Late 1950s was an interesting epoch for the Soviet Union. The death of Stalin was like a beginning to a new era, “the Thaw” of Khrushchev, the very first signs of the Cold War and the famous Fulton speech of Churchill — all of those were the signs of uneasy times coming up. But just before the Iron Curtain fell heavily, Russia was the place to visit — and we are very grateful to the Life magazine photographers who took plentiful photos for us.

So we are going to make a 50 year leap into the past to the mid-Russia region of the Volga river — here, the sparkly brand new ships were making their first cruises. So — full throttle!

Captain Palkin on a Maiden Voyage of Krylov Ship. 1958.

From a small dingy…

Steamship Vladimir Lenin. Built in 1913, retired in 1965.

The valley of the Volga river.

Ernst Thälmann docked in Yaroslavl

Ernest Telman

Lounging on the upper deck

Sunbathing.

At a cafe

Fine Soviet dining

Sunset on the dance floor

Of course not all ships were that glamorous.

Voroshilov timber trawler

A sign of its times: such beauties disappeared in 1980s

This was the way to move timber in smaller volumes.

A firefighter

On a ferry

M189 Steamship

Uglich-town ferry terminal

Samara (then Kuibyshev) ferry terminal

Samara (then Kuibyshev) embankment. A recital before the departure.

Bon voyage!

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1. Signboards of Soviet Stores
2. A Trip Around the USSR: Leningrad 1972
3. Good Soviet Kids Go to Heaven? Nope, They Go to Artek!

Zaporozhets, ZAZ 968A

In 1960 the construction of a huge car plant in Ukraine was finished and the new car “Zaporozhec” ZAZ-965 (later nicknamed “Humpbacked”) was offered for sale. In terms of design, it was a unique car despite the numerous talks that it was just a replica of Volkswagen “Beetle” and Fiat “Topolino”. This car had a hard roof (unlike Fiat) and an air-cooled engine (unlike “Beetle”). This small inexpensive car rapidly gained high popularity with people not only in the USSR but also abroad.

Zaporozhets, ZAZ 965

By the middle of 1960-s the volume of car production was not high enough to meet the growing demand. In 1966 the Soviet Government issued a decree on the construction of new car plants. The Moscow car plant was reconstructed and the volume of production was increased from 90,000 cars to 180,000. However those were not  sufficient volumes and then it was decided to start developing cars in collaboration with the Italian FIAT.

FIAT, ancestor of Lada 1300 (VAZ 2101)

The first car made due to this collaboration was VAZ 2101 “Zhiguli” which was partially copied off the FIAT-124. Nevertheless there was a sufficient difference between these cars. VAZ was equipped with a newer engine, brakes and reinforced body to fit the condition of a longer-term service, which was probably different to the one in Europe. After the redesign and modifications the car mass production had commenced.
Almost after the production was launched, the USSR stopped its collaboration with the FIAT. As the result they denied the production of full replica of FIAT “Mirabell” (as supposed by the agreement) but developed the unique model “Niva”.

Lada Niva

Realistically, the “Niva” was one the best cars ever produced in the Soviet Union. This car was the realisation of the concept of a “beach crossover” which became a poster child in the rest of the world. Later ALL foreign developments made on the edge between real off-roader and 4WD station-wagon cars were the copies of this concept, initially used in model VAZ-2121 “Niva” in 1977.

Lada 1600, VAZ 2106

In 1984, the Soviet engineers presented a new family of cars under the brand “Samara” initially introduced by VAZ-2108 (later supplemented with VAZ-2109 in 1987 and VAZ-21099 in 1992). This car was widely selling in Germany, France, GB and Canada in large extent because of the low price (in comparison with main rivals Ford “Escort” and Toyota “Corolla”) and powerful economic engine.

Lada Samara, VAZ 2108

Meanwhile another car plant in Soviet city Izhevsk produced the concept model IZH-2126. This was a car of absolutely new generation – equipped with automatic transmission, ABS and double axle drives. Nevertheless the production of this car started only in 1992 in a well-simplified version.

IZH-2126, Oda

At the same time in the late 1980s the car production industry in the USSR began to lag behind  its competitors in the US and Europe. Funding of the production of new models stopped (as it was in the planned economy of the USSR), car part suppliers did not have the new  parts, and parts made were frequently defected. Nowadays the car plants industry is mostly a legacy of the Soviet Union whereas the models of the cars are still sufficiently behind their Western counterparts but the price ranges are similar to the new European cars of a far better quality.

Here and below are some of the most popular cars in 1990 by Los Angeles Times chart.

Mazda Miata MX 5

Lexus LS400

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Related posts:

1. Soviet Automobile Industry — Part 1 of 2
2. Soviet Cars: History of the Copy-and-Paste Industry — Part 3 of 3
3. Soviet Cars: History of the Copy-and-Paste Industry — Part 2 of 3