The Moskvich a dream that came true

This moskvich I have has a long story, but it all started in 2002 when a frend of mine got the one interesting Moskvich the Moskvich 408 Elite Delux.
The Elite Delux was a export model with 4 headligths.Link to the Moskvich cars here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moskvitch_408
The picture of the 408 Elite sourse http://wiki-azlk.ru/734269166



At first I was amazed that such thing existed, I did knew much about Moskvich cars
at that time. Everything I had heard was complayns about these cars.
I think when I first saw the Moskvich 408 I started to like it immideatly.
Of course afther some years in 2006 the interest to the Moskvich 408 had crowen to
a point where I wanted one to, so I headed out to look and get one.
A year of search and no luck, I was offered some 408 but they all had some major rebuilds and where far from original concepts.
So In autum 2006 I had almost given up the search. But as I was about to turn my face towards more common Moskviches availabel,luck just struck me.
I was informed that a 408 will soon be available and its sky blue in color and has a factory VIN as low as it could get.
At first I was cautious,I didnt expect much from it. Finaly afther 6 months ,in summer 2007
the owners ore the family of the previous owner contacted me.
I took a look at the car and what I saw exceeded all my expectations.
A color I liked the moste of all, low VIN number, almoste everything in the car was as in the 60s. It was a done deal and in 2007. december the car rolled in to my place.
In 2008 I got the car registred on my name, I promised that I would not sell the car . And I will stick to it.

The car was made in 1964, the first year when they started the production of the model 408.
Its estimaded that somewhere 2000 cars (Moskvich 408) were made that year, there
is hardly any proof to support it 100%. My car is probably made somewhere between
November/December 1964.The low VIN number 1029 supports that. I know that only 5 cars from that year exist in Estonia but thats all I know new.
There have been a lot of 408s from 1965,66,68 for sale but non from 1964!

The previous owner got the car in 1967 and since then was on his side to his last days. I think he must have loved the car really much,its in original condition no
major rebuilds. I have to say from my point the previous owner gets respect from me In every way.

At first I had some technical problems, with the car, but new most of these problems have been fixed, I do seem to have a cluch problem but I will sort it out next spring.
The red-paint , you might see is againts corrosion and since the car needs to be repainted I hope its not a big crime what I did.

VAZ 21031 storyline

I think the readers have probably never heard from the model VAZ 21031.
Heres the thing: VAZ 21031 were only made in 1975, its hard to belive they only made 200 of these. They look the same as every VAZ 2103, no special remark.
But the have a 80 Hp engine 1600cc, the most powerful engine for Ladas at that time.
The cover of the engine is marked yellow, on the engine block also 21031 is inprinted.
The nr 2103(1) is also inprinted on the VIN-plate.
Also the VAZ 21031 uses a different gearbox, its still a 4-speed one but the gears are marked as:

I: 3,242
II: 1,989
III: 1,289
IV: 1,0
R: 3,34

Some reading about it: http://www.ladaklubi.ee/foorum/viewthread.php?tid=14308&page=2
The information is from the book:Võsokoj mõsli plamen(in Russian), written by two former Toglejatti (Lada) factory worker. I have no doubts about the information given in this book.

I dont know how many of these VAZ 21031 are left in Estonia, actually now one knows.

Restoring the Volga GAZ 24 part 2

Today I looked back at the works done and thouse still ahead.
The first thing I did was disassemble the car, find out what kind of part are the original once for the
1978 model. I will tell from the remarks for 1978 model later.

And this was 2008 autum:

Well looks like a real mess I know, I didnt expect the car turn out to be that worse in first place.
The car had belive ore not 7 layers of paint, I mean I have heard about A
merican cars that are like that. I used to remove the paint some paint removing chemicals + a heat gun.
Is some cases the paint remover did not work and I had to use the heat gun instead.
Some photos to give a look of the situation that I was confronted with:


A month full of work and looking back at it Im not suprised why professional car restores aske a lot of mony for this kind of work.

Finaly 2009 spring time to" take out the trash!", I had some more work ahead before starting working with the sandblaster:

Lada 1500 ore is it!

This is my second car, the Lada/VAZ 2103. Well It might look like an ordernary Lada. But
theres more then meets the eye.
I got this car from a family relative, was hardly in use when they got it on septembre 2004.
The car has its story:
Before it landed in my family, it was owned by a old truck driver in Tallinn. He got it in 02.09.1975 and it was brand new, right out of the store. At that time VAZ 2103 was a new model and not very common. Getting cars thouse days was not just walking in to the car dealers shop and buying one.
You had to have a license from the local commision that approved you had the right to get a car.
Sounds stupid I know, but in thouse days it was serious bisness.
The car got in to my family by just a lucky coinsidents. Just one of my frends asked use that do we need a car, hes father (the owner) is not it good health anymore. So if you are interested I would sell the car to you. At first we didnt know how to respond to it.
But finally we desided to take it.
The car had been not in use since 2001 and the first thing we did was take it out of the garage and take it on a trailer and go to the inspection to get the documentation done.
At first we did not have a garage to but it in to and it was in the open for 6 months.
The car came to a hold again in 2005.

2008 I conviced my relative to give the car to me, I saw that the condition of the car had turned in to a direction I found disturbing. So on summer 2008 a started to take some seriouse works on it. And instantly I had problems coming all the way.
The cars engine did not wanted to run, brakes where on,clutch was stuck, generator was not
responding. It took day to get it out from the barn, I had to take a tractor, since the cluch was not working and I had to bull it out.
Ok, two weeks of painfull work and I got everything In order as it should, fixed the problems.

Restoring the Volga GAZ 24

This is the first time in my life I desited to write about my cars for readers how dont speak my language(Estonian). Since the interest has growne what I do with my Volga and other cars, I think the readers have the rigth to know it.

The previous writings about the GAZ 24 restoration can be found on this website:
http://www.volga.ee/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=409&start=0
The history of the model GAZ 24 in Estonian: http://www.volga.ee/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=6
Also in wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAZ-24

A short history what I have been up to:
I bbought the Volga in 2005, Its is my very first car that was my own. I took the car because, it didnt wanted it to be smashed in to junk on a demo derby ore beeng send to the crusher to be shredded! Of course people aske me: so why the Volga? I say it was my choise at that time
and ispite some unpleasant things I later discovered, I still like it.
Maybe I would have gone for an American car, but the problem was I didnt had the money to afford it and maybe it was for the best, how knows?
Before desiding to take the GAZ 24, I wanted a GAZ 21 but since the owner wanted 1200$ for it and the car was in a really bad condition I desided to give up on that on!
Afther that, any attempts to buy a GAZ 21 have been some how, not gone that well. I dont know, is that faith ore what, but whit GAZ 21s I have had no luck at all since then.
I like the GAZ 24 because, its large like a American car, confortable and smooth, compared to other Soviet cars. And working with the Volga has taught me a lot, from things I never would have knowne.

In 2008 november I started with the real have work out on the Volga, taking off seven layers of paint and fillers, removing tar like material from the floor.
PS! That work took a month to complete!

2009 spirng, I did some large scale works with the sand blaster on the car, got some rather unexpected finds, Im not happy about.Car needs some rewelding new!
But one unusual thing about this Volga is, that no rewelding has been done before! A miracle considering that this vehicle was owned by a former stats company! Some original parts are still there but they need to be repaintend some repaired, others must be replaced with new once!

To be continued...