Ah, Zaporozec, I heard in Czech Republic that it was faster than a tractor, consumed less fuel than a tank and was quieter than a plane.

I remember visiting the General Electric office in Moscow around 1980. They picked me up from the airport in the company car which was a Mercedes. I said “Wow! how did you get a Mercedes here?” and was told that the manager had driven it over from Germany himself. So there were just a few foreign cars around, mostly driven by diplomats and foreign managers. BTW: never been so drunk in my whole life as that time in the USSR.

I respect you guys alott for actually inviting someone over who has lived in the soviet union, a majority of youtube has someone with a few million subscribes that read wikipedia out loud and acts as if he knows everything about the subject

I was in the US Army in West Germany when the wall came down in Berlin. I remember a few days after it happened the East Germans started flooding across the borders into West Germany and with it all of the Trabants. Going down the autobahn was an adventure in patience as none of these cars could do more than fifty miles an hour. On top of that, they all had to stop every hour or so to open the hood and cool the engine down, so you would see Trabants all over the side of the autobahns with their hoods open. Absolutely surreal experience.

In Germany Fiat stands for "Für Italiener ausreichende Technik." which translates to: "Technology sufficient for Italians."

In Brazil FIAT stands for "Fui 'Inganado' Agora é Tarde" (I was deceived, now is too late)

*Buying a car in the Soviet Union* Car dealer: Come back in ten years and we'll give you your car. Soviet citizen: Morning or afternoon? Car dealer: It's ten years from now, what difference does it make? Soviet citizen: The plumber is coming in the morning.

Great segment. I'm from the former USSR, and so many memories come flooding in with the cars of USSR. The seatbelts thing is so true. No one buckles up. Not even the police. Especially not the police

I'm from Georgia (country) and I can say that 60% of Georgian had cars. My family had 2 cars, but they weren't rich, it was easier to buy cars in Georgia than other republics.

I was born in Bavaria in ‘88 but I still remember the occasional Trabbi agonizing it’s way down the Autobahn after the Wall came down, and my grandfather mocking it in utter disgust.

Quiet the huge oppososite to what we had in Communist Yugoslavia, where getting a car was a far easier and quicker ordeal, with a lot of people basically being handed out Yugos.

Others: "Fix it again, Tony!" SU: "Fix it again, Tovarisch!"

Being a Finn I had somewhat of an idea of the Soviet reality car-wise. I knew a guy who was in charge of the Soviet car and truck import quality control, boy, did he have some stories! The Ladas were supposed to be of better quality for export, yet there were examples that had drum brakes on one side and disc brakes on the other. You get the pic. At one time in school we were waiting for a guy from East Germany to hold a presentation. There was a big snow storm and he was hours late. Finally he arrived, apologized, and continued; "I just have a little cardboard car". Yup, there was a Trabant in the school yard. Finally, proof that Soviet citizens loved cool cars, this scene happened several times but I remember one time in particular outside the local GM dealer in my home town. They had a brand new yellow 1978 Pontiac Trans Am in the window and all the Soviet tourists in the group took turns for photographs in front of it.

My dad served in the east german army as a driving instructor. After his five years of service (and perhaps some dark deals), he was able to buy a new Lada and was the coolest guy in town. He not only worked but lived as a mechanic and fixed lots of old cars.

Soviet version of Porsche: rear engine, air cooled and that's where it ends. 🤣🤣🤣

My old Lada is heaven .. I can't make it not run. It doesn't go straight, quiet, smooth, or pretty..but it's mine..

The Ikarus buses and electric buses (trolley) are still at use in Hungary. I think they feel retro/vintage, but they are still okay to have around. Most of them are greatly renovated. I'm a fan of keeping older things "alive" and love when brands do these "flashback" campaign like pepsi do nowadays.

I can remember being in school in the 1980s the joke went: Why do Ladas have heated rear windscreens? So you can warm your hands while pushing them.

As a jamaican i loved those Ladas we got from the former Soviet Union. The sedans had these lights that were unbelievably bright and the Lada SUVs were great. Ridiculous 4x4 capabilities. Only 4x4 back then with 4 wheel independent suspension and sub frame for the front.

