• Jalopnik Book Reviews

    Cars Of The Soviet Union: The Definitive History, by Andy Thompson

    Whether you're wrenching on a flying Spitfire or a leaking Spitfire, Haynes has a shop manual for you. Very useful, but hardly the sort of thing you'd keep on your coffee table. More »
    03/28/09
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    Comment by Armand: I was going to buy this book, but then Murilee called the Hillman Imp "wretched." As a Rootes Group... 4 Responses | Other threads

  • because six wheels are just better

    ZIL 49061!

    When most Westerners think of ZIL, we think of the vehicles that carried top Party apparatchiks to their weekend dachas. But ZIL also has also constructed some fantastical trucks — for example, the scary-crazy 2906 screw-motivated machine, as well as this stonking amphibious 49061, a six-by-six that has undoubtedly run down many a piddly ZAZ. Heck, it might've even sunk a few destroyers, for all we know. More »
    08/02/07
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    Comment by Euromobile: @Brian B: You rang? [www.youtube.com] @TheAstronot: Unfortunately it probably does 40mph flat-out. more » | Other threads

  • red dawn

    ZIL Parade Concept

    Russian President Vladimir Putin is fast tightening his iron grip on the once proud nation. In a move not seen since the Cold War, nuclear missiles are being aimed at European cities while foreign governments are the targets of coercion, sabotage and open hostility. Internal dissent is cause for exile while the government consolidates its power. So perhaps it's appropriate that their design students are dreaming up dictator-appropriate modes of transport. Who knows, the next time we see the ZIL Parade might be at the front of an armored column parading through Red Square. More »
    07/11/07
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    Comment by Velocitré: I can't wait to see what the guys over at Zis fire back more » | Other threads

  • may day

    We Will Bury You! The ZIL-111

    While Ladas and Zastavas were all fine and good for the workers, the big shots rolled in a ZIL. The company was born as ZIS at the hands of the Fathers of the USSR - including but not limited to Stalin himself. The Post-Stalinist ZIL brought American styling cues into the mix with the likes of Yuri Gagarin and Nikita Kruschev waving from the drop top. Current Russian President Vladimir Putin rolled into the 2001 G8 Summit in a restored ZIL-111, but did not take off any shoes. – Mike Bumbeck More »
    05/01/07
    1,304
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    Comment by Dead Air: The listing is gone, but for a while Classic Driver had Brezhnev's personal ride for sale ... a black 1980... more » | Other threads

  • news: industry news

    In Russia, Geely Assembles YOU for a Happy Life!

    Hiho! The people at Geely have nailed down a contract with former ZIL unit Automobile and Motors of Ural to assemble semi-knocked-down examples of their CK sedan for sale on the Russian market. While we'd rather have a Niva or a vintage Volga than a CK, we do find it a bit humorous that analyist Kirill Chuiko expressed skepticism over the Chinese vehicles' potential in the market in saying, "Nobody knows what those cars are like." Right. Because the Fiat-based cars made of Russian steel are the most reliable machines ever. – Davey G. Johnson More »
    03/16/07
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  • retro

    Meet Me At The Red Star Drive-In, Comrade!

    Life in the USSR, circa 1951, wasn't all gulags and long lines for sausage rations. Nyet! Turns out some of Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili's designers at ZIL/ZIS were hard at work coming up with the too-jaw-droppingly-awesome-for-words ZIS "112" prototype. Look at it. Look at it! That 50-Stude-zonked-on-Siberian-fly-agaric face! Had they been on the ball, the Commies could have seduced an entire generation of DA-hairstyled flathead-Ford-driving hoons away from their Detroit Iron and into chopped-and-channeled ZISs. The small-block Chevy would have been a footnote in automotive history! From there... well, you can see how the Cold War might have ended differently. Comrade. – Murilee Martin More »
    01/31/07
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    Comment by faksta: It was a racecar, not a prototype :)[www.ultimatecarpage.com] - more here more » | Other threads

  • clips

    Hoon of the Day: Russian Military Trucks

    I don't know about you, but we're having flashes of "Red Dawn. More »
    10/04/06
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    Comment by MurileeMartin: Harry Dean Stanton in the People's Revolutionary Drive-In Theater: "AVENGE MEEEEEEE!" more » | Other threads

  • news

    In Soviet Russia, Car Auctions YOU!

    Hey kid, wanna buy a ZIL? The limo used by Gorby and Yeltsin, a vehicle straddling the greatest divide in geopolitical power seen in the non-wartime 20th Century, is up for grabs at Sotheby's first-ever auction in Russia. Also on the block? How 'bout Leonid Brezhnev's specially-constructed Nissan limo? Unfortnately, Lenny Bruce, Lester Bangs, birthday parties, cheesecake, jellybeans and booms are not included. Nor, for that matter, is Michael Stipe. More »
    04/14/06
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    Comment by monkeywrench: I want to see an all LADA demo derby or 500 lap Enduro on a soaped down quarter mile oval.... more » | Other threads

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