Communist Cars

[Populuxe]

How about a thread dedicated to the car of Russia, China, the Eastern Bloc countries and wherever else Communism has raised it's nail head to the hammer of Capitalism?

Here a couple to start us out. The UAZ-469 was created to replace an older light military vehicle, the GAZ-69. It was introduced in 1971, it continued in production for the Russian Army and allied nations until 2011. The civilian version can still be bought new as the Hunter. It originally came with a 2450cc inline-4 that made about 71 hp to lug around approximately 3700 lbs (1678 kgs). The current 2693cc engine produces a significantly more robust 112 hp. The main selling points of the truck are it's incredible simplicity, reliability, and ability to run on fuel as feeble at 72 octane (though you should really not go below 76 for any extended period of time.)

UAZ-469/B


UAZ-3151/31512


UAZ 315195 Hunter

Next is the Zaporozhets, made in the Ukraine by ZAZ. Looking at the success of city cars in Europe, the Minavtroprom decided to built their own, looking at the Fiat 600 as their benchmark. The engine was a 746cc air-cooled V4 in the back of the car. The original ZAZ-965/A/AE was a success. It was designed with suicide doors to make them easier for the elderly and disabled to enter and exit. So many cars were built with mobility enhancements for the infirm, it took up as much as 25% of the production volume. The AE was a more luxurious version for the export market, and they got a 887cc version of the engine. They were produced for ten years, from 1960 to 1969 and were the cheapest cars available in the Soviet Union.

ZAZ 965A


ZAZ 965AE Lahti

A newer bigger Zaporozhets came out in 1966, the ZAZ-966. It was still an air-cooled V4 in the back, but now it was a full 1200cc. The styling was clearly inspired by the first generation Chevrolet Corvair. It was updated to the 968 and later the 968M which removed the "ears" that directed cooling air to the engine. The car was built from 1966 to 1994.

ZAZ-966


ZAZ 968


ZAZ 986M

 

[ScottPuss20]

This is probably the most widespread communist car:

I've seen a few here in Australia... For some reason.

 

[GranTurNismo]

Škoda 1100 OHC Prototype, 1957. Škoda has recently celebrated the 60th anniversary of their diminutive lightweight sports car. Two of the fiberglass bodied open-top racers were built but due to the difficult political situation in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the cars were limited to competing in communist countries.

 

[Volksauto]

The Zastava 750 is a Yugoslav built version of the Fiat 600 and is powered by a 767cc rear-mounted inline-four. Zastava Automobiles was originally a division of the Zastava arms company, and the company began their long-standing partnership with Fiat in late 1954. The Zastava 750 was produced from 1955-1985, and measures 3″ longer than the original Fiat. This example is equipped with a 4-speed manual with an un-syncronized first gear.

This car was for sale literally a few miles from me. It was brought to the 2019 Milwaukee Concours and the asking price was $5,500. The car only has 43k miles on it. The seller purchased this example late last year in Yugoslavia from a former Zastava employee, who performed the restoration. It sold last for $5,700 on Bring a Trailer. Too bad I didn’t snatch it up. The dealership that sold this car is called CommieCars in Milwaukee: https://www.commiecars.com/
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1983-zastava-750/
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2017/07/17/hemmings-find-of-the-day-1983-zastava-750

An Italian built Fiat 600 would be a lot more expensive in the US and less rare.

 

[Inferno251]

We do have a thread for Russian cars too if anyone's interested
Either way, I remember this beauty form the 'Cars you didn't know existed' thread:

Now this one is bound to be a rare sight on the road... any kind of road;

The Yugo GTV Convertible. Found this one as I was finding my way through Popular Mechanics (incredibly) vast archive on Google Books, as part of a "Imports '89" feature. Only 75 were ever made, and it was supposed to be Yugo's ticket into great US success. Except they probably forgot about the brand's reputation (or lack thereof, depending on how you see it) and its financial difficulties. So, the 'vert was left with about 75 cars made and the US division went belly up in 1991 (while the hometown factory got blown up to pieces thanks to the war in Serbia).

