Spotted...cars in Moscow: September 2015

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Toyota bB

A Toyota bB seen in March 2015 as recorded on my other blog at Moscow Cars.

It is a first-gen Toyota bB and appears to be lowered and even dumped, has some custom panels, bumper and skirts.

The lowered culture lives on in Moscow as you can see.

The white granules all around car are salt and grit -- the stuff they throw onto roads and pavements to make the snow and ice go away and not to have to clean it.

LADA Vesta Enters Production

A bit of automotive news.

The automotive news of the day September 25, 2015 is that the LADA Vesta enters production.

Quoting AvtoVAZ' press-release:

Press-release

September, 25^th, 2015

AV Group starts production of LADA Vesta

First LADA Vesta rolls off the production line at LADA Izhevsk

Start of sales – November 2015

AV Group announces the start of serial production of LADA Vesta at LADA Izhevsk assembly site. The first production vehicle rolled off the line in the presence of the Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in Volga Federal District Mikhail Babich, Deputy Minister for industry and trade Alexander Morozov, Head of Udmurtia Alexander Soloviyov and AVTOVAZ President Bo Inge Andersson.

A car with a middle trim level of the grey Pluton color is the first serial LADA Vesta produced. The vehicle is equipped with the AVTOVAZ engine (1,6-liter, 106 hp) and Renault mechanical gearbox. The initial level of localization of the vehicle is 71%. Prices and trim levels are subjects to be declared in front of the start of sales planned for Nov, 25^th, 2015.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Alexander Morozov congratulated AV with the launch of LADA Vesta. "This long-awaited and important event for the entire Russian industry and, of course, a real breakthrough for AV. Vesta has all the necessary advantages to please not only domestic but also foreign buyers. Launch of Vesta on the background of the current economic situation - this is a proof that our automobile industry does not deviate from the course of the technological development and improvement. The government for its turn will continue to support producers in an effort to produce modern and competitive products, such as the new Vesta», - added Mr. Morozov.

President of JSC "AVTOVAZ" Bo Inge Andersson said that LADA Vesta is a world-class car. «Vesta is a symbol of successful future of AV. It is produced at the world class factory with the best equipment, that provides world class quality. It is being built by the staff that we trained under worlds standards who work in the perfect conditions. Vesta returns pride to LADA brand».

LADA Vesta was created on a completely new LADA B / C platform, developed by engineers of AVTOVAZ with participation of specialists from Renault-Nissan Alliance. For the first time in the history of the LADA the distance between a concept car and a production vehicle is only 12 months.

LADA Vesta is produced at LADA Izhevsk along with Nissan models at AIMS production line providing flexible performance and reliable quality. LADA Izhevsk has one of the world’s best paint, body, trim-and-chassis shops.

A significant portion of components for LADA Vesta are produced in Togliatti: engines, transmissions, chassis components, parts of large and medium stamping, including faceplates. The contribution of Togliatti and Izhevsk in the price of LADA Vesta is 60% to 40% accordingly.

Additional information:

"AVTOVAZ" is the largest car producer in Russia. Its Togliatti plant is one of the 5 largest car plants in the world. It is the only one of the 46 plants of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, which produces full-cycle vehicles under 4 brands (LADA, Renault, Nissan and Datsun).

In autumn of 2015 AVTOVAZ is starting production of LADA Vesta and LADA XRAY, which will provide a complete update of LADA brand.

AvtoVAZ also released a bunch of LADA Vesta promo pictures, and here they are:

Exterior

Geely Emgrand Taxi

Seen in February 2015 was this Geely Emgrand Taxi.

This is apparently a Geely Emgrand 7 aka Geely Emgrand EC7.

The Geely Emgrand EC7 is a large family car (in other words: a mid-size car) produced by the Emgrand division of the Chinese automaker Geely.

I see them occasionally here in Moscow.

Mainly used as taxis which is supposed to mean that they are pretty reliable, aren't they. A cabby wouldn't use a car that likes to have many break-downs.

But overall they are not that visible in Moscow.

ZiM GAZ-12

From one of my other blogs, VreMax, where I reported on this car exhibition that I visited a year ago - in August of 2014.

A ZiM GAZ12 limousine seen at that car exhibition.

Also known as GAZ-12, GAZ-12 ZiM, ZiM-12 or just ZiM, the ZiM GAZ-12 was a Soviet limousine produced by the Gorky Automotive Plant from 1948 till 1960.

