Strange Things the Soviet Drivers Had to Do While on the Road

RAV van. Soviet Latvia RAF van. Shortage of auto parts in the USSR.
Join this channel to get access to the perks:
/ @ushankashow
My books about arriving in America are available on my site:
www.sputnikoff.com/shop
Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B08DJ7RNTC
"Ushanka Show" is a collection of stories about life in the USSR.
SOVIET EDUCATION: • SOVIET EDUCATION
SOVIET LEADERS: • SOVIET LEADERS
CHERNOBYL STORIES: • Chernobyl's Dirty Litt...
SOVIET AUTOMOBILES: • Chernobyl's Dirty Litt...
SOVIET MUSIC: • Soviet-Era Music and P...
SOVIET MONEY: • SOVIET MONEY
SOVIET HUMOR: • Video
My FB: / sergei.sputnikoff.1
Twitter: / ushankashow
Instagram: / ushanka_show
You can support this project here: / sputnikoff with monthly donations
Support for this channel via PAYPAL: paypal.me/ushankashow

[@UshankaShow]

My Soviet cars playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PLNq3y0OU1_BaHuNpVgwUbY-BKHZyqLc77 Thank you for watching the Ushanka Show! My name is Sergei. I was born in the USSR in 1971. Since 1999 I have lived in the USA. The Ushanka Show was created to share stories as well as my own memories of everyday life in the USSR. My books about arriving in America are available at www.sputnikoff.com/shop (Russian or English versions) or on Amazon: www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3ASergei+Sputnikoff&s=relevancerank&text=Sergei+Sputnikoff&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1 Please contact me at [e-mail] if you would like to purchase a signed copy of “American Diaries” Fan Mail: Ushanka Show P.O. Box 96 Berrien Springs MI 49103, USA You can support this project with tips by clicking a "heart" under this video, or: Via Patreon here: www.patreon.com/sputnikoff Viia PAYPAL: paypal.me/ushankashow Ushanka Show merchandise: teespring.com/stores/ushanka-show-shop If you are curious to try some of the Soviet-era candy and other foodstuffs, please use the link below. www.russiantable.com/imported-russian-chocolate-mishka-kosolapy__146-14.html?tracking=5a6933a9095f9 My FB: facebook.com/sergey.sputnikoff Twitter: twitter.com/ushankashow Instagram: instagram.com/ushanka_show/

[@Darwinsfinch78]

CJ, I love your show. I trust your accounts. The angry letters you sometimes read at the beginning are funny. You should do an episode of you reading angry letter's from those that glorified the USSR

[@commodoresixfour7478]

Was that a Trabent I saw in one of the pictures too?

[@UshankaShow]

. Yes. That photo was taken in Hungary

[@oh2mp]

This made me to remember a funny thing that happened in 1980s. I grew up in a small town in Eastern Finland near to Russian border that was one of the most closed borders in the World that time. Somehow some Soviet citizens had come to Finland, and their Lada was parked next to the local hotel. The owner had taken the wipers and hubcaps away like in the Soviet Union everybody did. Some local guys went to the nearest car part shop and bought cheap wipers and hubcaps and installed them to that car in the night. That must have been an unbelievable surprise to those Soviet people in the morning 😀

[@jakegarrett8109]

That's probably one of the best reverse pranks ever, haha, the guy probably put those to good use too! Can't imagine going out and thinking "that's not my car, my car was in pieces when I left it", probably walked a couple laps around the parking area trying to find his.

[@oh2mp]

@@jakegarrett8109 reverse pranks are the best. I remember another brilliant one. In the 1990s when the border was opened already, there was a lot of tourism between Finland and Russia to both directions. The living standards had like 50 years difference that time. Some Finnish guys were driving somewhere in Russian countryside and saw an old man sawing firewood with a handsaw. One of them remembered, that "Hey, we have a chainsaw in the trunk!". They drove to the yard of that house and said "hello" in Finnish (they didn't have common language with that Russian man), sawed a lot of firewood and then just put the chainsaw back to the trunk and drove away. That old Russian man left standing mouth open on his yard like "WTF just happened?" 😀

[@hendrickswart4122]

I bet that guy had never trusted Finnish alcohol ever again.