Lada's made their way into the Canadian market in the 1980s. My parents (being pro-Soviet) decided to buy one and it had split fuel, normal 87 octane and propane. At that time, propane was super cheap on the Canadian market, but I do remember that it had poor performance to the point were the car could not climb hills while running on propane fuel.

7:12 As a Georgian I can admit - yes it was the case. Some Georgians had big money in the last 20 years of the USSR. 1970-s, 1980-s. But it was more complicated than just us exploiting poor Soviet fruit supply. Anyway after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the collapse of Georgian economy in 1990-s some Georgians where joking - ehh, what a colony we lost - meaning Russia.

Fascinating to hear about the lives of ordinary people during the cold war era. Apart from mayday parades etc, we were given very little information back then. Thank you David and Sergei.

The wiper story reminds me of life in the early 90s in Bulgaria where it wasn't uncommon to wake up and find that your car is missing its wheels and headlights. Fuel siphoning was also a big issue because you'd get one tank for the month. Soviet cars did not have locking fuel caps so I've seen padlocks retrofitted to the fuel flap.And yes, God help you if you forgot to remove the wipers, they would be gone in 5 minutes.

A Soviet ship was caught in the ice of Lake Superior during the 1970s, and the crew was rescued. But they had no warm clothes, and they were in Duluth, MN during the winter. So they were brought to Target on Miller Hill. They were amazed to see a brightly lit store filled with shelves of goods, including clothes, all in perfect condition, you could just put in your cart. They were all certain they were in one of our "special shops" set aside for party leaders or whatever. They could hardly believe that Target is as typical an American store as you could get.

I'm in the UK and I own a 1976 Lada 2101. It doesn't have a radio, or an aerial, or rear heated window, or power steering, or head restraints, BUT it does have a light bulb under the bonnet. In this respect, the Lada was far advanced than western cars. I've never owned a western car that had a light bulb under the bonnet.

I just started working during college, and i had enough money to buy either a Golf, Astra or a 318 BMW. And i did the most logical choice - i bought a VAZ 2102 estate and had enough money left to drive it daily to college and back for 2 years. All my collegues told me im a fool, but they dont drive their fancy capitalist cars daily, cuz they got no money left for fuel, and they wait for buses in the rain, while i drive every day in my warm and cozy Lada. I go on long trips too, ive done 1000km trips in a single day, going to the beach or mountain resorts. Its pretty fun to drive, and ppl at the gas station always ask me questions about the car.

My grandpa had 7th lada with was considered luxury class back then..it got stolen out of garage. Garages back then didn't had solid ground so it was just grawel..someone diged a big hole underneath and just drove it through..😂 To get back car you needed to pay money for gangsters to get it back..that was completelt normal back then..my father has his audi100 in a secure parkinglot somewhere in early 1990 when my country became free from soviet union..so parkinglot security guy was with gangsters and that car got stollen..so my father payed some money to get it back..mafia basicly controled country back then.

Nothing wrong with a Lada. They were built for the tough conditions of the Russian climate. The Lada Niva is a great jeep.

It is funny for me, I'm Russian listening person from Russia, who talks in English about automobile industry of last years of USSR. In quite amazing time we live comrades.

I was interested in the Soviet Union as a child, just because of how different it was in so many ways. But in my adult years, I had opportunity to meet some people who emigrated over (to the US) and I loved hearing all their stories of life. In the end, although our governments had their differences to say the least, the people were... just people. Yes, some different attitudes about some things, but they love their kids, they enjoy company of friends, they want some of the good things in life... just like me. Later I even met a Russian lady who became my friend and I stayed with her in Ekaterinburg for two weeks, meeting real Russian people and doing real Russian things. It was great to live real Russian life with these kind, generous, curious people. Let me tell you, when you go into a Russian home as a friend, it doesn't matter how poor they might be, they will put every piece of food in the house on the table for you. They will ask you all about life at home, and laugh at your stories, and hug you and wish you well when you leave, urging you to stay in touch. Side note: I took a TON of photos while I was there, and I got held up leaving the airport for just a few minutes because the guard checking luggage was suspicious of all the photography I had done. (It was 2000 but old habits die hard). Finally he got to the photos of my lady friend, which were just a touch on the risque side, and he blushed and shoved them into my bag and waved me through, haha! Good times.