To be frank, I know a few reasons why the Convertible wasn't that successful; first off, the Yugo brand itself. Secondly, the price; Popular Mechanics's estimated price was $8300. A Pontiac LeMans Aerocoupe cost you about $6714. It may sound like a farfetched comparison, but more people in the US would be willing to spend $6k on a rebadged 2-door Opel Kadett than blow $8k on a Yugo...

I do have a book in storage about communist cars. I'll try and find it

 

[Rage Racer]

This is probably the most widespread communist car:
View attachment 913759
I've seen a few here in Australia... For some reason.

I see it's a version of the Niva facelifted in 1994, so it's not exactly a 'communist' car.

Anyway, the Niva is still in production for over 40 years (since 1977), but now it is officially called 'Lada 4x4' because GM took the copyright of Niva trademark for Chevrolet Niva (which was initially Lada's project of the original Niva's replacement that eventually became a joint venture of VAZ and GM).

The early Lada Niva (1977-1994) with Soviet license plates:

AutoReview, a Russian car magazine, tests and compares the 1977 Niva and 2017 Lada 4x4 on the Niva's 40th birthday.


The Niva may be called the world's first compact SUV with comfortable, full-metal and hard-top body. The Range Rover, however, was made earlier but it's not so compact.

It was also the only Soviet car officially available in Japan.

 

[VXR]

Škoda 1100 OHC Prototype, 1957. Škoda has recently celebrated the 60th anniversary of their diminutive lightweight sports car. Two of the fiberglass bodied open-top racers were built but due to the difficult political situation in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the cars were limited to competing in communist countries.

That number 9 car is very appealing.

 

[7up747]

Similar.

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/russian-cars.131905/page-2#post-10963323

 

[Rage Racer]

Similar.

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/russian-cars.131905/page-2#post-10963323

Similar but different.
‘Communist cars’ aren’t Soviet cars only, they also include cars from Poland (PPR), East Germany (GDR), Czechoslovakia and more.

While ‘Russian cars’ include post-Soviet Russian cars (such as Lada Vesta, Aurus Senat, UAZ Patriot, Marussia B2, BR Engineering BR1, etc) and even pre-communist (the Tsars era) cars like Russobalt.

 

[Volksauto]

1966 Trabant P603.

 

[Populuxe]

More commie goodness: The Škoda 110 R coupe and related rally versions. The basic 110 R used an 1107cc four in the back of the car. It was punched out to 1300cc for the homologation special 130 R. And then there were two one-offs, an 1800cc 180 RS and 2000cc 200 RS.


Škoda 110 R


Škoda 130 R


Škoda 180 RS


Škoda 200 RS

 

[Volksauto]

1948 Tatra T87:

 

[CSMDuty11]

It was also the only Soviet car officially available in Japan.

Oh, so it was, then?

Now I wonder how that 2101 got there:

 

[Rage Racer]

GAZ M20 Pobeda (1946-1958).
One of my favourite Soviet cars, and the first Soviet car that was made from scratch (all previous were either licensed or unlicensed copies of foreign cars or derived from those). My grandfather used to own one.
Was also license-built in Poland and North Korea.

Cabrio version, known as M20B.
The detachable roof wasn't a luxury feature, though. Just after the WW2, the country was short on sheet metal, and a large number of cars were made in 4-door phaeton variant to save the materials.

M20V, a facelifted version produced from 1955 to the end of Pobeda's production:

A race version I already posted in another thread (ONE of race versions, there were more, different race Pobedas too):

GAZ M20 Pobeda Sport Roadster 1956 (replica)

FSO Warszawa M20 (1951-1957), a licensed copy of the Pobeda with some minor changes made in Poland.

GAZ M72 (1955-1958) - relatively rare (4677 were made) child of the M20 Pobeda and GAZ 69 army jeep. A 4x4 sedan designed for countryside with bad road network.

Oh, so it was, then?

Now I wonder how that 2101 got there:

Probably the same way their Mark II's, Crowns and Skylines end up in Russia, but in reverse.
On a ferry boat from Vladivostok to Sapporo, I guess...

