Filed under: Culture, Soviet Steel | Tags: cars, Jalopnik, Moskvich, Rally, Rally Cars, Russian Cars, Russian Rally Cars, Soviet cars, Soviet Steel
Moskvich Rally Racing Team Circa 1960
Jalopnik has done a couple of great posts about Russian cars lately. But the best, by far, has been this one: Moskvichs as great Soviet Rally cars. Turns out, they were huge on the Soviet rally circuit in the 60s and continue to generate enough nostalgia for a few diehards to stage historic rallies in the 90s.
The website is in Russian, but you don’t need to understand Russian to check out the awesome collection of vintage Soviet Rally pictures they’ve got: SOVIET RALLY
I’m so glad these books exist. Click through for more books and descriptions: (more…)
Is that a Volga like the ones the KGB used to use? The car looks great . . . not so much the two dudes in it though. US-Russian leaders have a long history of vehicular diplomacy. That will have to wait for another post though.
Filed under: Culture, Soviet Steel | Tags: cars, communism, Lada, Niva, Russian Cars, top gear, Volga, Zapor
The men at BBC’s Top Gear have decided to find out if the commies ever managed to produce a “good” car. Of course, they rounded up a Niva, Zapor, Lada (Fiat 124), Volga, and some other over-steeled, underpowered cars. They did unfortunately miss the Kopeyka, which is a shame, and they didn’t give the Zapor enough time. second part of the video after the jump: (more…)
Volga; a marque fondly remembered by Putin, but less so by Russians old enough to know that when a black Volga was parked outside your house, it was too late to run. The famous Russian maker of luxury cars for the people, announced in 2006 that production would end in two years. They could not compete against BMW and Audi.
Volga became a symbol for both the best and worst of the USSR. (more…)
This stopped me dead in my tracks when I saw this. It’s a (GAZ) Volga Coupe, and I love it. Apparently it was Krushchev’s favourite ride (in sedan version). A car has no right to be this stylish. Even after all these years, the design still looks great. Between this and those ZIL limos, it seems that Russians know how to make better use of black paint and chrome than the rest of the auto industry put together. An utterly stunning car. Pictured here in Red Square :
(GAZ) Volga Coupe
Click through for the story behind this surprising car (it’s not what you think) (more…)
The venerable Russian ZIL (Zavod imeni Likhacheva). The wheels of choice for every self respecting Russian leader from Stalin to Putin. Amazingly, the solid ZIL is still technically the “official Russian limousine,” although production has slowed to almost zilch. Putin’s imposing looking bullet-proof ZIL limo:
Check out this tour of the massive abandoned ZIL factory somewhere outside Moscow: (more…)
It’s real and it’s here. It’s a classic struggle of East vs. West. A renewal of tension between the two old enemies has once again ignited fierce passions on both sides of the Atlantic. There is nothing to gain, and everything to loose. Who will win the drag race?
ZAZ vs Porsche:
“If you run out of petrol, just use lighter fluid” -ZAZ. Also, old stuff seems to be cool. Car companies are using Soviet nostalgia to sell new cars?! How many levels of irony is that? (more…)
Putin looks lovingly at his 1972 Zaporozhets
“The same name “ZAZ” has a strange onomatopeic effect, like a mosquito…for the Russians, this brand is synonim of poor confort and performances.”
AutoZAZ, or “Zaporizhia Automobile Building Plan,” began building Fiat 600 copies in 1958. ZAZ was supposed to build cheap, mass-produced cars for the people – similar in concept to the VW beetle or Ford Model T. It was the cheapest Soviet car on the market. Sometimes they were given to veterans for free by the state.
ZAZ is best remembered for the Zaporozhets. Thanks to their distinctive appearance, they were given many nicknames including “Zapor” (constipation in Russian?) and “Malysh” (Kiddy). More photos and a commercial: (more…)