I´m glad to have my Lada Niva. It hasn´t let me down yet and plows through pretty much everything. These cars are so good, they still make them. The new ones even have modern high tech features like electric windows and a digital clock.

I used to have VAZ 2107 and it was absolutely amazing. I mean, as soon as I installed modern electornic ignition distirbution system, of course, because mechanical ignition distibution is basically a time bomb. There was only one thing I missed in this car: air conditioning, which simply was not a thing in the USSR.

Excellent video ! When Ladas first came to Northern Ireland my Uncle worked for the local dealer , his job was to install glass sunroof, alloy wheels , radio cassette player etc to make the car more luxurious for the buyer . Years later we had eastern block ships docking in Belfast port and the crews would buy up any Ladas they could find ! Even if they where scrap , they loaded every space on the deck and then whilst sailing back home the crew would strip the cars of parts ...the leftovers where dumped in the ocean ! I imagine there are 1000's of lada bodyshells at the bottom of the Irish sea 🤣 My friend owns a lada Riva that he rents or TV / film sets .

Loved this episode. In Poland, we had basically identical situation as I remember it from the 1980s. To get a car you also had to be on a waiting list, have a special coupon, wait your turn and then pay for it. Like in the Soviet Union, you could re-sell your car for more than factory price cause the demand was so high. From my childhood, I remember just a few cars next to each block which is a sharp contrast to what's happening today with many households owning more than one car, and high school kids driving to school in their own cars - when I was in school, I thought this only happened in America like in the movies we watched. In the 1980s Poland, you could have our local models like Warszawa, Syrena, Mikrus, Polish Fiat 125, Polish Fiat 126 (an amazing car called "the Little One" with astonishing 24 hp engine, but people would go on family vacation to Bulgaria in it, and once I went with six other people in one) and Polonez. You could also have Sovet-made Łada, Zaporożec, Moskwicz or Wołga (which came with its own urban legend about a black Volga going round the city and kidnapping children), Czechoslovak Skoda, Yugoslav Zastava, Romanian Dacia, or East German Wartburg, or Trabant which people called "Honecker's revenge" or "the soapbox" cause its body was made of plastic.

I would love to see more specials like this. Love this!

I'd like to see more stories like this. My Soviet father and I really enjoyed watching this.

I found a Dnepr MT-11 sidecar motorcycle in a barn last year (2019). It had just 164 Km on the odometer. The right cylinder had zero compression, which is why it had so low Km. I had always heard that you must take them apart and put them back together again correctly. They were correct! It was imported into the USA in1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. I rebuilt the motorcycle and have it running perfectly now. It's now my favorite motorcycle! Part's for it are easy to order and get from Ukraine taking about 3 weeks to arrive. I would love to have a UAZ 452 "Bread" van but they can't be used on the roads here in the USA. They are being imported and used for off road use here. Most owner's replace the engine with a BMW Diesel engine for reliability and easy part's available in local auto parts stores.

A colleague, when I was in the Army, bought a Lada Niva… Always breaking down, we called it "The Warsaw Pacts Revenge!"

The ultimate Russian barn find was the only known first generation 1930's Toyota in existence.

Love this episode! I first heard about the Russian Rain Dance in the early seventies from my Russian professor at UCCS- David Nichols, who we called Starik Nikolski and who learned his Russian in the CIA. He learned about wiper theft the hard way! At the same time was a soviet cartoon- a guy is selling car parts at a table in the square, his customer asks if the parts are stolen and the reply is: Goodness no! They come from where I work! Nichols also worked as a translator for the State Dept. We asked if he always translated everything accurately and he said, " It does the cause of peace no good to translate insults."

i don't know how it was in other ssr but in georgia many people just bought car instead of waiting in a queue, i just asked my grandfather and he told me that he bought two cars and paid 25000 total, and made enough money to buy two every year and he was just farmer, lots of people made that kind of money as well. you could speed up queue by paing bribes. again i dont know how it was in other ssr but in georgia people usualy robbed collective farms, and sold products all over soviet union

The funny thing to me is that my grandfather owned a Lada (no, he's not from the Soviet Union), and he bought it because it was cheap. He quickly found out why: it's rubbish. But the best part about that car was the toolkit, he always said, which does make sense. If it broke down, which it would, because it's an Italian design built by the Russians, and you're 30 miles from the nearest village, you had to be able to fix it yourself. So yeah, Lada, bad cars, good tools.

