Show us yer Soviet beauties

Author
Discussion

LRDefender

Original Poster:

239 posts

15 months

Sunday 21st April
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I keep on seeing some older cars from Eastern Bloc manufacturers and I think some of them are quite cool so I though I'd share a few pictures of them. I don't know the different makes so if you know who made them please share.

Proper old school Soviet classic and in original condition



Some really interesting trucks out in the countryside and still doing a job.




This one is stunning and I guess it has been restored. No idea on the make.






Dapster

7,443 posts

187 months

Sunday 21st April
quotequote all
LRDefender said:
That looks like a GAZ M21, specifically the '62 - '70 series 3.


Rumdoodle

944 posts

27 months

Sunday 21st April
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They do like their classics in Georgia.

I'm interpreting "beauties" quite flexibly...
This is a Volga saloon emerging from the winter in western Siberia. You can see dents in the roof where people had inadvertently been walking over it before seven months' worth of snow had started to melt

This is the same model soldiering on in Kabul about ten years later

The ubiquitous UAZ vans and jeeps in Murghab, Tajikistan

the Shurabad Pass, Tajikistan

and a long way up in the Hindu Kush, Afghanistan

Moskvitch 412 in Karakul, Tajikistan

and Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

and an armoured ZIS 115 outside the National Museum in Kabul (with two Rolls-Royces in front of it)


reddiesel

2,471 posts

54 months

Sunday 21st April
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My old man was a proper seventies trade unionist and we had the Morning Star and the Tribune through the letterbox each day I think apart from the weekend . (feel free to correct me on that as it was 50 years ago and my memory is perhaps playing tricks )
I remember a local schoolteacher up the road owning a Wartburg Knight and a Moskovich in quick succession and the old man didn’t fancy them labelling them for the Peasants . The irony wasn’t lost on the old Grandfather who reckoned my old man was another deluded left wing halfwit leading the Country to wreck and ruin .
I know absolutely nothing about these vehicles and I wonder now if there was perhaps some Sales Initiative or relaxing of Import Duties back in the Seventies because by the Eighties they seemed to disappear .
The Morning Star and the Tribune suffered the same fate at least in our house though I still miss its Sports Page


Rumdoodle

944 posts

27 months

Sunday 21st April
quotequote all
reddiesel said:
My old man was a proper seventies trade unionist and we had the Morning Star and the Tribune through the letterbox each day I think apart from the weekend . (feel free to correct me on that as it was 50 years ago and my memory is perhaps playing tricks )
I remember a local schoolteacher up the road owning a Wartburg Knight and a Moskovich in quick succession and the old man didn’t fancy them labelling them for the Peasants . The irony wasn’t lost on the old Grandfather who reckoned my old man was another deluded left wing halfwit leading the Country to wreck and ruin .
I know absolutely nothing about these vehicles and I wonder now if there was perhaps some Sales Initiative or relaxing of Import Duties back in the Seventies because by the Eighties they seemed to disappear .
The Morning Star and the Tribune suffered the same fate at least in our house though I still miss its Sports Page
Maybe, but limited appeal and complete lack of development wouldn't have helped. I briefly possessed one of the last Lada Rivas sold in the UK, a 1993 K plate that was given to me by my sister-in-law, who had been given it by another relative. It was probably the cheapest new car in the UK in '93, around £4k I think. By the time I had it ten years later, it was still perfectly useable and quite an endearing old thing. I was actually caught speeding in, but wriggled out on a technicality. By then, we were running out of people to give it to, so I think it may have gone as a p/x on a scrappage scheme deal.

LRDefender

Original Poster:

239 posts

15 months

Sunday 21st April
quotequote all
Rumdoodle said:
They do like their classics in Georgia.

I'm interpreting "beauties" quite flexibly...
This is a Volga saloon emerging from the winter in western Siberia. You can see dents in the roof where people had inadvertently been walking over it before seven months' worth of snow had started to melt

This is the same model soldiering on in Kabul about ten years later

The ubiquitous UAZ vans and jeeps in Murghab, Tajikistan

the Shurabad Pass, Tajikistan

and a long way up in the Hindu Kush, Afghanistan

Moskvitch 412 in Karakul, Tajikistan

and Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

and an armoured ZIS 115 outside the National Museum in Kabul (with two Rolls-Royces in front of it)
Smashing photo's!!

