The Car as a Piece of Art

How often do you see monuments to the car? Admittedly, it’s not a common cultural phenomena. Cars do present in some sculptural complexes. They are not given much importance, though. Only the fact that this engineering masterpiece has been in the world’s attention for over a hundred years, makes it worth being immortalized, doesn’t it?

Caucasian people have always been famous for their special love for technology, particularly for cars. Keeping in mind this fact, any resident of the Armenian capital will be proud to confirm that the national love for expensive classic and fast cars is embodied in one of the museums in the heart of Yerevan, in the form of a real car. Now attention: all motorists who plan to ever visit Armenia, I highly recommend to visit the Cafesjian Center for the Arts situated in the Cascade complex in Yerevan. From architectural and aesthetic points of view, this is an amazingly atmospheric place. Among many unusual exhibits and all kinds of art installations spread over this huge complex, there is an absolutely unique piece of art, a Subaru SVX. Any visitor can enjoy it for free. This Subaru was first exhibited in the summer of 2010 and is still in the public domain, along with the masterpieces of Andy Warhol, Marc Chagall and Grigor Khanjian. According to the helpful museum guides, this 1993 Subaru, the design of which was created by the famous Italian studio Italdesign, belongs to the personal collection of the renowned collector Gerard Cafesjian. Moreover, this car was his very first personal vehicle.

Initially, the entire car (except the front and rear lights) was re-painted in a silver matte color. However, it was eventually decided to cover the body with a mirror-like skin. Exactly in this form this car is presently exhibited.

Remarkably, among various interesting exhibits, there is another car, a beautifully restored Ford Model N Runabout of 1906, also from Cafesjian’s personal collection.

Burial & Resurrection: Toyota Crown Custom (Part 4)

Today I will continue the story about the unique custom project involving a Toyota Crown MS 106. About how and under what circumstances this car was found, as well as what restoration works took place, I have already written in previous posts.

The time has come to tell you about the modifications made in the electronic systems. It is worth mentioning that Toyota Crown, permanently being at the top of the hierarchical chain of the entire range of Toyota, has always been distinguished for its high level of equipment, being inferior, in status, only to the executive limousine Toyota Century. This fact naturally led to a high level of equipment of the Crown. The hardtop models of Toyota Crown in all available packages were equipped with central locking system, power windows and side-view mirrors, electric trunk opener and radio receiver with tape player that could be controlled from rear seats. Some instances under the name “Royal Saloon” were additionally equipped with an electric sunroof, air conditioning with electronic climate control, trip computer, cruise control system and even power rear seats.
All of the above mentioned options, except the sunroof, are present in this custom Crown. I hope you still remember that this very model was released in 1974 and all of these options came out with serial production of the Crown in 1974. You might ask, “what else could be added to this wide list of options?”
However, for a modern user, a car is not just a means of transportation, but a place where a large amount of time is spent, and that time must be spent with maximal comfort. For this reason, the car received a modern multimedia system with touch screen on the central console, by means of which the driver and passenger can access the Bluetooth and media files of all possible formats. Rear passengers can enjoy a privilege of using a separate multimedia system, which can read files in Blu-ray format. There are also “Mark Levinson” high quality speakers and wireless headphones for rear passengers.

The car has a modern anti-theft alarm system with a smart key and engine start button.
With the purpose of practicality, the original headlight units were replaced with more modern and replaceable light bulbs, after which they were installed with automatically controlled BiXenon projectors. The automatic control of wipers is activated by means of rain sensors.
For extra comfort, the driver’s seat got embedded with electric engines allowing it to move in two directions. All seats have a heating function.
Quite an interesting solution was given to side view mirrors. As you can see, they are totally absent. But this does not mean that the driver is destitute of side visibility. For this purpose, the car is equipped with additional displays and 2 tiny cameras on both sides, which provide the driver 4 times bigger view than the conventional mirrors. However this is not enough for perimetric visibility, and of course, there is also an additional rear view camera cleverly disguised under the trunk lock.

Burial & Resurrection: Toyota Crown Custom (Part 3)

The body fixation cushion sleeves, which are the most vulnerable parts of the chassis and exposed to corrosion over time, are also made of high-strength stainless steel of A3 and A 5 makes. Stainless steel was also used in producing the short racks of front and back stabilizers. The exhaust system (pipes, resonator as well as the main tank) is also fully made of stainless steel. The bottom and crankcase shields are made of stainless steel sheets. In fact, the bottom is constantly under the aggressive effect of environment and the engine shield is located directly under the radiator. This increases the risk of contact with the cooling fluid, which, in turn, leads to premature corrosion.

