Finnish Tourists in the USSR: ruclips.net/video/KpmlQquUPBg/видео.html My name is Sergei Sputnikoff. I was born in the USSR in 1971. Since 1999 I have lived in the USA. The Ushanka Show was created to share stories and recollections 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/dp/B0BNQR1FBC?binding=paperback&searchxofy=true&ref_=dbs_s_aps_series_rwt_tpbk&qid=1688731325&sr=8-1 Don't hesitate to get in touch with me at sergeisputnikoff@gmail.com 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 SuperThanks tips, or: Via Patreon here: www.patreon.com/sputnikoff Viia PAYPAL: paypal.me/ushankashow Ushanka Show merchandise: teespring.com/stores/ushanka-show-shop Instagram: instagram.com/ushanka_show
The difference between buying a Lada in Finland and buying a Lada in the Soviet Union was that in Finland you could just walk into a Lada store and buy one, whereas in the Soviet Union you had to wait for years to get it :-)
There were other differences besides that, such as the Finnish versions being of better quality (and the retailer having some accountability). But of course even that was not enough of an enticement for most people, who would prefer Western brands instead.
Did Konela treat them rust protection? I remember some Swedish auto retailer who 'forgot' when they started selling a French auto brand, which totally wrecked buyers trust in having a French car for ages...
@@andershansson2245 I don't know, but many car brands were quite rust-prone in general back in the olden days. The protection in cars were nowhere near as good as it is today by default.
@@andershansson2245 They did, though the conventional wisdom was to deny any underseal and instead spray the whole underside with a mixture of old engine oil and fuel oil a couple of times a year.
Reminds me of a story my old retired colleague told. Edit: we're both Finnish. In early 70s when he was some 20yo tech student, his class visited Lada's first factory in the USSR. While at the factory, they had lectures on Lada engineering and tours at the assembly lines. Last day their guide gladly announced they are lucky to get a chance to drive a real Lada at the test track. The Lada engineers were baffled how the young students could drive the car so well without instructions and refused to believe when my colleague tried to explain he owns a car at home. Apparently they assumed the students had never driven a car before yet to own one :)
The Russians were allowed to see the movie Grapes of Wrath....(see how poor the West is!). The first thing the Russian viewer noted was that the Am. family (Joad family) owned a car (and this was in the middle of the Depression!).
@@brianlinke1856 Stalin approved the distribution of the movie but removed it after the public noticed even the poorest in the USA owned a car. But of course owning a car was a luxury in most countries before WW2 except in the USA.Maintaning horese was quite expensive too;
@@andrefiset3569 This is one of those internet urban legends that are spread around with no basis on reality. The movie was actually banned in Western European countries, because it was considered as communist propaganda. Therefore it was not shown in Soviet Union until 1948, because they had no copies of the movie. Back then movies had only a few copies that were spread from country to country and even in the US it might take years before movies were shown in the smaller towns and villages, as the copies were first shown in big cities, then sent to smaller and smaller ones. Soviet Union bought copies from other European countries, not directly from the US. The movie was considered to be shown in Nazi-Germany as part of the "Anti-American movies", but was considered to be too anticapitalist so they never showed it to the public. During the WWII the Soviets stole a lot of these movies from Nazi-Germany, which is how the copy of "Grapes of Wrath" finally ended up in Soviet Union in 1948 as a "trophy movie". The movie was subtitled in English and was shown only to some English classes and movie clubs, it never received widespread release and was therefore never banned. John Steinbeck was one of the most popular writers in Soviet Union and "Grapes of Wrath" especially was a smash hit. Steinbeck told that when he visited USSR in the 60's, he was surprised how everyone he talked to had read his books. I'm not sure if anyone here has read the book, but it is clear that the family are in the beginning grelatively wealthy farmers, as not everyone owned a car in the USA in the early 1930's. It is part of the symbolism in the story that the family end up owning nothing but their car. It was not thought of being a sign of wealth back then, not even in Soviet Union, that a homeless family's only possession is a car that they live in.
@@fau8908I'm guessing you didn't read the book either , because the main characters were tenant farmers, evicted because they didn't actually own their land. Not wealthy.
My father, a young architect way back in the 1960s, now in his 90s (still working seven days a week) designed the Konela factory and many other similar factories in Finland. A large mural of cars drawn by me :) (a very young kid) was painted on the wall.
@@nikolais163 When you are self-employed there is no law. This man works only because he wants to. The architectural firm belongs to him and probably now he only takes the projects he wants. I guess that he probably also has, at least, an assistant or, if he is now taking very small projects and the clients do not care so much about delays, he just works by himself. I have seen many famous architects working until the last of their days, just because they love their work. I was impressed when I saw once Oscar Niemeyer happily and fully capable working at that age and still wining contest and projects in Europe. In fact, he won a project from us! I thought to myself that it has to be amazing reaching that age and still be able to continue with such a beautiful and creative job.
Konela (1948-2003) was a Finnish company which during the '50-90s specialized in imports and sales of cheap Soviet cars such as Moskvitš, Volga, Pobeda and Lada. That was part of the bilateral clearing trade between Finland and the Soviet Union. At some point Konela was at least partially if not fully owned by Soviet export company V/O Avtoexport (1956-1990). The bilateral trade was based on barter in which payments were not in currency but goods as the Soviets were chronically lacking currency. Finland exported machinery, ships, construction projects, groceries, clothes, shoes etc and the Soviet Union paid with cheap oil, raw materials, and also cheap cars.
In the 1970s, there was a rumour in the UK that ABBA did a tour of Communist Poland and were paid in potatoes as Poland had no hard (i.e. Western) currency, ABBA's management sold the potatoes in the West to make back the money.
I do not know the scale or for a fact, but I think finland had trouble figuring enough things to "buy" from the soviet union to balance the trade. Basically it looks like the country was flooded with soviet made things whether they wanted or needed them or not. Cars were probably on the more useful side of things they got.
@@gearloose703 Well, the cars weren´t popular. They were only bought by cheapskates and communist leaning oddballs. Basically a joke on wheels when you could pay some more and get a Ford cortina/taunus, VW 1500 or Opel kadett?
It was a weird world. Soviet citizens queued for those for a decade and payed astronomical price. Here in Finland those were the cheapest cars one could by. Trabant from DDR might have been cheaper.
@@lauriyrjola3620 Oh, those 2-cycle Trabants were in their own category. When I was a teenager in Buffalo in the 1960s, there were a few of those oil burners around. Remember the evening a guy got pulled over by the Buffalo police. He got a ticket for bad lighting.
Even as cheap as they were, they still weren't a bargain that would entice most people... Many Finns would refuse to buy Soviet crap for political reasons alone, or pay a little bit more for a better quality western brand (new or used..). It's like today, most people would not buy a Chinese car, even if they are a bit cheaper than Western brands.
Because if you compete on price alone, customers will think of your products as cheap garbage. That may be a quick way to start moving your products, but is very hard to rebound from, see South Korean car industry.
@@richardkammerer2814 How in the heck did Trabant cars show up in Buffalo, New York? Were these cars actually sold in the US? Were Trabants sold in Canada?
Some observations: today nobody keeps anything in storage. If you need something, item will be ordered from somewhere and you have to wait from week to six months. Wooden part-boxes looks similar to those in which artillery rounds are being shipped. Pea soup ( hernekeitto ) cost 90 pennies, today it's roughly 6000 pennies. The speaker is Pentti Fagerholm ( 1935-2015 ). This film is a perfect snapshot of bygone era. More like this, thank you!!! 👍👍👍👍👍
Soviet and eastern block cars were also popular in Norway in the 60s/70s. My Father had an east German Wartburg, his friend had a Moscovich back in the 60s. Apparently the Moscovich was a good car to roll over in (being drunk on icy roads= accidents). The roof didn't cave in, you just rolled it back over and got on with life!
Любые вещи из ГДР были сродни мифу для жителей основной части СССР и раздобыть их было невозможно. Экспортные машины были чуть лучше отечественных, но всё равно это был тот ещё хлам. Посмотрите видео про бывших советских граждан ездивших в Финляндию за иномарками в 90-е после развала союза, там они говорят как есть про отечественные лады, которые тоже можно было купить в Финляндии тогда за копейки. А это просто рекламный ролик.