You've got to love those old UAZ vans and I still see lots of them about. I see loads of old interesting stuff in Armenia but Lada's are by far the most regularly seen car there. I think most Soviet cars were built so that they could be repaired easily and by anyone competent, quality control however.....

LRDefender

Original Poster:

239 posts

15 months

Sunday 21st April
quotequote all
Dapster said:
That looks like a GAZ M21, specifically the '62 - '70 series 3.

Good spot. Must have been a half decent (Soviet) car in its day.

williamp

19,556 posts

280 months

Sunday 21st April
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Fessia fancier

1,176 posts

190 months

Sunday 21st April
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“They are always looking to purchase prestige cars”!

TCEvo

13,470 posts

209 months

Sunday 21st April
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williamp said:
Think that one belongs to the chap who owns that dealership - remember there being some Insta posts about it when it was new.

I'd love a Niva... probably not £21k's worth of love though, will have one at some stage.

indigochim

1,660 posts

137 months

Sunday 21st April
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The Green Coupe looks to be a Gaz m20 Probeda it reminded me of a Tatra I'd seen previously 603 (rear engined air cooled v8) but completely different when I searched. The Eastern block certainly had some interesting cars and tech.

indigochim

1,660 posts

137 months

Sunday 21st April
quotequote all
Some from a trip around the Balkans.

I really do like the Niva, not £20k like but they look a great shed. I think they either still make them or did quite recently.



A cool logging truck.


Some old military van a couple of guys that took us zip wireing had, was a great place 2x over 500m runs with little fuss or health and safety.



Some old shed getting filled up.


I thought this looked ace like a large VW bus and would have made a great camper. Although I suspect painfully slow.



6 wheeler too the same place had a pickup version as well. It looks similar to one already posted above aside from these having the extra axle.

Panamax

5,066 posts

41 months

Sunday 21st April
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For those who are interested, a couple of good books on this subject. Both marked as Currently Unavailable but well worth tracking down,

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cars-Soviet-Union-Definit...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trucks-Soviet-Union-Defin...

Turbobanana

6,738 posts

208 months

Sunday 21st April
quotequote all
indigochim said:
Some old military van a couple of guys that took us zip wireing had, was a great place 2x over 500m runs with little fuss or health and safety.
Not Soviet, but an Austrian Steyr-Puch Pinzgauer, a highly capable piece of kit, some of which were made in Guildford

Turbobanana

6,738 posts

208 months

Sunday 21st April
quotequote all
indigochim said:
The Green Coupe looks to be a Gaz m20 Probeda it reminded me of a Tatra I'd seen previously 603 (rear engined air cooled v8) but completely different when I searched. The Eastern block certainly had some interesting cars and tech.
Right idea, wrong spelling. Pobeda, meaning victory.

Jag_NE

3,099 posts

107 months

Sunday 21st April
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Love seeing old Soviet stuff, be it cars, buildings, watches etc.
There is some good YouTube content which includes interviews with older folks, obviously they have interesting things to say but many seemed to prefer the predictability of communist life, where housing, healthcare, entertainment and food was pretty much guaranteed.

Dapster

7,443 posts

187 months

Sunday 21st April
quotequote all
indigochim said:
Some old shed getting filled up.
Zastava Yugo 511. Went to Belgrade in Yugoslavia in the late 80’s and they were bloody everywhere! We were lucky to get a few in the UK too…. Makes your cheese grater look sophisticated but they were cheap and unkillable.

indigochim

1,660 posts

137 months

Monday 22nd April
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Thanks for the facts re my post, Interesting. I did a search on the red 6 wheeler and it looks to be a IMV (Industrija Motornih Vozil) 2200d manufactured in Slovenia and that particular variant would use a 2.2l Mercedes diesel engine. Also available with either a Renault or BL engine and also with a single rear axel

CivicDuties

6,131 posts

37 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
A Polski FIAT getting some love and attention, from my trip to Montenegro 2 years ago. Also some Zastava/Yugo built FIATs and an East German Wartburg, with slightly worse prospects.






indigochim

1,660 posts

137 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
I hope these are in the spirit that the OP was after as I realise most if what I've posted are in face not Soviet but Eastern block.

A Trio of Tatra's






This is what I'd mistaken the OP's Pobeda for.




I read that a predecessor to the White 600 was from known as the Czech secret weapon during WWII as
Wikipedia said:
I because it killed so many Nazi officers during World War II that the German Army eventually forbade its officers from driving the Tatra"
Edited by indigochim on Monday 22 April 13:55