Russo-Balt was one of the first Russian companies that produced cars between 1909 and 1923. On June 8, 1909, the first 2-seater, 24-horse-power car was assembled at the Russo-Baltic Wagon Factory. See the images of the most iconic cars produced in Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.
Iconic cars of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union
On June 8, 1909, the first Russian serial car 'Russo-Balt' was assembled at the Russian-Baltic plant
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The Russo-Baltic Wagon Factory was founded in 1874 in Riga, then a major industrial centre of Russian Empire. Photo: Russo-Balt С-24/40 car, 1913
© Public domain Russo-Balt C24-30 from the garage of Tsar Nicholas II
© Public domain In the years preceding the 1917 October Revolution, Russia produced a growing number of Russo-Balt and other vehicles and even held its first motor show in 190. Photo: Russo-Balt C24/58 car at the start of the Grand Prix of Russia in 1913
© Public domain In 1916, the Moscow Automotive Society (AMO), more commonly called ZIL, was founded. Photo: A ZIS-100 car undergoes waterproof tests
© Vladimir Savostyanov/TASS In 1931 the factory was re-equipped and changed its name to Automotive Factory No. 2 Zavod Imeni Stalina (ZIS). Photo: Ivan Likhachov (ZIS director), Grigory Ordjenikidze, Josef Stalin and Vyacheslav Molotov standing next to the first ZIS car, model 101, 1936
© Public domain ZIL has also produced armored cars for most Soviet leaders, as well as buses and armoured fighting vehicles. Photo: Soviet limousine ZIL-115, 1982
© Valentin Sobolev/TASS In 1932, due to a rapidly growing demand for automobiles, the Gorky Automobile Plant, or GAZ was established in the USSR. Photo: One of the first cars GAZ-20 Pobeda, Moscow, 1947
© TASS GAZ-14 Chaika, production of Gorky Automobile Plant, 1978
© V. Voitenko/TASS GAZ-13 Chaika, 1963
© TASS Volga was an automobile brand that originated in the Soviet Union to replace the venerated GAZ Pobeda in 1956
© TASS Another major Soviet car maker was founded in 1930 and earned nationwide fame under the name Moskvitch. Photo: Moskvich 408 car moving in central Moscow, 1970
© Valery Khristophorov/TASS Moscow Small Car Factory (MZMA plant), a Soviet and Russian automobile manufacturer later named AZLK, maker of the Moskvitch brand, 1959
© TASS ZAZ Zaporozhets was another famous Soviet car. Photo: Loading of vehicles at Zaporizhia automobile plant, 1975
© A.Krasovsky/TASS The car was designed and built from 1958 at the ZAZ factory in Soviet Ukraine. Photo: Vintage car of the 1920s and Zaporozhets, 1975
© Boris Korzin/TASS VAZ-2101, commonly nicknamed Zhiguli and Kopeyka, a compact sedan car, was produced by the Soviet manufacturer AvtoVAZ and introduced in 1970
© Lev Porter/TASS