I believe that many here at CC enjoy the glimpses of cars away from their expected habitat. JDM Kei cars in the US, the 1950s American survivors in Cuba, and similar contrasting situations. Indeed, we’ve posted many such entries before, from vintage photos of American cars in Europe, to recent JDM transplants to new lands.
Following on that tradition of sorts, I recently came across a stash of images featuring American cars in the Soviet Union. Not the first location one thinks about for American vehicles back then, particularly considering that not-small matter of the Cold War. Still, a number of them made it across the Iron Curtain, mostly as Embassy vehicles, either for diplomats or embassy workers. In lesser numbers, a few arrived to be studied and dissected by the Soviet auto industry, in their efforts to acquire new knowledge.
I’ll admit a personal fascination with this theme, since seeing these vehicles rolling over the rather traffic-free streets of the Soviet Union makes for a most peculiar sight. As for the images, they come mostly from one Russian source, which provides some detail about a few of the photos (And I hope Google Translate did an OK job with those). One thing, they’re all black and white shots, but then again, color film was expensive then, and in Soviet times, likely a hard to acquire commodity.
So, let’s get started. We’ll progress chronologically by model year, not necessarily by photo date.
We’ll start with this 1952 Packard 400, in what looks like a period photo, unlike the Packard 250 in our opening image.
A 1953 Kaiser Manhattan apparently serving some embassy, though I can’t quite make out the flag on display in the front fender pole.
No embassy assignment for this 1953 Cadillac Fleetwood 75. Instead, one of the vehicles that went to the ZIL autoplant for study. As it only could be, for a factory usually in charge of creating limos for Soviet officials.
This 1956 DeSoto Diplomat is drawing quite a crowd, despite a dented rear fender.
How about this 1956 Packard Caribbean convertible? Sorry to tell you, but this one also became a test subject for ZIL, as the next photo shows…
As some at CC may recall, it doesn’t take a Sherlock to figure out the GAZ 13 Chaika got direct styling genes from this Packard. Heck, I even wonder if some of this Caribbean’s parts ended up on the first GAZ 13 test mule.
Back to diplomatic work, and this 1957 Chrysler New Yorker seems to have been the vehicle of choice by the Japanese Embassy. That is, if I’m reading that flag right.
This 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 makes a nice sight in what looks to be a location near Moscow’s Red Square.
As can be seen, quite a few drivers seem to be taking quite a liking to this 1957 Plymouth Savoy. Suddenly it’s 1960 is causing quite an impression!
Yeap, even this glitzy 1958 Buick Century is getting approving glances. No naysayers of these in this photo.
Another Cadillac, this time a Fleetwood 75 limousine, but not for embassy work. Instead for ZIL research.
This 1960 Chevrolet Bel Air is surrounded by quite a few Soviet vehicles of various vintages, mostly Ladas. The Soviet cars look quite rational and plain against this Space Age Chevy.
Another vehicle for the ZIL fellas, this time a 1960 Imperial Crown. Quite a diversity of vehicles for those guys to study.
A 1962 Plymouth Fury, providing quite an otherworldly sight by its mere presence. Rather than wonder, that one pedestrian nearby looks befuddled by this plucked chicken.
On a more sedate and classy note, this 1962 Buick LeSabre really stands out in this shot with its dignified yet stylish sobriety.
Pontiacs couldn’t be left out, right? So how about a 1963 Tempest 2-door?
As seen with the previous Kaiser, independents also found their way across the Iron Curtain. Here we have a Studebaker Lark, with some grille emblems that likely indicate embassy duties. The lady passing by seems quite curious about this South Bend product.
More Space Age spirit, with this 1963 Thunderbird Bullet-nose.
Have you ever seen a 1964 Ford Country Sedan with a chauffeur? Well, now you have. For an embassy employee, I would guess? A relative of one?
Now, this shot has quite an admiring crowd! The ’65 Mustang, such a styling hit. No one resisted its charms, regardless of class, race, location, political ideology, or economic model.
Buicks generally show up on grand scale, a role they fit quite well. Most likely as vehicles for high ranking diplomats. This is a 1965 Electra 225, and makes for quite a view in this location. About which, it will be reappearing in a few shots further down. Looks like this gastronom was quite popular with foreign officials and employees.
Climbing down the GM ladder, here’s a nice looking 1966 Chevrolet Impala 4-door sedan.