[@mr.pavone9719]

Things were not 'stolen' in the USSR, they were merely 'redistributed'.

[@gertvanderhorst2890]

So there is no problem, you deserve a medal.

[@Blackadder75]

@@gertvanderhorst2890 hero of the soviet union medal for everybody!

[@LivebythecodeVJLEE]

there was a huge underground theives society in Soviet Russia for that exact reason. As long as you didn't rob the Government, and have either no or not many witness - you are fine. At worse you must leave the province/state/county.

[@gingernutpreacher]

Unless you got caught

[@RussellGeorge67]

As an economist I have to say it's a more efficient system. In a capitalist society all the vehicles have windscreen wipers whether they need them or not. The primary purpose of the windscreen wiper is to enable a purveyor of windscreen wipers to appropriate the value of the labour of his fellow human beings in a windscreen wiper factory so he can mark up a profit on it and sell the resulting product to other people who think they need a windscreen wiper 100% of the time, when they only actually need one when it is raining and their vehicle is moving. It is actually far more efficient to have universally compatible windscreen wipers that can be removed from a stationary vehicle, and fitted to a vehicle that is being used, quickly and at a moment's notice. This vastly reduces the total amount of windscreen wipers a society requires and enables the resources employed in production of the unnecessary surplus of windscreen wipers to be employed satisfying greater and more basic needs. If you ask me, the real criminals here are those who hide windscreen wipers that they have no need of in their gloveboxes, and whose ultimately foolish selfishness seems so natural to so many of your viewers.

[@jefferyepstein9210]

It's got to a point here in America that soon we will have to remove our catalytic converter when we park our car.

[@oleglishchenko4922]

We had the catalytic thefts here in Canada in the past. However, now the thieves don't bother this such bullshit. They just steal the whole car!🤬

[@nicholashallahan4635]

Jeffrey Epstein is alive?

[@natasastanojevic]

Lucky me, I got mentioned in a video. Lol

[@UshankaShow]

You nailed the quiz, so yes!

[@Commentator541]

SFRJ!

[@blueskiesflyer]

3:10 - It's a RAF-977, and actually it does have 2 wipers, but this one has the passenger side wiper removed by the operator, you can see the attachment point just under the window frame.

[@constantintriantafyllos6183]

I saw that in Romania 1983 when it rained the drivers stopped , got out and fitted the wipers .

[@xiaoka]

In Soviet Russia, windshield wipes you! I’ll show myself out… 😅

[@Fl0xtpvnk]

I came here to say this lol

[@adamlee3772]

A lot of people in the west might mock the USSR for having things like windscreen wiper blades stolen so keeping them in the glove box until needed but theft of auto parts was rife in the UK in late 80’s and early 90’s. I had a window smashed on my car y some lowlife for the stereo,so we started to fit radios with removable face panels. We also used to have hub caps stolen on a regular basis, people who had cars with alloy wheels regularly had them stolen so locking wheel nuts became the norm, which in themselves caused lots of other problems. I’ve never heard of wiper blades getting flogged but I’m sure it did happen. Plus even today, HGVs are a regular target for thieves, not for the contents of the trailer. I have a brined who drives class 1 trucks as a tramper, so he sleeps in the cab on break. He’s woken up to find mirrors stolen, headlamps stolen, wheels stolen, radiator grilles stolen. There’s a big market in “used” parts and little can be done about it or so it would seem. And he can’t move the truck until a dealer technician arrives with replacements parts and installs them at great expense to the haulage company.

[@Commentator541]

9:49 Not sure how it was in Russia, but in Yugoslavia you would have test plates when you buy a used a car as well, and then you can drive with those for 2 weeks. People usually did it because they would buy a car in one area, but live in a different area, and you have to take off the old plates that associate with the old owner, however you then had to drive to your home town, so when returning the old plates to the police you would get these temporary ones.

