We don’t get a a lot of curbside shots from Russia, so let’s give this tired old GAZ-24 Volga a little CC love. LDeren posted it, noting that it was shot in May 2014. Robert Kim did an in-depth history on the Volga a bout a year ago, and he titled it “The Near Immortal GM B-Body of Russia”. Well, this does rather look a bit comparable to some of the tired B-Bodies I’ve seen around my neck of the woods, battered but still rolling. He also shot its predecessor on the streets, but in much better shape:
This is a GAZ-21, which was the first to carry the “Volga” name, and is to Russians of a certain age what a ’55-’57 Chevy is to Americans. There was even a V8 version, built especially for the KGB, using a 5.5 V8 from the much larger Chaika. It was fast, but a heavy understeerer. We covered the GAZ-21 here.
I’ve heard of these cars, I’ve heard that because of Russia’s unforgiving climate and roadways, cars built in Russia are built rugged and tough to withstand Russia’s roads. I’ve never visited there, so I wouldn’t know what it’s like driving in the “former” Soviet Union.
Looks like that Volga has not been washed since the collapse of the USSR and wonder how the fenders got so dented? Also wondering why there are tires underneath. So does Russia have safety and emissions testing?
I agree. If tires here in the USA looked like those, they’d be taken off and set fire to them, and new and better tires installed.
This car looks like it’s blocked up in front; look at the shadow just inboard of the front wheel, which also doesn’t seem to be holding any weight.
I really, REALLY, like this Volga -Coupe From Hell- V12.
Wow, that is something. There’s more than a bit of Lincoln/T-Bird in its lines.
You talkin’ to me ?
Whoa … this is the very first time I’ve ever gazed upon a Russian automobile while feeling anything akin to lust!
Though to be fair, it’s something that was custom built from a BMW or something, not an actual product offered by a Russian car company.
Yep, technically it’s fully based on the good old BMW 850 CSi.
Looks like a Grand Theft Auto version of a W123…. That looks like it was involved in some real life GTA antics
Yeah, Niko drove it off a few ramps and cliffs then saw a sweet blue Fleetwood Brougham, and the Volga was quickly abandoned. 🙂
This is not a GAZ-24, but a later GAZ 31029. The same car was filmed in the James Bond film “The Goldeneye”.
It is pretty much the same as a GAZ-24, but the build quality is very poor (yes, even worse). So considering its “quality” it is pretty rare.
Judging by the plates it is a Moscow car.
Another interesting find during this trip to Moscow was this one in the attached photo. It definitely looks like a first generation Volga but researching for it later I discovered that GAZ never produced this model. But the C-pillar is very familiar… maybe a Towncar-based Volga? Something like the Chinese Hongqi? No. Looking more carefully we can see it is not based on a Towncar at all, but on copycat of it, the Kia Amanti/Opirus! Not much information about this car is available on the web, but at least a few others have also been produced.
I’ve seen several of these get creamed in those infamous Russian dashcam videos that are posted all over the web.
However- the cars that seem to suffer the worst are those cheap, ugly, boxy Ladas that resemble the Fiat 124. In every single one of those vids I’ve seen, at least three meet their end in spectacular fashion.
Theres a vid on u tube of an icy tunnel in Russia somewhere at the end one of those boxy Ladas does a rollover lands on its wheels and drives away ugly yep they are a Fiat, boxy yep Fiat, but much tougher than any Fiat ever was.
… much tougher than any Fiat ever was
“grrrr, come over here and reiterate that tired and unfounded cliche”
😉
Right on ! Fiats are tough enough to win the Dakar Rally.
I’ve seen one where the Lada gets rear ended by a gigantic loaded dump truck while parked, and the Lada is still able to drive away.
…there was also a KGB spec V8 GAZ 24, by the way.
Ah yes, the Gaz-24-24. Even back in the Soviet era the V8 KGB special was considered a car for a driver with balls of steel, mostly because the V8 made it go a lot faster than it was designed to go, especially on Soviet roads and tires. As the 24 did not handle that well to begin with, on the 24-24 the bottom of the trunk was lined with a heavy steel plate (or bricks) as a crude traction aid. About 200lbs worth. With the extra weight it handled somewhat civilized, but topped out at 160-170kph. Without it, according to some data it topped at 200kph or so but the handling was downright dangerous even at much lower speeds.
