Who wants to find the five corvettes in cuba

[Ed H.]

Re: Who wants to find the five corvettes in cuba

This note is to all members who are interested in this adventure. I found a photo of the dictator Fulgencio Batista sitting in the passenger seat of a new 1956 Corvette, given to his son Ruben, who is seen driving out of the airport. After the takeover of Cuba Ruben fled to Miami. Where he lived until his death, in that city, in 2007. To date no one knows if he took the Corvette on an auto ferry that was transporting those fleeing Castro. I am going to contact a law enforcement friend in Miami to see if any record exists of Fulgencio-Ruben Batista registering this Corvette in Florida. That car would be Corvette # 4 of the missing ones we will attempt to locate. If there is any member who lives in the Miami area your help or knowledge would be greatly appreciated. I have contacted a service in New York that will take care of all of the necessary visa and related documents. They are putting together a package of costs for air, hotel, ground transportation, and a guide who is one of the members of the only Antique Car Club of Havana, known as the Nostalgicar car group of Havana. If you all have time go on the internet and type in "GREAT CARS OF HAVANA' or Corvettes in Havana, it will get you going.

[Ed H.]

Re: Who wants to find the five corvettes in cuba

To date I have 8 members interested in this trip. Please e-mail me with your e-mail address or phone number and I will be able to fill
you in on all of the details and not tie up the tech board.

My e-mail is ed_hoffman@yahoo.com

[Ed H.]

Re: Who wants to find the five corvettes in cuba

I HAVE THE COST FIGURES FOR THE TRIP MINUS AIR FARE FROM YOUR LOCATION TO MIAMI THEN FROM MIAMI TO HAVANA. For those interested
call me at (661) 313-7901 and I will fill you in. The trip is set for the first or second week in March 2018. I looked at the two Hotels suggested
by the tour agency and they are #1 3 star, #2 4star, we will all stay in the same hotel due to our tour program. That program is only dealing with classic cars but primarily Corvettes. To date I have seven members interested, if we can muster one more we get a room break for double occupancy. Let me know soon to take advantage of the break in price I was able to negotiate.

[Darryl D.]

Re: Who wants to find the five corvettes in cuba

I think finding these old Corvettes are probably going to sicken NCRS people. If these car have continued to be used there you can bet they have been cobbled together with who knows what to keep them running.

[Ed H.]

Re: Who wants to find the five corvettes in cuba

Darryl,
For your information and education, you may want to look into the mind of C-1 Corvette owners and restorers, they are a dedicated group. I have viewed 3 videos, one taken by an active member in NY.
He was able to video two, one a 54 the other a 58, both in very good condition and still powered by the same type engine they arrived with in Havana. I viewed another video taken by a newsman from Detroit of a 1960, it was well cared for and is owned by an old Cuban Olympian.
So Darryl I suggest you enjoy a quit evening on your computer and look up Corvettes in Cuba, you may be surprised. You may want to join
our adventurous group of crazy corvette lovers on our quest to find the two missing corvettes, one a 1953, the other a 1956. Follow the bouncing ball on the subject you may enjoy yourself.

[Ed H.]

Re: Who wants to find the five corvettes in cuba

Sal.
I need contact info from you. I have a lot of interesting parts of this adventure to share. Call or e-mail me, I posted my phone number on this thread earlier. My e-mail is ed_hoffman@yahoo.com. We have enough time.

[Ed H.]

Re: Who wants to find the five corvettes in cuba

Mike E, I need your contact info so I can fill you in on all of the details. It will be an adventure for sure. I left my cell phone on this thread earlier.

[Ed H.]

Re: Who wants to find the five corvettes in cuba

Lou, I need your contact info, all of mine is on this thread. Contact me and I will fill you in.

[Ed H.]

Re: Who wants to find the five corvettes in cuba

Mike J., I need your contact info if you are interested in this dynamic adventure. All of my contact info is on this thread. A lot has transpired.

[Al E.]

Re: Who wants to find the five corvettes in cuba

I was there on business last year. I would definitely go. I don't work.. not yet at least. .but southwest has round trip for $562..

My old boss from Australia lives there..and he is a corvette nut.
Say when... I was in the Dominican Republic and saw tons of c1s and c3s

[Ed H.]

Re: Who wants to find the five corvettes in cuba

Al,
That is great, a real veteran who has traveled the jungle. You may notice in the thread on this subject
I gave out my e-mail and cell phone numbers. Please contact me regarding this trip as I want to help
keep the tech board open to more techie things. I will fill you in on all of the details to date. This train
is starting to roll.

[Darryl D.]

Re: Who wants to find the five corvettes in cuba

My comments are based on watching the series Cuban Chrome. Most of those cars in Cuba have been cobbled together with what ever was available to them due to not being able to get parts from America for the last 55 years. Putting boat engines in cars and such.

[Vinnie P.]

Re: Who wants to find the five corvettes in cuba

I think finding these old Corvettes are probably going to sicken NCRS people. If these car have continued to be used there you can bet they have been cobbled together with who knows what to keep them running.My comments are based on watching the series Cuban Chrome. Most of those cars in Cuba have been cobbled together with what ever was available to them due to not being able to get parts from America for the last 55 years. Putting boat engines in cars and such.

Darryl,

If you think what you say above is what NCRS is all about, you need to get many years of membership and participation under your belt. You've only been a member for 6 months, so I don't think your really know what NCRS and the membership is all about. Just look at the new concourse judging program...we now have a program for modified bodies, motors, blowers etc. so it's not all about being purists and original/restored cars.

[Loren L.]

Re: Who wants to find the five corvettes in cuba

I think if you guys are going to bring enough CASH to buy the Corvettes, you can probably go back to your original taxi driver, tell him how many are coming and HE will finance all your travel plans. Kinda like Vegas providing transportation and rooms to all the folks with a "system".......

[Bob D.]

Re: Who wants to find the five corvettes in cuba

Ed

I visited Cuba in 2014 and heard about two Corvettes in Havana. One was a black '54 with an interesting history. I talked with the owner and he said it had been wrecked at some point and the front end was now made of steel. They could not get fiberglass fabric or resin so they fabricated the front end out of metal. The owner said he had the original motor but it was not in the car. The body fabrication was not a bad job. The second, I did not see, but heard about was a red '59 that was drag raced. I was also told about a '53 that was supposed to be located in the city of Santiago de Cuba on the eastern end of the island. No one knew for sure about that one.

Spent 11 days there on that trip and did not see or hear of any other Corvettes. Saw a lot of Chevys, Fords and Cadillacs. Cuba was said to be the largest Cadillac market outside the U.S. in its day.

Bob