When Martin Viera's Chevrolet rolled out of the dealer's lot, Harry Truman was president of the United States, gasoline cost 27 cents a gallon and a 24-year-old lefty named Tommy Lasorda was pitching for Almendares in the Cuban winter baseball league. That world is long gone, but the Chevy's still running on the streets of Havana - part of a fleet of classic cars that have become an icon of tourism in the socialist nation - and is earning the locals a good salary. For decades, the cars slowly decayed. But officials in recent years have eased state control over the economy by allowing limited self-employment. So those lucky enough to have a pre-revolutionary car can earn money legally by ferrying tourists — or Cubans celebrating weddings — along Havana's waterfront Malecon boulevard.
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Cuban officials have eased state control over self-employment so locals can drive around tourists in their classic cars for an income
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Viera's 1951 Chevrolet and Osmani Rodriguez's 1954 Ford are now part of Havana's tourist draw and the old classics are being polished to look brand new
A man drives a classic American car after the exhibition of antique classic cars in Havana - While the U.S. embargo that took effect in 1961 stopped the flow of new cars, and most parts, a few @placeholder now manage to bring in replacement parts when friends or family visit from the U.S.