A relative worked for Konela, he had a lot of stories to share. Like once they got in a shipment of 20 cars, all with one of the bumpers bolted on upside down. Sometimes cars came with loose chairs, or a gearstick that came off a bit too easy. 😂
A lot of times four cars in a row came without a spare tire, somebody got a brand new set. Tools were often missing. One time came a group of four Ladas, each running with three pistons.😅
@@richardkammerer2814Konela* it's a Finnish name. And yes us Finns are have a western nation with high standards for engineering. It would've been a total disaster to sell Soviet cars without a thorough inspection, service and often repairs.
@@ErectedGasCan In Konela they painted them, put better tires, shocks, and accumulators, AC alternators, accessories, made fancier upholsteries, etc. For taxi use in passenger Volgas and in military use ZiL trucks they put in Perkins diesels. It was like a factory using bulk materia.
Many kinds of cars were sold in Finland in the 1960's. The cars of all big car makers were sold since 1963 when the rules for importing cars were made easier. Finland was the first country in Europe where Japanese cars were imported. Moskvich and later Lada were a cheap and easy to service alternative for those seeking just a basic means to move. We transported a lot of new cars of all makes from 1963 till 1988 when we sold our company to a bigger competitor still operating today. We first transported cars for Veho, which then imported Mercedes Benz and British Austin and Morris. It still imports Mercedes Benz.
@@markkulehtinen4733 Surely the 1st country that Japanese cars would have been exported to would have been a country where they didn't have to modify the cars, e.g the UK or (at the time) Sweden.
I've watched a lot of Cold War era films but I've never seen a film of Finnish life during this period, it's really fascinating. They have a unique aesthetic.
@@Michael_Hunt A nice country and good people but the way they BFF-d with the soviet s-bags was a disgrace. Especially considering what the muscovites pulled on them from 1939-1944.
@@markkulehtinen4733 yeah markku I heard even many american brands were sold here back then. And even in 90' there was still chevys in GM dealers like Saab and Opel shops.
1974, when I was 13, I bought my first car to our summer place. It was 1967 Moskvitch Elite 1300. It was already not roadworthy after 6 years , rusty, but the MOT was still valid for a month, so I bought it with pocket money, 300 Finnish Marks (I mostly loaned from my brother...). I thought that it would teach me how to fix cars, but it took incredible teenager punishment in the woods and over ditches for 10 years, and I sold it for spare parts for 300 Marks... It came with Elite owners manual, but also with the older Moskvitch Scandinavia manual, as the 1300 cc drivetrain was from the older model. Once I went to that Konela spare parts shop and bought new distributor points. When I replaced the points, the car did not start anymore. The new points were bad., so I put the old ones back and it started instantly. The magic with Soviet stuff is that once all the bad parts have been replaced with good ones, they last forever mechanically if serviced properly. It has been the most reliable car I have ever had, and I have had a lot of cars. Still have too many.... Now me and my brother have a T-55 tank (which ,again, my brother paid...) at the other summer place, so Soviet engineering made a comeback in a grander scale. Polish made, but so, so, Soviet in every way. And, with cars came a lot of tools, even paint of correct color. With the tank came over 100 kg:s of tools in tank's toolboxes as the tank is "new", stored in Poland, 45 kms on odometer... Those who have served in the Finnish army here know the Soviet way to store spare parts and new tools: Wrapped with strange smelling greased paper...
The scene where Perkins diesels are being fitted to the trucks reminded me of how the Belgian importer for Volga and Moskvich used to replace Volga M21 engines with diesels from Perkins, then Rover, and finally Peugeot-Indenor. Volga M24 engines were replaced with diesels from Peugeot-Indenor.
Kiitos which means thank you in English. I grew up in the backseat of Ṣ̌koda's, Zastava's and Lada's...these cars over 40years later, still have soft spot in my heart.
I’m really surprised with this video. First of all it was filmed very expensive. So stylish, beautiful colors, lights, camera work and so on. This service done a great cleaning work before filming. The quality and standards of this dealer amazing even in 2020-s. Look like they boost soviet standards to the European market. They receive spareparts in paper without package and put them to expensive boxes. They even polishing cars. This dealer have a huge spare part storage, although shops in SU doesn’t have sufficient amount of spare parts for local market. Well, I’m impressed so much.
Although not really comparable, this is what car importers/dealers do today for the vehicles. Depending on the manufacturer, there may be substantial options added etc. for various reasons, including import duties and taxes. Mostly it consist of assessing and repairing transit damage, which often does mean respraying or other detailing. At the time of this video, I am sure other brands (including japanese) did require some amount of work too, not as much as the soviet made cars maybe, but similar things were done.
Film was "Konelan päivä", (= Konela's day). Director was Valentin Vaala. He was a veteran film director, directed commercials and short films before his retirement after feature films. Valentin Vaala started his career on silent film era. Film was shot on 35 mm movie film according to Finnish "censor" board (Valtion elokuvatarkastamo) statistics. Production company: Suomi-Filmi Oy.
As they mention in the video, so Konela was the largest dealership in Europe and provided spares to all northern "western" european markets outside soviet influence. So the parts storage was vast compared to finnish markets.
Yes I noticed too the impressive quality of film, wonder who this film was aimed at when it's clear they put so much effort into it. Not exactly something I'd imagine they show at TV or cinema.
@@SergeyPRKL Another possible explanation for vast spare parts storage was that it was there to service Soviet Army trucks in case of invasion.... by Soviets.
Visualiner wheel alignment, Crypton Motorscope engine diagnostics, SEV Marchal Reglolux headlight adjusting and finally a nice Ameise (Jungheinrich) forklift. Oh how nice it would be to have a retro garage with all this stuff! ...and for lunch pea soup for 90 penniä (1,88 euro today) or maybe even beef stew (vatkuli) for 1 mark 60 penniä (3,34 euros). Male workers in industry earned 4,10 mk/hour (8,55 e) in 1966, I guess car mechanics weren't far behind.
Siinä missä nykyää uusien varustelu meinaa yleensä vaa muutaman lisävarusteen asennusta ja luovutushuoltoa nii tuolloin on varmaa saanu koko auton käydä läpi
@@kukko83 Kyllä nykyäänkin paskaa osataan tehdä. Ihan lännessäkin. Ei tule varusteluun yhtään konetta jossa ei jotain korjattavaa tai ainakin viimeisteltävää olisi.
Would you like translated subtitles? ETA: I don't have time tonight, but maybe within a few days? At some point the sound seems to become out of sync with the film, at around 12:40 sound seem to be around 40 seconds behind.
@@UshankaShow I saw a Lada in Pierre (Pier) South Dakota a few weeks ago, I had to look again because I thought it was the guy who has the old Fiat model the Lada is based on in town who also had/has an old 1960's Fiat 500. The engine on that Lada did sound like it was going to grenade itself but was running fine no other unusual features other then a loud engine and having to do micro steering to drive straight at 40-45 mph. I assume it had a real unmodified engine in it.
In Sweden the Lada importer was named Matreco and was owned by the Soviet Union. Eastern European cars were less popular in Sweden compared to Finland. Matreco had a large service network with large garages (more aimed for lorries and heavy machineries than for cars) than it was supposedly be able to sustain with it's limited sales. It also came into light that it was more there in means for spying and possible serve Soviet equipment rather than sell and service Ladas. Later around the millennium and onwards private actors have been trying to market Lada Niva as a robust, cheap offroad vehicles with a limited success. The last of those companies probably went bankrupt over 10 years ago.
