Robert Ariail for March 24, 2016

The old 4 speed Hydramatics from the 1950’s that had fluid couplings instead of torque converters were very reliable.Especially the 1956 version that had an additional fluid coupling in place of a clutch pack or band.

In dictatorships, Marxist, Fascist, or Feudal model “Capitalism”, the top 1% rake in all the wealth and live high on the hog, while commoners live on leavings. In actual “communist” communities that survive only with relatively small populations, most do pretty well when the wealth is shared and much is barter, not cash based “economics”.

Actual democratic socialism says “I’ve got your back”, while unfettered “Captialism” is the knife in your back if you’re not on top. The key is regulation in most any system to prevent excess and abuse.

If one ever saw Michael Moore’s Sicko they would have seen a modern fire engine in a Cuban Firehouse and that the Cubans did not seem to have a problem getting some modern vehicles over there like emergency equipment.The major problem may be with consumer goods like regular automobiles, which are under the embargo.And I wouldn’t be surprised if Cuban police had modern police cars these days, including new Chrysler and GM vehicles like we see here in the States…we wouldn’t see regular people driving these.

One of the things that would also be of interest to us is how some Cubans went about making spare parts for these cars and that their expertise would come in very handy and even make them very rich in the process when it came to building spare parts that work in automobiles over here, regardless of the make, model and vintage.Machinists, especially, could make a lot of money in manufacturing spare parts, especially for automobiles that became “custom” after the embargo and that these parts were made to keep these cars running.

The secret is Russian Truck parts.

Those tail fins are from a 1959 Caddy..