Back to products from the Pentastar. A diplomat, or whoever drove this, surely got a unique vehicle to drive on Soviet roads; a 1966 Chrysler 300 convertible. Looks like a vehicle with enough flashiness to do a one-car-parade in this city on its own.
The Laurentian is not a nameplate that comes first to mind with most Pontiac aficionados. A sign that it’s one of the Canadian-built Cheviacs, and probably a clue that this car must be doing some service or another for Canadian foreign services.
Back to impressive products from Lansing, with this 1969 Buick Electra. Again, posing by the “Foodstuffs Gastronom”.
This 1972 Chevrolet Impala 4-door hardtop could use a good wash (like many cars in this gallery), but the setting against the brutalist building in the back makes for a nice image.
More Canadian oddities, with this 1972 Mercury Rideau 500.
Brougham sportiness in the Soviet Union? Sure, with this 1973 Chevrolet Laguna.
This 1975 Ford Grand Torino is doing embassy service, though once again, hard to tell which flag for.
This generation of the Mercury Cougar (here a ’75) never gets that much love, but I don’t know… It’s getting quite a few lusty stares from plenty of nearby pedestrians.
This 1979 Chrysler New Yorker is doing embassy work, and as far as I can tell, the flag is either Syria or Iraq.
We’ll close with the newest car in this collection, a 1979 Ford Mustang. A new era for Ford, looking ages ahead of all around it. Yeap, the 1980s are coming!
If this collection calls your attention, we may have a second run down the line. There are plenty more where these came from.
There is no ’64 Mustang. All were titled as ’65s, regardless of build date. Great pics!
A funny typo, considering we ran a post on them yesterday. It’s fixed.
Interesting to see. Just like the opposite of seeing a Moskovitch, Trabant, or Wartburg in the USA. The US cars really stood out in the USSR. It would be interesting to know where some of them are now and if they still exist.
I wonder if that Kaiser was an Israeli-built car, which would open up a bunch of countries for which that would be a more natural choice than choosing a Kaiser vs. other American cars. I don’t think it’s an Argentina-built car because I don’t think Argentina started building them until after the 1954 facelift.
More great research Rich, on a fascinating topic.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a first gen Mustang, with mud flaps. lol
Reminds me of Canada years ago, as so many cars are muddy, and still equipped with snow tires, beyond the winter season. Still many unpaved roads. And car washes were not common.
I recall a topical news story as a grade school kid: Some gas stations in Canada refused to gas up Ladas, after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.
Please note that two of the cars shown here do not have Russian license plates.
The Chrysler convertible has a license plate that, in terms of layout and font, resembles a Swiss license plate. “SG” stands for the canton of St. Gallen. These license plates are still used today, albeit with a six-digit number after the letter combination.
The 1962 Fury has an old Swedish license plate, as issued until 1972. “T” stood for the administrative district of Örebro.
All license plates preceded by the Latin “D” are diplomatic license plates.
Regarding the older black license plates, it is noticeable that many have a Cyrillic character for “D” after them. Presumably an older version of diplomatic license plates. However, I’m not sure about this point.
I agree, the Cyrillic “D” ( д ) most likely denotes an embassy car. Which means the Studebaker, the Tempest and the ’65 Mustang were in diplomatic service. Interesting choice of automotive plenipotentiaries, eh?
The 300 convertible’s license plate is a puzzler. Could be a Swiss one from St. Gallen, but that’s a heck of a drive away, even in a Chrysler.
“Could be a Swiss one from St. Gallen, but that’s a heck of a drive away, even in a Chrysler.”
I completely agree. On the other hand, it must be a Western (West European) car, because the Cyrillic alphabet doesn’t recognize the letter “S” (we all know “CCCP” instead of “SSSR”). If I’m not mistaken, the same applies to the letter “G.”
The Cyrillic “G” (only a hard sound like Gazelle, not soft like Ginetta) is the character that looks like a backwards 7, but with the strokes at a right angle, seen in several of the other license plates.