Moje pierwsze auto w Polsce to był Moskwicz 408 1300cc .. 66r z podwójnymi lampami z przodu. Zaletą było to że mało palił około 7l /100 benzyny, a Fiat 125.. palił 9-11 litrow
From Finnish Wikipedia (excerpt translated to English): "Konela Oy Ab was a car and machinery import company operating in Finland in 1948-2003, which was a large part of its operating time soviet Owned by V/O Avtoexport... By 1966, Konela had imported a total of 75,000 cars to Finland. Konela's spare parts warehouse had a total of 28 shelf kilometres of space and had nearly 20,000 titles. The capacity of the service workshop was 60 maintenance services per day. More than a thousand Konela service points operated in different parts of the country.[3] In 1970, Konela accounted for 4.8 per cent of the Finnish passenger car market and in 1980 it had risen to 11.5 per cent......" Interesting video and a lot of fun to watch. Soviet cars had some market share in Finland, but most cars bought by Finns were from other carmakers.
In USSR worst factory assembly was in the winter, because due to cold workers were more drunk than usually. After buying new Mosckvitch people first tow them to garrage and reasembled it then, because many screws were loose etc. This company in Finland fixes the defects from factory, in USSR it was norm to fix it by yourself.
@@Kahdeksanpenninen123 Juy,mutta jos pelti on alkuun huonoa/sorvinlastuja.Ladat olikin eri sorttia.Niissä oli kova ero laadussa,mutta lämmin autohan se oli ja tilava.Ei sen puoleen tuosta ruostehommasta.VW konsermin tuotteet/nehän vasta onkin ruosteessa.Skodat/golffit/passatit.Verrattain uusia näitä näkee ja ruostevanat /kahvoissa/farkuissa takaluukut.Itsellä on vielä 4 kopan golf,ja toki pientä fiksausta,mutta halpa 23 vuotta vanha peli.Siis Vw konsermilla jokin meni pieleen.4 kopan golf/viimeinen,mihin laaduntarkkailu.Ei auta siis arvostella noita Cccp,n ,koska Saksalainen jätti,on syöltänyt huonoa laatua.Puhumattakaan/tsi/dsg,ongelmista.
In N. America the worst assembled cars were made on Fridays, as the workers were already drunk in anticipation of the coming weekend. Monday cars were not as good either as they would be still hungover.
I was told something similar about Italian made Fiats, which were the templates for the Lada. If the Fiat was made on a Tuesday, then it was a good car. Any other day, not so certain.
Konela used to do some modifications to Ladas on demand and with warranty. Like sunroofs. Or turbocharging (don't know if they turboed anything other than Nivas).
our Lada 1200L was Konela Lada brand new 26 000 FIM back in the days :) its like 10 000€ todays money maybe. On 60's we had lots of American cars on road. So eastern block cars were minor cars lets say like that. We had to take east cars of some % every year.
A workers car. At one time many a Lada was sold in Finland. It was a dependable car in its era and especially for its prize. It was basically a Fiat 124 modified for Soviet use and modified again for import.
@@markkulehtinen4733I've read that the Lada engine isn't based on the Fiat 124:s engine, but is an own design with relations to the Mercedes-Benz M121 (??) engine.
Great video, Ushanka! Thank you for sharing. As I discovered my love of cars as a kid, I have always had a fascination with the automobiles of the USSR and the Eastern Bloc. The Moskvitch 408 and 412 are favorites. Simple, tough, reliable. But, most of all, user friendly. From what I have read, the 408 and 412 are very easy to repair, even with a lack of spare parts. The 423 and 427 estate models are favorites, also. The IZH 412 (?) 5 door is another favorite. It has been my good fortune to own a car (US models) manufactured from every decade since the 1940s! But, to have an opportunity to own, drive and tinker with a Moskvitch, Lada, Volga, UAZ 469 or "Bead-loaf"... Or, from the Eastern Bloc: A Skoda 110R, A Tatra 603 (WOW! Jay Leno prices!) or a very humble Wartburg 312 Camping or Wartburg 353 Estate (A Wartburg with a 2 Stroke, 1000cc motor!); a lifetime goal! Yes, I purchased my first car when I was 16 years old for 700 bucks. A 1970 Buick LeSabre Hardtop with a 350cu (5.7 liter) V8! I have owned some BIG V8 vehicles: A 1967 Mercury with a 390cu (6 liter?), a 1951 Pontiac Chieftain sedan straight 8cyl (268cu 4.4 liter) and 3 on the tree, a 1971 Datsun pick-up with a 4 speed manual, a 1964 Pontiac Gran Prix 389cu (6 liter? 325 hp without any tuning or add-on parts!) Auto. I did over 130mph in the 1964 Grand Prix. The Grand Prix showed absolutely NO signs of stress or struggle... Even with these US behemoths and the Datsun, I would still LOVE to own a Soviet or Eastern Bloc car. As an aside, in 1972, on my 8th birthday, I was thrown out of a model train store in New York City for requesting a book "covering Soviet and East German locomotives"! That's right, Ushanka! On my 8th birthday, I was thrown out of a model train store just for asking for a book covering Soviet and East German locomotives!!! Thank you for your channel. I am looking forward to more videos and info covering the former USSR!
The guys and gals at Konela honestly did their best to polish a turd. BTW, Konela really had very nice facilities for its time and about the best (Western) technology in their repair stations and paint shops.
@@Ba_Yegu It was rather meant as as trolling, I would love to own a 408 or even better a 1500. Not just easy to maintain, but also easy to improve. I believe Finland has lots of dirt - and gravel roads, they are ideal for that. Tried to buy one for going fishing, but nobody would sell a good one at a nice price, that was 24 years ago!
@@gertvanderhorst2890 You dodged a bullet. I owned my share of those moskvitch 408/12 and Lada's back in the day and there was nothing particularly 'easy' about the constant breakdowns, troubles, agricultural materials and controls, lack of refinement, ergonomics, comfort, space and handling. Engine service life on this crap was such that 100K km till full rebuild was considered a fabulous result. Meanwhile, a Fiat Uno or A Ford Pinto or such engines from the developed world regularly achieved 500K km without breaking a sweat. Fwiw, the Lada 2103 was a hell of a lot nicer than the moskvitch. It had the massive benefit of not being designed by russians 😎
Lada's were imported & sold in Canada from 1979 to 1998. They had an impressive dealer network around the Greater Toronto Area. When the Lada Niva was introduced, it sold quite well
Ideologiat ja eri kulttuurit ovat mitä milloinkin, mutta tämä täyttä asiaa aikoinaan. Saanko lyhyesti kertoa? Elettiin vuodenvaihdetta 1962 mulle iski illalla 5.1.1962 raju umpilisäkkeen tulehdus. Juoksin ulko huusissa aamuyöllä rajusti ripuloimassa ja voimat alkoi hiipumaan. Sanoin äidille "nyt on tosi kysymyksessä". Hälyttivät naapurin pojan apuun. Mossella (Moskvitsh Skandinavia) nöyrästi hän tuli ja kuskasi minut ensin kunnanlääkärille - Ja sitten lääkärin määräyksestä sairaalaan, ja samana aamuna leikkaukseen. Kiitos tietysti naapurin pojan ja kaikkien muiden, kuin myös Mossen, että tämän kirjoitan.
I nearly burst out laughing at the slogan in the Moskvitsh 408 poster at 10:54 "A stylish European from the land of space technology". The 60's were certainly a decade of very creative marketing.
That looks like Lappeenranta am I right? I used to work with guys who worked on those cars - yes I lived in Lappeenranta for many years. Best part of Finland to live in 👍 Interesting fact - Konela korjaamo (workshop) in Lappeenranta became Delta Auto and then and now became a really great Gym called Syke. Thanks for posting this. Really intetesting.
Most of it is filmed in Lauttasaari, Helsinki, where the Konela's HQ was located. They also had segments in Jyväskylä and Kouvola. If there was something from Lappeenranta, I didn't notice.
Thank you for this ride, lots of memories to my dad and grandfathers. Although they never did drive any eastern block vehicles. More like Saabs and VW.
A lot of the Soviet cars was very popular in Europe, especially Lada and no matter what people said back then you actually got a lot of car and quite a big and powerful engine in the Lada's for the money and they where excellent for long drives and they looked good as well. Here in Denmark there was a lot of Lada's,both the sedan versions and the stationcar versions and the people who owned them liked them a lot and would often buy a new Lada when the time came for a replacement,the same can be said about the rear engine Skodas. They where not even remotely as bad as they was made up to be by people who never actually has them or even tried driving in them.
