Classic Volgas, London and Warsaw

Imagine my delight when, last week, I stumbled upon a beautiful black GAZ M-21 Volga, outside the Kent in Ealing... It was just like mine, but left-hand drive (from the vignette in the window, an import from Georgia). And in immaculate condition - perfectly restored. My one was a bit older (1963, registration number 3148 PE); I owned it between 1983 and 1985 when reluctantly I had to sell it as it kept breaking down and parts weren't readily available. I sold it to a guy in Manchester who had a fleet of similar cars used for film work. My old Volga did film work too, including an Elton John pop video and a John Le Carre TV spy thriller. And the odd wedding.

The Volga was built for middle-ranking Soviet aparatchiks, and also as taxis. This is a Series 3 model, which was in production from 1962 to 1970.

On my return to Warsaw - look what I find! Another GAZ M-21 Volga! This one, in Ursynów is up for sale...

Careful now!.. this is why I didn't go to this year's classic car show at Nadarzyn - the temptation to pull out the wallet and acquire something like this was nagging me! But as my late mother used to advise me, quoting from Gone with the Wind - "Buy land - land is the only thing that matters; land is the only thing that lasts." (News on the land purchase front on Wednesday.)

Here's a black Volga (snap taken at the Nadarzyn show two years ago). Oh to be behind the wheel of one of these once again... 

A propos classic cars, just a couple of years younger than the Volga, a Chevrolet El Camino SS 454 (with Cowl Induction) stars in this sublime video for Bruce Springsteen's Hello Sunshine.



Mood beautiful.


Bonus classic car - Is this a photo taken from the Carrera Panamericana in Mexico in the early 1960s? No, this is Monday 3 June - while waiting this morning for my train to town, I snapped this Porsche 356B passing Jeziorki station on ul. Gogolinska. Beautifu1!

UPDATE 04.06.2019: More classicism from by my office - below: a customised FSO Syrena R-20 pick-up, used to advertise a radio station... Produced between 1972 and 1980.

Below: you'll have seen these here before, but a well-lit photo of a brace of Jelcz buses from the 1960s parked, as always, outside the Palace of Culture.

This time last year:
Memory and Me

This time two years ago:
Sticks, carrots and nudge - a proposal

This time four years ago:
London vs. Warsaw pt 2: the demographic aspects