Midsommar wrote:
“The Chrysler convertible has a license plate that, in terms of layout and font, resembles a Swiss license plate. “SG” stands for the canton of St. Gallen…”
The 300 appears to be parked in front of the massive – and now demolished – “Rossiya” Hotel. The pride of the USSR when new, it met a sad fate, like many other Soviet – era things:
Rossiya Hotel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rossiya_Hotel
“The Rossiya Hotel (Russian: Гостиница «Россия», romanized: Gostinitsa “Rossiya”) was a hotel in Moscow and was the largest hotel in the world from 1967 to 1980. Until its closure in 2006, it remained the second largest hotel in Europe, with 3,182 rooms. Throughout its existence, the hotel welcomed about ten million guests, including more than two million foreigners. Famous hotel guests included Mikhail Gorbachev, George H. W. Bush and Mike Tyson…
In 1956, the Architecture and Planning Department of Moscow approved the task of building the hotel complex, proposed by architect Dmitry Chechulin and engineers N. D. Vishnevsky and A. N. Gorbatko. In 1958, Chechulin went on trips to London and Paris to see the best examples of hotel architecture, as well as consulting with representatives of the American company Hilton. In 1960, the plan for the hotel in Moscow was finally approved by the authorities and construction began in 1964. Construction was completed on 1 January 1967. At the time of its construction, the Rossiya Hotel was the largest hotel in the world with 3,182 rooms. The complex consisted of three restaurants, several cafes, bars and buffets, a Zaryadye cinema, a concert hall with 2,600 seats, a sauna with a swimming pool, laundries, a telephone exchange, a shop, etc. The staff numbered 1,320 people…
On February 25, 1977, a major fire in the building killed 42 and injured 50…
The Rossiya Hotel closed on January 1, 2006. Dismantling of the building began in March 2006…”
The 1960 Chevy was photographed after 1980 and was a private car by that time based on its license plate. The 62 Plymouth is from Sweden. Quite a few western European cars in the background – I see a 5 series BMW and Ford Cortina wagon for starters.
Lots of cool pics, they weren’t big on cleaning white walls and wheels… No matter what piece of crap I was driving as long as the wheels and walls were clean I was good to go…!!! Like my junkyard Dart…
Probably a lot of winter pictures judging from the number of cars sporting snow tires.
I no longer live in a place with a proper winter, but I do recall Wisconsin winters. Impossible to keep clean wheels in winter – so I’d just wait until spring.
Here in Canada, you’d still see snow tires, well after the snow melted. Many roads remained muddy, with flooding. On the highway, it was not uncommon to hear the louder noise of approaching cars with snow tires, well towards early summer.
Our son spent a few months as an intern at the US Embassy in Moscow about 10-12 years ago. He only mentioned one embassy car, a Ford Focus, that he rode in a few times. It never occurred to me to ask if it was a domestic version. Regardless, by the 2010’s it would have blended right in even if it was a US import.
Fascinating! Wow a 63 Tempest. Outside of diplomatic work and tear downs, how could any of these exist?
BTW, that 63 was a 2 door sedan, not a “hardtop”‘. Hardtops didn’t have “B” pillars.
Just sayin!
Wow, ZIL sure did a lot of “research”…
Didn’t expect to see so many department stores in the USSR.
In the book, “The Russians” by Hedrick Smith, who was the Moscow Bureau Chief for The New York Times in the early 1970s, an early chapter talked about he and his wife driving home from an event in their Chevrolet Impala when they met some young Russian couples (it’s been number of years since I read the book so I may get some details wrong). They ended up giving them a ride home in the car and the young couples raved about the luxury of the car. I wonder if that 1972 Impala was the NYT car.
The 52 Packard is not a “400”; probably a 200 deluxe with the optional fender ventiports. That Studebaker Lark may also be Israeli manufactured. IKA built Larks after the Kaisers. Wish I could read the lettering on the Lark front fender.
Yes, and also optional Senior grill bars. The front bumper guards have been replaced with what looks like auxiliary lights.
The first car is not a 250, that number was assigned to the Convertible and Mayfair hardtop. Instead, it is a 1951 200 base Club Sedan, the clues being the shorter side trim and ’51-only bumper guards. The 200 Deluxes had chrome on the window frames. And all ’52s had longer side trim that extended to the rear edge of 4-door’s front door.
Thanks for 50 bonus points on Buick Super post! I’ll try again, I find this to be a SUPERUSSIANCOMRADSPUTNIKEXPORTAMERICRUISER! Wheh! Seriously, another great post. 👍 Blessed Easter to ALL!