I was 6 years old at that time -66. I remember well how Soviet cars were everywhere in Finland. They were considered durable and, most importantly, cheap workhorses. This was part of the barter between the communist Soviet Union and Western Finland. My uncle bought a new car similar to the one blue Moskvitch Elite in this film.
Die brauchen Zuwendung 😊. Mein Lada Kombi 2111 ist nun 21 Jahre. Kann nich sagen, das der schlecht ist. Kein Montag Auto. Andere haben mehr Problem mit Premium, ja das Image ist schlecht, von Lada. Aber hier in schland wird jetzt alles in Schlendrian übergehen. Traurig 😢
Машина была очень устойчива к коррозии. Первая машина моего отца была тоже Москвич, правда не такой как в ролике, а АЗЛК. Первая ржавчина появилась через 10 лет эксплуатации. Машина была потрясающе ремонтопригодной, надёжной, неприхотливой и...такой же не комфортной :-) Но она могла вывезти вас из любой глуши, без сервиса, на плохом бензине. Ни разу не было такого что бы она встала и больше не ехала вообще. Поездил бы на таком ещё немного, ностальгия :-)
At 9:35 you can see trucks without engines and some crates labeled "Perkins". Seems like they were installing non-Soviet diesel engines into the trucks. For non-oil producing countries the Soviet engines must have been too thirsty, I guess.
I don’t understand finish. But I think that the soviet cars weren’t so bad, when they were improved by the importer. The Volga estate was a very nice car for little money. We had in Austria Graf und Stift as Import Company. The Lada was in the 80 very popular. I knew a Bentley and Mercedes owner who drove as daily a Lada 1200 RL with a mobile phone that doubled the value of the car! He was very happy with the car.
I am very happy with my Lada 2111 in Germany. 21 years old.Much better than expected. Easy to repair and Drive. Engine construction by Porsche, Lada Samara, Lada baltic in the 80's🎉😊
Konela had a subsidiary in Norway as well. I remember it quite vividly, even though I haven't heard that particular word in probably more than 30 years.
5:35 I didn't know that zaporozhets were also exported. Later in the video we see that they were renamed Jalta. Finland had a weird relationship with its big bully neighbour. In return for not being invaded yet again, they bought a lot of Soviet equipment for their military, including MiGs, in addition to Soviet cars.
They were briefly. The quality was below the lowest expectations, so they didn't sell here. The golden age of soviet cars in Finland was before 1962, when western products had limitation for importing because of lack or currency, and later when Lada was introduced. Generally Finns preferred western cars because of quality. That is also why Japanese cars quickly got popularity here.
It didn't quite go like that. We needed to export our goods and the Soviets had no cash so we bartered. Those Migs and Soviet tanks we got for a fraction of their actual value. Similar numbers of similar-capability systems bought from the west would have bankrupted us.
Finland used its unique opportunity of having an access to a massive closed market and sold loads of stuff to Soviet Union via bilateral trade agreement, but it turned out that USSR struggled to match what it bought with the equivalent value in products and natural resources. At the time of its fall, USSR had a debt from not matching the bilateral trade of over 700 million euros in today’s money.
@@tapio_m6861 удивительно)) и как финны смогли так хорошо жить при такой невыгодной торговле с СССР? Особенно учитывая, что это был их основной торговый партнёр. Сказки не заменят реальности. И доказывать это будет сегодняшний день и экономическое положение Финляндии после добровольного разрыва с Россией всех связей. И по поводу агрессивного соседа, как так вышло, что Финляндия существует не в качестве части Швеции? Почему говорят не на шведском и не считают себя шведами? Кто придумал грамматику финскому языку? Кто построил университеты, школы, города, промышленность во второй половине 19го века? Кто дал возможность иметь свою политическую и экономическую систему в границах огромной империи и дал возможность в этом рынке торговать и зарабатывать? Если вы считаете, что это была не Россия, прочитай пожалуйста историю повнимательнее. 😊
What a treat. Where did you find this? For non-Finnish viewers: there was a running gag during the Cold war about the country badge on cars. Can you guess what it was? The fact that it was changed from SF to FIN at about the time the Soviet Union led only to yet more sniggering.
Sorry, auto part inventory is not computerized at O’Reillyskorva auto parts store. We will call you in 3 weeks to see if we have part. Oh, you don’t have phone?
Notice that it seems that the Konela company have to adjust and repair brand new cars from the Soviet Lada factory before the was ready for the market. Tells all about the lack of quality control.
The regulations of what you can drive in Finland versus what you could drive in the USSR were massively different even back then. Just to be compliant with the Finnish road regulations, they had to check and adjust things to be compliant with our laws. I imagine that back then when the standards were not really global, other brands had to do the same. It's not like today when the new car that is driven out of the factory is perfectly up to the EU code.
2 месяца назад
@@tapio_m6861While that’s true, they also did quality control. They weren’t exactly japanese quality.
I test drove a brand new Lada (Little Darling) in Ontario in 1980. I drove to the Volvo dealer who sold them in my crusty, Datsun 510 which had over 100,000 miles on it. My opinion was that my old Datsun drove much better than the Lada which cost just $2,995. They all rusted away pretty quickly in Canada, but I still see plenty of them grinding away in Cuba
I'd gladly own one. I wouldn't need to worry about repairs because I could just make my own parts. If it's 2 stroke engine I believe it was mixed 50:1.
In 70's the cost of Lada in Europe was about $1500 while in SU was about $5000. The reason was SU had foreign obligations in foreign currency. So was obliged to sell autos abroad even with discount to get foreign currency.
No sure how thing went elsewhere, but here is how they went in Hungary. If you had USD $1,360 in early 1968, you could have picked up a brand new West-German NSU 1200C sedan. How did you get the foreign hard currency? Usually via a relative or friend who lived in the West. I accompanied my uncle László to Csepel island in Budapest on February 18, 1968, where he picked up his NSU. There were two NSU 1200Cs on the lot -- a yelloy and a white one. He picked the white one. BTW, you could have gotten the 1200C or a Prinz, also you could have gone for a Benz, 2 or 3 Volkswagen models, Renault, Peaugeut, Citroen, etc. Rarer were Porsches, British cars. There were tons of American cars in Huangry back then, but you could not get them new, only 2nd hand.
I read through all the comments just waiting for someone to make mention of the guy trying to look up the lady's skirt as she walked up the stairs. LOL
I worked on these cars not long after this film was made , they were imported to the UK , the quality was very poor in general . I don,t having much trouble with the engine though .
the most surprising fact of this excellent film is: there are only soviet cars existing in Suomi/Finland. only one or two Volvo´s are to be seen and they made the great effort to block all other car-models when the camera appeared. So, Finland seems - at that time - to be only driving soviet cars and lorries
It was part of an effort by Finnish leadership to establish a non-military relationship with the Soviets. Basically the theory is, “if they’re making money trading with us, they’re less likely to attack.” They never attacked, so maybe it worked.
Part of the trade treaty was also Soviet Oil. And it was meant to keep good relations so countries like Finnland stay neutral....which failed last year
I used to know a guy who worked for Konela! Thought me everything I know about fixing cars. He also had some rather, uhh, extreme ideas about politics.
Basic transportation. Soviet cars made finnish roads rolling. Basic cars are apperecitiadet because of easy maintainance. Thanks for finnish narrative.
Western cars made Finnish roads rolling. Cars from the USSR were a minor niche. To my understanding, their market share was 20% at best and usually less than that.
The desire for sweet foreign hard currency partially explains why the average Soviet waited _years_ for a Lada (let alone the perpetual wait for repair parts). I'll let Finns explain whether or not they were getting the better of the deal...
Whats horrible is how finnish goverment and media treat russia and russian people nowadays just because of some bullshit war that we have nothing to do with. They have ruined decades of good relationship and diplomacy between russia and finland. We should treat every country like this if they start a war. So stupid and childish behaviour but what can you expect from goverment filled with stupid young women.