One more nuance which increases the durability of the body and the life of the car on the whole. I am talking about the sills, which, sooner or later, under the effect of various factors rot away completely, only if your car is not a De Lorean, of course. Flowing down through all the drainpipes, the whole water collects right in the sills. For drainage, the lower parts of the sills has special openings, which quite often clog up not allowing the water to naturally drain out of the car. This leads to inevitable corrosion. To resolve this issue, (as you’ve already guessed) the sills are also made of stainless steel. The decayed parts from the lower body side were removed and replaced with 100 mm stainless steel pipes, which had already received a series of drainage holes with larger diameters. In addition to the anti-corrosive effect, this modification gave the body additional stiffness.
As for the underbody, at first, it was processed with “Nippon” anti-corrosion primer, after which it was applied with additional prime paint. In the final stage, the bottom was painted in body color and on top of this paint, masters applied the traditional bituminous anti-corrosive layer.
Next time, I will try to tell about the electronic know-how applied in this car.
To be continued...

Burial & Resurrection: Toyota Crown Custom (Part 2)

Today I’d like to continue the story about the custom-project on the basis of automobile Toyota Crown of the 5th generation. You might have already learnt from the previous article that the car, which had been buried and strewn with bricks, was found quite by chance in 2009.
Having spent so many years in an adverse environment, part of the frame and chassis almost completely rotted away. All these elements had to be restored from zero.

To ensure maximal correspondence between the custom and original versions, one more Toyota Crown of a later generation was purchased, after which the old body received a more modern chassis. Also, at the wish of the new owner, the masters slightly changed the profile of the car, by lowering the roof and removing all the plastic and chrome-plated moldings from around the perimeter of the body. During the whole restoration period, both in technical and electronic aspect, this car underwent a very large number of various custom operations, about which I might go into details next time.
It took about five years, since the very beginning of the restoration works until the day, when the owner was able to drive this car to one of the local tuning shows. Being under constant modifications, this car is considered as an unfinished project. However, Id like to tell you a bit about some technical improvements that changed this car fundamentally.

One of the essential solutions when building this car was the extensive use of stainless steel in the structure. Such practice is not supported by the world’s automakers, since it increases the final cost of the product. In this case, focusing on the durability of his car, the owner never posed any financial limitations, however. Thus, absolutely every screwed element of the body and chassis (bolts, nuts, washers, plugs, etc.) is made of high-strength stainless steel of A3 and A 5 makes. The bolts and nuts had to be custom-made, so as not to change the metric data and thread standards of the manufacturer.
To be continued...

Burial & Resurrection: Toyota Crown Custom (Part 1)

When I first saw this car, I couldn’t identify it for quite a while. Judging by the appearance, it was a model of the late 1970’s, which had a logo seemingly belonging to Lexus. As far as I know, this company started the production of cars in 1989. Even the internet couldn’t help me with the identification of this strange vehicle, and there remained no choice but to find the owner. I managed to find him through social networks and was finally told the story of this car.
In reality, It appeared to be a custom-version of the model called Toyota Crown, which is the oldest model of Toyota and was intended only for the domestic marked of Japan.

It took 5 years to build this car. A Toyota Crown MS 106 of the 1979 production was chosen as a donor car to fulfill this unique project. This car has an interesting story. It is said that, in the 1980’s, it was owned by one of the most influential and well-known criminal bosses in the USSR. According to the legend, he received this car as a gift from representatives of the criminal world of Russian Far East. For many years, this respectable hardtop sedan served its respected owner travelling across Armenia without any registration and license plates, because in those times such cars could be counted on the fingers of one hand and all the police knew their owners preferring to stay away from them. Such a state of affairs was undoubtedly in the owner’s favor, who, taking advantage of his “authoritative” influence, unrelentingly led a lawless lifestyle, by the end of which he acquired countless enemies.
One day, arriving home, he parked the car in the yard, got home and died of heart attack shortly thereafter. In panic, the family started to hide all his illegally acquired property: gold, jewels, weapons, etc.
Late at night, it came to the strikingly elegant car. The relatives couldn’t invent anything smarter but to bury the car right in the yard. In haste, the Toyota Crown was partially buried. The upper part was simply covered with bricks. As a result, it turned out an imitation of a small hangar, which kept the car away from the eyes of subsequent foes.

Over the years, the car got completely forgotten. Many of the participants of all those troubled events must have already gone to the next world.
In 2009, the current owner discovered the car quite by chance and immediately decided to buy it. It took a few days to remove the Toyota from the ground. The car was finally towed into a dry and warm garage, where the process of resurrection began.
To be continued...