[@konstantinorevic7754]

Actually, it is the same thing today in Serbia, you get the "ПРОБА" plates and drive the car to your home. The same thing can be found all over the Europe, it is so-called "Zoll plates" in Germany, with yellow strip for German use and red one for abroad (when you are exporting your car).

[@rijjhb9467]

Here in Italy we had black plates until the 80s. It's only in the 90s that we started using white ones. While the French, if I remember correctly, had yellow plates.

[@quentintin1]

@@rijjhb9467 afaik for France, it was black plates up to the 1970's-80's, then 80's to early 2000's you would see white front, yellow back then white everywhere since

[@dzonikg]

My grandfather had domestic van in 70s in Yugoslavia call "Zastava 850 AK" It had only 0.85 engine with just 38 horse power but for my grandfather who build metal fences and installed on people yards it was enough

[@LD-wm7jm]

Zivio Jugoslavije

[@natasastanojevic]

Actual Yugoslav equivalent to RAF would be IMV 1600.

[@t33s]

Licensed Fiat 900, probably what an Italian small business would use at the time as well.

[@KarolOfGutovo]

And american suburbanites definitely need 10l engines with 200hp to take their kid to school, the car culture there is ridiculous

[@tulka5711]

Early 1950-53 VW buss was 24 hp and then 30 hp. Think some of their competitors where two cylinder with less hp.

[@stefanholmstrom1968]

I visited the RAF factory in Jelgava in 1992 when I was studying journalism at Helsinki University and spent a few weeks at Riga University as part of an exchange program. I got a full tour and met the factory manager but the whole visit was quite sad: it was quite clear that there was no future for the company. Representatives from western automobile companies had visited the factory, but didn't consider buying it. Anyway, it was intestering to see the old fashioned assembly line that still depended a lot on parts being manufactured individually by hand. Unfortunately I have lost all my (black and white) pics from this visit, I think they still would have a documentary value.

[@horeageorgian7766]

In 1992 the entire eastern block was up to sale. There were a lot of car manufacturing plants, so only the ones with a perspective to be profitable were bought by serious investors.

[@stefanholmstrom1968]

@@horeageorgian7766 Yup, souls were "for sale" too. There were a lot of religious movements / preachers / gurus etc trying to save the souls of the Latvians when I was there in 1992. Big gatherings with charismatic evangelists of all kinds, they saw a big potential in the Baltic states. Somewhat scary, too, the way some of these tried to fill what they saw as a religious vacuum.

[@andrefiset3569]

I saw a report on TV sometime around 1980 and I learned about the waiting list, wipers and someone asking to buy the cameraman jeans. But the most shocking thing is the administrative building where probably 100 people worked where they sort who will get the only car available that year.

[@jakegarrett8109]

To be fair even the US government is like that. NEVER let a government dictate recourses, even when they are paying $160 per hour or more, they will still take months to get you an email account, and then over a year to get you a government issued laptop. Think how long they would take if they weren't paying you over $100/hour while you waited...

[@felixtheswiss]

My wipers were stolen in Barçelona and it didnt rain it poured. The back wiper was to short. Lol

[@robertgoss4842]

I never miss your videos, because you know how to get down to the real nuts and bolts of a past era of history. I especially enjoyed this particular video because it had a real "slice of life" feeling to it. Thanks a million.

[@UshankaShow]

I appreciate that

[@kc4cvh]

I learned the Soviet wiper story many years ago, from reading Hedrick Smith's book The Russians (1976). He described a number of interesting aspects of the consumer economy in The Worker's Paradise.

[@carkawalakhatulistiwa]

metal can be sold.

[@rarevhsuploads4995]

Excellent detective work. I enjoyed this episode, please do some more in this style. Street scenes analysing the street furniture like phone booths, drink machines, cars etc

[@UshankaShow]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/eHjTZJmCd7Z-iNU

[@gm837228]

Fantastic insight for those of us who did not grow up there. Thanks!

