A hunt for unique Soviet cars shows renewed interest to the era

There is more than the great four: Volga, Zhiguli, Gaz or Moskvich

25.Jan.22 2:09 PM
By Shawn Highstraw
Photo ZIL history

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A hunt for unique Soviet cars shows renewed interest to the era

Volga, Zhiguli, Gaz or Moskvich. Those are the most widespread car brands during the Soviet era. But they aren't alone and the mass produced cars aren't in the collector's demand. It is not a wonder to find some decently looking - and performing vehicle. And that's why many seek russian old cars for sale.

These serial models were once sold to private owners, but today all of it have been preserved in small or even scanty quantities. The fashion for retro cars is on the rise now. The most affordable collectible cars, of course, are domestic. This, of course, is not about representative member trucks ZILas and Seagulls, which were made in small quantities and not sold to private owners. By the way, there are a lot of them left, if we take them in relation to the number of built ones. But they have been exclusive since birth, and therefore are still rare and fabulously expensive today.

In 1941-1942, only 193 such machines were assembled. Today, one preserved, carefully restored copy is known. But he is definitely original he has been known since Soviet times, when he participated in the parades of retro equipment. Then, by the way, it was said that during the war Marshal Konev was driven by this car. GAS-11-73 an upgraded version of the "emki" with a 6-cylinder 76-horsepower engine, modified suspension and other details. The model never became mass-produced, in 1940-1946. little by little, only 1177 copies were collected. There are no more than a dozen known survivors. Moreover, most of the cars are so much altered that they do not even need restoration, but rather reconstruction. 0 Source: st1.zr.ru ZIS-101 is the first Soviet serial executive limousine. We made relatively many cars 8066 and another 675 upgraded ZIS-101A. This, by the way, is a record for passenger cars of the Moscow plant. ZIS-101 units also fell to private owners. For example, the writer Alexei Tolstoy was driven in such a car in the late 1930s. Today, there are probably only a couple dozen limousines left. Almost everything is in private collections. The cost of restoration... it's scary to say!

In 1941, the closed KIM-10-50 and KIM-10-51 convertibles went into production. Nine or ten copies have been preserved. The convertible is one and represents a poor set of body parts. Four or five cars are known to be in good condition, including three in museums in Moscow and the Urals. Moskvich-400-420A is a convertible based on the first Moskvich. In 1948-1952, 17,744 cars were manufactured, which seems to be quite a lot. But many simply rotted away, roofs were welded on others in ancient times, some fell victim to tuning enthusiasts. There are dozens of decently preserved cars today, hardly more than a hundred. Well-restored even less. GAZ-M20 Victory convertible. In 1949-1953, 14,222 cars were assembled. But many ended up in government offices, and some even in a taxi. And such copies, as you know, were not taken care of. Therefore, there are also few open Victories today. Alterations from standard sedans periodically pop up, but this is a separate story.

Moskvich-423/423N the first Soviet mass station wagon. Cars of the first generation with a 35-horsepower Moskvich-402 engine were made in 1957-1958. only 1525 pieces. Whether the more or less original samples have been preserved is unclear, since the owners, following the factory, constantly improving serial models, improved their copies. Muscovites-423N with an engine of 45 hp and a different finish (there were several variants of it) made much more 29,562. But a lot of people got into state institutions, which did not contribute to safety. Therefore, any station wagon of the 423 series is now a rarity.

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