Small correction Rich. The ‘Mercury Rideau 500’, would more accurately be called a ‘Mercury Meteor Rideau 500’. ‘Meteor’ being a brand. And ‘Rideau 500’, being the first trim level.
A number of wheel covers on various cars here, I don’t recognize from their US/Canadian versions.
Great first image. It makes a cultural statement.
The watchers are interesting. Some of them are openly curious, some are careful. The woman looking at the Lark is doing a classic “sidelong glance”.
There aren’t any watchers in the ’80s scenes. Foreign cars must have been common by then.
Embassy cars here were often imported US cars a mate of mine bought an ex US embassy Buick 2 door, The morman church also imported a lot of cars to use here a lot of these cars still existm Laurentians from Pontiac we got new local assembly cars, nice array of cars that would have been unusual in Russia.
That ’79 Mustang appears to have the TRX wheel/tire package. Expensive and hard to source in its home market, let alone in Soviet Russia.
At least they were available on Western Europe, as BMW, Peugeot and probably others also used them. The tires that is.
Regarding the photos being B & W, I suspect it’s not just the cost of film and developing. The photographer obviously favours a set look of 3/4 view with the car filling the frame and nicely cropped to the length of the car. My father and I often used B & W so we could develop and print ourselves, you can get a better image by manipulating the enlargement.
And in pre digital days you had to send your colour film away to be developed. The results were monitored in the UK, who knows who would have looked at your snaps before you did in Moscow?
After seeing that`48 Packard Custom 8 limousine at the hydroelectric plant at the beginning and end of ‘Doctor Zhivago’, the probability of the Soviets using one for party apparatchiks seems real. That is, of course if the Russians did not want to lend the film crew one because they hated the novel (which was banned in the USSR for years) at the time.
Dr Zhivago was shot by M-G-M in Spain, Finland and Canada, not the USSR.
Pasternack was paid $500,000 for the film rights.
WOW! Are we all interested in these automobiles! Here’s my offering. The 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 in Moscow was sent there for an exhibition. If I remember correctly, the car was red and white. Visitors to the exhibition found it hard to believe that the ordinary American could afford to buy this Ford. It was an article that I read back in the day at the time of this exhibition. It is great to see that you have this picture in your collection. Thanks Rich.
On a different note, our wealthiest member of our Armenian church in Washington Heights, NYC ordered a new Cadillac 75 limousine (he always came to church from Greenwich, CT in a Caddy 75) equipped with air conditioning in 1953 with which he and his wife traveled throughout the Near East. When they returned, Mrs. K presented a long slide show in the church hall about their tour of three months, and the new Caddy was in some of the photos. I love all of these photos – because I am an old guy with many memories.
In the 60’s – 70’s some of our U.S.A. embassies used the 8 passenger lwb Checker limos. I was knew a guy who had one. I suppose the embassy’s were trying to project a low profile with the Checkers.
In the late 70’s I visited Prague, then in Communist Czechoslovakia several times. I visited the lovely US Embassy, roaming around the extensive grounds, having friendly chats with the US Marine security guards, and “catching up with the news” at the Embassy library/reading room (all impossible to do now, due to security concerns)…
I noticed a number of large black “fuselage” Chrysler Imperials at the US Embassy compound…
There were quite a few foreign makes in Prague, a number of Western tourists visited. I noticed a ’67 Thunderbird sedan with a Dutch “NL” plate… also a VERY gaudy bright red ’76 Eldorado convertible parked on Wenceslaus Square – Czechs were used to seeing capitalist makes, but THAT attracted attention!…
Well – connected Czechs had access to Western cars… a friend who was a Communist Party member boasted of having a “real Italian Fiat – not one of those crummy Soviet copies!”…
I also visited East Berlin and Dresden in then – Communist East Germany. Plenty of Western makes in East Berlin, due to Western visitors, diplomats, and Allied Military crossing over; I liked to hang around Checkpoint Charlie to see what kinds of cars went through, quite a few US vehicles amongst them. However, “out in the provinces”, Western makes could be fairly rare… I did see a Volvo 144 and a “colonnade” Chevy Malibu parked at the Interhotel I stayed at in Dresden…
ISTR that the when the 60’s spy series “Mission: Impossible” showed cars “behind the Iron Curtain”, they used Checker Marathons as “stand – ins” for Soviet Bloc cars…!!!