A polish friend's grandparents owned a Citreon Traction Avant, this car had been abandoned by the Axis troops at the end of WWII, his grandparents had kept hidden it for over twenty years. Apparently it was their most prized possession.

The lada was so successful that it's still prominently featured in russian dash cam videos.

About apartments per parking spot calculation, i dont know about USSR, in Yugoslavia (also communist/socialist) rule was: One parking spot per apartment

Ah... the LADA 2105. Some of my relatives had one and they loved it. It was strong, rugged, easy to maintain. Not a bad car all in all (at least the export models that we got here).. They were nicknamed "T80 zonder kanon" (T80 without a gun) or "Russische tank" - Russian tank. Netherlands.

In ex Yugoslavia we had Zastava cars, and many were made using Italian design. In the 70's we started buying western cars, and that was a revelation to everyone. In the late 80's Volkswagen even made a factory in Sarajevo, so we had homemade German cars.

First car I drove was Zaz, second was jiguli and in the beginning I was struglling with shifting to reverse, while I was guessing the how to do it, the stick shifter disattached :)

You'll never forget the Trabant if you get caught behind one in a traffic jam (cough, cough!)

My late Father Maurice Kelly wrote two books on Russian and Soviet cars. The two books were on pre revolutionary vehicles and luxury cars used by senior officials in the USSR and China. Dad did a great deal of research into the Soviet and Mao Zedong era Chinese vehicles. Regrettably most of his work was never published. He also visited the USSR to carry out research (He also worked in China in the 1970's in the automotive industry) We lived Shoreham By-sea in Sussex, England. The town has significant port facilities. During the 1970's and 1980's large numbers of Soviet ships mainly bringing in timber cargoes visited. Well it was very common to see second hand Lada's loaded as deck cargo when the ships sailed! This was because they were quite cheap on the second hand market in the UK and usually deals involving Soviet spirits or cigarettes etc etc could obtain cars. Only trouble was that they were left hand drive being built for the UK market! The Trabant were perfectly good as they were based on pre war DKW designs. The main problem was the grotty East German 2 Stroke Oil. Stalin had at least one Rolls Royce. Also in the mid 1930's due to the overcrowding on public transport in Moscow Khrushchev suggested that British double deck trolleybuses should be imported. As a result in 1936 an AEC 664T vehicle was ordered. It proved to be successful (A single deck version was also acquired at the same time) As a result of the successful trials with the AEC it was decided to order eleven very similar locally built vehicles the Jatb-3. Dispite being built in the USSR they looked very British! They entered service in 1938-39 all eleven as well as the AEC survived the war. The Jatb-3 vehicles being withdrawn between 1948 and 1953. With the AEC being withdrawn in 1948. Apparently one of the Jatb-3's survived until at least the late 1950's being used as storage in the Fourth Trolleybus Depot. Whilst Khrushchev was very keen on double deck buses apparently Stalin wasn't as he thought that they would easily fall over!

So, here I am - an Austrian, owning an export VAZ 2107 from grandpa. Oh am SO looking forward restoring it, and driving it around in Austria :D

This is by far my favourite video of the series. I'm so fascinated by Soviet cars and the trials and tribulations of getting a car, and what kind of people had cars in the USSR. I learned a lot. Thank you both!

The Chevy NOVA was very popular in Mexico. The people knew it did "go" and it sold very well. That story is just an urban legend.

The reason the big ZIL and ZIS cars used by party leaders look like 40's/50's era American cars is because they basically were. Stalin liked the big Packards made in the US, so he ordered the equivalent be made for the USSR. Despite the myth, Packard did not sell the parts or production equipment to Russia.

This is one of my favorite videos you all have ever done! The bits about the windshield-wipers and seatbelts were especially fascinating.

