself isn’t going anywhere.
Of course I can’t find it when I need it… but there was a statement somewhere that money was owed to US corporations that had invested in the infrastructure of the island. I’m not talking about the casinos and what not, but, the actual infrastructure: utilities, rail roads, roads, etc. US corporations had spent a lot of money building that all up. So, when Cuba nationalized there was some seriously hurt feelings. Also, this build up is one of the factors that prompted nationalization as the Cubans themselves were being displaced by US people/companies rolling in with money and buying stuff up. There were other countries as well that lost out but still kept some relationship with the country, the UK being one of them.
I did a report for a history class about ten years ago. The ODU library in Norfolk, VA has this awesome book on Cuba. Very well written and it went over the history of the country, subsequent industrialization, and its nationalization, etc.
Something else is that Cuba is an island. Kinda like Hawaii you usually aren’t going to far. Also, something of interest, as I am using Bing maps to look at Cuba, and I go to aerial view and zoom in (surprising detail here), I see few cars. Even in areas that seem to have housing developments. I think the Cubans keep the cars for the sake of prosperity and don’t drive aside from occasions that warrant it.