Some of these cars seem almost subversive – the early Mustang, the ’63 Bird, the Electras. They are so much more attractive, so much more desirable than the domestic Russian cars they had to have made people (at least people with eyes for cars) absolutely crazy. Forbidden fruit – rock music, McDonalds, Levis and Mustangs! Chuck Berry knew (“Back in the USA”) how much better we had it here.
I like your description of “subversive.” The Thunderbird especially reflects an exuberant and increasingly wealthy 60’s US that seems so out of place in the Soviet Union.
Apparently ZIL only took apart luxury cars. So much for their egalitarian society. We have the many peasants ruled over by the ruling class. They get two wheel carts with a sick donkey while the ruling class gets a big luxury car. You complain and the gulag for you.
Prospective car buyers took shop class in auto repair in high school. Soviet cars were sold with repair tools included. Fees for mass transit were minimal, a few kopecs at most. There was little crime and no unemployment or homelessness.
If the Pontiac Laurentian was a Canadian embassy car, that’s pathetic.
So basic and one step above a Strato Chief. They could have provided something a little nicer like a Parisienne. The Meteor would have looked gigantic on Soviet roads. The big Mercury’s and Meteors by the early Seventies were really long and wide.
The Laurentian sedan of this era was one of the most popular cars in Canada for good reason. It had the style of the US Pontiac Catalina – more glamorous than an Impala IMO – with plainer upholstery and steering wheel.
The “plucked chickens” were the 1961 MoPars; that ’62 Plymouth isn’t in that category.
Anyhow:
Brezhev had a whole stable of foreign luxury cars, including the Lincoln that Nixon had gifted him at Camp David, this is a 2013 article:
Town Car Diplomacy – 40 Years Ago
https://www.nixonfoundation.org/2013/06/town-car-diplomacy-40-years-ago/
“Among the most intriguing and amusing happenings of the 1973 summit took place at Camp David. RN, like most other world leaders, knew of Brezhnev’s fondness for foreign cars and encouraged his impulsive frivolity by presenting him with a 1973 Lincoln Continental — dark blue with special black velour upholstery, a true classic. “Special Good Wishes — Greetings” was engraved on the dashboard…
Brezhnev wanted to go for a ride…
Nixon recorded the scene in his Memoirs:
‘He got behind the wheel and motioned me into the passenger seat. The head of my Secret Service detail went pale as I climbed in and we took off down one of the narrow roads that run around the perimeter of Camp David….
At one point there is a very steep slope with a sign at the top reading, ‘Slow, dangerous curve’….
Brezhnev was driving more than 50 miles an hour as we approached the slope. I reached over and said, ‘Slow down, slow down,’ but he paid no attention. When we reached the bottom there was a squeal of rubber as he slammed on the breaks and made the turn….
‘You are an excellent driver,’ I replied. ‘I would never have been able to make that turn at the speed at which we were traveling.’
Diplomacy is not always an easy art…’
A film clip of the day’s events here shows Nixon presenting the car to Brezhnev as the two speed off:
https://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675057033_visit-of-Leonid-Brezhnev_President-Richard-Nixon_Aspen-House_Lincoln-Continental
Brezhnev added the car to his personal collection in Moscow – which included a Rolls Royce, Citroen, Maserati, Mercedes 450 SL and a Soviet Zil limousine…
The Lincoln is currently on display at the Riga Motor Museum in Riga, Latvia…”
Driving behind the Iron Curtain: Cars of the USSR at the Riga Motor Museum
Soviet ZIS limos, Latvian RAF vans, Russian Moskvitch sedans and more at this excellent Baltic museum.
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/riga-motor-museum-ussr-soviet-cars/
“Easily the rarest vehicle here is the 1966 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, gifted to Brezhnev and apparently one of his favorites. He was quite the car fanatic. In 1980 he was driving in a convoy with the more traditional Soviet limos, when a truck driver pulled out in front of him. Not exactly a nimble vehicle in the best of situations, and likely driven at the high speeds Brezhnev was known for, the Rolls hit the truck hard and destroyed the front end. In a fantastic touch, a life-size figure of Brezhnev, complete with his trademark massive eyebrows, sits stunned in the driver’s seat…”
For those who haven’t noticed, it should be mentioned that these video scenes are not authentic but re-enacted.
And re-enacted in Southern California, thousands of miles from Camp David. But it was fun to watch.
