Emka : The GAZ M1 (Part 2)

By that time, the taxi fleet of Yerevan had  been so much updated, that the old “Emka” looked rather archaic on the background of the GAZ M20 and GAZ 21; and besides, its 4-cylinder 50 HP flat-head engine was no longer able to meet Vanik’s expectations. Over the next few years, the car was constantly breaking down, which led to its complete unfitness. As a result, it was dismantled and the remains of the body were consigned to oblivion.

Many years later, in 2003, the remains of the car were discovered by Araik Hunanyan, a famous master known for his restorations of soviet cars of the prewar period. Araik reached an agreement to purchase the car, and got down to restoration soon after.
Since there was nothing left from the original image of the car, at primary stage of the restoration, it was decided to assemble a custom-version, without strong external differences from the original version, but with powerful “stuffing”
The car of 1938 production was destitute of the body number. During the restoration process, the car lost the registration number either. It received an engine from the GAZ-21, which did not prevent the master from having the vehicle registered at the traffic police, after which the car received a new certificate of registration. After few years of hard work, the car was finally able to leave the territory of the garage. Araik proved that it’s quite real to assemble a masterpiece from a pile of rotten scrap metal.