[@BitchinSpectre]

This was peak automotive content... I learned a lot. And what a cool van.

[@BitchinSpectre]

Wayyyy better than the old grampa dude and the puppeteer standing around an orange doorstop.

[@CalgaryStampedersClassics]

This is awesome thanks for doing these!

[@lingenfelter1945]

Sergey, another great video. Thanks!

[@josephbingham1255]

Good ID on the prototype licence plates. British small sports cars in the USA had parts theft problems also. The first SAAB cars were all green as they had surplus green paint from wartime aircraft production.

[@Dsmith551]

This is fascinating day to day life stuff, thanks!

[@sergej23kv]

There was a joke back in former Yugoslavia, you remove tire whippers and carry them in your front shirt pocket as they are ink pens 😂

[@chincemagnet]

Here’s the thing you don’t know about the “arcs of triumph” they’re actually great lifts, that are like gigantic elevators that carry you into the subterranean realm. You have to have the appropriate medallion to activate the lift, don’t forget to rest at the site of grace at the bottom so you can fast travel back there later.

[@andrewmcphee8965]

Very good video, thank you from Australia! Subscribed now.

[@UshankaShow]

Welcome aboard!

[@andreweve8914]

Absolutely loved watching this video!!!!

[@zappababe8577]

My BF went to USSR in the 80s, as a truck driver working on the Michael Jackson tour. He said that any car that got into an accident, if it wasn't removed promptly, it would be completely dismantled and used for spare parts! So I completely understand about the wipers being hidden.

[@UshankaShow]

Very interesting! Does he have any photos from that tour?

[@natashka1982]

People would steal anything that wasn't bolted down. My apartment building was always pitch black because the drunks would steal lamp bulbs

[@zappababe8577]

@@UshankaShow Terribly sorry for my delay in replying to you, Comrade Sergey, and thank you for your question! It made me so happy to see that you had replied to me. I'm sorry to have to tell you that my BF didn't take any photographs, he was escorted a lot of the time by Police so he didn't want to annoy them by taking photos, lol! He does have (somewhere) a poster of the Michael Jackson concert which is written in Russian. He was also a bit naughty and brought back some Kopeks and Roubles (naughty because it was illegal to take Soviet currency out of the country). I was amazed how small and light the Kopek coins were! I can also say that, due to only very rich people having mobile phones in the 80s, my BF had to use a public telephone to phone his work office and of course to phone home and check in with everyone. I think it was the time when all public telephones were free to use (because collecting all the 2 Kopek coins wasn't worth it, and changing all the telephones to increase the charge wasn't cost-effective either). So, although it didn't cost him any money, he said it cost him a lot of time, trying to make long-distance telephone calls back to the UK, just to let everyone know he was fine and to check on them and hear any news in the family, etc.

[@richardpeel6056]

The VW van that this vehicle is based on was developed when the British Army reopened the VW plant in Germany, They needed a vehicle for moving parts around the factory and threw together a flat platform with engine and driver's seat. It was so effective that it evolved into a production van. So the RAF minibus is a copy a of van created by the British Army.

[@DerVersteherPlus]

The idea to construct and build this car came from the Dutch VW importer Ben Pon in 1947.

[@andruspuusta4230]

ZIL 130 is a good looking truck even today in my eyes.

[@paulnorcross5954]

In Bulgaria too. Hilarous scenes of vehicles screaming to a halt at the onset of rain to fit wiper blades. On a trip to Instanbul my Bulgarian friends gave me a shopping list mainly of various wiper blades to get for them. It was a good deal...no money changed hands on return, but we lived off the best food and wine they possibly could give.free for 14days.

[@tomweickmann6414]

I remember a long time ago looking at a photograph of a Russian city. Gloomy, black and white photo, no color, depressing and sad to look at. Someone told me, "That IS a color photo. There is no color in Soviet Union. Not allowed."

[@atilla780]

Excellant video. Thank.

