About fifty years ago, the Soviet Union (now Russia) was capable of providing luxury cars for high-ranking officials in many governments. Among them, the ZIS-101 was the first and most popular luxury car.
In the 1920s-1930s, Soviet Union leaders and politicians often used large, expensive Buick cars. Since then, they came up with the idea of designing a luxurious domestic line of cars similar to the Buick line.
The manufacturing process of the new car line was inaugurated in Leningrad in 1932. This car was sophisticated and technologically advanced, with many useful applications. Leningradsky Putilovets Company assembled all six of these car types, and they were showcased in the May 1933 parade.
However, all six cars showed many disadvantages during the test run from Leningrad to Moscow and back. The company had to halt the car production and shifted to manufacturing tractors and tanks instead.
A Moscow factory named Stalin (Zavod Imeni Stalina – ZIS) was then entrusted with the task of continuing the development of the luxury car line. The design of the Buick-32-90 type was not copied, only its engine technology was borrowed.
The Ambi Budd Company of the United States received an order from the Soviet Union to design the car body for the ZIS-101 line. Consequently, this company produced a series of car bodies for the assembly of the new luxurious Soviet car line. The Soviet Union had to pay a large amount for this product at that time – $1.5 million.
The car body of the first luxury car line of the Soviet Union is remarkable. It is made of both wood and metal, with each car body crafted by hand. The car runs without making any sound.
In the spring of 1936, Ivan Likhachev, the director of the Moscow Automobile Plant, drove this new car from Moscow to Podolsk and back. The results were very promising, and the first cars were handed over to the Kremlin.
On April 29, 1936, two ZIS-101 cars, one cherry red and one black, were introduced to Joseph Stalin, Kaganovich, Mikoyan, and other leaders. Senior government officials were deeply moved by this new car line and all approved it for mass production. Over 8,000 luxurious Soviet cars with various improvements were assembled before World War II.
This car is 5.5 meters long with a speed of 120 km/h and a 110 horsepower engine. It is equipped with a heating and radio system. The ZIS-101 consumes 26 liters of fuel per 100 km.
Since then, Soviet car manufacturers produced various cars for high-ranking officials.
Th? Ð?t (TTTÐ)
ZIS-101 – The First Luxury Car of the Soviet Union
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