Canadian and Cuban Rusty Nuts show off together

[Jimmy2]

By Robert Bostelaar, The Ottawa Citizen

Canadians who travel regularly to Cuba often bring along notebooks, lipsticks and bottles of shampoo to distribute as gifts.

Small stuff to us -- but immensely appreciated in a country where shortages have long been the status quo.

When Ian Rome and his buddies head toward their favourite vacation spot west of Varadero, however, their suitcases instead bulge with fanbelts, spark plugs and old copies of Hot Rod magazine.

As members of the Rusty Nuts Car Club of Holland Landing, just north of Toronto, they know what is especially welcome to those Cubans who nurse 1950s-era American cars through countless odometer spins.

The Canadians have limited skills in Spanish, and at home keep their carefully restored classic cars tucked in garages for most of the year. The Cubans may or may not speak English, and must rely on their patched-up old cars for daily transport.

But when it comes to appreciating, say, a '57 Chevrolet Bel Air, they speak the same language. The Cuban owners have even formed their own Rusty Nuts chapter, with help from their Canadian friends.

"I think it's the Chevrolets that they like the best -- they are the most plentiful, and they hold the same '50s mystique as they do here," says Rome, himself the owner of a 1956 Chevrolet two-door-post Pro Street as well as an El Camino and a Lotus Esprit Turbo.

Chevies from the '50s were in glorious supply at Santa Cruz del Norte this winter at the first full-scale car show put on by the Rusty Nuts, Cuban and Canadian. There were other American makes as well, including a delightful, yellow-and-white 1950 Ford Country Squire wagon.

Also in the 25-car display was a sampling of vehicles from many other nations -- an antique British Anglia, a trim Fiat Polski -- that have found their way to Cuba.

The Canadians handed out gift bags and awarded trophies recycled from car shows back home.

"The idea was to get several people into one space so not only could we see their cars, but they could see each others'," says Rome.

Cuban owners have a good communication network for parts and services, but "most of the poor souls work six days a week" and don't get a chance to socialize at North American-style car shows and cruise nights.

Ties between the two groups have been building in the six years since a couple from the club first ventured south for Cuba's winter warmth and discovered its automotive riches -- and the remarkable improvision with which the Caribbean country copes with the longstanding U.S. trade embargo.

"There are some strong bonds," Rome explains. "Some club members are down there two and three times a year. We have been to Cuban members' houses, we have met their families. They are so happy when we visit, and it's not just the stuff we bring.

"We have all become friends."

Rome is aware, of course, that many Cubans would happily trade in their old machines for new vehicles if they could. But he knows also the affection and admiration most hold for their old amigos, and the true love that a curvy '56 Buick hardtop can inspire in car buffs everywhere.

"To some, a car of any shape is just a car, but to a true car guy, it is much more."

[bolivr]

As a car nut I reckon that's really cool