The Very Special GAZ 13C

When coming across a rare car, of which there are only a dozen left throughout the world, particularly, if we are talking about a soviet limousine, about which the entire male population of the USSR could not even dream, you start to experience a weird feeling.
The GAZ 13 Chaika was produced by Gorky Automobile Plant between 1959 and 1981. During that period there were released 3.200 units of various modifications, among which 15 convertibles with an index GAZ 13B and 20 ambulances with an index GAZ 13C. 
Today we know about, at least, 12 survived models of the medical modification, one of which will be introduced in this article.

Originally, this extremely rare modification of Chaika was designed to satisfy the needs of senior party officials that ruled the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Only very rarely, these cars could be seen in governmental motorcades. Interestingly, this modification was built by hand at the RAF factory in Latvia. The Latvian factory was supplied with ready chassis and engines from Nizhny Novgorod, after which the workers manually produced the body and made the final assemblies of the car. Since all Chaikas of medical modification were assembled by hand, they all differ from each other in terms of equipment and facilities in medical compartments. But, of course, there are also some common features, for example, they were all painted in black color and the windows of the passenger compartment, in contrast to regular ambulances, were not covered with white-opaque color, instead, they were equipped with dark curtains that could be tightly closed. Externally, these vehicles had no identification marks and could not be differentiated from one another.

Produced in 1973, this Chaika (chassis No. 002327 and body No. 002415U) is one of the first exemplars of this type. Initially, it was intended for the 4th Main Directorate of the Ministry of Health of the USSR and, at first, was used in Moscow. Later, in the early 1980’s, in the Central Committee of the Armenian SSR there arose a need for such a car. By that time, the production of GAZ 13 had already been discontinued and on May 19, 1983, this car arrived in Yerevan. In the next 11 years, this Chaika had its special medical staff and served nearly all secretaries of the Communist party of Armenia, including Karen Demirchyan, who was especially keen on this unique vehicle. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, this Chaika did not remain in “retirement” for long and very soon, in 1994, it was legally obtained by a doctor named Vardan Janoyan.
At that time, the mileage of this car was about 10.000 kilometers. Fortunately, I managed to get to know the owner long ago, back in the 2000’s. At that time, the car had an amazing preservation. The body had never been repaired, nor had it been re-painted. The original paint shone like new.
After the acquisition, the owner almost has not driven the car. The mileage has not exceeded 12.500 kilometers so far.

Avetik Pandeyan the restorer

Another talented restorer is Avetik Pandeyan, who is known for his passion for European classic cars, particularly for those from the early 1930’s. Pandeyan’s collection includes real jewels of the German pre-war automotive industry.
 This master started his career in the 1970’s with restorations of trophy cars and motorcycles, the most prominent of which was the BMW 327 depicted in the photo with its new and happy owner from Europe.

 The next project was personal and planned to be implemented in the mid 1990’s. Back in 1984, Mr. Avetik managed to get a trophy convertible BMW 320 of 1938 production. After the war, the car was brought to Rostov, where it was used by an officer’s family. After some time, the car was in Shushi, a city in Nagorno-Karabakh, where, after many years, it was found fallen into decay. The restoration works on this car started in 1995. The body of the convertible was in critical condition. The doors, front wings and side steps had to be newly made in accordance with original drawings. The aluminum side panel of the hood with its tilt control mechanism and ventilation hole patterns, as well as the gills of the radiator grille, which has always been considered as the trademark of the BMW, had also to be reconstructed from scratch.
It should be mentioned that despite the pitiable state of the body, the original components were almost in an excellent state of preservation. In technical aspect, the car virtually remained 100% original, including the engine, manual transmission, drivetrain, front and rare suspension. Now, add to all this a lovingly restored interior and we have a perfect classic BMW, the owner of which will be looked at with envy.
The restoration works of this car, with some pauses and delays, lasted about 15 years.

Presently, Pandeyan is engaged in restoration of another pre-war German trophy convertible. This time this is an Audi produced in 1934. This model Mr. Avetik acquired in the territory of the former Soviet Union, but he refused to go into details about the exact country. The restoration project, which started 16 years ago, now is nearing to completion. The works on the body and its wooden structure is already completed.

The master complains that it takes quite a long time to find the original missing parts of the interior. Similar to the BMW 320, this instance also pleases with its completeness. All the elements of the technical part were produced more than 80 years ago and belong to Auto Union AG, the immediate predecessor of today’s Audi.