Packard Forum Index » ZIS, ZIL, and other Packard Cousins!

What may you would have imagined ten years after the end of Packard and 5,000 miles from home in a country whose ruling elite never stopped telling the world everything you always wanted to know about the backwardness of the USA?


Welcome to (Red) Packardia!

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That's quite a fleet. What was the event?

Dave, I did my best to find the answer. Both visible airplanes are Soviet airliners, the passenger plane to the right seems to be a TU-114, the civil version of the first Soviet AWACS.




The sole airfield next to Moscow to operate this type of passenger prop plane was Domodedovo International Airport due to its special passenger steps.

"The prototype Tu-114, CCCP-л5611, ferried Nikita Khrushchev to the United States on his first visit in 1959. When it arrived at Andrews Air Force Base, the ground crew found that the aircraft's landing gear was so high that they had no passenger steps tall enough to reach the forward hatch. The end result was that Khrushchev and his party were obliged to use the aircraft's own emergency escape ladder."
[Fursenko, Alexandr; Timothy J. Naftali (2006). Khrushchev's Cold War: The Inside Story of an American Adversary. Norton. p. 334. ISBN 0393058093.]

According to wikipedia the services from Domodedovo began in March 1964 and, according to the same source the TU-114 has been introduced April 24, 1961
Either the Soviet government were three to five years obliged to use that aircraft's own emergency escape ladder or the mentioned airport in Domodedovo was for years a ghost station or it is another plane, however, it finished my research for the event.

Political mass gatherings such as party congresses in Moscow sometimes led to a temporary high density of Soviet luxury cars on certain, centrally located gathering places.

sources
pic #1: wikipedia
pic #2: La Settimana Incom Illustrata

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On second thought and considering the emergency escape ladder and the Soviet worldwide ingenuity when it comes to wishes of members of the administration the above pic could show a formal reception for the Soviet leadership at the government airport Vnukovo.

The conference of foreign ministers in spring of 1947 seemed to convert Moscow into a parking area of company ZIS, as the next photograph indicates.



picture source: "Handbuch der UdSSR" (compendium of USSR), published by PROGRESS-publishing house, Moscow 1954

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The inner core

To surround the above shown building not only by cars but additional by a certain touch of sociocultural knowledge that opens an insight into the inherent mode of Soviet decision-making processes I invite you to take a closer look at the facade of the hotel Moskva (Moscow), situated in the centre of the capital.




I'm not absolutely sure, I admit, but background stories like the following seem to be virtually predestinated for better understanding of the mechanisms involved in the Stalin era.

"...The old hotel was notable for its use of two different designs for the wings off of the central structure. The most popular explanation is that Shchusev submitted two different designs for the wings of the building, with the intention that Stalin would select one of the designs when he authorized the plans. However, he simply signed off the blueprints, likely failing to take note of the two choices. This confused the builders, and afraid to make the bold move of informing Stalin that he had failed to select a design, they simply constructed one wing of each on either side of the building. One design included large windows and a more ornate facade, while the other maintained smaller windows and the simpler details of the rest of the hotel's facade..." [BBC Russian.com]

This may be true, or if not true then at least a useful falsehood, a perfect rumor.

sources
pic #1: www.blogspot.com
pic #2: wikipedia
pic #3: press cutting of an old but unknown Soviet magazine

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Speaking of fleets of ZIS's, for years I chase after an excessively optimistic advertising film that reports on the production process of Stalin Motor Works. According to the output figures its daily production should have exceeded rarely more than one car per day. But in those days especially the luxury cars in Moscow were gregarious and followed the herd instinct.

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Gerd,

ZIS's, the herd mentality and Rawhide. - What a great connection!

Thanks Mal, it's a pleasure to have you aboard. Just wait when the talk finally moves to redskins (no offense - only a play of words and colors).




[picture source: journal shiftwork, USSR, circa 1949]

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The heroic legend of three white Chaikas

My problem is, that I know at least five versions of that story including three continuations, two exceptions plus a couple of dementi and feel confident that the Packard universe has similar rumors. They just go on forever.

To adduce as counter example please find below three websites which inform the world, that only one white Chaika ever has been built and Moby Dick was donated to Mrs. Tereshkova, the first female cosmonaut.

example one (the Russian wikipedia):
"...Все ?Чайки? окрашивались в черный цвет, за исключением одной белой ?Чайки?, подаренной Валентине Терешковой..."

example two (THE GAZ-forum):
"...Реальная белая 13я чайка была только одна. И эту белую чайку подариле первой женшине которая полетела в космос Терешкова. А остальные уже сами перекрашивали..."

example three (one of several potential owners):
"...Всего одна Чайка ГАЗ 13 была покрашена с завода в белый цвет и подарена правительством первой женщине-космонавту Валентине Терешковой...."

For those who don't speak Russian:

<iframe width="500" height="400" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/x1SJo83FLI4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

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Loved the film. Nearly sprayed my morning coffee all over the screen. LOL. Very clever.

OH, and the car looks quite nice in white, as do 56 Patricians.