[@toldyouso5588]

That should have been a Soviet candid camera show. A car is parked with wipers on. When someone tries to steal them they get shocked by hidden voltage wires to the car battery. Then you out the prank "smile comrade, you are on camera KGB ! "

[@johnbee7729]

WOW. A 23 window AutoBus in the red/white RAF image. Thank you for this. Great video

[@solaris2015]

Great Job Ushanka! Regards from Poland!

[@TheBrokenLife]

I can't speak for the USSR, but in the US automotive OEMs run manufacturer ("development") plates and it wouldn't be unusual to see a model that could be a few years old with them because other aspects of that vehicle could still be under development. In fact, that's extremely common for powertrain and electronics updates. You wouldn't want to give away your next model of "whatever" vehicle having some new fancy engine when you can package it in the last model for testing purposes and maintain secrecy.

[@docBZA]

So interesting to hear all these quirks about Soviet life. Sergei, you are a treasure, thanks for these videos!

[@user-kw2qd8hn9s]

"Hooop there it is!" Now we know how you partied down in your hey day

[@twodeadmice3321]

No wipers and one side mirror

[@UshankaShow]

True! I missed that part!

[@obywatelcane6775]

Wipers and antennas - Polish drivers used to put them inside their cars. It was in the 80's and maybe early 90's. But thieves really quickly became very arrogant, they just didn't care. You didn't have to worry about your wipers but wheels nad wheel covers, locks/windows, battery and radio. That's why Polish drivers were taking their radios home with them and installing hidden ground or ignition switches. Starter motor could turn but there was no spark from the ignition coil.

[@Whammytap]

"And then Moscow burned down." -Every second episode of a Russian history podcast.

[@kd5byb]

You reminded me of a great memory - in 1998, I was sent as part of a group to Moscow to do some work there. A bus picked us up at Sheremetyevo to drive us to the hotel and while driving in those military-looking trucks were everywhere! I thought it amazing that such old trucks were still on the road! What durable vehicles! I was later told that trucks like the ZIL-130, that looked like a 1950's or 1960's truck in the USA, were still in production in 1998. During the month I was there, I learned that often, if the Soviets / Russians had something that worked well, and there was no reason to change it, why change it just for the sake of change? The ZIL was a perfectly good truck. It worked. Why change it? Makes sense!

[@t33s]

They were not changed so the army would have compatible equipment. American Humvee was introduced in the early 80s and is still used today. USSR treated the civil economy and military as a whole, so this philosophy extended to all vehicles, not just trucks and off-road cars.

[@Whammytap]

My other favorite KZbin channel (besides this one, of course!) is called Zilovod (ЗиЛоВоД.) Country boy buys ZIL-130 and works hard to keep it running. My life goal is to travel to his village because he promised me a ride. I really respect his efforts to keep it original and keep it going as a working, money-making machine.

[@kd5byb]

@@Whammytap I give lots of respect to people who work hard to keep old things running like Zilovod!

[@kd5byb]

@@t33s Makes a lot of sense, and very good point and nice example with the HMMWV...but I also saw this in other areas, such as the Proton rocket / Soyuz spacecraft. Designed in the 1960's and still flying today, while the US space program went thru many different varieties of rockets / spacecraft. Sometimes I think we Americans change stuff just to be changing stuff where there is no real need to change stuff.

[@tiortedrootsky]

Wiki told me that those trucks were in production till 2010, if you can believe it...

[@neidringhaus1915]

My favorite parts of your videos are when you do the detours of other information, so don't apologize for that!

[@os2892]

It has two wipers but the passenger side wiper arm is not installed. You can see the post where it should sit.

[@jimjames5416]

I've ridden in the same little bus used as a taxi bus, Marshutka, in what is now Russian occupied Donbass. Towns of Krasny Lutch and Antratsite, both close to the Russian border, and both utter hellholes of Soviet mentality, ruined economy and air pollution.

