Cuban cars get spruced up with help from Fla. shop

HIALEAH, Fla. (AP) -- Here's an American business story: A Russian man who grew up in Cuba opens a store in Florida selling parts for Russian cars in Cuba.

Fabian Zakharov has sold parts for hundreds of vintage Lada and Moskvich cars that still fill the roads of the communist island. Most Cubans can't afford new cars, so having affordable replacement parts is vital for keeping them on the road.

One of Zakharov's customers is Cuban-American Frank Torres, who helped his cousin in Cuba rebuild a crumbling 20-year-old Lada.

Friends and relatives living in the U.S. buy the parts from Zakharov's store. They then send or take the items during trips to the island.

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)