Re: I wonder if I might be one of the youngest current Packard owners,

Posted by HH56 On 2024/7/2 12:01:34

Quote:

The website with history of that ZIL in the ad is now defunct so no answers there but as rare and hard to buy -- even for Russians -- as the high end prestigious ZIL cars were I am kind of curious how that car got here and stayed. I recall a TV show a few years ago where they featured the defunct ZIL factory and showed and interviewed people that helped hand build the cars. After the Soviet collapse they had tried to get the factory going again but had so few parts left or materials to make more that it didn't look to happen. It was enlightening to see the handwork and finish the guys were doing on the one or two cars they were able to build. There was a piece destined for trim and they showed how it started not as a stamping but as a rough welded up piece and progressed to a guy sitting and filing on it for days to the matching piece on the other side and what it would look like when finished. Amazing work.

Was the for sale ZIL property of an oligarch that stayed when the Soviet Union collapsed or was the car imported like some other non US spec cars that were brought in by entrepreneurs in a time when they could bolt on a few US legal items so they supposedly became able to be registered. Sad thing in that scenario is those "grey" cars were often disowned by mfgs and legitimate US dealers. With the flags you would almost think it was a diplomatic car that somehow didn't get back home but that also seems unlikely.