The Curbside Classics Of The Gaza Strip

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

It’s a curious coincidence of history that the most anti-American parts of the globe are so dependent on old American cars. Havana is the classic example of this, and its still-rolling examples of classic American cars have become photographic icons, simultaneously representing both the failures of the communist government and the excesses of the preceding (but long-gone) American-backed regime. Another example of history written in the automotive landscape comes to us today from The BBC, which hosts a slideshow of cars from the Gaza Strip.

Mahfouz Caberetti is like any other classic car nut: he’s deeply proud of his still-running, classic Oldsmobile, and he gains intense satisfaction from wrestling with the wiring on his 1961 Mercedes. Unlike western car enthusiasts though, he must reckon with an Israeli blockade of Gaza, which prevents him from obtaining the spare parts he needs to keep his impressive collection of old iron running. And keeping these old cars running is more than just a hobby for Caberetti. Gazans young and old live under intense pressure and hopelessness, he says. Fixing old cars gives residents, especially teenagers, an escape from their 140 square-mile pressure cooker; it takes their minds off the constant stress of their situation. Though the travails of life in Gaza might be hard for American car nuts to fully understand, this escape into the simple pleasure of working on old machinery is a universal coping mechanism, crossing all lines of race, class and culture. And this rare point of common enthusiasm reveals our differences to be much smaller than we might otherwise imagine. In short, classic cars have succeeded in building cross-cultural bridges where 40 years of political negotiation have failed. That’s something every car nut should be extremely proud of. [Make sure to check out the slideshow, complete with commentary from Caberetti at The BBC’s website, Hat Tip: reader Ron Lason]



Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Ronnie Schreiber Ronnie Schreiber on Apr 16, 2010
    Unlike western car enthusiasts though, he must reckon with an Israeli blockade of Gaza, which prevents him from obtaining the spare parts he needs to keep his impressive collection of old iron running. It should be pointed out that Egyptians also control their border with Gaza pretty rigorously (well, when they aren't taking bribes to ignore the hundreds of smuggling tunnels under that same border). The Egyptian authorities frequently close the border crossing at Rafah. However, if the Gazans can smuggle in rockets and missiles which Hamas and others use to bombard Israeli civilians, I'm sure getting a carburettor for a '58 Oldsmobile shouldn't be a problem. And keeping these old cars running is more than just a hobby for Caberetti. Gazans young and old live under intense pressure and hopelessness, he says. Fixing old cars gives residents, especially teenagers, an escape from their 140 square-mile pressure cooker; it takes their minds off the constant stress of their situation. You think Israelis don't live under intense pressure and despair? In short, classic cars have succeeded in building cross-cultural bridges where 40 years of political negotiation have failed. Cross-cultural bridges? So Mahfouz Caberetti regularly invites Jewish car enthusiasts over to his garage to talk cars? This story is more about the BBC echoing the Palestinian narrative of being perpetual victims than about cars. Not just cars, either. There’s the West-Eastern Divan Youth Orchestra as well: Like Bridges For Peace and other similar groups, that orchestra was founded by a (leftist) Jew, Daniel Berenboim. When such groups start being founded by Arabs and Muslims I'll think that the situation has changed. We're supposed to feel sympathetic to a guy who has a hard time getting parts for his old car. For a long time Israelis couldn't buy Nissans or Toyotas because those companies adhered to the Arab boycott of Israel. Malcolm Bricklin started doing business with Subaru (he was the first US distributor of that brand) because he wanted to import Japanese cars into Israel and discovered that the big Japanese car companies boycotted Israel.
  • Edward Niedermeyer Edward Niedermeyer on Apr 16, 2010

    Ingvar +1

    It looks like this topic is too heated for the conversation to stay car-centered. No real surprise there. In the interests of preventing a flame war, I'm going to close comments now. We have a good smattering of diverse viewpoints so far, and we've all learned the most important lesson of all: the bigger the problem, the less talking about it seems to help. Maybe we should just watch this and sing along instead.

  • TheMrFreeze That new Ferrari looks nice but other than that, nothing.And VW having to put an air-cooled Beetle in its display to try and make the ID.Buzz look cool makes this classic VW owner sad 😢
  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
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