Ladas and Volgas: Soviet Cars on Display

Ninety cars made in the country over the past 90 years are being showcased in the Moscow park VDNKH's Cosmos Pavilion from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day except Mondays until Oct.1.



The exhibition, aptly titled "The Automobile Industry," features several models of the Soviet Union's prestigious Volga sedans, heavy-duty GAZ trucks and the famous 1938 GL-1 racecar, whose top speed of 148 kilometers per hour made in the country's fastest car before World War II.



Also on show is a "made for export" Lada, designed in collaboration with the Italian company Fiat and based on a popular Italian car from the late 1960s. The Soviet-made vehicle became the quintessential car of the masses, produced for domestic consumption under the name Zhiguli.



Rumor has it that Zhiguli — the name of mountains in the Samara region, where the factory was located — was not used for the export model because it too closely resembled the word "gigolo."



Lada cars based on the same 1960s design continued to be produced in Russia until 2012.



See our previous Photo Gallery:

Shageyev's Paintings: Erotica, Surrealism and Soviet Nostalgia