mmarshall

Not surprising, Lil. For many years, since Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba, much of that country's auto-traffic has been vintage 40s and 50s-model American cars, and of course, some cars from behind the Iron Curtain. With a noted lack of new or spare parts from a number of reasons (including economic boycotts and the fact that most of those cars have been out of production for decades), they are serviced and kept running literally on home-made ingenuity and shoestring-budgets.

As far as your comments on the '58-59 Buicks, I agree that, along with their sister Oldsmobiles of the period, they were also chrome-laden bling-barges (an aunt of mine had a nice red 58 Buick convertible...it was nice to ride in, but I was too young to drive it). But, at least as I see it (and many automotive historians agree with this), those mile-high fins on the '59 Caddy with the sharp points and the raised bullet-tailight assemblies took the cake. Those pointed fins were also quite hazardous (this was, of course, in the days before safety in auto-design became a priority) and there were a number of cases of pedestrians and bicyclists being impaled or seriously injured by running into them.

But, IMO, what especially set the Buicks of that period apart from their sister Olds/Pontiacs/Cadillacs, more than any other single item, was the unvelievable smoothness of the Dynaflow (and the later 3-speed Super-Turbine-Drive) automatic transmissions. The full-sized Buick automatics, up until the late 60s, were of a significant different design than the other GM Hydra-Matic and Turbo-Hydra-Matic transmissions, and relied much more on ultra-smooth direct-hydraulic action, with a minimum of moving solid parts. My 1965 Electra, with the Super-Turbine-Drive (I bought it used) had what was probably the smoothest powertrain I've ever owned....but, of course, it was inefficient, and had only three speeds. The Nailhead 401 engine's 325 hp and 400+ torque helped make up for at least some of that inefficiency, though. I got a surprising 17.2 MPG on the Pennsylvania Turnpike across the mountains to Ohio, when my dad told me he didn't think I'd get any more than 13 or 14. Stop-and-go driving, though, was typically 8-10 MPG on 100-octane leaded gas.

Some of my teen/college friends laughed at me driving a big "Old-Man's" Buick....but Good Golly, did I like that car. It was, even well-used, high-mileage and lacking its new-car shine and solidness (including a worn engine that used oil), a ride and a half. I've never forgotten it....although it would be completely unmanageable in today's D.C.-area traffic (where the also-quiet but far more manuverable and easy-to-park Verano fits in perfectly).