Comrade Tigran reporting with tat spots...

[tigran]

From russia with love etc etc etc...

Can't sleep so thought i'd bosh some pics n stuff up.

Didn't really have much time for spotting n stuff on the trip - will do that when I go over in the winter to get a car. But tis better than nowt I thought.

Had to go an check up on a property in a little town in the middle of nowhere called Serpukhov, also I have some relatives there (kill two birds with one stone), so this tat is from that little sleepy place about 80 klicks south of moscow.


Parked up waitin for mum to clear out the stock of a local supermarket









Went to a kinda non-internet ebay place where people park their cars up, and then the (worst evAh) sales people sell their cars for them and take 3% of their rubles.

Sassy trimZ on this beat up '24





I wanted to drive this back right then and there, before I noticed the 4,355,849sq m's of sheet metal riveted on at random points in the bod...hmmm wonder what that be hiding. Also asked the seller monkey to turn it over to check oil pressure. After about 10mins of starting it it fired up, and the oild pressure promptly read about 1psi with cold oil.



4 x 4 goodness







Scuse the goofy expression of the dude in front of the car, that be dad, he flew out to hang out with moi.



Saw this modern 3110 volga with a '24 end grafted on whilst exiting the previously mentioned site, all ready for the ghosbusters treatment.





Another '24 spotted in the bustling city centre ;D



Photography shonkier than the house pictured manaed to capture what can only be described by me as a motorbike with a sidecar. Any soviet bike pervs about?



More coming up in a bit...

[tigran]

Next step was for some hardcore chillin at the dacha, plenty of space and land bought when it was cheap means you can build monstrosoties like these for not a lot of cash (back in the day)



With the sauna and pool house a russian essential



The ammount of space is just crazy, the nearest shops from our dacha is about 30km's away, which makes a morning milk run tiring, this is what you see out te back garden - jack all. The treeline is around 4km's away



Roll it?



Whilst i'm OT this is my trusty steed for all my prancing around the morherland, 2.7 V6 of korean flacidness, the squidgy suspension is good for the ocean-sized holes in the road though.



This is what we call taking a safari in russian (no really). When the traffic grinds to a halt you peg it at 60-100km's an hour down the dirt track at the side of the road following the one in front and praying to god that you a) - don't kill yourself by head-roof interface and b) don't kill yourself by simply stacking it. I didn't, which was nice.



Anyhoo on with some pics. An Izh, doing it's hardcore hoodride impression. These are basically re-badged moskviches, dunno what the differences are or anything. They do look cool though



Old soviet commercial vehicles rock my world:







More OT'ness, this is what just about everyone around moscow lives in. 5-19 storey tall flats, which is how 15million or more of us are crammed into Moscow, cosy.



More of it, with a 'modern' 3110 volga in the foreground:



Ok, something to tickle you. Think of the shonkiest repairs evAh that you may have done, the total bodges...then forget them all and look at this dude's wing, made of parcel tape:



Another un of the modern 3110 volgas that are plagueing the city at the moment, they are truly naff



Final pics(s) from me, from the airport earlier this evening, cool little moskvich ambling in

[Oldbus]

Nice pics Tigran.

I think i can honetly say i´ve never seen anyting like them, now i know where all those lorry load of Mercs end up that i see going east from here! ;D

[rmad]

Great write up!

If you were to buy an old motor out there would it work out at about 50p? Is there any old cars in good condition?

[garethj]

Fantastic report, comrade!

The UAZ van looks so cute, even though the one in that pic looks ropey as hell. I wonder if Halfords do 'olive drab' as a touch-up? ;D Did you get a chance to drive one? How do you reckon you'd get spares to the UK?

When a friend of mine went to Moscow a few years ago he said that all the cars had the catalytic converters removed (maybe they don't have unleaded?) and it was pretty common for most cars to stink of petrol inside, even the new ones

[Retrojunkie]

tigran said:

Final pics(s) from me, from the airport earlier this evening, cool little moskvich ambling in

I thought you were going to tell us that in the middle of the sleepy town you suddenly found comrades running an auto test

Nice spots, them campers on steroids are cool. Could have done with one of them at this years Bug Jam

[akku]

I do like Moskoviches. And Volgas. I seem to recall a review of the Moskovich in Motor or something for 1971 saying it was "the worst handling car I have ever driven, bordering on unsafe". I have wanted one ever since. The font grills etc on the ones in your report all look the same sort as the Izh, rather than the Moskovich whi I always recall as having 4 round lights or 2 oblong ones. (we had one of their few dealers near me when I was a kid). I'd love to know what the differences are.

I'd also be intregued as to what one would cost docked back in the UK.

[michiel]

Great stuff!

[BenzBoy]

Fantastic! I'd roll one of those new 3110's I reckon. Bit of treatment with the stickski and some rims...

And how much do I want one of those trucks?! Any will do! The 4x4 thing is just cool.

Thanks for the picZorz!

[tigran]

rmad said:

Great write up!

If you were to buy an old motor out there would it work out at about 50p? Is there any old cars in good condition?

For a reasonable condition volga i was looking at (late 70s early 90's) it was about 25-50,000 rubles. So 500-1000 pounds. The earlier volga 21 that i have been salivating over which i will have, in decent nick, are about 150,000 rubles, so about £3000. There are cars to be had for peanuts (like £200) in the smaller areas but the days of really cheap cars are gone i'm afraid.

[tigran]

oldbus64 said:

Nice pics Tigran.

I think I can honetly say i´ve never seen anyting like them, now I know where all those lorry load of Mercs end up that I see going east from here! ;D

Yeah all the most expensive cars have 'from germany' in the ad (as opposed to coming from asia) and always state 'no km's driven in russia' - that's a big plus as the quality of the roads is absolutely shocking.

[tigran]

I suck at replying to stuff in one go - akku but there is some reasoning behind the madly rubbish handling of russian cars - that is driving through non-roads is factored into them. Places i was wincing taking the hyundai jeep and was being bounced about due to the potholes, zhigulis and volgas were just bombing down without much bother.

Gareth - regarding parts i know people who make a trip from the soviet states on a weekly basis with their artics' and as all parts for all the cars pictures are still available brand new that wouldn't be a hassle.

[bstardchild]

You back now Tigs?

Reason is the "flame grilled Monza" is now sitting on a driveway in Nottingham

[tigran]

Yup dude, just sorting out a day for the landie o truth.

[Marc]

Excellent spots and write up Tigs.

Threads like this are just one of the reasons I love this forum.

[sav]

Great stuff!

UAZ van looks well bodged but still brilliant.

The Lada wing "repair" is just superb. ;D

That motorcycle combo looks like a Ural of some sort not sure exactly. They are the only flat twins I remember, although there could be other similar bikes. Dnepr maybe?

[garethj]

There are a few Ural bikes here, there's even an importer I think? They do the 2WD sidecar ones as well

I reckon if you can get Urals landed in the UK for under £700 you could sell the lot. The spares issue is already in place, they're a good old slogger of a bike but most people ask £1500+ which is too much for something that you know will break down ;D

[Negative Creep]

Some great pictures there. Looks a pretty scary country to me; don't the cops all carry very big guns and the roads are every man for himself?

[tigran]

That's spot on, and I love it. A big 4 x 4 is a must and armoured cars up to anti rpg levels are commonplace. My uncle's land cruiser amazon is armoured up to grenade level (can't remember the exact rating) and he gets driven by a driver and a bodyguard - this is not hysteria or paranoia just sensible measures.

The police all carry a minimum of a handgun, with the majority keeping an AK of some sorts about them most of the times.

[Retrojunkie]

Sounds very similar to certain areas of Halifax