The Little Classic That Could

Every Russian knows that Tolyatti* is the birthplace of the Zhiguli and Lada cars. Formerly known as Stavropol, in 1964 this city along the Volga was renamed, and in 1968 the Soviet government decreed that it would be made the country’s car-making capital. Just two years later the first Zhiguli – the VAZ-2101 – rolled off the AvtoVaz assembly line.

Tolyatti was conceived as something of a Soviet dream city: wide avenues, an orderly street grid, large parks, and modernist architecture that to this day attracts tourists from all over the world. Yet the dream did not last. Today, among all of Russia’s cities with populations over 500,000, the monogorod† that is Tolyatti is the poorest. In recent years, over 30,000 workers have been laid off from the city’s factories. Still, cars continue to roll off the lines at AvtoVaz.

The problem is, not everyone needs, or wants, a new Lada.

The Fighting Classic Club (Боевая классика) is an informal group of teens who love old Zhigulis. They purchase the aged (often non-functioning) cars for kopeks, restore them, souping them up in their lilliputian garages, and then improvise nighttime races and rallies through city streets, in shopping complex parking lots, or on frozen lakes just outside the city.

Many buy the Zhigulis simply because they are the cheapest option, while others put great stock in the cult status of these “classic” Soviet cars. Some use their Zhigulis as their main vehicle, fussing over it, keeping it spic-and-span, and driving it about carefully. Others, meanwhile, are not careful in the least, driving their cars recklessly, with little regard for whether or not the vehicle survives a race.

* Named for the famous head of the Italian Communist Party (CPI) Palmiro Togliatti (1893-1964), who had Soviet citizenship. Togliatti refused Stalin’s request to head the Cominform, preferring instead to head up the CPI. He died while on vacation in Crimea.

† A monogorod is a Soviet city founded around a single industry or sector, to serve the planned economy. Their lack of a diversified local economy has contributed to their general decline.

Alexei Levin, one of the group’s active participants, explained his relationship with Zhigulis.

My philosophy is that you shouldn’t fuss over your car. In most cases, the cars are purchased on the cheap and have already been around the bend, so there is not much worth saving. So every time we crash into one another, or into a bit of fencing or a tipped over traffic cone, it’s fun, a rush of adrenaline. It’s especially hilarious to watch the reactions of people in traffic, when my friends and I bump each other’s cars or sideswipe each other. It’s an everyday thing. And during races, at first you get pleasure from drifting, but then this isn’t enough and the one-on-one races begin, when you need to drive as close as possible to the car next to you. In that case, collisions are unavoidable, because there is the competitive aspect: you are trying to drive faster or closer than the other guy. And since no one cares what their cars look like, it’s the same when it comes to the paint job – guys just paint them as best they can.

I don’t really understand the guys who go to so much trouble over their cars. It’s a bit irrational, to put all that work into a crummy, outdated design.

As to problems with the police, well, here’s a story. My buddies and I were once, a long time ago, driving around in a Zhiguli without driver’s licenses. We didn’t have them because we weren’t old enough. And you don’t want to be driving around the city without a license, so we were driving around in the forest. And there we came face to face with valiant members of the police. I was behind the wheel, tried to turn around, but could not. So we concluded that the best thing to do was to jump out of the car and run. Since I did not have a license, an older friend of mine later helped me get the car out of the police impound lot.

In general, the police don’t really like us, they see us as violating the rules of the road and upsetting public order. On the roads, if we get stopped, they try to get us on every little infraction they can come up with. If a bunch of us gets together and starts to draw attention to ourselves, the police will definitely show up, and they usually chase us away. But sometimes we use this as a special form of entertainment, and it turns into a game.

I got my first Zhiguli when I was in the eleventh grade, when my friends and I all chipped in and the four of us bought a car together. Yeah, actually, at that point just one of us had a driver’s license.