 

[Populuxe]

Oh, wow, I would love to have one of those 4x4 M72s.

 

[Volksauto]

Oh, wow, I would love to have one of those 4x4 M72s.

Ditto.

 

[GranTurNismo]

1969 Tatra T 613 Coupé Concept

1962 Tatra T 603x by Ghia

 

[Rage Racer]

My photos from the recent "Moscow Classics" festival on Moscow Raceway.

ZAZ 968M, 968A and Moskvich 412:

GAZ M20 Pobeda:

GAZ 21 Volga (also known as M21) from the "GAZ 21 Club" gathering. My favourite Soviet car.
This is the 3rd series (produced in 1962-70) with "baleen" front grill, the most common version:

^The second series ("shark jaw" grill) of the M21, produced in 1959-62. The white Volga owned by Vladimir Putin has a grill like this.

^The leading one is the first series M21, the "star", produced in 1956-58. The rarest version. Some of them had automatic transmission (copied from the Ford-O-Matic). In decent condition, this variant can cost a good fortune today.

^3rd series GAZ 21 and some capitalist roadster (Jaguar XJS). Note the sizes.

^GAZ 24 (1967-1977 version), the next generation of Volga.

^GAZ 22 Volga (1962-70), the wagon version of the GAZ 21.

^GAZ 22B, the ambulance version of the 22.

And some more 21s:

 

[Volksauto]

I need that Red/Cream Volga.

 

[kikie]

Trabant from former communist DDR.

 

[GranTurNismo]

Not technically a communist car but it's relevant to the thread. Just learnt of the 2009 Trabant nT, a concept which attempted to revive the infamous communist East German brand Trabant with a retro-styled electric three-door wagon. The production car was supposed to launch in 2012 though it never did happen.

 

[TheHun99]

INCOMING WALL OF TEXT, BE WARNED!!!

I'm from Hungary and just like a few other members here, I have some personal experience driving or being driven in some of these miracle cars. If you don't mind, I recap here our family's car history through the years. I don't have any own photos but tried to get some similar ones.

The first 2 cars we owned were not exactly communistic but wanted to include them in the timeline because we lived in a small village in the Southwestern part of Hungary. My family still resides in the area, about 30-40 minute drive from the Croatian border.

So, the first car was a '70 Opel Kadett with automatic gearbox. I have one picture somewhere and based on it I think it was a 2-door sedan version (I'm not completely sure). One of my mom's uncles left Hungary after the '56 revolution and ended up in New Jersey in '57. He was first allowed to visit Hungary in 1970, he bought the Kadett in Germany and then my grandparents (his older sister and my grandpa) bought it from him when he returned to the States.

The next car was a '74 Oldsmobile 98 4-door hardtop. My mom's uncle died early '74 and my grandpa brought the car back to Hungary (shipped to Rotterdam, then driven to Hungary). I have a single picture of the car somewhere as a paper photo that was taken at the wedding of my parents and that's also the single photo I mentioned above of the Opel. I think it's here somewhere in the US with us but I'm not sure. I found this picture or a 2-door hardtop, ours looked like basically the same, maybe more golden brownish metallic:

By the time I was born ('78) my grandparents sold the Opel (lot of issues with the automatic) but we still had the Olds and with my father we also began our journey with the communistic cars. My dad had a blue Wartburg 353W sedan, with chrome grille and Wartburg's signature 1 liter 3-cylinder 2-stroke engine donning 45-50hp and a 4-speed gearbox with the gear stick on the steering column and it had a freewheel, too. He had two big accidents with it, once in a S-corner (https://goo.gl/maps/LqY2W7pLwyK1XiqGA) where he went in too fast and ended up on the roof and once a big deer decided to jump over the car and almost killed my mom as it was too heavy for the roof (I was in the backseat in a bassinet). It looked roughly like this one:

So, for a while we had the Olds and the Wartburg but my family decided to sell the Olds as it needed more gas than Hungary's oil reserves. A Hungarian guy living in West Berlin bought it in 1985 and we bought one of the true miracles on the East Bloc car industry: a red Dacia 1310 TX Break. Ours looked like basically the same as this one:

