I like the Zis, and also the one that Harv posted. Here are a couple more, even though the boxes aren't handy and I'm incomplete on identification.
First is a ZIS that looks very much like a pre-WW II Packard. These were largely handbuilt in the USSR and were not constructed with old Packard dies.
This one is a later Russian limo, and I have seen it under a couple of different names, most commonly as a GAZ 13 CHAIKA. I am including a shot of the underside just in case you can read Russian. This one is old enough to be marked "Made in USSR."
In my post there is both a white Gaz 13 and a later Gaz 14 plus grey Gaz 14V (V always denoting convertible) both Chaika limousines. Chaika is Russian for Seagull and an unfortunate fact - I've checked myself - is when written in upper case, it reads as YANKA as seen across the hood of the Gaz 13, which added to the popular belief that the Soviets were reverse-engineering American products.
This is a pretty nice model. Your photos are exceptional.
I picked this model up this past summer. I was really surprised as to how much it looks like the Buicks of the period.
There is conjecture as to whether or not GM sold rights to the soviets during the 1930s. it is not just this Zis 101A but earlier 101 and notably the first Soviet state-sponsored limousine, (Russobalt had continued manufacture into the Soviet era) the Leningrad L1 which is virtually identical to the 1932 Buick.
There is conjecture as to whether or not GM sold rights to the soviets during the 1930s ... the Leningrad L1 which is virtually identical to the 1932 Buick.
I think a few sets of cars have been sold. Then they assembled them in Leningrad.
@vlad-srk There's the business of Soviet records recording Harley Earl as visiting Moscow a few times, plus there was barely one year to copy all parts of the new Buick. I have no idea, but some writers have said it could not be reverse-engineered in that time. You are our engineer guru: in your opinion could it have been?
(The Buick Series 90, introduced in late 1931 and the Leningrad L1 released on 19 March 1933)
I am not an engineering guru, but I also believe that there was no chance in the Soviet Union to reconstruct this complicated, made at the peak of technology car with the latest engine.
I was interested in this topic once and even saw drawings of some units of this "Soviet development." There are spiced wheels on the assembly drawing for some reason (there were metal wheels on the Л-1).
They wrote books about this "labor feat of Soviet workers." Lies and propaganda which was a lot in the history of the Soviet Union.
@vlad-srk Hence, G.M. did assist them, but unlike Henry, who was happy to receive accolades from both Stalin and Hitler, Alfred P. Sloane was a bit more circumspect! No? I had read that this Buick was a revolutionary piece of engineering and the time scales simply were not there thanks for expert opinion.
(there were metal wheels on the Л-1).