@@timoilonen1926 мне так нравится ваше "европейское единение"! Как насчёт других жизней, которые финны уничтожили в 1918-м, например? А, это же русские были! Пусть и гражданские. Всё равно их надо было убить, да? Или советские дети согнанные в концлагерь. Они ведь не люди, не то что славные финны, да?
Ссср отправлял на экспорт автомобили лучшего качества и обеспечивал снабжение запчастями, при этом внутри страны покупка и владение автомобилем было тяжелым испытанием
Finnish Tourists in the USSR:
ruclips.net/video/KpmlQquUPBg/видео.html
My name is Sergei Sputnikoff. I was born in the USSR in 1971. Since 1999 I have lived in the USA.
The Ushanka Show was created to share stories and recollections of everyday life in the USSR.
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У вас есть кинопленка фильма ?
А можно в UHD 4K !?
Сергей Спутников здравствуйте
The difference between buying a Lada in Finland and buying a Lada in the Soviet Union was that in Finland you could just walk into a Lada store and buy one, whereas in the Soviet Union you had to wait for years to get it :-)
There were other differences besides that, such as the Finnish versions being of better quality (and the retailer having some accountability). But of course even that was not enough of an enticement for most people, who would prefer Western brands instead.
Did Konela treat them rust protection?
I remember some Swedish auto retailer who 'forgot' when they started selling a French auto brand, which totally wrecked buyers trust in having a French car for ages...
@@andershansson2245 I don't know, but many car brands were quite rust-prone in general back in the olden days. The protection in cars were nowhere near as good as it is today by default.
@@joojoojeejee6058 We also use a lot less salt on the roads now. The focus then was on consumtion, not preservation (including the environment).
@@andershansson2245 They did, though the conventional wisdom was to deny any underseal and instead spray the whole underside with a mixture of old engine oil and fuel oil a couple of times a year.
Reminds me of a story my old retired colleague told. Edit: we're both Finnish.
In early 70s when he was some 20yo tech student, his class visited Lada's first factory in the USSR. While at the factory, they had lectures on Lada engineering and tours at the assembly lines. Last day their guide gladly announced they are lucky to get a chance to drive a real Lada at the test track. The Lada engineers were baffled how the young students could drive the car so well without instructions and refused to believe when my colleague tried to explain he owns a car at home. Apparently they assumed the students had never driven a car before yet to own one :)
The Russians were allowed to see the movie Grapes of Wrath....(see how poor the West is!). The first thing the Russian viewer noted was that the Am. family (Joad family) owned a car (and this was in the middle of the Depression!).
@@brianlinke1856 Stalin approved the distribution of the movie but removed it after the public noticed even the poorest in the USA owned a car. But of course owning a car was a luxury in most countries before WW2 except in the USA.Maintaning horese was quite expensive too;
and to think... some in the West would just love to see a revamp of the wonderful, prosperous socialist world... LMAO
@@andrefiset3569 This is one of those internet urban legends that are spread around with no basis on reality. The movie was actually banned in Western European countries, because it was considered as communist propaganda. Therefore it was not shown in Soviet Union until 1948, because they had no copies of the movie.
Back then movies had only a few copies that were spread from country to country and even in the US it might take years before movies were shown in the smaller towns and villages, as the copies were first shown in big cities, then sent to smaller and smaller ones. Soviet Union bought copies from other European countries, not directly from the US.
The movie was considered to be shown in Nazi-Germany as part of the "Anti-American movies", but was considered to be too anticapitalist so they never showed it to the public. During the WWII the Soviets stole a lot of these movies from Nazi-Germany, which is how the copy of "Grapes of Wrath" finally ended up in Soviet Union in 1948 as a "trophy movie". The movie was subtitled in English and was shown only to some English classes and movie clubs, it never received widespread release and was therefore never banned.
John Steinbeck was one of the most popular writers in Soviet Union and "Grapes of Wrath" especially was a smash hit. Steinbeck told that when he visited USSR in the 60's, he was surprised how everyone he talked to had read his books.
I'm not sure if anyone here has read the book, but it is clear that the family are in the beginning grelatively wealthy farmers, as not everyone owned a car in the USA in the early 1930's. It is part of the symbolism in the story that the family end up owning nothing but their car. It was not thought of being a sign of wealth back then, not even in Soviet Union, that a homeless family's only possession is a car that they live in.
@@fau8908I'm guessing you didn't read the book either , because the main characters were tenant farmers, evicted because they didn't actually own their land. Not wealthy.
My father, a young architect way back in the 1960s, now in his 90s (still working seven days a week) designed the Konela factory and many other similar factories in Finland. A large mural of cars drawn by me :) (a very young kid) was painted on the wall.
Seven days a week! At that age, wouldn't five be enough, or four, or zero...
Is 7 Days work wek legal in Finland?
@@nikolais163 When you are self-employed there is no law. This man works only because he wants to. The architectural firm belongs to him and probably now he only takes the projects he wants. I guess that he probably also has, at least, an assistant or, if he is now taking very small projects and the clients do not care so much about delays, he just works by himself. I have seen many famous architects working until the last of their days, just because they love their work. I was impressed when I saw once Oscar Niemeyer happily and fully capable working at that age and still wining contest and projects in Europe. In fact, he won a project from us! I thought to myself that it has to be amazing reaching that age and still be able to continue with such a beautiful and creative job.
Konela (1948-2003) was a Finnish company which during the '50-90s specialized in imports and sales of cheap Soviet cars such as Moskvitš, Volga, Pobeda and Lada. That was part of the bilateral clearing trade between Finland and the Soviet Union. At some point Konela was at least partially if not fully owned by Soviet export company V/O Avtoexport (1956-1990).
The bilateral trade was based on barter in which payments were not in currency but goods as the Soviets were chronically lacking currency. Finland exported machinery, ships, construction projects, groceries, clothes, shoes etc and the Soviet Union paid with cheap oil, raw materials, and also cheap cars.
Also Belarus tractors, according to Finish Wikipedia.
In the 1970s, there was a rumour in the UK that ABBA did a tour of Communist Poland and were paid in potatoes as Poland had no hard (i.e. Western) currency, ABBA's management sold the potatoes in the West to make back the money.
I do not know the scale or for a fact, but I think finland had trouble figuring enough things to "buy" from the soviet union to balance the trade. Basically it looks like the country was flooded with soviet made things whether they wanted or needed them or not. Cars were probably on the more useful side of things they got.
@@gearloose703 Well, the cars weren´t popular. They were only bought by cheapskates and communist leaning oddballs. Basically a joke on wheels when you could pay some more and get a Ford cortina/taunus, VW 1500 or Opel kadett?
@@andershansson2245 Interesting. It certainly figures.
'Have you got a windscreen wiper for a Lada?' 'Yes, that sounds like a fair swap.'.
😂😂
I've heard that joke but making fun of a Trabant😂
It was a weird world. Soviet citizens queued for those for a decade and payed astronomical price. Here in Finland those were the cheapest cars one could by. Trabant from DDR might have been cheaper.
@@lauriyrjola3620 Oh, those 2-cycle Trabants were in their own category. When I was a teenager in Buffalo in the 1960s, there were a few of those oil burners around. Remember the evening a guy got pulled over by the Buffalo police. He got a ticket for bad lighting.
@@richardkammerer2814 woow... any idea how those had passed the iron curtain and ended up in Buffalo?
Even as cheap as they were, they still weren't a bargain that would entice most people... Many Finns would refuse to buy Soviet crap for political reasons alone, or pay a little bit more for a better quality western brand (new or used..). It's like today, most people would not buy a Chinese car, even if they are a bit cheaper than Western brands.
Because if you compete on price alone, customers will think of your products as cheap garbage.
That may be a quick way to start moving your products, but is very hard to rebound from, see South Korean car industry.
@@richardkammerer2814 How in the heck did Trabant cars show up in Buffalo, New York? Were these cars actually sold in the US? Were Trabants sold in Canada?
