Cuba's motoring timewarp in pictures

A car, which will soon be receiving a paint job, is driven on Havana's Revolution Square May 26, 2011. REUTERS/Desmond Boylan (CUBA - Tags: SOCIETY TRANSPORT CITYSCAPE)

Fishermen drive towards the coast carrying their rods and an inflated inner tube in the boot on the outskirts of Havana July 26, 2011. REUTERS/Desmond Boylan (CUBA - Tags: SOCIETY)

People drive an old car past the Capitol building in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2006. The Cuban government sought to reassure citizens after Fidel Castro temporarily ceded power for the first time in 47 years, releasing a statement from the world's longest-serving head of government saying his health is stable, his spirits good and the defense of the island guaranteed. (AP Photo/ Javier Galeano)

Until now, only pre-1959 cars could be freely bought and sold in Cuba, which explains why the streets resemble a virtual time warp. However, a new law will give Cuban citizens more freedom to buy and sell newer cars. Image: Reuters.

A row of veteran cars are a common sight in the streets of Cuba

Until now, only pre-1959 cars could be freely bought and sold in Cuba, which explains why the streets resemble a virtual time warp. However, a new law will give Cuban citizens more freedom to buy and sell newer cars. Image: Reuters.

A taxi driver takes passengers in a classic car as people line up to buy a cup of coffee from a vendor's home, formerly the RCA Victor building in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday July 13, 2011. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

Until now, only pre-1959 cars could be freely bought and sold in Cuba, which explains why the streets resemble a virtual time warp. However, a new law will give Cuban citizens more freedom to buy and sell newer cars. Image: AP.

A 1958 Dodge car for sale is driven on Havana's seafront boulevard 'El Malecon' September 14, 2011. Cuba is pressing ahead with plans to revamp its economy and fine tune its one party political system. Cubans are pressing for quick adoption of measures allowing them to buy and sell homes and cars for the first time in 50 years and improving food production and distribution, but not others that would eliminate gratuities such as a food ration and cut the state labor force by 20 percent. Writing on car reads: 'For Sale'. REUTERS/Desmond Boylan (CUBA - Tags: TRANSPORT BUSINESS SOCIETY)

Men carry a ladder outside a car used as private licenced taxi in Havana August 24, 2011. Cuban President Raul Castro has sounded increasingly impatient in recent months with the slow implementation of his economic reforms, which he publicly blames mostly on bureaucratic sloth and resistance to change. REUTERS/Desmond Boylan (CUBA - Tags: SOCIETY BUSINESS TRANSPORT)

Until now, only pre-1959 cars could be freely bought and sold in Cuba, which explains why the streets resemble a virtual time warp. However, a new law will give Cuban citizens more freedom to buy and sell newer cars. Image: Reuters.

Privately owned taxis are driven in Havana September 13, 2010. Cuba will let more than 500,000 state employees go by next March and try to move most to non-state jobs in the biggest shift to the private sector since the 1960s, the official Cuban labor federation said on Monday. According to Communist party sources who have seen the detailed plan to "reorganize the labor force," Cuba expects to issue 250,000 new licenses for self-employment by the close of 2011, almost twice the current number, and create 200,000 other non-state jobs. REUTERS/Desmond Boylan (CUBA - Tags: EMPLOYMENT BUSINESS TRANSPORT POLITICS)