1966 Volga GAZ-21 - Jay Leno's Garage

welcome to the episode of uh jay

leno

's

garage

i have something really unusual here especially in the states this is a vulgar gauze from

1966

i hope i pronounce correctly this is a russian car this is an old kgb staff car it's hilarious it's uh this is a of the reasons why communism really went bankrupt. This car, like I said,

1966

, this car would have competed against cadillacs, oldsmobiles, buicks and ford galaxy 500 xls like my dad's seven liter, uh and uh, it's interesting, it's an interesting car and I like interesting cars, It's the bright side, massively built, incredibly strong and very rust resistant for the mid 60's, most American cars, uh, my dad's galaxy, after two years, rust was showing up on the fenders, uh , this thing is built like a Russian tank, it's strong. uh, very primitive suspension leaf springs, as you'll see, we'll show you in a minute it's got about 2.4 something, let's call it 2.5 liter four-cylinder engine, 95 horsepower, top speed 80 miles per hour and this is the deluxe model, yeah oh man. and something that's really cool, I'll show you that even the tires say they are made in the USSR.

This is an original unrestored car. I'm not sure if it has been repainted. This could be heavy white Russian paint, yes. Yes, put big strong white paint on it. Yes. Yes, very strong paint, yes, yes, so it looks like it has been repainted, but I think it could be original. It is almost a white refrigerator. There aren't many concessions to style. Some. This is a series three. I guess it would be someone watching this. If you have information about this, please put it in our comments section because there is not much information about these things. I have some brochures and I'll show you in a minute that they exported some of these primarily as taxis. taxis and stuff like that, but if you were a successful Russian in the communist party, this is probably what you drove or if you did something wrong and kgb comes to a house, stop in front, yeah, coming back at midnight, let's drive and boop, so that's how it worked it has a speedometer it looks a little like a 1956 Ford there are some uh some small concessions to the style amazing here the best heater in the world you get it in this heater on you get out of the car like miami in the summer it's very hot in the car but three speed manual transmission they made some of these with automatic transmissions I don't know if it was the Russian winter or Russian technology but they didn't have much success so they went back to just three speeds in the column it has a three wave band radio long am fm has the writing in Russian it has a clock you see when at least if you are a political prisoner you will be comfortable almost standard it is a luxury upholstery That would have been a stripper model.

I think in the US it's not really a very attractive car, but it's not bad. Some of the Western influences are seen in the grille and taillights. It has a bit of style. A fairly good sized trunk. Not bad, not bad. Can you see the deer emblem there? The first Volgas had the large deer on the front of the hood, but many Russians were impaled on it, it was too dangerous and they had it removed. It really looks more like a mid to late 50's car to me than the 1966 one, especially compared to any Western model, you know, we had automatic transmissions and V8 engines and air conditioning and power windows, this one has none of that and for a four cylinder engine I think it's 16.5 miles. per gallon, which isn't really good, it's not particularly efficient, let me show you below, take a look at these springs, look at the suspension on this thing, look at those springs, it looks like something out of a 1930s car, look at that back, how insubstantial.

It's really um, as you can see, I put on a new bra. It didn't have brakes when I bought it, you'll see some newer, more modern brake lines, oh there's that deer emblem again, okay you have an oil bath air cleaner like you. I would have a mid to late 50's Buick or Oldsmobile, everything here is a pretty straight forward dealer. The closest thing I compare it to is maybe a very agricultural Volvo engine from the early 60's, but pretty bulletproof, easy to work on. Look at this radiator and this is really interesting. look at this here, see, when you pull the handle, you block the radiator completely so no eggs can get through.

If you're in Moscow and it's 30 degrees below zero, you need something pretty reliable, yeah, big oil filter over here, weird oil filter, obviously, it's got a modern battery on its modern coil, we had to get it running. I have a color brochure, take that Westin and purely speaking, and there are all the specifications, the model, this model looks, it has a shifter, can you see that? that's quite sporty they'll take you to siberia in style here's another one here uh look there's a vulgar ambulance it says that the body has excellent soundproofing the interior upholstery is hygienic and washable lends itself to disinfection notableness says that the

volga

enjoys popularity in many countries of the world is really good name two besides Cuba is good effective heating when necessary that is true the heating is incredible uh it has one in exhibitions and international fairs I don't know if that is true but look, they showed look and You are there, look, it is in the Middle East and yes, it is in Paris and yes, they tried x they tried to export them.

You know, if you like cars, it's fascinating to see how literally the other half lives. These. If they made quite a few of them, not as many as American automakers, we'll take a variety in just a minute. Here is your radio with the type of Russian symbols. Clock. Obviously, that's your speaker. I'm not sure what. This means I guess it's oil pressure gasoline water temperature horn sounds the same in any language you adjust your antenna up here up there on the roof let's go for a drive I think it could be fun okay put in the clutch turn the bolts on the card immediately first gear second gear third gear that sounds a little agricultural but it's fun, you know, when I drive this through the Russian neighborhoods of Los Angeles, people go and say what is that and then they come running oh your

volga

, yeah.

You know, car enthusiasts are the same all over the world and I'm sure in Russia there are probably car clubs that restore cars and do things like that. I don't think I have the only one in the US, I'm sure it exists. There are a few out there, but I bet I have one of the few with tires made in the USSR. That's the nice thing about this thing: it stayed still for a long time, and because it's really good quality steel, it didn't rust. let's take a walk this is an example of why communism failed this was an expensive car in russia lee harvey oswald would have had to work in that factory for five years to afford one of these assuming he never paid rent or bought food and didn't It's Terrible, but when you realize that this would have gone up against cadillacs, oldsmobiles or buicks of the time, four cylinders and 95 horsepower, it's not very fun, the fun thing about these types of cars is that even true enthusiasts Of the cars have never seen one, I have no idea what it is.

This would have been popular in Cuba of course in Russia as I said it was a kgb staff car. If you saw one of these stopped in front of your house in Moscow, oh, you probably wouldn't be seen again for a long time. It's kind of like a mid-60s Volvo, but it's not as well built, it's tough but primitive, it only has three speeds, it feels like a heavy car, it doesn't have power steering, but on the other hand it's easy to drive. work and fix, although it is ugly. It's really no better or worse than many mid-range cars of this era, the German Taunis or some of those others.

Good thing you don't get speeding tickets in this thing and the air conditioning, forget it, shut up. I don't have much sense in taking us on the highway because, although the maximum speed is 85, these tires are quite old, I like to keep them because they were made and say made in the USSR and that doesn't even exist anymore. but hop in and we'll take you for a ride you'll see what it's like and we'll drive away yeah look at the deer you got deer here we got it from vodka find a russian girl it just drives like a car from the mid 60's Zill , I think it was the big Russian car, this was if you were a successful member of the communist party or you were an important person like an astronaut or a cosmonaut.

Rather, this is probably the vehicle they would give you or you could buy. The thing was built during the height of the Cold War, which would have been 60 to 63 64. But the USSR was still in pretty good shape in the mid-60s and there was still a lot of that Cold War spy stuff. the Russians never quite mastered, at least in the 50s and 60s, the mass production techniques we did because there was no real inspiration for workers to do anything better, no one could afford to buy this stuff anyway , I hit the brakes, I stop the big Russian car. foot stand car, you know, it makes me laugh, this car is funny because when I was a kid there was nothing scarier than Russia, you know, we used to do diving under desks, exercises and all that kind of stuff, so to think that . day I would be driving a Russian car oh my God oh my father without a heart attack what are you communists?

We go back to the

garage

to get some beet soup well, back here once again that capitalist pig garage I hope you enjoy riding a Russian car like the one from bull cnn