Some observations: today nobody keeps anything in storage. If you need something, item will be ordered from somewhere and you have to wait from week to six months. Wooden part-boxes looks similar to those in which artillery rounds are being shipped. Pea soup ( hernekeitto ) cost 90 pennies, today it's roughly 6000 pennies. The speaker is Pentti Fagerholm ( 1935-2015 ). This film is a perfect snapshot of bygone era. More like this, thank you!!! 👍👍👍👍👍
Back then people dressed well as well and spoke well.
@@mohabatkhanmalak1161 Le giovani donne erano in gran parte pudiche, composte e graziose, oggi invece...
Soviet and eastern block cars were also popular in Norway in the 60s/70s. My Father had an east German Wartburg, his friend had a Moscovich back in the 60s.
Apparently the Moscovich was a good car to roll over in (being drunk on icy roads= accidents).
The roof didn't cave in, you just rolled it back over and got on with life!
6:43 parts going to oslo
Любые вещи из ГДР были сродни мифу для жителей основной части СССР и раздобыть их было невозможно. Экспортные машины были чуть лучше отечественных, но всё равно это был тот ещё хлам. Посмотрите видео про бывших советских граждан ездивших в Финляндию за иномарками в 90-е после развала союза, там они говорят как есть про отечественные лады, которые тоже можно было купить в Финляндии тогда за копейки. А это просто рекламный ролик.
@@Jimbo-x9iпопробуй сначала почитать комментарий, потом уже нести пургу
@@Pat_Springleaf да хули мне его читать, овощь? Я то в рф живу и знаю о чём говорю.
@@Pat_Springleaf пургу несёшь ты, я всё по делу сказал.
A relative worked for Konela, he had a lot of stories to share.
Like once they got in a shipment of 20 cars, all with one of the bumpers bolted on upside down.
Sometimes cars came with loose chairs, or a gearstick that came off a bit too easy. 😂
A lot of times four cars in a row came without a spare tire, somebody got a brand new set. Tools were often missing. One time came a group of four Ladas, each running with three pistons.😅
@@ErectedGasCan There was a lot of engineering activity in the video. Now I know why. Konelka must have had excellent repair shops.
@@richardkammerer2814Konela* it's a Finnish name. And yes us Finns are have a western nation with high standards for engineering. It would've been a total disaster to sell Soviet cars without a thorough inspection, service and often repairs.
@@ErectedGasCan In Konela they painted them, put better tires, shocks, and accumulators, AC alternators, accessories, made fancier upholsteries, etc. For taxi use in passenger Volgas and in military use ZiL trucks they put in Perkins diesels. It was like a factory using bulk materia.
It's interesting to see Finnish life from the 60s.
Many kinds of cars were sold in Finland in the 1960's. The cars of all big car makers were sold since 1963 when the rules for importing cars were made easier. Finland was the first country in Europe where Japanese cars were imported. Moskvich and later Lada were a cheap and easy to service alternative for those seeking just a basic means to move. We transported a lot of new cars of all makes from 1963 till 1988 when we sold our company to a bigger competitor still operating today. We first transported cars for Veho, which then imported Mercedes Benz and British Austin and Morris. It still imports Mercedes Benz.
@@markkulehtinen4733 Surely the 1st country that Japanese cars would have been exported to would have been a country where they didn't have to modify the cars, e.g the UK or (at the time) Sweden.
I've watched a lot of Cold War era films but I've never seen a film of Finnish life during this period, it's really fascinating. They have a unique aesthetic.
@@Michael_Hunt A nice country and good people but the way they BFF-d with the soviet s-bags was a disgrace. Especially considering what the muscovites pulled on them from 1939-1944.
@@markkulehtinen4733 yeah markku I heard even many american brands were sold here back then. And even in 90' there was still chevys in GM dealers like Saab and Opel shops.
1974, when I was 13, I bought my first car to our summer place. It was 1967 Moskvitch Elite 1300. It was already not roadworthy after 6 years , rusty, but the MOT was still valid for a month, so I bought it with pocket money, 300 Finnish Marks (I mostly loaned from my brother...). I thought that it would teach me how to fix cars, but it took incredible teenager punishment in the woods and over ditches for 10 years, and I sold it for spare parts for 300 Marks... It came with Elite owners manual, but also with the older Moskvitch Scandinavia manual, as the 1300 cc drivetrain was from the older model. Once I went to that Konela spare parts shop and bought new distributor points. When I replaced the points, the car did not start anymore. The new points were bad., so I put the old ones back and it started instantly. The magic with Soviet stuff is that once all the bad parts have been replaced with good ones, they last forever mechanically if serviced properly. It has been the most reliable car I have ever had, and I have had a lot of cars. Still have too many.... Now me and my brother have a T-55 tank (which ,again, my brother paid...) at the other summer place, so Soviet engineering made a comeback in a grander scale. Polish made, but so, so, Soviet in every way. And, with cars came a lot of tools, even paint of correct color. With the tank came over 100 kg:s of tools in tank's toolboxes as the tank is "new", stored in Poland, 45 kms on odometer... Those who have served in the Finnish army here know the Soviet way to store spare parts and new tools: Wrapped with strange smelling greased paper...
Pääsiskö T-55 tutustumaan 😯
😂😂 happy teenage years
The Belgian version garnered a very good reputation for durability, especially with the Perkins diesel.
As 6 years old I bought my first T-80 tank and 2 years later my first Mercedez A-class
The scene where Perkins diesels are being fitted to the trucks reminded me of how the Belgian importer for Volga and Moskvich used to replace Volga M21 engines with diesels from Perkins, then Rover, and finally Peugeot-Indenor. Volga M24 engines were replaced with diesels from Peugeot-Indenor.
Yes, the Moskvich got diesel engines in Belgian as well...I wonder how many of these have survived?
I am very impressed with the image quality. Its so sharp, clean and bright! Good Job! 👍
Kiitos which means thank you in English.
I grew up in the backseat of Ṣ̌koda's, Zastava's and Lada's...these cars over 40years later, still have soft spot in my heart.
I always wanted to drive a Zastava Fico....I think it was based on the Fiat 600...saw them in Yugoslavia in the 70s, but not here in Canada
When i was a kid, i jump in brand new Lada in 60/70s, what a amacing fine car. Big windows, you can see everywhere, compared to my dads Fiat 600😃 😃😃
Just like those kid 11.11
11:11
@@jimeditorialyou don’t miss much!
Buick drives beter!!😀
Какая красивая мода и прическа,была у женщин.
Фу 💩 👎 🤦♂️
На такую и не встанет 😂🤣 🙈
I’m really surprised with this video. First of all it was filmed very expensive. So stylish, beautiful colors, lights, camera work and so on. This service done a great cleaning work before filming. The quality and standards of this dealer amazing even in 2020-s.
Look like they boost soviet standards to the European market. They receive spareparts in paper without package and put them to expensive boxes. They even polishing cars. This dealer have a huge spare part storage, although shops in SU doesn’t have sufficient amount of spare parts for local market. Well, I’m impressed so much.
Although not really comparable, this is what car importers/dealers do today for the vehicles. Depending on the manufacturer, there may be substantial options added etc. for various reasons, including import duties and taxes. Mostly it consist of assessing and repairing transit damage, which often does mean respraying or other detailing. At the time of this video, I am sure other brands (including japanese) did require some amount of work too, not as much as the soviet made cars maybe, but similar things were done.
Film was "Konelan päivä", (= Konela's day). Director was Valentin Vaala. He was a veteran film director, directed commercials and short films before his retirement after feature films. Valentin Vaala started his career on silent film era. Film was shot on 35 mm movie film according to Finnish "censor" board (Valtion elokuvatarkastamo) statistics. Production company: Suomi-Filmi Oy.
As they mention in the video, so Konela was the largest dealership in Europe and provided spares to all northern "western" european markets outside soviet influence. So the parts storage was vast compared to finnish markets.
Yes I noticed too the impressive quality of film, wonder who this film was aimed at when it's clear they put so much effort into it. Not exactly something I'd imagine they show at TV or cinema.
@@SergeyPRKL Another possible explanation for vast spare parts storage was that it was there to service Soviet Army trucks in case of invasion.... by Soviets.