Interesting tale about a US Embassy 1972 Chevrolet that was driven on a “road trip” to some points very distant from Moscow; Soviet roads at that time were primitive, and what if one had a breakdown (at one service station the Chevrolet’s fan belt was successfully replaced by a tractor fan belt!)? The car drew crowds, with people saying, “What is it?… Oh, it’s the new Chaika!… How much does it cost?… Will Henry Ford ever sell his cars in the Soviet Union?… Is it a production model… how far will it go?” At one hotel, the manager asked the Embassy guys to park the Chevy in a more discreet place, as the car was drawing crowds and blocking traffic. Earlier in the year, President Nixon had visited the USSR, and there were hopes that this would lead to increased trade (in fact, soon Pepsi – Cola would seal a deal with the Soviets to open bottling plants in the country. Nixon was friends with Donald Kendall, the head of Pepsi, which helped with the deal. Pepsi would be the first foreign “capitalist” consumer item available in the USSR; the US got Stolichnaya vodka in return). Some excerpts, and click on the link to see the full Embassy report. Fun reading!
An American Car on the Road in the USSR, 1972:
https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2020/05/26/an-american-car-on-the-road-in-the-ussr-1972/
“The tight restrictions on travelers in the USSR closed more than 97% of that country to most foreigners. The travel restrictions particularly affected diplomats from the Western Powers. Nevertheless, from time to time, staff of the U.S. embassy in Moscow made road trips to the various areas in the Soviet Union that were open to foreign visitors…
In late October/early November 1972, two embassy staffers visited Tbilisi in Georgia and three towns of the North Caucasus region, Ordzhonikidze (capital of Northern Ossetia), Pyatigorsk, and Armavir, and then drove on the Rostov. On October 29, embassy Economic Officer Robert Strand and Political Officer Ralph Porter hit the road in one of the embassy’s cars, a 1972 Chevrolet sedan (model unknown), returning to Moscow on November 2. Their adventures with their American car led the two FSOs (foreign service officers) to prepare the following entertaining report upon their return to the embassy…
The author visited the Soviet Union in 1973 and can testify to the drabness and clunkiness of the typical Soviet-produced automobile of the period…”
The Copycat Cars Of The U.S.S.R.
https://www.rferl.org/a/the-classic-western-cars-copied-by-the-soviets/28468695.html
“Industry loomed large in the race for influence between the West and the Soviet Union, symbolizing power and the ability to create, innovate, and carry the world into the future. But while the Soviets held their own and in some cases bettered their capitalist rivals in some fields — such as space exploration and weaponry — they were behind from the start when it came to the automobile. Often, the U.S.S.R. had to copy its capitalist rivals just to keep pace…
The first truck to roll off the assembly line of the U.S.S.R’s GAZ automobile factory in 1932. Three years earlier, American industrialist Henry Ford signed a contract with the fledgling Soviet Union to set up the plant in Russia. The factory would turn out licensed copies of Ford cars and trucks like this GAZ-AA… Newly minted GAZ-AA trucks at the factory at Nizhny Novgorod. Partnering with Ford would seem to go against the Soviet ideal, but the industrialist offered manufacturing expertise, technology, and training that Moscow could use to develop other industries. For Ford, the $30 million deal offered the opportunity to enter an untapped market…
A 1939 Opel Kadett. Prior to World War II, Stalin had tried to work out a deal to assemble the car in the Soviet Union. But following the Allied victory, the Soviet leader considered it to be a spoil of war. In 1946 he reportedly had an entire Opel factory dismantled, transported out of Germany, and into the U.S.S.R….
