Greetings Igor, It seems to me a decent project.Have you seen this web-page:http://freedomcars.ru/retro/oldamcar.shtml

This crack on the engine block is repairable, but it takes a skilled craftsman to do it. I have seen far worse cracked blocks then this. Also if you want to keep the car original I would suggest keeping the old engine block.

It would be helpfull if someone had drawings or pages made in a pdf faile from a GAZ 13 parts katalog? I dont have such book to help Eric out in his quest.

Gerd I dont remember the movie Moby Dick but Das Boot was maybe one of first movies I saw when I was a kid(that is new 20 year back or littel less). But thank you for clearing the mess on this so called white Chaika legend.

Since Gerd is not familiar with white Chaikas then let me tell a story that I heard:
Turning the production of GAZ-13 there where originally only 3 cars made that where white. Not two colored like the first generation models but completely white. The where sold to 3 of the most significate USSR people who had made USSR world famous in some huge ways.(unfortunately cant remember the names any more,since my short time memory disk was full,when hearing this line).
So as for me, I have no idea what to think of it. Lets just say this is a buzzel for the forum users to solve.

The Chaika on eastcars was originally black but repainted white in the 90s. As Gerd already explained at that time it was poplar to repaint Chaikas.

Since Gerd posted these white GAZ 13 pictures I remembered that there where only 3 white Chaikas ever produced?
Can you Gerd say anything about that?

Wow that some seriouse parts picking Kev.

I agree with Gerd no matter if its Packard,ZIS or some other brand, we always come across some problems when going to wake up a long forgotten car from hibernation. I support Gerds idea.

As Owen_Dyneto pointed out all the pre-war Packard dealer ship there was one in Estonia and it was established in 1921 or 1923 and sold cars until 1940,when it was sized and nationalized by the communist government.
Many pre-war Estonias "elite" (read: wealthy business owners and state heads+ ambassadors) had Packards. The 1938 photo is proof to how many where owned by people at that time.
To Gerd I point out one thing that I have said before in this forum, the most common pre-war car in east-europe is and was Opel.

Little correction to post nr 72, the picture is taken in 1938 and Estonia was then not a part of the Soviet union(became part of in 1940 formally).
As far as I know there is Little chance if any of the cars presented on the photo have survived. Most where destroyed turning the war. Others just rotted to death and where later scrapped,some went as a war trophy to Russia. In short terms its everything we know of what happened to the cars these days.