The Lowdown on Vintage and Classic American Car For Hire in Cuba

Take a tour in Havana or do a day tour to Vinales with your own private guide in his classic or vintage American car.

Before arriving in Cuba we had read there were a lot of classic and vintage American cars around, boy they weren’t wrong, there are tons of them. The reason is because it’s mega, when I say mega I mean MEGA expensive to buy a car – that’s even if you can find one to buy in the first place.

Youre talking around $70k to $80k for a modern new car. To buy an old rust bucket classic American car with a motor maybe not even working, will still set you back at least $15k.

Vintage Cars

American cars parked in front of Hotel Inglaterra in Havana

Anyhow, the beautifully restored old vintage cars turned out to be a great thing for us tourists and now a very iconic and special feature of Cuba. Small business licences have been issued to Cubans so they can own their own American car and hire it out for tours or transfers etc.

It’s still a major issue for these classic car owners to find parts for their lovely old American cars. A very rare thing would be to see the original motor in one of these cars, they are usually from a Lada or Mercedes bens diesel or anything else they can get their hands on.

You may have noticed a lot of spare parts coming in through the airport.

Hiring a classic or vintage American car helps the Cuban people directly as they are not owned by the Government. This also means the driver will get paid a fair price for his services, which is great.

Tour Experience

Classic American car on tour from Parque Central

There are a number of ways to hire an American Classic car usually in Havana, but they are also in other towns such as Trinidad and Varadeo. You can be picked up from the airport then taken on a fantastic city tour before being dropped off at your hotel in your own classic American car.

Or maybe if you’re in Havana and you just want to take a city tour at a time to suit you. It’s even possible to hire an American car with a great guide to take you to Vinales for the day.

You’ll see a lot cars parked outside most hotels, in particular at Parque Central in Havana. You’ll need to do a bit of price haggling, don’t worry Cuban’s are used to this. It’ll cost you around $70 CUC for an hour for up to 4 people in the same car.

If you’d rather have your tours more planned and run by proper business people, then it’s best to pre book your classic American car tour before you arrive in Cuba. Don’t try and book these once you land in Cuba as all American websites are blocked from being booked.