User:"wesselm3"/sandbox

Yank tanks, (Pre 1960 American manufactured cars in Cuba ) are very much entwined in the colorful Cuban culture, and the Cuban economy. The number of total cars in Cuba is 200,000- of which 167,000 were made in the USA. With the survival of 31,000 pre- 1960 still running American made cars.[1]. Culturally these surviving pre- 1960 automobiles are known in Cuba as yank tanks. These cars give the owners a prominent place in Cuban society- and are passed on from generation to generation. Because Cuba was under communist rule(1959) until 2011, Cubans were not permitted private ownership of cars, unless it was manufactured before 1959. This law added to the respect level for owners of the pre 1960 automobiles. Cubans who owned these cars were put at a great economic advantage over non owners, because for a fee of $600, paid to the communist government per month, owners could earn an additional 1200 dollars a month, acting as taxi drivers for the tourist in Havana. The average wage in Cuba is 25 to $30 a month if you are in the private sector. These vintage car taxi drivers are among the highest income earners, they earn more than the Cuban doctors and lawyers.[3 3 David Card Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 43, No. 2. (Jan., 1990), pp. 245-257.