This car played a significant role in my driving life. The car belonged officially to my grandma and she was the main user of it. She wasn't a particularly good driver, she got her license when she was 48 and drove accordingly, using lot of slipping clutch when starting - and I mean a lot of slipping… Anyway, after a bit over 11 years it had 30k kilometers on the odo. Enter December 1996 when yours truly got his license. My mom handed me the driver duties immediately and by June `99 when we traded it in for a Citroen Xsara 1.4 (it still serves my mom btw), it had another 30k added to it. As we drove home with the Xsara, my late grandma said that we haven't even said good bye to the Dacia. I told her that I actually did, car served me well as my quasi-first car. It definitely wasn't perfect mechanically but the most distinctive feature for me was that even on 1999 the cleaning cloth was red when drying the car after a carwash LOL

Sometime during the late '80, early '90s my aunt and her domestic partner had a white VAZ-2103 or Lada 1500 - that was one good looking car and - comparatively - it went like crazy. My aunt was a rather dynamic driver at that time and she sure pushed it, enjoyed the rare occasions I could be in the car. It even had a rev counter on the dashboard, something we didn't have in our own cars, not at that time at least.

So, we had 2 Western cars in a small village during the mid-to-late '70s serving as a pinnacle of our family's automotive history. The next one arrived sometime during the end of '80s, early '90s. We still had the Wartburg, we already enjoyed the Romanian miracle, the Dacia wagon and my mom finally got her own car: another Dacia, this time a yellow 1310 TLX (4-door sedan - my parents told me that they were discussing on their way to pick up the car - you had to go to specific places at that time - what color they would want. Fortunately they didn't have to decide, all of them were yellow LOL). The TLX meant that it had a 5-speed gearbox (and a rev counter on the dash). I distinctly remember the very first time when my mom switched to 5th and announced it to my sister and me, exactly at this place: https://goo.gl/maps/XQsEUzeQt36znyXA6. Looking back it was a rather pathetic thing but that time it felt utterly cool

I never got to drive either the Wartburg or the yellow Dacia. My dad sold the Wartburg to a mason in our extended family, for whatever reason that time a lot of masons transported their crew in Wartburgs. My dad's next car was a dark blue VAZ-2105, basically like this one:

We bought it from my aunt and her partner, who had that after the white Lada and switched to an Audi 80 1.6i. I loved and still love the look of it, I remember having a big metal plate in the trunk during winters, too. Another car I never got to drive. I can't remember exactly when we sold it but when we went to Italy for a vacation in '94, we already had an Opel Kadett E 1.6 (last gen Kadett) with automatic gearbox.

The yellow Dacia returned to its homeland in the early '90. There was maybe a year or so when Romanians basically completely zeroed Hungary's Dacia stock (apart from a few, like our red estate) and brought them home. Let's just say my parents didn't drop any tears for it.

One of my great-uncles had a ZAZ-968M but I never sat in it and what's rather amazing that apart from a single time I never sat in a Trabant 601, somehow we got left out from one of the most iconic communistic cars.

Last but not least: while I drove the Dacia estate as the first car after getting my license, it wasn't the first car I ever drove. The first one was a car that my aunt brought for her daughter and I got to try it when she was prepping for her license test (in Hungary you can only drive with an actual instructor in a specially prepped car before you get your license, thus her and my practice were obviously illegal): a dark red Polski Fiat 126p, one that had its engine starter between the front seats.

During my first ever drive we had a rather full car: me, my aunt, my cousin, my grandparents. I'm 180cm tall (about 5'11'') and my feet didn't have enough place on the pedals, my aunt and my cousin are almost as tall as me, it was a fun experience though. To this date I dream about having a Polski Fiat 126p prepped like a race car, something like this: http://totalcarmagazine.com/usedcars/2013/10/21/a_polski_fiat_with_a_punch/

If you read this so far, thank you for going down memory lane with me.