I don't have much interest in cars but I loved this video. It was really interesting to hear how life was like during the Soviet Union.

Very good. Thanks. My 2 high school buddy's dad was from an Eastern block country ( can't remember which)......he got out 2nd attempt and made it to Toronto, Canada then Flint area in Michigan; was slightly wounded the first time running off on maneuvers (he was a military conscript).......so the story went. He worked skilled trades at GM. He made sure his boys got new trucks at 16 & boy did he love vehicles/mechanical stuff. Neat guy (friggin' hard worker) from what little time I knew him.

Father got his Lada permit but there weren't any cars in at that point, so he went straight to Tolyatti where factory was, 2000 km trip.

My grandpa told me that in Romania in order to make sure there where not too many cars on the streets they were one day allowed to drive only the cars with an odd number on the licence plate and the next day only the even number cars. I think it was done to save fuel or something. We also had the waiting lists. And the roads were made out of gravel, at least near the village of my grandpa, but mostly carts were going on them so no problem.

They really had crappy cars and getting one of those beauties was nightmare all to itself. One of my friends whose father was a professor of Physics at Moscow State University (they are Jewish) in the late 60s and 70s, told me that he had to wait more than 20 years on the waiting list to finally get a Moscowich. After all of that the car kept breaking down. He finally immigrated to the USA and couldn’t believe that you can buy a car in a day or two, and to pay for it in installments. Truly respecting your intelligencia, the ones who will train future generations!!!!!!!!!!

This was fascinating! Thanks so much, Sergei.

As a poorer country, Greece was full of Ladas and Dacias well into the 90s. At least the ZAZ was considered trash , maybe I have seen one on the road. A few Moskvitch too. Lots of Skodas of course.

Funny how rumors can be true. I grew up in Western Europe, in the 70s, and one of my teachers told us the story about the wind shield wipers. He had never been to Russia, there was no such thing as the internet, but this was known in our little town in The Netherlands. And so it turned out not to be propaganda, but the truth.

A great segment and Sergei is a nice guy.

what a pleasure to be able to listen to this conversation!

I wondered why the rock star at 25:22 was holding a pair of wiper blades. Even though the Mercedes has them installed, it must have something to do with the theft issue discussed later. "Look how flush I am, I've got an EXTRA set of wipers!"

My new favourite Channel. Nice interview, it's always fascinated me far more learning of actual real life experiences rather than high powered ones.

Really special episode. Brings me back memories. During the 70s in Naxos island - Greece there were at least two Volga taxis and one Moskvich. Had used all of them. Actually one of the Volgas was the taxi of my mom's village. And if this is not enough, during early 80s a friend of mine owned a Trambant. It was just fine.

My grandpa was gifted a Moskovich when he worked for the Cuban government. Beautiful pearl white Moskovich and reliable too. He sold it a long time ago but dang do I miss that car. Also my father used to drive an UAZ when he was in the military! Wish I could import one of those to the US, even if it wasn’t as comfortable as the Moskovich it really had and amazing 4x4 capabilities and Diesel engine!

I grew up in Eastern Germany and my parents had a red Saparoshez. It was a great car, in winter a bit slippery due to rear drive, but hell, it took us ANYWHERE we wanted to go. It finally died in 1993, clutch problems that could not be repaired.

Off overheating.. When I was very young in 70s in then communist Yugoslavia my father had Zastava 750..which was very small car air cooled.. So when we would go to holiday in the summer to see side you need to pass lots and lots off mountains in Montenegro so he drived with open engine hood or engine would overheat

I remember when I was little like 5 we still had trabant and even on the best roads it felt like you drive off-road like on rally or smt.

Great episode and nice break from the serious tone of the last special. I’m loving these collaborations with Sergei!

My grandma was asked by her director to bring back a red flag to the company for exchange of a talon for a ziguli, and so my grandparents got to enjoy a car very quick. Interesting times.

I love hearing from this interviewee, would love to hear his input as we advance to more modern events!

