Russian Cars

Nobody can ever say the Russians made bad cars. This little Zapor, a car more than thirty years old, can still rough it with the best of them. In fact, it can rough it better than most modern cars.

This particular example, looks completely standard. From the look of it, it’s had a pretty hard life although it doesn’t show it. One thing about Soviet cars, they all had amazing ground clearance — it sounds stupid, but it matters. They had to handle the snow and the rough roads. Today, every car maker charges more their “rugged” model: Subaru Outback, Volvo XC70, every SUV. Usually, all these cars, are simple jacked up versions of the standard model. . . . How much do you think it would cost to get a ZAZ in Canada?

Imagine if Ford, GM, Toyota, and Honda got together and agreed on a strict numeric naming system for all of their cars. Then imagine BMW, Ferrari, Rolls Royce, and every other car maker you can think of joined the system. It would be a little odd wouldn’t it? But that’s exactly what happened to the Russian car industry in 1945. Every car had to be identified by a series of numebers. It made for some pretty romantic sounding cars: the VAZ 2101, or the wonderful ZIL 4104! Here is the “Old Numbering System” which was in place from 1945 until 1966 when it was replaced by the “New Numbering System.”

Click through for the exciting “New Numbering System.” (more…)

Yeah, I don’t think that sticker is fooling anyone. The “Street Hooligan” slogan emblazoned on the windowscreen is more believable though:

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