The 131 is not a fancy truck by any means. It’s a basic 6×6 cargo unit with endless possible configurations, including a trailer for surface-to-air missiles. It is powered by a 6-liter gasoline V8, which—like every Russian military engine worth its salt—can run on pretty much anything that features carbon atoms bound to hydrogen atoms with a fancy for oxygen.

The beauty of the 131 lies in the laconic manner it handles obstructions. Aided by a ground clearance of over a foot and a maximum fording depth of 4'7", it takes to bad terrain like an SR–71 to an extra continent to cross.

Observe for yourself in this rare example of a video showcasing a military vehicle without power metal cranked to 11:

Just make sure you’ve got your logistics nailed down: all that off-roading comes at the price of a very Russian fuel economy in the range of 1–2 MPG.

Photo Credit: PzBrig15/Militaryphotos.net, Samuli Ikäheimo/Flickr

Well, you might keep shop manuals on your coffee table, but that would make you the kind of scarily focused gearhead who also keeps a couple of engine blocks in the kitchen. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course, but Haynes also puts out this… this four-pound slab of concentrated essence of car pr0n, and- now that you're aware of its existence- your life without it will seem as grim and flavorless as the sawdust-enhanced sausage ration in Vladivostok, 1949. It sure as hell isn't cheap, so those of you with a birthday coming up are advised to start dropping some very strong gift-idea hints to your loved ones right now. The rest of you will have to cough up the rubles on your own, but it will be worth it.



From the Ford clones of the 1920s and 1930s (starting with a copy of the Model A and continuing with the modified-for-Soviet-conditions Model B-based M1 shown above), the USSR was making cars and trucks from its earliest days. While some were based on foreign designs (the Opel Kadett-based early Moskvich and Fiat-based Lada being a couple of famous examples), many were all-Soviet projects.


Thompson's book covers all the major lines of Soviet cars and light trucks, including the GAZ Pobedas and Volgas, the ZIL limousines, the beloved Zaporozhets, and a bunch of acronymic vehicles we decadent Westerners have never heard of.


Vehicles manufactured according to the demands of a planned economy (in a nation whose rough roads cover 11 time zones and every crazy weather condition imaginable) were designed with different priorities than those found in the capitalist automotive world, and this book does an excellent job describing how those priorities worked during the Soviet period.


Things really got interesting during the Brezhnev era, during which the USSR's need for hard currency, coupled with the rise of inflation in the West, led to large-scale exports of Soviet-made vehicles. In early-70s Britain, car buyers could pick up a brand-new Moskvich 412 sedan for £717, which was £22 cheaper than a Mini and only £3 less than the wretched Hillman Imp. Many did, though some scary crash-test results took a big bite out of UK Moskvich sales. And, as Teargas has proven with his LeMons car, plenty of Ladas made it to Canada a few years later.


Thompson pays attention to Soviet racing achievements, from the early rally days to late-Soviet Lada hoonage. The machines of UAZ, IZH, RAF, etc., are here as well, with the story continuing to the end of the Soviet Union and a little beyond.

This one earns a five-rod rating (five being the highest rating, in honor of the most reliable automobile engine ever made), plus Bonus Balalaika for sheer Hero Of The Soviet Union-grade awesomeness. Murilee says check it out!

[Motorbooks]

49061

ZIL Parade Concept [CarDesign.ru]

Related:
In Russia, ZIL Screws You [internal]

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

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

Geely Declares Plans to Start Assembling Its Cars in Russia [Moscow Times]

Related:
Geely Will Go With You for a Happy Life [Internal]

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

History of the ZIL/ZIS [Autosoviet]

Related:
Chevy SSR Who?: Russian GAZ Concept [internal]

I don't know about you, but we're having flashes of "Red Dawn.

"Wolverines!!

[more here. Thanks to Jealousy for the tip.]

Related:
Hoon of the Day: MAN, oh Man; Hoon Of The Day: Monday! Monday! Monday! See A Giant Hauler Crush A Land Rover! [internal]

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.

Soviet Cars go Under the Hammer [BBC]

Related:
Nissan to Build Cars in Russia [Internal]