[@Cuccos19]

7:33 Wow, Hungarian Television had this vehicle too! I never saw one although (living in the countryside, not Budapest). I saw IZH minibuses and of course UAZ-452 'Bukhanka' minibuses, they were realtively popular here in Hungary. We also had ZIL dumptracks quite a many but after 1990 they disappeared quite quickly - as they were on the thirsty side of gasoline consumption. East German ones - IFA, Robur, Barkas - and the Polish Zuk and Niza were used a bit more further. Rarely but still can see some in remote areas of the country.

[@jamesbarca7229]

There appears to be ice on the windshield, of which he only has the driver's side scraped off, so I don't think it was raining. My guess is spray coming off of the wet, slushy road from the other vehicles was getting on his windshield.

[@user-rp5hx8he2g]

Hello from a fellow electrical engineer. I have been enjoying your videos for about a month and recently started watching "Servant of the People". I am seeing quite a few "Easter Eggs" from you videos about Ukrainian culture. ex. Dad is a taxi drive - I guess that is why they seem to have a larger apartment. I'll have to start looking at windshield wipers... Many thanks.

[@MikusVilsons]

The car is RAF Latvija - produced in Jelgava, Latvia (then Soviet). Registration plate goes PROBA - it is for the cars in TEST drives. And yes, you are correct RAF goes for Riga's Auto Fabrika, still factory was located in Jelgava, 50 km from Riga to the East.

[@einzeln-und-frei]

The Russian Microbus is not a "copy" of VW-Microbus - Because it has its engine in the front - not in the back like VW. But actually there is a big coincidence with an other German Microbus - even regarding the optics! Look at the Hanomag-Microbus - which later was produced in the same shape by Mercedes Benz.

[@thomasnelson6161]

I see you heard my prayer for more videos on cars, Sergei.

[@GeneralZapta213]

Looks more like a Ford Econoline or a Dodge van of the time than a VW

[@martinsarlina8040]

10:35 I thought, that the reason old soviet made trucks were all khaki color was because of huge surplus of paint which left unused since WW2, but boy I was wrong 🤭 Thanks for the clarification

[@RussellGeorge67]

As an economist I have to say it's a more efficient system. In a capitalist society all the vehicles have windscreen wipers whether they need them or not. The primary purpose of the windscreen wiper is to enable a purveyor of windscreen wipers to appropriate the value of the labour of his fellow human beings in a windscreen wiper factory so he can mark up a profit on it and sell the resulting product to other people who think they need a windscreen wiper 100% of the time, when they only actually need one when it is raining and their vehicle is moving. It is actually far more efficient to have universally compatible windscreen wipers that can be removed from a stationary vehicle, and fitted to a vehicle that is being used, quickly and at a moment's notice. This vastly reduces the total amount of windscreen wipers a society requires and enables the resources employed in production of the unnecessary surplus of windscreen wipers to be employed satisfying greater and more basic needs. If you ask me, the real criminals here are those who hide windscreen wipers that they have no need of in their gloveboxes, and whose ultimately foolish selfishness seems so natural to so many of your viewers.

[@fjb4932]

When the society is prosperous, you can afford to have wiper blades, window crank handles, turn signals, and yes. . . Heaven forbid, Even a spare tire for each and every car and truck, even tho it's seldom needed ! Conversely . . .

[@RussellGeorge67]

@@fjb4932 That sounds great, but first you need to have a prosperous society. All I can see is a society where a tiny minority of people can buy whatever useless shit they can imagine whilst the majority don't have access to basic needs.

[@mdmenzel]

I am surprised how colorful the traffic cop's car is.

[@Sniperboy5551]

I’m shocked that I actually knew exactly what he was doing in the picture. I’ve heard about this little detail before in the past, the image really jogged my memory.

[@no-damn-alias]

8:02 DEA that's a good one 😂

[@erg0centric]

I learned to drive in my brother-in-law's Lada. It was extremely frightening at highway speeds (over 100km/hr in Canada). It was orange.

