Modern Vespa

While in Havana in late 2016, I saw this car. Obviously not mid 50s, I have been curious for this long. Can you help?

May be a 50s Ford Prefect?

Bingo!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Prefect#E493A_(1949%E2%80%9353)

A friend had one way back when we were still teenagers - many a pub was visited in that!

Memory sees it as much smaller than the Prefect, but I believe you both. Thanks!

Ah Yes, the peoples perfect State of Cuba. Where the economy, opportunity, and civil rights are all for crap. Equity in full bloom. There is a reason they still drive those old cars.

Bob Copeland

Not a fan then Bob?

They make some great cigars, and some lovely rums.

Chicks are pretty hot too.

armedferret,

I do love a good cigar. Most of the cigar brand named owners departed Cuba when Castro Nationalized their businesses. They took their seeds and moved to the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua etc. Problem, not the same soil or sun angle which made their cigars not as good as the original Cuban grown.

Also, they can only sell under their original brand names to the USA and other select countries. Cuba still holds the rights to the brand names and sells Cuban Cigars around the world. (Cohiba, Partagas, H Upmann, Punch)

So, I smoke the non-Cuban grown brands. I snag an occasional original Cuban which is usually dried up.

I do like Rum - and always appreciate the ladies (getting a little long in the tooth and old to be chasing ladies - still appreciate an eye full)

Fleece,

This is not a forum for discussing politics. From a pure economic standpoint, these Communist/Socialist experiments have all been failures. And yet, despite this, they just keep popping up disguised as something else. Every country needs government controls (perhaps we are all socialists) but you can not wring out all the free enterprise supply and demand and a merit based reward system that gives you more if you work harder.

Fleece, I am a big Anglophile. My family original came from your shores. I am nervous about the USA falling into the "Give Away, Something for nothing government programs".

Bob Copeland

Very cool car!

I remember around 1965 my dad owned a 1950s vintage Ford Anglia (we just called it a English Ford). I remember the starter went out and because it was a not a US production model, finding a new starter wasn't easy. My dad would find parking spots that he could back into that pointed downhill. He'd jump in the car, put it in gear, press the clutch and let it roll until it got just a little speed (didn't take much) and dump the clutch to start it. Unfortunately, we did not live on a hill. So when he would leave for work in the morning, my mom was out there giving him a push. This went on for months!

Thanks! I owned a 1960 6volt Karmann Ghia like that. The generator was occasionally bad which would keep the car from starting. I sold it to a friend who parked the car on a hill, pointing down. No problems!