1953 Willys Aero Lark

"First Car to Combine Such Luxury With Record Mileage! A blend of aero and auto engineering has created in the Aero Willys a new kind of car! Its ride is so cloud-soft and luxurious, you feel airborne. When you press the accelerator, it almost seems to sprout wings. Yes, this amazing car gives mileage up to 35 miles per gallon in overdrive*! Before you buy any car in any class, drive an Aero Willys."

Built in Toledo, Ohio, this Willys Aero Lark technically ain't exactly Detroit Iron. It looks a bit different, too: unusually wide for a "compact" car, and of elegant line, Willys' entry into the postwar car market was an attractive alternative to other, more spartan, budget car offerings. During World War II, Willys Overland had been extremely successful with the Jeep, but it was already clear that in peace time, the production numbers would diminish. And civil Jeep derivates alone certainly wouldn't create enough revenue to keep the company afloat.

Thus, Willys' boss Ward M. Canaday fostered the development of a passenger car to be introduced in 1952. Designers under Phil Wright and engineers under the lead of Clyde Paton set out to create an affordable, albeit pretty luxurious "small" car, because Willys people were well aware that their first passenger car since 1942 would have a hard stand against the established competition in the full-size car field. The result was a compact, yet handsome and modern looking car, with clean lines and positively constrained use of ornamentation. Because it was based on an all-welded "Aeroframe" unit body design, the car was pretty light, had a good handling, and despite being moderately propelled by its 75hp "Lightning '6' Engine", it had one of the better power-to-weight ratios among American cars of that era. Alongside came a very good fuel economy.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the new Willys, though, were its proportions: running on a pretty short 108-inch (2,74m) wheelbase, it was a compact car from stem to stern. But with an overall width of 72-inches (1,83m), it was almost as wide as a fullsize 1952 Plymouth (73.4 inches, 1,86m) or Chevrolet (74 inches, 1,88m). Six passengers, three in each row, could sit comfortably in the Willys. Other compact cars couldn't offer such generous interior space. As the Willys (loaded) stood just 60-inch (1520mm) tall, its wide silhouette looked even more dramatic beside the mentioned competitors that were at least four inches (102mm) taller.

But the ambitious engineering came at a price. The Aero Willys was a budget car by dimensions, but an expensive one to produce. Few customers preferred an Aero Willys over a flashy Chevrolet, Ford or Plymouth which cost just a handful of dollars more, and after Willys merged with Kaiser-Frazer, production ceased after just four years in 1955. The handsome Aero Willys should get a second chance, though: the toolings were shipped to Brazil, where the Aero Willys was produced again between 1960 and 1962.

1959 Ford Country Sedan

"Hardtop styling in wagons by America's wagon specialists! Here's the fresh new direction in station wagons: Hardtop styling  . . .  made possible by Ford's unique thin-pillar design!"

Pulling out of a gas station at Havana's Playa del Este, this Ford looks truly loooooong! For 1959, all fullsize Fords shared the same 118-inch (2997mm) wheelbase. But side by side, compared to their sedan counterparts, the station wagons appear much larger than they actually are: technical data reveals that both share an identical overall length of 208 inches (5283mm). These were big cars, albeit this wasn't the limit yet: next year's Fords should continue to grow.

For years, Ford had been the biggest producer of station wagons in the US. Initially, these wagons were rather solid, fanciless cars, perfectly fitting to the customer's demand for carrying loads of stuff in their passenger car. Yet, during the 50s, and due to demographic change, wagons swiftly became a much more stylish asset: more and more Americans were moving out into the suburbs, and the purpose of station wagons changed from being a load carrier to become a family hauler. Chevrolet, as always exploiting the newest trends, presented the stylish Nomad, a two-door "hardtop" wagon, in 1955, and consequently, Chevrolet's station wagons echoed this fancy design. Ford, for a long time, did hesitate to invest into costly design details in their cars, but in 1959 finally they gave in: now, Ford stations wagons also sported curved, wrap-around tailgate windows. Our pictured "9-Passenger Country Sedan" could carry nine passengers if you unfolded the passenger bench that was integrated into the cargo bay.

1958-1960 Opel Olympia Rekord P

"German made  . . .  American style  . . .  this is OPEL."

Perhaps looking a bit too flashy for the contemporary European taste, the Opel Rekord fits well into Cuba's automotive landscape. In fact, as a GM subsidiary, Opel was well known for offering "dwarfed" versions of GM designs. The 1953-1957 Opel Olympia, predecessor of our pictured Rekord looked a bit like a Chevrolet with altered proportions. Opel chief Edward W. Zdunek proudly announced that the Olympia Rekord should be a "German Chevrolet", which in that time was a compliment rather than a threat. Its replacement, presented in 1957, took inspiration from Buick, instead.

Unlike its bigger brother Kapitän, the Opel Rekord P (as in "Panorama windows") was entirely styled in Germany. Opel's designers, of course, were well aware what happened in Detroit, and there was a constant flow of GM designers that were sent for some time to Germany, usually meant as an accelerator for their career within the GM organisation. These guys didn't care too much for local taste or needs, but applied their desired styling themes on these little European cars. Thus, Opel models from that era sported the latest trends in (American) automotive fashion, such as wraparound windshields or two-tone color schemes inside and out, and were perhaps the best embodiment of the "American Way of Drive" in Europe. The Opel Rekord, unsurprisingly, soon was nicknamed "Bauern-Buick" (Peasant's Buick) in common parlance.

In 1958, the Opel Rekord received some minor improvements, among them the replacement of the rear view mirror from dash to roof. Our pictured car shows this roof mounted mirror. Thus, we think, it was produced after the summer of 1958.

The Opel Rekord fared well on American shores: as a result of the economic recession in 1957-1958, the demand for economic compact cars suddenly went through the roof. The "Big Three" had completely missed this trend, and now had nothing to compete against the compact cars from Studebaker or Rambler. In 1958, GM hastily began importing Opel and Vauxhall cars from overseas to fill the void of compact cars at their dealerships. Opel cars were sold and serviced through Buick dealers. Hence, the synonym "Bauern-Buick" wasn't all wrong.