Most of those old American cars have had their gas guzzling engines and transmissions replaced with diesel engines and manual gearboxes.
This is the Chrysler that took us out to some of the remoter parts (and fortunately turned up three days later to take us all back again!)
Luckily on the way back it had a minor hiccup, so with the bonnet up, I got a look at the conversion. The original engine and transmission has been replaced with a 2litre(?) Hyundai/Kia diesel with 5 speed manual transmission. Apart from the electrics (not a Cuban speciality) it was quite a tidy conversion, with the cable operated gear change chopped through the dashboard resulting in the gate being upside down. Of course there's masses of room to drop in more or less any engine you choose. Or given the likely lack of choice, any engine you might be able to get your hands on.
The breakdown was the result of wiring rubbing through against the crossmember. Alejandro's eyes lit up when I pulled out a roll of electrician's tape from my rucksack, and those arms are his, busy taping up the offending wires. He had been rearranging the wires for months every time it broke down, all for the lack of a couple of feet of insulating tape. I would have felt mean asking for the roll of tape back!
The result was a vehicle that didn't have starlting acceleration, but once on what they laughingly call the Autopista, the Chrysler would get up to 110kph no bother.
Happy days