It was neither a copy of, nor based on, any other contemporary car, contrary to what wikipedia claims, although certain exterior design elements characteristic of the large American passenger cars of the period may be observed here but such similarities are superficial and the 1948 ZiM GAZ-12 may actually predate some of the cars "appointed" to be its inspiration or even source for copying.

Also, in some ways, the ZiM GAZ-12 was a pioneer, in particular, it was the world's first unibody (aka frameless) limousine with three rows of seats.

The ZiM GAZ-12 was meant not only to serve government officials but in keeping with proletarian ideals served the people as a taxi and ambulance and was offered and sold for private ownership too, although only successful writers, scientists or actors could really afford one at the time.

Later as ZiM GAZ-12 government cars were retired and/or replaced with Chaika or ZiL limousines, some of them eventually trickled into private ownership that way.

In all 21,527 ZiM cars were built.

Behind it are actually the two Chaikas - GAZ-13 and GAZ-14 - that replaced it.

ZiM GAZ-12 test drive [in Russian]

Period pictures of the ZiM GAZ-12

Two-tone paint scheme (cost extra)

Isuzu Trooper

Seen through the windshield on August 8, 2015 was this 2nd-Gen Isuzu Trooper.

The Isuzu Trooper is all finished, I guess, but was, according to wikipedia, a mid-size SUV produced by the Japanese automaker Isuzu between 1981 and 2005.

It was exported internationally under a variety of names, one of them was the eponymous Isuzu Trooper.

In total, there were two generations of this vehicle: the first, produced between 1981 and 1991; and the second produced between 1991 to 1997, with a substantial refresh in 1998.

Its production ended in 2005.

I think I saw them before in Moscow and in greater number in the recent past but their sightings dwindle as it has been 10 years already since end of production.

Vostok Spacecraft

More Vostok rocket photography.

These photos were made at Moscow's VDNKh facility in August 2014 on a sunny and warm day with some nice clouds.

The Vostok spacecraft is based on the R-7 ICBM family and was used to launch a number of sputniks (as in satellites) into space as well the first ever manned space expedition by Yuri Gagarin.

This is supposed to be a functional double of the real thing, not a mock-up as I thought earlier.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Ural-ZiS-355M

From one of my other blogs, VreMax, where I reported on this car exhibition that I visited a year ago - in August of 2014.

An UralZiS 355 M medium-duty truck seen at that car exhibition.

The 1958-65 UralZiS-355M is a medium-duty truck carrying nominally 3.5 tons (but up to 5 in real life) made at the Urals Auto Plant in the USSR.

The UralZiS-355M was a new model and not a modernization of the UralZiS-355, itself based on the pre-war UralZiS-5 (the ZiS-5).

However, certain elements were borrowed from other trucks, such as the cabin. For this reason, it resembles an over-sized GAZ-51.

UralZiS-5 vehicles were used mainly in Kazakhstan and Siberia - close to the seat of manufacture.

In 1962, a small number of UralZiS-355ME export version trucks were supplied to customers in Afghanistan and Finland.

Over 192,000 were made during its production run.

At this time, 20 (or, according to other sources, 12) UralZiS-355M trucks remain in existence (including two operational), and this is one of them.

The UralZiS-355M cement truck appears in the cult Russian film Gentlemen of Fortune, a criminal caper comedy, where the four eponymous "gentlemen of fortune" escape a prison facility in its cement tank.

More period pictures of the UralZiS-355M.

Sources: my photography, wikipedia, auto models website, and UralZiS-355M page on the Sibpromtrans website.

Volvo 740

Seen in March earlier this year (2014) was an unwashed Volvo 740.

C*** Not Bad Edition. Yeah, he is okay, I guess.

This is the culprit, a Volvo 740 (I believe) or maybe it's a Volvo 900 series?

I am not much into Volvos and the 700 series look much like the 900 series, easy to be confused, especially if all you have is a couple photos

GAZ GL-1

From one of my other blogs, VreMax, where I reported on this car exhibition that I visited a year ago - in August of 2014.

Entering the exhibition.

GAZ GL-1, a sports car.

Truth to tell, I was a bit wary of this thing at the time, in terms of authenticity, as I mentioned on my other blog.

I thought it was obviously heavily restored and the line between restoration and replication was a bit blurred here.

And turns out I was completely right. It is in fact a replica built in 2010.

The original GAZ GL-1 car in its second version (as shown here) was completed on September 22, 1940 and became the fastest car in the Soviet Union.

It set an All-Union speed record of 161.9 kph. during its speed trials.

Then the GL-1 was destroyed in unclear circumstances.

According to one story it was cut up into pieces at the factory, while another version claims that it was destroyed during a WW2 bombing of the GAZ factory.