This slab of cool, known as the 1955 Packard Caribbean, had a short-lived production run in the United States. But the design was granted an unexpected second life when In 1959 the Soviets came out with their most prestigious comrade carrier, the Chaika…
In 1961, the Soviets came out with the ZAZ 965, a nearly identical copy of the 1955 Fiat 600D, right down to the forward-opening “suicide doors.” By the 1960s Soviet designs were becoming more proletarian as an increasing number of ordinary Soviet citizens were able to get their own passenger cars, albeit after a lengthy wait…”
From the article, re: Buick pictures:
“Looks like this gastronom was quite popular with foreign officials and employees…”
That “gastronom” appears to be (by the Cyrillic cursive lettering on the sign) a hard – currency only “Beryozka” store, open only those lucky enough to have Western dollars, Marks, Pounds, Francs, Yen, etc… these stores carried Western imports and desirable Soviet goods. Ordinary Russians were banned, as they only had “soft” Soviet rubles, which were worthless on the international currency market… but some got funds via the black market, and “connected” Soviets with access to hard currency could shop there…
From what I’ve read, the US Embassy shipped in food and other items via “diplomatic pouch” from Helsinki or other West European nations, or even from the US…. there was also a commisary where US staff could purchase stuff…
More on Beryozka:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryozka_(Russian_retail_store)
“Beryozka or Beriozka (Russian: Берёзка, lit. “little birch”) was the common name of two chains of state-run retail stores in the Soviet Union that sold goods in exchange for foreign currency. Beriozkas sold luxury goods such as chocolate and caviar that were often unavailable or unaffordable in traditional Soviet markets and shops. Beryozka stores existed between 1964 and 1990, up to the point of the Soviet Union dissolution…”
Excellent article, with pics of the stores, and even catalogs – AND a pic of a ’63 Ford sedan parked in front of the exact store that the Buick pic was snapped…!!!
Beryozka shops: How Soviet citizens bought scarce goods with foreign currency
https://www.rbth.com/history/328174-beryozka-shops-soviet-foreign-currency
“Officially, the only place where you could legally spend foreign currency in the Soviet Union was at the upscale supermarket, Beryozka. In the beginning, only highly privileged Russians were able to shop at Beryozka – diplomats, military specialists and athletes. But as basic consumer goods became increasingly scarce, more and more average Soviet citizens found ways to shop there…
Beryozka was primarily aimed at tourists, particularly from the West, who were invited to spend as much of their country’s hard currency as possible. To that end, these shops mostly sold souvenir trinkets. Gini Graham Scott, in her Soviet travel memoir, described the Beryozka shop on Gorky Street (now Tverskaya) as a “paradise for tourists,” filled with art books, jewelry, vodka and exquisite matryoshka dolls…
In 1970, as many as 7 percent of all cars sold in the USSR were bought with foreign currency at Beryozka shops. The most popular car was the Lada Sedan, which went for around $7,000 (about half the usual state price). More luxurious options, such as the GAZ Volga, could cost anywhere between $15,000 and $25,000…
Aside from cars, the Beryozka stores that dotted the Soviet Union’s main cities were well stocked with clothes, furniture, and by the 1980s, electronics. The Soviet state, which could not produce these items itself, was apparently content to let its citizens buy these imports, often at marked-up, heavily taxed prices. As journalist Philip Taubman witnessed in 1987, Soviet citizens paid up to 2,100 rubles for Toshiba TV sets (over $3,000 at the time, far more than what one would pay in America)…”
What a shame to see the 1956 Packard Caribbean chopped up! I seem to remember that there were only 276 of these made in total.
Fascinating article .
? Did the russians ever make / sell convertibles ? .
-Nate
In 1975 when I was around 15/16 years old, I lived briefly in the neighborhood very close to the then diplomatic section of Beijing. It was first times so many ordinary foreign made small passenger vehicles such as VW Beetle, VW Bus, Fiat 500 and 124/125, Toyota Corolla and Nissan equivalents and some low end French cars. For me Beetle and 500 were specially appealing because of their cute shape. If I remember correctly, Fiat 500 was mostly driven by young African diplomats and often very fast by then Beijing standards. For the more formal vehicles, the common cars were Mercedes, Toyota Crown, Datsun Cedric/Gloria, Volvo and Gaz Volga. Based on my observations, they seemed preferring Cedric. I also saw some low end Eastern block vehicles, but occasionally even found a Tatra 603 around. As for American cars, which was the most produced vehicle, I only saw a 1974 Ford Granada, that was scarlet blue with white roof, a very beautiful and very large vehicle, it was most likely belonging to US Mission, and other US vehicle is Ford Torino Ranchero – I only know the name after I moved to US. I remember that vehicle because it often parked on a side street next to a diplomatic apartment very close to the bus stop of the famous Number 1 Bus, it was a golden yellow car. Anyway, the many models of foreign vehicles were delightful treats for my interest of cars in 1975 of China. For those following China history and events, the following year, 1976 China started its new chapter. Now in Bejing streets you will find many ultra luxury cars around the world.