GAZ-21 Volga Car x 3

Starting a new car spotting series of posts on my blog -- Moscow Cars -- all interesting cars spotted and photographed by me as I go about my daily business here in Moscow where I am based.

To begin with, three GAZ-21 Volga cars, iconic Soviet cars. 

Truth to tell, they are not daily drivers -- I spotted them on a movie shoot in November 2014 -- the same one I photographed this Lincoln Town Cars 1st Gen.

Members of the public are watching movie people shooting a movie, and I am shooting period cars.

Volga GAZ-21, Third Series.

The Volga Third Series fascia ... quite different from that of the Second Series, see below. 

Whalebone grille, no deer hood ornament, the bumper without guards ("fangless" as it is known in Russia) whose bottom is painted the color of the body.

Detroit Iron in Moscow - Lincoln Town Car 1st Generation

Continuing with my DIM -- Detroit Iron in Moscow series which is a series of posts where I do a bit of car spotting and photograph "Detroit iron" in Moscow -- i.e. full-size American automobiles that I see on Moscow streets, lanes and especially in back yards whilst not specifically looking for them.

Spotted today is this Lincoln Town Car.

This one is first generation and towards the end of it. Not the first Lincoln Town Car on this series but the first one first gen. 

 

To be fair, I spotted this one not on a street per se, not in traffic, not in a Moscow high-rise back yard (where most of them seem to have congregated so far) but on some kind of historic movie shoot, not far from the Kremlin actually.

Though the Lincoln appears to be out of keeping with the other cars on the shoot which are 1960-70s Volgas, Pobedas etc. Maybe the movie guys are trying to pass it for a much earlier car but it is clearly from the late 1980s. 

Shot through the passenger front window.

What's the movie going to be about? We see the Lincoln cornered aggressively into a tight spot by a 1950s M-20 Pobeda and a 1970s GAZ 21 Volga. No escape.

Diecast: Lada 2107 1:43

I do not specifically collect diecast car models, yet have some.

The most favorite is my diecast Lada 2107 -- the Lada 2107 happens to be one of my all time favorite cars as it was one of the two cars I learned to drive in and the first car that I drove myself. 

Lada 2107 is the deluxe version of the Lada 2105 itself an upgrade on the Lada 2101 based on the Fiat 124.

Even though it may be hard to believe from these first two pictures, this diecast model is what a proper diecast model should be...Front view.

I mean, of course, there are better and more detailed diecast models around, including those of Lada cars, but they tend to be bigger in scale. 

As regards, 1:43 diecasts, I have yet to see a better detailed and more functional (i.e. opening doors, hood, trunk) models...Side view. 

Back view.

3/4

And this is why it is an example to most other 1:43 (or smaller) diecast models -- because everything opens! The hood opens...

And you can have a look at a pretty detailed motor.

Russian Cars -- Auto Industry of the USSR Exhibition 2014

In August we visited the VDNKh, a permanent expo and entertainment facility here in north of Moscow where I am based, as I mentioned in this post -- Pictures from an Exhibition.

I also mentioned there that the Space Pavilion there was at the time hosting a car exhibition -- Auto Industry of the USSR. I made some pictures, and here they are.

Entering the exhibition.

Oldies on the ground floor in the middle, such as this GAZ AA truck.

GAZ GL-1, a sports car.

Truth to tell, I am a bit wary of these examples. Obviously, they were heavily restored but the line between restoration and replication is a bit blurred here.

GAZ GL-1

GAZ M-415 pickup.

This is more after my taste -- GAZ M 20 V Pobeda.

ZiM GAZ-12.

Three Chaikas. the first one is a very interesting example.

It is a RAO (RAF) GAZ 13 S Chaika -- a Chaika customized by Riga Auto Plant (RAF). 

Served as an ambulance car for senior party and government officials. One was gifted to Fidel Castro, I think.

Moskvitch Cars: Moskvitch Izh 2715

This post is the start of a new car spotting series of posts on my blog. 

It will be dedicated to the Moskvitch -- the car named after Moscow meaning a "citizen of Moscow", in production from 1945 to about 2005 when the international capitalists that had come in after the dissolution of the Soviet Union (and their local aiders and abetters) finally managed to destroy it. 

But I am going to remember the Moskvitch on my blog, with the help of Russian citizenry still driving these cars.

Starting with this clean Moskvitch Izh 2715 Panel Van body.

The Izh 2715 is an Izhevsk produced Panel Van variant of the Moskvitch 412, pre-1982.

Still somebody's daily driver and working car, no doubt.

Love the Moskvitch 408 grille and fascia... as interpreted by the Izhevsk car factory.  

DIM: Ford Crown Victoria

Detroit Iron in Moscow (DIM) is a series of posts where I do a bit of car spotting and photograph "Detroit iron" in Moscow -- i.e. full-size American automobiles that I see on Moscow streets, lanes but most often in the back yards of Moscow apartment houses for some reason.

From one of those back yards not far from my own place comes today's subject -- a Ford Crown Victoria.

I approached it stealthily from behind (Panther!) on a sunny August day.

In fact the sunny conditions interfered with my mobile phone photography.

But there is no mistaking it from this view anyway.

Ford Crown Victoria 1st Generation 1992-94 in kinda tan. No idea what the trim is. Probably the cheapest.

It's long...

... it sure is long but it's also very narrow by today's standards. Compare to the Benz next to it in the next picture. I think my Ford Focus is wider.

In fact in the picture below -- strictly from the front -- it looks like it is a (sub-)compact car... which obviously it is not. However being narrow is a bonus on narrow back yardie streets of Moscow.

Look, no-grille front fascia! Me, I like the no-grille of the early 90s much better than the ugly grilles that most cars have these days, as ugly as they are fake for the most part.

Volkswagen ad Dustin Hoffman

Volkswagen ad Dustin Hoffman

Paintwork on a Lada

Saw this beauty a few days back...

... the hindquarters of a Lada 111.

Fancy paintwork on the theme of lightning or electric current, etc.

Much enhanced by "rust coloration".

10 Startlingly Dangerous Cars

10 Startlingly Dangerous Cars

Some are design-wise dangerous, some are driving habit kinda dangerous, some entries should be taken with a does of healthy skepticism, most are American (for some reason).

None of the models are current though.



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New LADA Kalina Sport

AvtoVAZ announces sales of the new LADA Kalina Sport [in Russian].

LADA Kalina Sport is on sale starting August 6, 2014.

Priced from RUB 487,000 which is about EUR 10,000.

118 hp 1.6L, 9.5 secs to 100 km/h, top speed 197 km/h.

 

Pics AvtoVAZ