Re: Please Help to find zil or zis in USA

Posted by 3spdOD On 2012/7/23 23:13:32

I would be surprised if there were five of them in the US. Total production of the "'42 180" ZIS was around 2500 from what I understand, and the "56 senior" ZIL was only around 100. (There are other ZIS and ZIL models as well.) Earlier this year I saw the ZIS that Johan Berg in Stockholm, mentioned above, is restoring. He told me that he had a ZIS ambulance parts car, and when he was finished with it after some years, the remains went back to Russia and it's undergoing restoration now. That tells you something of their scarcity. If you really, REALLY want a ZIS, I would get in touch with Johan, who has connections into the Russian ZIS world. His came from Estonia.

BTW, from Johan's experience there are some small parts of the ZIS that are actual Packard, but the body is definitely not. You can reach up into the front fender and feel a seam where the front and rear halves were welded together, and if you examine side views of the fenders, the rear halves of both front and rear have a shape far more like C____ac. I felt this myself both on Johan's and earlier on one that turned up (from NJ, if I recall correctly) at the Centennial in Warren in '99.