Vehicle fleet of Leonid Ilyich

The very first Brezhnev's car, allocated to him in 1938 through the service line of the Dnepropetrovsk Regional Committee, was the Buick-90 Limited. There is nothing surprising in the fact that this is a foreign car: Stalin himself at that time traveled in a Packard.



However, the Buick is also by no means an “ordinary” car. Since then, the future Secretary General has become addicted to expensive comfortable cars.

The next foreign car of the future leader was not a premium one - the usual serial Chevrolet Bel Air with a manual transmission and an engine of 170 “horses”, green, quite popular in the USA. Khrushchev presented this car to Brezhnev (he was then the head of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan) when he was on an official visit to the Austrian capital. Several similar cars were purchased to encourage distinguished officials.





Brezhnev was not particularly happy with the gift, which cannot be called luxurious. Just think (oh, horror!) the car had manual windows (it was 1960). Therefore, the Chevrolet was handed over to his daughter - the wife of the circus performer Yevgeny Milaev. The couple thanked: in the same year, after a tour of Germany, they brought Opel Kapitan L to their father and father-in-law. But after the divorce, Bel Air also migrated back to Brezhnev's garage.


Soon, through the ace pilot Alexander Pokryshkin, the car was sold to an engineer of one of the Dnepropetrovsk enterprises.


This technique was “lucky” - it was later found and restored.

CHRYSLER 300 and Maserati Quattroporte

Brezhnev owned the first handsome man since 1966. Later, the car was transferred to the film studio. Gorky. But the model was not lucky: in 1986 it was acquired by Ezhiev M. I. and during the conflict between Ossetia and Ingushetia, the Chrysler was burned by looters after an unsuccessful hijacking. From the car there were only keys with documents.


At the same time, Leonid Ilyich owned an Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight LS Sedan with a seven-liter engine. The car was first located on the Crimean peninsula, then it was transferred to the capital. There is no information about the fate of the car.



The Maserati Quattroporte is another matter. The car in 1968 was presented to the General Secretary by the leadership of the Communist Party of Italy. At that time, it was one of the most powerful serial sedans, which had an engine of 290 “horses” under the hood and developed a speed of up to 230 km / h. After the death of the leader, the car was sold to Estonia, and then ended up with Margaret Thatcher.

Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow

What is the fleet of the first person in the state without a Rolls-Royce? Brezhnev had two of them. One was given to him by a "great friend and comrade of the Soviet Union" businessman Armand Hammer.


And the second is Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain. Still, what were our relations with the West then! The "royal" gift was smashed in Zavidovo either by Brezhnev or by his driver.


Today, in the same condition, the car is in one of the museums in Riga.

"Mercedes"

At the beginning of 1969, three cars fell into the hands of the Soviet leader at once. Gold Opel Diplomat V8, Black Chrysler Newport Custom and Mercedes 280 SL W108 Cherry. The fate of the first two cars is unknown, but the Mercedes "lit up".


Brezhnev planned to ride this technique personally, while on vacation in the Crimea. The General Secretary liked the car: acceleration to “hundreds” in 12 seconds, speed - up to 185 km / h. True, fuel consumption per 100 km was 12,5 liters, but, it is clear that the driver did not care at all.



There were other Mercedes as well. Trying to improve relations between the two countries, in 1973 the leader of the CPSU visited the Federal Republic of Germany. The chancellor was also not against "melting the ice" and presented the leader of the USSR with a Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC of a bluish tint. The General Secretary was delighted with Brandt's gift, but remarked that red would have been better.


The head of the Communist Party of the GDR also decided not to lose face, and when he was on the Crimean peninsula “on business”, he presented the General with a Mercedes-Benz 280 SEL. In 1979, GON purchased a Mercedes-Benz 500 SEL, which was also sent to the peninsula. Subsequently, the car went to daughter Galina.

Cadillac

The Fleetwood model was presented to the General Secretary by US President Richard Nixon in 1971. This was called a "goodwill gesture".



The second Cadillac, model Eldorado, was presented to Brezhnev by the same Nixon. It is not known what his reaction was when our ambassador Dobrynin "hinted" to the president that the General liked this car.


Nevertheless, the car was made on special order in 3 days and on the fourth day it was transported to the Soviet capital by the US Air Force. Today, the technique has taken its place in the capital's museum "Autoamerica".

Lincoln Continental

Another chic gift from the President of the United States. Nixon, making a visit to the Soviet Union, "had the imprudence" to move around in his limousine of this particular brand. Leonid Ilyich liked him very much. A blue car was "presented" to him at Camp David. The car was distinguished by infrequently encountered "bells and whistles" such as power seats, multimedia, as they say now, climate control. Of course, Leonid Ilyich, having accepted the present, immediately invited Nixon and the car.





Leonid Ilyich also had other imported cars from other countries: for example, the Japanese Nissan President (recently they tried to resell it in Moscow at an auction), the French Citroën SM.


As for the latter, the General Secretary said that the car was "cramped" and the engine was "noisy." But what about Soviet cars? And they were also in the Brezhnev fleet.

Volga and Zhiguli

A total of 4 copies of the GAZ-24-95 were produced. One turned out to be with the Minister of Defense Ustinov, the second belonged to the head of GAZ Kiselev, the third was attributed to the regional committee of the CPSU in Gorky. Brezhnev adored this all-terrain vehicle and went hunting on it.


In 1982, the same GAZ “handed over” model 3102 to the leader of the party. In addition to the Volga, Brezhnev had ZIL-113, 114.


Seeing the prototypes of Zhiguli 2105 and 2107, the leader of the party said that he would like to give his loved ones something similar. To please Leonid Ilyich, they made a hybrid (the models shown were “raw”, and the “six” had already shown its best side), which the wits called “half past seven”.

What happened to the collection

According to various sources, it had from 49 to 68 cars. Some of them were in GON, others - in Zavidovo. After the death of the leader, only 4 cars were left to the heirs. The rest occasionally pop up at auctions and there are enough people who want to buy them.