Colonia Del Sacramento - Uruguay. The capital of Antique cars

Hey,

i have arrived to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay. stayed at a hostel and met a few nice people there.

but the biggest thing about this town and this county of Uruguay is the amount of antique cars which run the streets as ordinary cars, not in a museum.

it appears that Uruguay had the biggest amount and variety of classic cars in the world, even more than Cuba.

During the 30's until the 60's Uruguay's economy was one of the strongest in south America thanks to the war that was going on in Europe. They were big suppliers of meat and coton to the fighting European nations. it led to an extensive import of foreign cars, some exclusive and luxurious and some strong and basic for day to day work. somewhere in the 60's, Uruguay's economy deteriorated due to a corrupted government and the recuperation of Europe. When dictatorship had rise, a lot of the country's population had left to neighbouring Argentina and Europe in seek for a better future, leaving the country week and lacking of working hands.

the import of cars had stopped and the Uruguayans were left with what they have. excellent cars from all over the world, but no money to buy new cars. this fact and the natural tendency of the people to the classic and old fashioned, had made Uruguay a heaven to the car collector.

now, most of the rare and valuable cars had been exported to Europe and The U.S., but you can still see plenty of cars, in different condition, running the streets, doing day to day work.

One more interesting fact i discovered by chance is that Dodge company had used the Star of David as their logo from 1914 till 1927.

i started to collect pictures of cars and their owners for an upcoming article i plan to make.

here is the begining,

enjoy

E