Tires and treats: an unlikely pairing from Cuba

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There’s a lot to see in this picture: an early van, a sharp-suited man, a not so happy-looking boy sitting inside a spare tire, some advertisements and, representing Michelin, the much-loved Bibendum. When and where was it taken? We don’t know but Santa Clara, which can be seen signwritten on the van’s side panel, is a place in California. The palm trees might well fit in there.

It’s not American, though. The Gran Fabrica de Chocolates, Galleticas y Confituras of La Estrella could be found in Havana, Cuba, and it wasn’t just any sweets manufacturer. At one point the factory employed some 1,500 Cubans, with its own chocolate truffles, bon-bons, canned sweets, biscuits and jams, as well as Chiclets chewing gum, being distributed around the country by its own fleet of almost a hundred lorries. This must have been one of them, proudly displaying the the firm's association with the famous Michelin tire company. Do you recognize the van?

It seems La Estrella went out of business in the 1950s, but as with many things in Cuba, the old factory appears to have remained pretty much untouched since. Could any of the 100 or so lorries survive, too?

Words: Jeroen Booij; picture: Isle of Man Museum
 

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