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If I'm correct, Russia had their own design & production of cars & trucks in the early part of the 20th cent. Examples would be AMO F-15, NAMI -1, RUSSO-BALT 12/15, CM3-C3A micro car which was later years. The Moskvitch 400/401 was an Opel. The entire factory was taken from Germany to Russia after the war.

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Dave, the 1970s are long gone. To own a modest car has some merit in the forest. But how about your undemandingness? Instead of bringing the big guns like intervertebral discs or the doubtful pleasure of manual underbody coating and cavity preservation I bear in mind things like haptic. Do you really want the look and feel of 1976 back? The clattering black plastic covers, the nacked tinny handbrake and shaking gear shift linkages? (Dear purists, spare us the song of praise of austerity while slouching in an upholstered armchair.)
Are you longing for the moaning spur gear teeth and the smell of gasoline fumes? Do you remember the probing question, if the passengers door is locked or not? A Niva comes without power door locks. Window cranks are acceptable but how about driving without ABS in the Canadian snow? To drive without airbags is okay as long as you don't have to bear the co-responsibility for a fellow passenger. Don't forget the box with spare parts. The friends of Niva & Co. always talking about its repair-friendliness and never about my repair-reluctance.
Dave, think twice. When's the last time you scraped ice from inside?
A joy ride in a Niva is funny but for money there are better cars available (below a Suzuki with snorkel).





images sources
image #1 - suzuki-jimny.info
image #2,3,4 - autobild.de

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Tom, thanks for providing this insight. I have read your comment with great interest. The situation with the Soviet car trade is comparable to the French military exports. There are always supporting measures.

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Hi Bob (bobp), I remember your thread related to a Cuban Packard, illustrated by artfully colored book pages. I hope to find the right words to say that this time your source is not well informed.
AMO F-15 was a licenced copy of a FIAT 15. Nami-1, an experimental car on the basis of a Czech Tatra 12 was built to explore the needs of an own fabrication line (machinery, industrial standards etc.) by the Soviet institute for scientific research NAMI. After developing machines and modelling molds, the Reds instantly used them to produce approx. 400 cars but not as planned in a factory to be build, but in the research institute itself. The mentioned Russo-Balt 12/15 was built in 1910/1911, before Soviet times. CCCP has been founded after October Revolution in 1917.

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Yes and next to it another 11.000 tons of machinery (wikipedia). The above mentioned CM3-C3A micro cars received their engines from the former German DKW plant (the inscription says "largest motorbike plant in the world").



Bob, I would hate to sound as having the monopoly on the truth and understand, that undiplomatical statements like "...pretty much every Soviet advancement was tantamount to a loss of competitiveness" invite contradiction.