No reason to cry

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By the mid 80's, the most original Soviet sedan, Moskvitsh, was more or less a strange artifact from the past. High and narrow and without any concessions to aerodynamics the Moskvitsh showed its strong heritage from the 1950's and 60's.

It – like its predecessors – was designed and build in Moscow by MZMA (later AZLK) industrial combinate. The design team never ceased to create fresh prototypes and improvements but almost all efforts were in vain as the Soviet economical planning bureocracy was extremely resistant to all changes.

The last major update was the model 408 in 1964. The model 412 of 1967 and the 2140 of 1976 were basically the same old 408 – only with a new aluminum engine and numerous minor visual and mechanical modifications. It would be unreasonable to claim that nothing happened during these years as the AZLK engineers tried their best to make Moskvitches to run better and to be safer to their occupants. Unfortunately the whole supply chain was not up to the task and the quality and the availability left much to desire. But as the common Soviet people had no chance to choose, Moskvitch sold well until late 70's when the considerably more modern Lada stole the spotlight. Despite numerous special versions to specific targets – like the heavy duty rural sedan with low compression engine and pick ups and sedan delivieries by arms factory IZH – time was running out.

In the middle of all stagnation, the Soviet elite played with a possibility to modify or totally renew the Moskvitsh by decadent western know-how. But the costly consultations by Raymond Loewy, Porsche Design and Citroën only left the folks at the AZLK with a even smaller budgets than before.

When the Moskvitsh 1500 was updated to a 1500 SL in 1981, the result was undeniably more contemporary and luxurious car – in details. Plastic bumpers and plenty of other plastic parts were pure 80's as was the digital clock in the dasboard. However, the quality of the human made materials was so poor that many vital parts like interior door lock handles broke all too soon. And that handsome digital clock with a timer had to be switched on and off separately as it passed the ignition lock wiring in order to maintain constant power, and time.

Model 2140's successor, the 2141 Aleko looked better but the tradition of mediocre or poor reliability stayed with it. After the collapse of the communism, days of the AZLK were numbered. Despite a co-ownership company with Renault, the gates of the giant factory complex were closed back in 2002.

The 1985 Moskvitsh shown here was among the last ones imported to Finland and one of the very few survivors. Due to fragility of many interior and exterior components and due to not too reliable mechanics, it is much easier to find a decades older Moskvitsh than one of these late versions. Despite low digits in the odometer, the current owner had to repair almost everything in it while getting it back on the road. Very limited spare reserves means very challenging ownership; Internet offers little or no help with eastern wonder like this. Fortunately, the 1,5 liter four cylinder engine has served well and is still internally in its original condition. It moves the surprisingly solid feeling car with ease on rough cobblestone streets of Helsinki and gets more attention and symphaties than many western cruisers.

Read the whole story of this car in the magazine Mobilisti

Text by Kimmo Koistinen
Pictures: Matti Ouvinen
Mobilisti

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