[@TotalRookie_LV]

RAF (Rīgas autobusu fabrika / Рижская автобусная фабрика) stands for "Riga Bus Factory", not "Riga Automotive Factory". And yes, the minivan on photo was made in Riga, however RAF factory was moved (|IRC in late 1960s, maybe in early 1970s) from Riga to Jelgava - a city ~40km to the South-West form Riga. Both parents of my wife worked on that factory from mid-1970s all the way to 1990s. When USSR collapsed and used cars (mostly from Germany) flooded in, RAF buses were no match to Western ones, and by late 1990s factory closed.

[@tileng.5186]

"Proba" or "test" or "trial" license plates does not necesserally means that they were fixed on a vehicle that "just entered the production", or that was in its testing phase. Here, in ex-Yugoslavia (again 🙂) you were obliged to get those just to move your new (or used) car from the place you bought it to the place of your residence to arrange taxing, insurance and registration. They had a duration of five days max. In Yugoslavia even only this route (from place you bought the car back to your home) was offiicially aloved and it shouldn't deviate too much. That is, if the USSR used the same or similar sistem, this photo could be taken even later, not only in '61 or '62.

[@UshankaShow]

No, I've checked. PROBA was used only for the pre-production vehicles.

[@tileng.5186]

@@UshankaShow I see. Thanks for letting me know 👍

[@maddhatter3564]

The dumptruck bore an amazing resemblance to the old international harvester trucks

[@asasial1977]

11:53 that is a sweet looking van. I have a bit of a vintage Van obsession.

[@hansjorgmixdorff5766]

It rather looks like the wind screen got frozen over, on the passenger side it's not transparent.

[@JnSobre]

Perhaps he was testing the minivan that have just left the factory, or maybe car shops had test vehicles at that time. At 10:30 that's not kakhi color, that's olive or military green. Kakhi is a light brown, or dust color because that's what the word means.

[@JamLeGull]

It’s possible that the production of the van started before every design feature was finalised, especially since new vehicles have new problems

[@jefferyepstein9210]

I would think also that not only was there theft but also you would get much more life out of your wiper by not leaving it exposed to the elements.

[@muhammadkhairulramadhan3037]

can i request a difficult question for it?. 1.Who is the person in the photo? 2.Where is he from and where is he headed? 3. How old is he? 4.What's the job? 5.And is he still alive?

[@MrTommyboy68]

I thought he was scraping ice from the windshield as it seems to be freezing rain happening. I don't know how efficient the heater/defroster systems were back in the day, probably the equivalent of our 50's cars here in the USA.

[@chuckwhitson654]

The American style full service, service stations of the 50s through 80s in America would have been an awesome business model for the soviet union

[@denkbrein]

0:55 - The location is Moscow near the Triumphal Arch 😎

[@cyrilio]

Sad that such a beautiful arch is in the middle of a busy street. The one in Barcelona (that looks like the Arch de Triomf in Paris) is in a beautiful park you can walk around in.

[@alantaylor353]

Very enjoyable.!! 👍 👍

[@Ephoros]

Only one correction from a Latvian. Yes, it was called Rīgas Autobusu Fabrika, RAF. But they were actually manufactured in Jelgava, some 50 km from Rīga. :)

[@UshankaShow]

I think originally the factory was located in Riga

[@alexandergaus493]

Man- it took me waaaay too long until I figured out that you are talking about a wiper, not a snake 😂 English is my second language and I rarely have an opportunity for practice use. I hope that's enough for an excuse 😅

[@Blackadder75]

he has a rather heavy accent, so that is your excuse

[@johnsmith-ht3sy]

Windscreen wiper. Is the correct name.

[@astralclub5964]

@@johnsmith-ht3sy Windshield wiper in the US!

[@johnsmith-ht3sy]

In all of my long life I have never heard of Windscreen wipers being stolen in the West. Now I have had a car stolen, and Hub caps. Radio cassette players were also vulnerable, so a slide out carry away model was recommended. Today its high end car steering wheels, worth over £ 2000 and Catalytic converters from the exhaust pipe.

[@Blackadder75]

@@johnsmith-ht3sy that illustrate the difference in wealth between the west and communism

[@michaelsamuel9917]

I recall reading an account of a French Touring driver with a French made car entering the USSR (1950's) and while driving around ppl would marvel at the wipers especially when it sprayed water on the windscreen! They did also mention ppl tried to steal his wipers.....