When it comes to Lada, only the "top spec" model just as 2106 with a 1.6L engine cost almost 9000 rubles. The rest of the line up was between 6000 and 8000. Also, the average salary in the early 80s was around 150 rubles, not 50. Still as you said, it's a lot of money.

Still remember our first family car was a blue Lada. My mom sold it when i was about six and she bought a new red Yugo :)

A Lada Niva is a pretty cool Soviet car imho. What surprised me about the SU is that nobody up in the office thought of that people desire things and made a planned economy around that idea.

I have to say that guy has a really great sense of subtle humor. Really enjoyed this.

Thanks for the great video! Just a very minor correction: the garage seen at 15:07 is actually factory-produced, not a DIY thing (of course you still had to assemble it yourself, but it was a readymade kit). My grandfather bought one for his 2101 back in the 70s and in a slightly modified version it still serves me as a shed in my backyard.

Wow, those customized Soviet era cars looked very cool. I'd love to see more on the cars and the people customizing them.

I was born in the 80s in the USSR, so late Soviet Union. There was one guy on our block who owned a motorcycle and he would keep it in his apartment, I remember him struggling to push it up the stairs in the building 🤣

Even though I'm not really into cars, this was an interesting special. Loved the music! Keep up the great work, people!

The fun thing is that “Lada” means barn in Swedish and yes they sold Lada in Sweden.

I remember mother telling of an acquaintance living in the Soviet Union who, with the aid of some foreign friends bought a Saab or a Volvo with a bunch of spare parts to take back to the USSR, but got it confiscated at the border.

awesome video! i hope you keep making these kind of videos so we can know how day to day life was

My dad had a Moskwitch, and we had the carbouraetor on the balcony in our flat every second weekend.... The car was loud, that accelerating my dad described the Moskwitch noise as: "a gypsy girl full of gold rings bellydancing" But he backseat was more comfortable than the living room counch made in Romania

Great video! Thanks for the history lesson and info on life in the Soviet Union. Listening to someone talk about something they lived through instead of learning about it from a 3rd party gives more depth to the subject. plus it helps to put things into perspective about life in America in comparison to life over there. I would love to listen to this guy talk about a variety of topics about life in the Soviet Union. Please make more videos with him!!!! Thank you sir for taking the time to give us this amazing history lesson! BRAVO!

GAZ-13 and GAZ-14, aka "Chaika (Seagull) was the most beautiful and prestigious car in the USSR. Damn Gorbachev for fucking it up and destroying its production on purpose! I still dont get why he did it...

Great vid. So fascinating for someone who grew up in the west.

Very interesting video! Thanks. I'm fascinated by all things automotive. My friend who is from Belarus told me that in the old days, used cars were more valuable than new cars because there was no waiting list.

I was in a former soviet central Asian republic this past summer, it was cool to see so many of these still in use. I have photos of zaphrogets Ladas Volga’s and of course many trucks.

Great video ! Really appreciate the information about the subject , thanks a lot !

Ahhhh cool that you guys did a crossover / team video !

Thanks of putting this video together, had few burst of laughter! Our family had our first Lada O1in mid '70, my parents had to borrow money to buy it. Apartment, car and dacha - very true observation. And yes, Ikarus bus was very popular, unfortunately sometimes fumes were leaking inside and it was a killer as you can imagine.

Great choice of ambient music! Very nice insights behind the iron curtain too!

Our family had ushastuiy zaparogetc. After words we upgraded to Model 1 and later model 3 Lada.... those were the days. My grand pa was in military and his line was only 3 years and not 9.

Back in the day....late 80', early 90's, when I was still living in Sweden, one of my close friends (sadly no longer with us) owned a Lada 4x4 and later a Vaz....didn't matter how cold it was, they always started in the winter, only our own Volvos and SAABs came close! I'd love to get my dirty mittens on a UAZ-452 bus, I've for one or another reason grown fond of that one! 🤨🤔😆😂

28:23 Legend says it that the first wipers were stolen by a bunch of kids for a joke. The owner couldn't get new wipers so he stole them from another car. Then the next guy stole them from another. then the next one, then the next one. The rest is history.

Instant like for having Sergei on the show! I LOVE his channel! If you're interested in Soviet history from a civilian's perspective living there, definitely check him out!