Visualiner wheel alignment, Crypton Motorscope engine diagnostics, SEV Marchal Reglolux headlight adjusting and finally a nice Ameise (Jungheinrich) forklift. Oh how nice it would be to have a retro garage with all this stuff!
...and for lunch pea soup for 90 penniä (1,88 euro today) or maybe even beef stew (vatkuli) for 1 mark 60 penniä (3,34 euros). Male workers in industry earned 4,10 mk/hour (8,55 e) in 1966, I guess car mechanics weren't far behind.
Pea soup 22% and beef stew 39% of the hourly wage. What is the ratio nowadays?
I make 13€ /hour. Lunch 14.90€. Do the math. Some places offer just salad or soup around 10€.
@@etiosooopse5618 median salary is around 18€/h for men, 14€/h for women. equality
"Tärkeä sija Konelan toiminnassa, on UUSIEN autojen kunnostuksella." Siinä onkin varmasti ollut, neukkujen jäljiltä tekemistä!
Siinä missä nykyää uusien varustelu meinaa yleensä vaa muutaman lisävarusteen asennusta ja luovutushuoltoa nii tuolloin on varmaa saanu koko auton käydä läpi
О каких собаках идёт речь?
@@kukko83 Kyllä nykyäänkin paskaa osataan tehdä. Ihan lännessäkin. Ei tule varusteluun yhtään konetta jossa ei jotain korjattavaa tai ainakin viimeisteltävää olisi.
Viime vuosina pahentunut trendi.
І монтаж двигунів Perkins на вантажівки
This was really fun to watch. Thank you.
The national abreviation of Finland on car stickers at the time was SF (Suomi-Finland). Some foreigners thought it stood for Soviet Finland
How looks stickers from Finland nowadays??
@@Konduktor5-8 FIN as part of the EU-wide mark on the left side of the plate. Makes more sense, does it?
Would you like translated subtitles?
ETA: I don't have time tonight, but maybe within a few days?
At some point the sound seems to become out of sync with the film, at around 12:40 sound seem to be around 40 seconds behind.
Sure, that would be great!
@@UshankaShow I saw a Lada in Pierre (Pier) South Dakota a few weeks ago, I had to look again because I thought it was the guy who has the old Fiat model the Lada is based on in town who also had/has an old 1960's Fiat 500. The engine on that Lada did sound like it was going to grenade itself but was running fine no other unusual features other then a loud engine and having to do micro steering to drive straight at 40-45 mph. I assume it had a real unmodified engine in it.
Thank you for saving this piece of history.
In Sweden the Lada importer was named Matreco and was owned by the Soviet Union. Eastern European cars were less popular in Sweden compared to Finland. Matreco had a large service network with large garages (more aimed for lorries and heavy machineries than for cars) than it was supposedly be able to sustain with it's limited sales. It also came into light that it was more there in means for spying and possible serve Soviet equipment rather than sell and service Ladas. Later around the millennium and onwards private actors have been trying to market Lada Niva as a robust, cheap offroad vehicles with a limited success. The last of those companies probably went bankrupt over 10 years ago.
Moje pierwsze auto w Polsce to był Moskwicz 408 1300cc .. 66r z podwójnymi lampami z przodu. Zaletą było to że mało palił około 7l /100 benzyny, a Fiat 125.. palił 9-11 litrow
From Finnish Wikipedia (excerpt translated to English): "Konela Oy Ab was a car and machinery import company operating in Finland in 1948-2003, which was a large part of its operating time soviet Owned by V/O Avtoexport... By 1966, Konela had imported a total of 75,000 cars to Finland. Konela's spare parts warehouse had a total of 28 shelf kilometres of space and had nearly 20,000 titles. The capacity of the service workshop was 60 maintenance services per day. More than a thousand Konela service points operated in different parts of the country.[3] In 1970, Konela accounted for 4.8 per cent of the Finnish passenger car market and in 1980 it had risen to 11.5 per cent......" Interesting video and a lot of fun to watch. Soviet cars had some market share in Finland, but most cars bought by Finns were from other carmakers.
Really interesting, thanks!
Glad you liked it!
Ok i wasnt expecting to listen to my first language when clicking on this channel today 😂
Are you the one who can do a translated transcript for us ? Kippis 🍺 :)
Neither did I
I feel for the people who bought soviet cars in Finland, they got ripped off lmao
@@Matu007at that time, the cars that most Finns could afford were crap regardless of their origin.
😃❤❤!same here dude! P.s i am proud owner of one those soviet product.
Pay attention all ex Soviet citizens at 5:55 this is where all the spare parts went you were looking for
Mielenkiintoista nähdä ajankuvaa 60-luvulta väreissä.👏
Love old stuff like this!
In USSR worst factory assembly was in the winter, because due to cold workers were more drunk than usually. After buying new Mosckvitch people first tow them to garrage and reasembled it then, because many screws were loose etc. This company in Finland fixes the defects from factory, in USSR it was norm to fix it by yourself.
Oh dear. They say that even in the film: the cars are first fixed anh checked, then send to be sold.
@@Kahdeksanpenninen123 Juy,mutta jos pelti on alkuun huonoa/sorvinlastuja.Ladat olikin eri sorttia.Niissä oli kova ero laadussa,mutta lämmin autohan se oli ja tilava.Ei sen puoleen tuosta ruostehommasta.VW konsermin tuotteet/nehän vasta onkin ruosteessa.Skodat/golffit/passatit.Verrattain uusia näitä näkee ja ruostevanat /kahvoissa/farkuissa takaluukut.Itsellä on vielä 4 kopan golf,ja toki pientä fiksausta,mutta halpa 23 vuotta vanha peli.Siis Vw konsermilla jokin meni pieleen.4 kopan golf/viimeinen,mihin laaduntarkkailu.Ei auta siis arvostella noita Cccp,n ,koska Saksalainen jätti,on syöltänyt huonoa laatua.Puhumattakaan/tsi/dsg,ongelmista.
In N. America the worst assembled cars were made on Fridays, as the workers were already drunk in anticipation of the coming weekend. Monday cars were not as good either as they would be still hungover.
@@Kahdeksanpenninen123They also mention that it is an important part of Konela's operations.
I was told something similar about Italian made Fiats, which were the templates for the Lada. If the Fiat was made on a Tuesday, then it was a good car. Any other day, not so certain.
Konela used to do some modifications to Ladas on demand and with warranty. Like sunroofs. Or turbocharging (don't know if they turboed anything other than Nivas).
There were turbo 2105, 2107 and Niva.
In Kotka Police had 2105 ladas with turbo In the early 1980's I have heard
our Lada 1200L was Konela Lada brand new 26 000 FIM back in the days :) its like 10 000€ todays money maybe. On 60's we had lots of American cars on road. So eastern block cars were minor cars lets say like that. We had to take east cars of some % every year.
in Sweden it was also common to have American cars up until the 60s. Then they disappeared more and more.
@@fortune300 samma här but Soviets wanted to sell shit to us too
Swedes had money they needed $ for to export things to CCCP
"Car of the year - maybe even for another!" (About Lada)
A workers car. At one time many a Lada was sold in Finland. It was a dependable car in its era and especially for its prize. It was basically a Fiat 124 modified for Soviet use and modified again for import.
@@markkulehtinen4733I've read that the Lada engine isn't based on the Fiat 124:s engine, but is an own design with relations to the Mercedes-Benz M121 (??) engine.