[@viktorszoke2954]

proba license plates weren't just used for vehicles before production. It would also be used in case the vehicle did not had its own plate or it was invalid for any reason. For example: PROBA could be used by repair shops to test effectiveness of a (bigger) repair or by distributors to move the car around under its own power for first inspection / registration. So based on your research the correct answer looks like to be "not sooner than 1962".

[@daveb.4268]

Ford said of the new model A, "You can have any color you want as long as it's black." In Soviet Russia- it's green.

[@AdrianFarago]

It is not raining because the air vent on the roof of the car is open! It is freezing, you can se that in the ice on the sidewalk and i think he just lifted the windowviper to clean the ice from the windshield.

[@BorisZech]

6:39: What a beautiful VW T1 "Bully"

[@xaviert.123]

I'm unable to watch the video currently, but I'd assume he's adding the wipers on because of the rain, and "PROBA" is something I've never seen before. Looks to be an RAF 977. I'd say late 60s because of the GAZ 21 in the back and the new looking early model ZIL 130.

[@sonofamortician]

LOL, bravely led Napoleon to Moskow, let Napoleon take Moscow and then wait for winter to destroy Napoleon, genius general indeed, so brave

[@vaffelgris]

what is the melody in the intro?

[@amandanixon3388]

You're too funny!!! 😂

[@gooberclese]

Looks like he was fixing a frozen wiper arm....they can get encased in ice.

[@GeorgiaHotties]

I saw a bunch of ZIL 130 trucks when I visited Cuba in 2019. They were pretty old then - they must have been a pretty fine truck.

[@stevek4449]

Good video. So, how goes progress on long haul trucking in the USSR?

[@UshankaShow]

We will start with the short haul 😁

[@kdtrimble]

Eisenhower should have allowed Patton to finish USSR off after WW2 but apparently they are finishing themselves off now.

[@akbdawgo6396]

I believe be is actually breaking the ice off his wiper

[@plhebel1]

Thanks for the video Sergei, Think Spring,,, I know your living in the mid west like myself so you understand, Caio.

[@keithammleter3824]

Minibus inspired by the VW Kombi? It looks more like the English Commer van.

[@MrJayrock620]

I think the picture could be as old as 1961, but it could be as recently as 1969 as it was built unchanged until then. If it wasn’t for the unique test plate, it would be much harder to date, as I’ve actually seen both of these vehicles still roaming the roads on dash camera footage

[@b43xoit]

Weather conditions are exactly the same thing as weather.

[@whitequasar4686]

That Dump truck looks kinda like a late 50s Ford or early 60s GMC kinda cool not gonna lie

[@nicostenfors5690]

They are pretty much a copy of American trucks. Made from 196x-2014.

[@whitequasar4686]

@@nicostenfors5690 pretty neat I wonder if Russia and other former Soviet states have car clubs for these vehicles that'd be neat to see though sadly as an American I don't think it's safe for me to go to Russia honestly

[@privateprivate1865]

Imo That Gaz 51 truck looks better in some ways than the dodge power wagon military truck.

[@uncinarynin]

What song did you take the title music from?

[@UshankaShow]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/imqchoqHpa-spLs

[@chrisk6800]

Love your show and purchased your book as well ! was wondering if you could do a video about Soviet cartoons like letuchiy korabl ?

[@UshankaShow]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/nYXNp5aspbVghdE

[@grahamariss2111]

Moscow just up the road from the war museum. My mate lives in an apartment on the 4th floor just across the pavement from that van.

[@samholdsworth420]

Sometimes I like to poop in a bag while driving down the road

[@useitwice]

2:13 "...he LURED Napoleon all the way to Moscow.." "...he LET Napoleon take Moscow.." "...then he BRAVELY waited for the winter.." That's not how it's worded in western Europe. It's very interesting to see how history is being portrayed in different parts of the world.