Q: Greg how do they keep all those great cars and trucks from the 1940s and 1950s running so good in Cuba?
Also, on a second note, I’m wondering how to find information on my old Anthony Dump Truck box? I think this is an original from a 1931 Ford Truck.
Thanks and I hope one day you write a book on your columns. Is there any chance you will ever put them in a book for sale because there’s really lots of good information that is being lost. Yours truly, John H. Larson, Metaline Falls, Washington.
A: John thanks much for your comments about a book. Believe it or not, I’m currently getting some work together that will appear in a book that will probably be available sometime in late 2018, before Christmas, God willing. So stay tuned as I’ve had several requests like this and I appreciate your vote of confidence.
To get to your questions, I agree those Cuban vehicles are indeed amazing. I’ll point you quickly to an excellent show available free on YouTube called “Stuck in Time – Autoline 1530.” This 26 minute production will answer your questions as to how the ingenious Cubans keep these classics running. You find some parts just aren’t available anymore or too expensive to have shipped in, so they use mechanical ingenuity to keep them running.
There are also many TV programs available, one of them Discovery Channel’s “Cuban Chrome,” which you can watch right now on your smart TV or computer! “Cuban Chrome” is a series that covers everything one wants to know about Cuba’s love of the classic cars and trucks. Many books and DVD’s on the Cuban vehicles subject are also available, so dive in and enjoy many hours of learning about Cuba’s most prized vehicle possessions.
As for that 1931 Anthony Dump Box that came on the 1931 Ford dump trucks, I found that the Anthony Company was founded in 1917 by William C. Anthony from Peoria, Illinois, primarily for the purpose of building truck bodies, dumps and hoists for trucks.
As the years went on, the company also specialized in the expanding farm equipment business and truck lift gates. The company to this day still exists and is still located in its original city of Streator, Illinois.
See www.anthonyliftgates.com and then click under history for complete information. Their lift hoists for trucks, grain trailers, wagons and boxes are still regarded as some of the best in the business.
Thanks again for your letter.