 

[TheHun99]

This is probably the most widespread communist car

With all due respect, this is most certainly not true. I can't speak for other ex-East Bloc countries, but the Lada Niva wasn't the most widespread in Hungary for sure. From the Lada models the 1200 (VAZ-2101) and it's other sedan and estate brothers were way more frequent than the Niva. I don't have any statistics but you could see a ton of Trabant 601s, Wartburgs 353s, Dacia 1310s, Skodas (105 & 120) and Mousetrucks (Polski Fiat 126p), not just Ladas. Others like the Zaporozhets, Polski Fiat 125p, Volga or Moskvich were much less visible in my country.

 

[TheHun99]

I'm a bit surprised that no one mentioned the Melkus RS1000, an East German sports car based on the Wartburgs and used their 3-pot 992cc 2-stroke engine. Not as widely known as the Skoda RS cars but looks rather dope if you ask me. The German wiki site gives a pretty decent description (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melkus_RS_1000). As I speak German - or at least I pretend to do so -, I haven't bothered with the Google Translate but it may be worth checking it out.

 

[Volksauto]

I'm a bit surprised that no one mentioned the Melkus RS1000, an East German sports car based on the Wartburgs and used their 3-pot 992cc 2-stroke engine. Not as widely known as the Skoda RS cars but looks rather dope if you ask me. The German wiki site gives a pretty decent description (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melkus_RS_1000). As I speak German - or at least I pretend to do so -, I haven't bothered with the Google Translate but it may be worth checking it out.

That must be fun to rip corners with the sound of a 2-stroke.

 

[Populuxe]

That must be fun to rip corners with the sound of a 2-stroke.

My automotive life is all the less for having never driven a two-stroke.

 

[TheHun99]

That must be fun to rip corners with the sound of a 2-stroke.

Just watched a bit of Melkus videos to engross myself in some fine 2-stroke sound Sounds exactly as I remember it! In Hungary there's a comedian called Trabarna (Trabant + Barna, his first name, Barna means literally brown) and he's awesome emulating Ladas and 2-strokes like Wartburgs. I'd link some YouTube videos but to be honest you'd also need some basic understanding of Hungarian to follow the "story" per se.

My automotive life is all the less for having never driven a two-stroke.

As I wrote above, I never had the chance to drive one myself - heck, I didn't even know that the freewheel in the Wartburg meant that you can change gears without using the clutch, gotta ask my dad about it... however, I was driven plenty times in a Wartburg, so I'm certainly familiar with the overall experience. Obviously, it's all rosy now but at least we had a Wartburg and not just a Trabant for the whole family

 

[TheHun99]

Speaking of 2-strokes, how could I forget another fantastic car using the Wartburg engine??? Let me present the Barkas B-1000, the universal van from the DDR. English wiki page with quite a few pictures: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkas_B_1000 - it's worth checking out the German version, too, lot of pictures of the various variants.

 

[ToyGTone]

I wasn't going to post anything here since i don't have any experience with any Soviet Era cars nor do i know anything about them. However i recall my uncle talking about some kind of a Russian car back in the 80's along with other cars that were sold locally at the time like Nissan's, Citroën's and Chevy's. I assumed it was some kind of Lada Samara or 1600 but who knows? I recently saw a post on IG that shows bunch of GAZ's in a warehouse in Makkah, KSA so they were definitely some in the gulf back then.

I will just leave you with two Volga's that i've seen at a Museum in Azerbaijan.

 

[Volksauto]

I wasn't going to post anything here since i don't have any experience with any Soviet Era cars nor do i know anything about them. However i recall my uncle talking about some kind of a Russian car back in the 80's along with other cars that were sold locally at the time like Nissan's, Citroën's and Chevy's. I assumed it was some kind of Lada Samara or 1600 but who knows? I recently saw a post on IG that shows bunch of GAZ's in a warehouse in Makkah, KSA so they were definitely some in the gulf back then.

I will just leave you with two Volga's that i've seen at a Museum in Azerbaijan.

View attachment 948838 View attachment 948839

That estate car is beautiful.