CUBA CLASSICS: A CELEBRATION OF VINTAGE AMERICAN AUTOMOBILES

"This is the most beautiful, most sympathetic photo book       about Cuba I have seen for years. It's terrific!"
     Martin Cruz Smith, author of Gorky Park and Havana Bay

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Interlink Publishing
ISBN 1-5665-6546-4

This  vibrant homage to Cuba's astonishing wealth of antique cars is also a paean to the extraordinary people who keep their weary cacharros running with resourcefulness, ingenuity, and indefatigable good humor. In a collection of compelling images, Cuba Classics reveals the time-worn splendor of classic American automobiles spanning eight decades. From Model-T Fords and '40s-era Buick Roadmasters to late '50s Edsel Citations and Chevrolet Impalas with fins sharp enough to draw blood, this book evokes the nostalgic and seductive world of Cuba's car culture. Blurry action shots of moving cars... scenics with backdrops that celebrate the island's beauty... a visual cornucopia of chrome trim... and close-up detail of hood ornamentation, grillwork, and dashboards. All illustrate the subject magnificently. A rich array of photographs is complemented by detailed captions that provide fascinating anecdotal and technical detail while celebrating the four-wheeled survivors of a bygone age and the passion of their owners. This magnificent portrait of today's classic cars is also an exploration of the island's tumultuous history. Tracing the evolution of motor madness in decadent pre-revolutionary Cuba, the author surveys the tough realities of caring for vintage cars in the modern age of embargo and shortages. These challenges have produced exceptional skill and inventiveness among the owners and mechanics who somehow keep a legion of gas-guzzling leviathans on the road. In a photojournalistic essay that traces the long love affair between Cubans and the U.S. automobile, Christopher P. Baker also celebrates Cuba's landscapes and colors, his photographs putting the beloved cacharros within a tropical setting both sensual and surreal. Written in the lively, engaging style that has won the author numerous literary awards, Cuba Classics draws upon memoirs, museum records, personal interviews, and Cuba's own dusty archives. Mixing history with present-day impressions, technical detail with personal observations, the evocative text proves both absorbing and richly entertaining. The result is a dynamic photojournalistic essay that will appeal to classic car connoisseurs as well as to anyone intrigued by the Caribbean's most culturally dynamic and compelling island.

"Baker has done a remarkable job in visually capturing the elusive sense of place that is the goal of every travel photographer and yet which very few ever achieve.... This is the real Cuba photographed with a directness that has a refreshing lack of artifice. Whether your interest is old cars, Cuba, or good photography per se, this exquisite coffee-table book will not disappoint. A better book on Cuba would be hard to find. For a writer of Baker's ability to demonstrate equal talent as a photo- grapher is an enviable accomplishment. Cuba Classics will become a classic in its own right." Robert Holmes (Twice recipient of the coveted 'Travel Photographer of the Year.') "Cuba is a photographer's dream and nightmare: she is pathologically photogenic. Only the best artists can simultaneously pose and question her. Baker does." Andrei Codrescu (Author of Ay, Cuba! A Socio-Erotic Journey)

ALSO AVAILABLE... Christopher P. Baker's action-packed tale of his 7,000-mile motorcycle journey through Cuba (Available in hardback and softback)