Transport museum in Kyiv.

Transport museums.

More than 120 vintage cars and buses were displayed in Kyiv. 

An open house was held at the future transport museum — the restoration center of the municipal enterprise "Kyivpastrans" on Vyborgska Street.

This was the first event at this venue this year. It was organized by the OldCarLand vintage technology festival, the Old Car Service technical classics club, the Kofeybus project, Kyivpastrans municipal enterprise, and the clothing brand District.

On the grounds of the future museum, two pavilions with vehicles were opened to visitors. One housed public transport and trucks; the other contained passenger cars.

 Almost all buses and trolleybuses were open to visitors. Among them was the rare ZiS-155 bus, produced from 1949 to 1957. After World War II, it was the Soviet Union’s only mass-produced bus. Twenty-one thousand were built. Also shown was the first trolleybus that ran in Kyiv—the MTB of 1949. The hall also includes rare-in-Ukraine buses: the French Saviem S53M from 1976 and the Czech Karosa SL11 from 1978. In addition, they presented the only restored-to-original-condition LAZ-697M "Tourist" in Ukraine, a 1973 model.

In the second hall – passenger cars. Among them many preserved in a single copy. There are Chaikas, Volgas, Moskviches, Zaporozhets. Among them is the only Tavria in Ukraine with a folding roof, built at ZAZ in the 1990s. Also on display is an impressive American 1973 Chevrolet Impala with a 390-horsepower engine.

“The highlight of today’s event is the pre-premiere showing of the unique 1953 Soviet ZIS-110 limousine. We will officially present it during the OldCarLand festival, which begins on April 28,” says Pavlo Lozovenko, one of the festival organizers.

The black ZIS limousine stands in the center of the exhibition hall. The car has been restored with fidelity to the original.

“This is a luxury car for the top officials of the Soviet Union. It has hydraulic window lifts, a partition separating the passengers from the driver, and many interesting features that other Soviet cars did not have. The car’s design was borrowed from the American Packard,” he explains.

In addition, the hall contains Soviet cars from the 1970s–1980s. All of them have exceptionally low numbers on their odometers.

“These cars are remarkable finds. Thanks to their careful owners, we have preserved these models virtually in factory condition. For example, we recently acquired an IZH Kombi with a mileage of 13,000 kilometers. Its longest trip was 200 kilometers to Kyiv from Zhytomyr and back. The former owner lives near Zhytomyr. He loved this car very much and drove it very little. He often read newspapers in the car, so you can see that the threshold by the driver’s door is a bit scratched by his cane,” says Pavlo.

In the courtyard of the restoration center, enthusiasts of VAZ classics — the Retro Cars Kyiv club — gathered. Among their cars, the most common are the VAZ 2101 and VAZ 21011. Some examples have a round side mirror — evidence that the car is from the first batches of "Zhiguli."

Володимир Мукан