The First Caucasian Homemade Vehicle (Part 2)

The car got its final form in the spring of 1913, when “Avdo” dared to take the first run of his brainchild. The inventor was so much impressed with the ride on the horseless carriage, the roars and rumblings of which could be heard miles away, that he decided to use it for commercial purposes. For a fee, he was eager to transport passengers and goods. As a matter of fact, this vehicle was the first Armenian taxi.
On certain days of the week, mainly in the mornings, the main square of the town was crowded with curious onlookers, who was gathering to not only watch this technological miracle but also push it at the owner’s command, so the engine could start.
By the way, the first Armenian homemade car had two major design flaws, one of which turned to be fatal for its owner. The car did not have a mechanical engine start system (in those days there were not any electric starters at all- cars had to be started by using the so-called magneto or special handles). That is why all gathered and pushed the car.
The second problem was that the car had no brakes!  Now you might be wondering how this car could be stopped then. The answer is so simple- Arshak had put a big cobblestone at the main square of the town, so whenever he was returning from a regular trip, the car was colliding with the granite block and the engine was stalling.
To be continued...

The First Caucasian Homemade Vehicle (Part 1)

In the early twentieth century, the old Yerevan was only a little town. The most common form of transport were carriages in those times. However, there was an odd vehicle awkwardly rumbling through the muddy alleys of the town. Built by some Arshak in 1913, it was the first homemade car in the entire Caucasus. So, in Yerevan appeared the first car, and its master got the nickname “Avdo” (the provincial pronunciation of “Avto”, which means an auto or, simply, a car in English).

As for “Avdo”, very little is known about him. He had secondary education received in tsarist Russia. Having reached manhood, he became an avid techie, to which the periodicals named “Motor” and “Automobil” contributed largely. Once he returned to Yerevan (1905-1906), Arshak began work on creating his own car. Since our hero did not have any engineering skills, and there was no one to ask for advice, he had to build the car in the image and likeness of the already existing and popular samples, or to be more correct, the car had to be assembled with the components taken from other stock cars. The chief goal was that the future “Frankenstein” had to be able to independently overcome long distances and have a roomy interior. At the down of motorization, the quality of cars was not particularly shining out- they constantly broke, some samples secured a place at the junkyard a few months after the acquisition. According to some reports, Arshak took seven years to travel all over the junkyards of the different Russian cities in search of necessary parts for his car.
To be continued...

Leonid Brezhnev’s GAZ-13 “Chaika” (Part 2)

This color was chosen for practical reasons, since in regions with predominantly hot climatic conditions it would be simply unbearable to have long rides in a black vehicle.

That is why the serial number has a special prefix “1117-Ю”- the last letter in this context is from the Russian word “Южный” (Yuzhny), which means Southern, as if pointing to the fact that the car must be used in the southern regions of the great Country of the Soviets! Before each Brezhnev’s visit, the car underwent full maintenance works, which is witnessed by numerous entries in an appropriate journal secured with appropriate stamps.

In 1973 the car was discarded and was brought to Armenia. Over the next 22 years, this “Chaika” was used by several ministers and served as an official vehicle for the highest officials of the Communist party of Armenia. And finally, in 1995, the current owner, Ashot Sargsyan, managed to buy this car and keep it in pristine condition with all its technical documentation.

Leonid Brezhnev’s GAZ-13 “Chaika” (Part 1)

When, in 1971, Leonid Brezhnev visited Soviet Armenia, he couldn’t have imagined that in some two years his personal vehicle, the GAZ-13 “Chaika” built by special order of the government, would have ended up in Armenia.

The story began in 1964, when Leonid Brezhnev was elected as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In addition to his socialist fraternal kisses and bushy eyebrows, Brezhnev was also famed for his incredibly large collection of personal cars. Almost every car from Brezhnev’s collection is shrouded in legends and stories. One of those legends recounts a story of how in 1965, the Gorky Automobile Plant received a special government order to build a GAZ-13 “Chaika”, which was to be used by the leader on the territory of the governmental summer cottages in Yalta. This vehicle with a chassis serial number N1086 was virtually indistinguishable from standard samples of the GAZ-13- the only specific feature of the leader’s car was its light grey color (with rare exceptions, all “Chaikas” were painted in black color).
To be continued…

The Unusual Car of the Unusual Owners: Chrysler Imperial (Part 2)

The car was immediately purchased by the great Soviet composer Arno Babajanyan. The transport to Yerevan was arranged by someone named Vanik from Silachi (there is such a district in Yerevan).Throughout the years of service to the composer, the car was never used for the intended purpose.

Being a creative individual, Babajanyan was not a huge fan of technological progress, he was rather fascinated by the original shapes and incomparable design of this car. As for the technical side, it always remained in the background for the great maestro.

Arno Babajanyan passed away on 11 November 1983 at age 62. The story of this car could have ended with the death of the maestro, if it hadn’t been put up for sale again after 32 years. This time the owner of this magic car is our team. The car is currently is in our garage and needs undergoing extensive restoration work, which will be implemented in the near future.

The Unusual Car of the Unusual Owners: Chrysler Imperial (Part 1)

It should be noted that Japan's Ambassador to the USSR had very good taste and, I believe, corresponding ambitions in the choice of official vehicles.

To my knowledge, in the 1960s and 70s of the last century, the representative of the rising sun’s country preferred to be served only with American Chrysler Imperial Le Barons of different generations, the story of two of which is known to a small circle of people. By a twist of fate, one of those cars ended up in Armenia.

The car of the Japan’s ambassador was acquired in 1963. This Imperial Le Baron was in the Moscow residence of the Ambassador until 1968 and served him for all official events. In 1968 the car was replaced by a new, more perfect, similar model. A little later, the car received regular Moscow registration plates and was put up for sale.
To be continued…

The Immortal Toyota Crown (Part 4)

This engine is aggregated with a 5-speed manual transmission.
This Toyota is one of the brightest proofs of how reliable the cars of the past and the so-called cast-iron engines were. Having a mileage of more than 1.500.000 kilometers, this engine has never been repaired! Throughout the entire running period, none of the engine details has been replaced.

The car has undergone only few repairs so far: replacement of the oil pressure gauge (2010) and water-cooling pump (2011), as well as repairs to the injection pump (2012). It’s noteworthy that this car is actively used every day and there has been no major damage to the mechanical units.
The owner of this remarkable car plans to drive from Armenia to Japan in the near future, in order to visit the headquarter of Toyota Motor Corporation. So let’s wish good luck to the organizers of this challenging run.