Mark Crowel Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 (edited) Please send a private message to ask for website link. Thank you, Mark Crowel Edited July 14, 2009 by Mark Crowel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HotRodaSaurus Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Two Americans have started a forum about Russian cars: http://russiancars.lefora.com/headlines/ Hi Mark, I'm no expert but personally I think Russian cars are more 'interesting', than anything else to get the pulse racing. Many of the luxury types were based on out of date US models I have been led to believe and were either great or terrible. The smaller cars! err 2 stroke Moskvitches, Lada's based on Fiats and other stuff like that. I think I have the copy of Motor trend where the guy sneaks one back to the USA under the Ruskies noses. An interesting post, thanks. Though I wonder what would have happened if you had an interest in Russian cars in the McCarthy era As a side note, a few years back, here in the UK someone had imported one of those Trabants and tried to sell it for around £10 000 Was advertised as a unique opportunity to own the only one in England around the time the wall came down. Now there are lots of the darn things GRRRRrrrr John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Here's a great example of fine Russian engineering and styling... :lol: (Yes, it's a REAL Russian car!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 And something a little more current from the Eastern Bloc... :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxer Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Here's a great example of fine Russian engineering and styling... (Yes, it's a REAL Russian car!) It just needs to be put down in the weeds a bit ...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplehornies Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 And something a little more current from the Eastern Bloc... :huh: Thats nothing to LAUGH about Harry...thats the NEW IMPALA from Goverment Motors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Crowel Posted June 13, 2009 Author Share Posted June 13, 2009 Harry, I believe that "bullet car" was an experimental car from GAZ (Gorky Automobile Factory) in the 1930's. Everyone: thanks for your responses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Crowel Posted June 13, 2009 Author Share Posted June 13, 2009 Hi Mark, I'm no expert but personally I think Russian cars are more 'interesting', than anything else to get the pulse racing. Many of the luxury types were based on out of date US models I have been led to believe and were either great or terrible. The smaller cars! err 2 stroke Moskvitches, Lada's based on Fiats and other stuff like that. I think I have the copy of Motor trend where the guy sneaks one back to the USA under the Ruskies noses. An interesting post, thanks. Though I wonder what would have happened if you had an interest in Russian cars in the McCarthy era As a side note, a few years back, here in the UK someone had imported one of those Trabants and tried to sell it for around £10 000 Was advertised as a unique opportunity to own the only one in England around the time the wall came down. Now there are lots of the darn things GRRRRrrrr John John, Many Russian cars are derived from European or American cars. Their suspensions were strengthened and their road clearance increased, to cope with Russian roads. Also, modifications were made for use in extremely cold weather. The first Moskvich cars were derived from prewar Opel Kadettes. Second generation Moskviches (1956-1964) were probably of Russian origin, but copied Western European styling from the early '50s. These had four-stroke in-line four cylinder engines. Third generation Mossies were based on Fiats. The website has an article about an American who restored a 1958 Moskvich. He bought it from a California junkyard! The ZIM limousine (1950-1959) looks like a direct copy of the '49 Buick. The ZIS 110 limo (late '40's to 1958) was made directly from 1942 Packard dies. The GAZ-13 Chaika limo (1959-1981) primarily copied the 1956 Packard, with 1956 Lincoln influenced rear quarters. Ladas were derived from Fiats. Volgas seem to be the favorite Russian cars. For a three-part article on the Volga, please click the russiancars link in my signature. Trabants are from East Germany, with two-stroke engines, and plastic bodies made from resin- reinforced papermache and/or rag fibers! The bright blue tuner in Harry's post on this page is a Trabant. You can make a present-day Volga Siber from a 2001-2006 Chrysler Sebring or '01-'06 Dodge Stratus. Change the grille, the badges, beef up the suspension, and you have a Volga Siber-literally. GAZ (Gorky Automobile Factory, Gorky, Russia) bought the tooling for that generation of Sebring/Stratus: platform, engine, body, everything. There is an article on the website about this. It would be interesting to see someone do that conversion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HotRodaSaurus Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 Hi Mark, I do actually find Russian engineering interesting, as you say to cope with extreme weather and road conditions throughout the eastern block, the US designs would have to be considerably re-enginered. That good ol' Lada, was based on the Fiat(124?) has been really run through the mill. I have a workshop manual for one somewhere but it called a Polski Fiat. How good were those Russian Limo's I can only judge by an episode of Top Gear I saw recently They did a test of some Soviet cars at Greenham Common, a disused US Airbase in the UK. Another Top Gear program said he owned a Mercedes Benz 600, a present from Willie Brandt, German Chancellor at the time. Whether he actually used it I dont know. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Crowel Posted June 14, 2009 Author Share Posted June 14, 2009 (edited) John, The Lada was based on the 124, yes. They were sold in Canada, at least until 1989, the year of my Lada brochure. I don't know if they still are. From what litttle I've read, the limos were of good quality, and on a par with anything comparable from the West. They would have to have been good, as they were for party officials, KGB, visiting dignitaries, etc. The lower priced Russian cars are said to be underpowered. I don't know whether they were reliable, but they were designed to be easy to fix. Russia doesn't have many service garages, so owners often have to do their own repairs. Kyle Keeton, the founder of Russian Cars Forum, is an American living permanently in Moscow. His car was a 1987 Volga 24-10 sedan. (It was recently stolen and destroyed.) He claims it was the best car he's ever owned. He liked its ruggedness. He bought it a few years ago for $900, and since then, had put that much into it for repairs. Not bad for a twenty-two year old car. Edited July 12, 2009 by Mark Crowel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lownslow Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 i wouldnt mind owning one of these rare GAZ M20s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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