Shoe-horning that 5.5 liter V8 into unibody Volga meant some concessions in body rigidity had to be made. So much in fact, that the body could not bare the weight of the V8 and slowly bent out of shape. As an undercover car it also had to look like a regular 24, so the floor shifter was in place like on a regular 24, but was hooked to the 3-speed automatic instead. The clutch pedal however was left place for appearances. Also the exhaust piping had the regular 24 “noodle” at the end, to not give away anything.
I want that two toned GAZ ! .
-Nate
Back when the earth was young, and I had hair…August 64, Bill France came home from the Belgian auto show with a spanky new Volga. McCahill gave it a test. Pronounced it as “handsome as the underside of a sludge pump”, but declared “workmanship was good and functional”.
That sounds like my kind of car, non-power assisted steering, rugged enough to handle any kind of driving, and ugly enough to make a Yugo look pretty. 🙂
All Russian cars are incredibly tough, and I have owned more than a few. I know someone here in England with a 3102 Volga and it is an amazing machine.
Before knocking Soviet technology, it is useful to remember that they were just a bit behind the West.
In Russia and the entire Comecon area, the Malaise era came a bit later and stayed much later- about 1985-date. Prior to this, build quality was about the same as non-luxury cars in Europe or America of the same era.
In my personal experience, the quality of materials and assembly was about on par with a Valiant or Dart. Variable, but reliable in spite of the bits of trim falling off.
I’ve always thought that the Russian attitude towards durability is to just increase the gauge of the material, as opposed to the Western view of decreasing tolerances. Both are exactly the correct solution to their respective environment.
…and Yes, Russian cars are way tougher than Fiats- and that’s by design. Fiats were designed to get maximum performance out of every kilo or cc. They can rev higher, if well maintained can be as reliable, and yes, can even go off road occasionally. However, a pre-1990 Fiat will quickly fall apart after its third winter of road salt, has lightweight precision suspension parts that are made for motorways and smooth European streets, not designed for missing manhole covers or traversing Mongolia. Sure, the £100 car rally racers can get a Panda or even Austin Allegro there, but could they drive it in that terrain every day for 10 years without proper coolant or modern oil? That was what the Lada, Volga, AK-Moskie and even the little Zap were designed for, and they did very well. They even came with squeaks and rattles pre-installed, so that you did not get the feeling your car was falling apart after driving across a particularly rough road. Also, on my Ladas, the only parts that ever repeatedly broke were the ones carried over directly from the Fiat- window regulators, door handles, interior trim, seat actuators, and the like. I never had an engine, transmission, steering or brake repair on any of these much neglected cars. The Russians even managed to make a 2nd gear Syncro that would last for more than 20K miles, which is more than I could say for my 2 Fiats or my Lancia, which were very cool cars in a totally different context.
However, if it were 1983 and I heard the wailing of a Federal Signal Thunderbolt and needed to get out of dodge, it would be a Lada or Volga that I’d jump in, not an X1/9 or even Sisley Panda.
They may be simple next to the cars sold here in North America, but sometimes simplicity can be a good thing, particularly if you need to perform maintenance on a car. So is parts availability. It’s a shame that such cars were never made available here in North America, particularly here in the United States.
Exactly, period tests of the Lada Niva noted the heavier than usual gauge body panels along with paint thickness that could have been applied with a spatula. They were designed to be used in the harshest of weather and road condition – even if the driveline components weren’t aligned terribly precisely & were re-worked upon arrival.
Jason, quite a contrast to German cars where a 1.6L engine is replaced by a 1.2L supercharged AND turbocharged unit to save a few percentage points of fuel consumption. Cost of maintenance or replacement does not appear to be a consideration.
My dad’s businessman friend drove a GAZ 3129 company car as pictured in the CC in the mid-late 90s in Novosibirsk. Pretty comfy car compared to a Lada. Smoother ride, larger interior. Volgas are basically a joke nowadays, a Lada may as well have japanese build quality by comparison. But I still like them a lot. This friend of ours never maintained his vehicles and the Volga was a rattly mess with a wailing differential in no time. The condition of roads in Siberia at the time did not help. I think it finally spun a rod and died, replaced by a late 90s Cefiro (Infiniti I30 here). The Cefiro may as well have been from another planet in terms of smoothness and power and build quality. Until recently, you could buy a Volga 31105 with a Chrysler 2.4 for something like $9000. Compared to a FWD Lada, you got a ‘executive’ looking RWD sedan, that would need wrenching on basically every weekend even when new off the factory floor. They do have supremely smooth rides that swallow up potholes, buy also terribly sloppy handling.