Spotted Around the World by Colin McFadden—
Two of my main passions are travel and obscure car trivia. My loyal travel partner is less interested in the obscure car trivia, so sometimes I find it’s best to stay quiet about things like the novel aluminum structure of the Audi A2 that just drove past. Her loss is your gain.
Earlier this year, I had a chance to visit Cuba. There’s no shortage of fascinating cars on the road – Ladas and Moskvitches alongside ‘55 Chevys and brand new Kias. For the first of these columns though, I had to spotlight an Alfa.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when a 1970s Alfa Romeo Berlina cruised by in Havana. I had no idea there were any Alfas on the island. Obviously, it’s lived a bit of a life – the back half looked like it was barely hanging onto the front. And as much as I would have loved to believe it still housed an Alfa Twincam under the hood, I highly doubt it. But an Alfa is still an Alfa, even when it’s lived a hard life. And it turns out, it might not be alone.
A bit of digging on the internet revealed that an enterprising Italian brought a number of Alfas into Cuba in the 1970s to serve as police cars and to transport high ranking officials. They were paid for via a complicated scheme involving shipping sugar back to Italy to skirt the embargo. At least a handful survived and some of them have ended up in the hands of enthusiasts – there’s even an Alfa Romeo Club in Havana. If I ever get a chance to return, I’ll be sure to reach out.
I hope you enjoyed this brief dive into this car spot – I’ll look forward to sharing some more in the future.