Great video, Ushanka! Thank you for sharing. As I discovered my love of cars as a kid, I have always had a fascination with the automobiles of the USSR and the Eastern Bloc. The Moskvitch 408 and 412 are favorites. Simple, tough, reliable. But, most of all, user friendly. From what I have read, the 408 and 412 are very easy to repair, even with a lack of spare parts. The 423 and 427 estate models are favorites, also. The IZH 412 (?) 5 door is another favorite. It has been my good fortune to own a car (US models) manufactured from every decade since the 1940s! But, to have an opportunity to own, drive and tinker with a Moskvitch, Lada, Volga, UAZ 469 or "Bead-loaf"... Or, from the Eastern Bloc: A Skoda 110R, A Tatra 603 (WOW! Jay Leno prices!) or a very humble Wartburg 312 Camping or Wartburg 353 Estate (A Wartburg with a 2 Stroke, 1000cc motor!); a lifetime goal! Yes, I purchased my first car when I was 16 years old for 700 bucks. A 1970 Buick LeSabre Hardtop with a 350cu (5.7 liter) V8! I have owned some BIG V8 vehicles: A 1967 Mercury with a 390cu (6 liter?), a 1951 Pontiac Chieftain sedan straight 8cyl (268cu 4.4 liter) and 3 on the tree, a 1971 Datsun pick-up with a 4 speed manual, a 1964 Pontiac Gran Prix 389cu (6 liter? 325 hp without any tuning or add-on parts!) Auto. I did over 130mph in the 1964 Grand Prix. The Grand Prix showed absolutely NO signs of stress or struggle... Even with these US behemoths and the Datsun, I would still LOVE to own a Soviet or Eastern Bloc car. As an aside, in 1972, on my 8th birthday, I was thrown out of a model train store in New York City for requesting a book "covering Soviet and East German locomotives"! That's right, Ushanka! On my 8th birthday, I was thrown out of a model train store just for asking for a book covering Soviet and East German locomotives!!! Thank you for your channel. I am looking forward to more videos and info covering the former USSR!
im from Finland.. this is such a retro trip for me thank you
All that work to make a new car somewhat roadworthy.
The guys and gals at Konela honestly did their best to polish a turd. BTW, Konela really had very nice facilities for its time and about the best (Western) technology in their repair stations and paint shops.
@@Ba_Yegu It was rather meant as as trolling, I would love to own a 408 or even better a 1500. Not just easy to maintain, but also easy to improve. I believe Finland has lots of dirt - and gravel roads, they are ideal for that. Tried to buy one for going fishing, but nobody would sell a good one at a nice price, that was 24 years ago!
@@gertvanderhorst2890 You dodged a bullet. I owned my share of those moskvitch 408/12 and Lada's back in the day and there was nothing particularly 'easy' about the constant breakdowns, troubles, agricultural materials and controls, lack of refinement, ergonomics, comfort, space and handling. Engine service life on this crap was such that 100K km till full rebuild was considered a fabulous result. Meanwhile, a Fiat Uno or A Ford Pinto or such engines from the developed world regularly achieved 500K km without breaking a sweat. Fwiw, the Lada 2103 was a hell of a lot nicer than the moskvitch. It had the massive benefit of not being designed by russians 😎
This was excellent. Pääjohtaja is the Finnish word for 'Director General'. I learned this from this video today.
Lada's were imported & sold in Canada from 1979 to 1998. They had an impressive dealer network around the Greater Toronto Area. When the Lada Niva was introduced, it sold quite well
How the cardwhere?
Ideologiat ja eri kulttuurit ovat mitä milloinkin, mutta tämä täyttä asiaa aikoinaan. Saanko lyhyesti kertoa? Elettiin vuodenvaihdetta 1962 mulle iski illalla 5.1.1962 raju umpilisäkkeen tulehdus. Juoksin ulko huusissa aamuyöllä rajusti ripuloimassa ja voimat alkoi hiipumaan. Sanoin äidille "nyt on tosi kysymyksessä". Hälyttivät naapurin pojan apuun. Mossella (Moskvitsh Skandinavia) nöyrästi hän tuli ja kuskasi minut ensin kunnanlääkärille - Ja sitten lääkärin määräyksestä sairaalaan, ja samana aamuna leikkaukseen. Kiitos tietysti naapurin pojan ja kaikkien muiden, kuin myös Mossen, että tämän kirjoitan.
Best ever. Kiitos gospodin.
I nearly burst out laughing at the slogan in the Moskvitsh 408 poster at 10:54 "A stylish European from the land of space technology". The 60's were certainly a decade of very creative marketing.
That looks like Lappeenranta am I right? I used to work with guys who worked on those cars - yes I lived in Lappeenranta for many years. Best part of Finland to live in 👍 Interesting fact - Konela korjaamo (workshop) in Lappeenranta became Delta Auto and then and now became a really great Gym called Syke. Thanks for posting this. Really intetesting.
Most of it is filmed in Lauttasaari, Helsinki, where the Konela's HQ was located. They also had segments in Jyväskylä and Kouvola. If there was something from Lappeenranta, I didn't notice.
@@tapio_m6861 That roundabout looked like it was from Lpr. Thanks for the info
Thank you for this ride, lots of memories to my dad and grandfathers. Although they never did drive any eastern block vehicles. More like Saabs and VW.
A lot of the Soviet cars was very popular in Europe, especially Lada and no matter what people said back then you actually got a lot of car and quite a big and powerful engine in the Lada's for the money and they where excellent for long drives and they looked good as well.
Here in Denmark there was a lot of Lada's,both the sedan versions and the stationcar versions and the people who owned them liked them a lot and would often buy a new Lada when the time came for a replacement,the same can be said about the rear engine Skodas.
They where not even remotely as bad as they was made up to be by people who never actually has them or even tried driving in them.
Lada 2111, ist my car in Germany. 21 years old, Not disapionting, cheap repair and better than expected 😊
I was 6 years old at that time -66. I remember well how Soviet cars were everywhere in Finland. They were considered durable and, most importantly, cheap workhorses. This was part of the barter between the communist Soviet Union and Western Finland. My uncle bought a new car similar to the one blue Moskvitch Elite in this film.
even in early 2000s there was still lots of ladas in eastern finland. not as many anymore.
9:22. They assemble Perkins diesel engines to soviet trucks.
Probably the best Moskwich Service in the world.
Genau so einen Moskwitsch 408 hatten meine Eltern auch! ❤
Die brauchen Zuwendung 😊. Mein Lada Kombi 2111 ist nun 21 Jahre. Kann nich sagen, das der schlecht ist. Kein Montag Auto. Andere haben mehr Problem mit Premium, ja das Image ist schlecht, von Lada. Aber hier in schland wird jetzt alles in Schlendrian übergehen. Traurig 😢
Машина была очень устойчива к коррозии. Первая машина моего отца была тоже Москвич, правда не такой как в ролике, а АЗЛК. Первая ржавчина появилась через 10 лет эксплуатации. Машина была потрясающе ремонтопригодной, надёжной, неприхотливой и...такой же не комфортной :-) Но она могла вывезти вас из любой глуши, без сервиса, на плохом бензине. Ни разу не было такого что бы она встала и больше не ехала вообще. Поездил бы на таком ещё немного, ностальгия :-)
At 9:35 you can see trucks without engines and some crates labeled "Perkins". Seems like they were installing non-Soviet diesel engines into the trucks. For non-oil producing countries the Soviet engines must have been too thirsty, I guess.
Interesting video, i like watching videos of automobiles and trucks of other countries old and new,thanks for posting. 👍
Looks, and sounds, like a movie by Jacques Tati...
Same filmstock, same time, 60's Jazz....you're completely right.
You're right! 😅
Mon oncle!
@@MrAtaristic and Playtime and also Trafic
I don’t understand finish. But I think that the soviet cars weren’t so bad, when they were improved by the importer. The Volga estate was a very nice car for little money. We had in Austria Graf und Stift as Import Company. The Lada was in the 80 very popular. I knew a Bentley and Mercedes owner who drove as daily a Lada 1200 RL with a mobile phone that doubled the value of the car! He was very happy with the car.
I am very happy with my Lada 2111 in Germany. 21 years old.Much better than expected. Easy to repair and Drive. Engine construction by Porsche, Lada Samara, Lada baltic in the 80's🎉😊
Вот были времена - какие крутые дамы ездили на изделях Советского автопрома.
Lada were Fiats built under an arrangement between Italy and the USSR
Konela had a subsidiary in Norway as well. I remember it quite vividly, even though I haven't heard that particular word in probably more than 30 years.
Why do Ladas have heated rear windows?
To keep your hands warm when pushing them.
How to double the value of a Lada?
Refuel it
Ich habe von 1974-89 einen Moskvitch 412 gehabt 👍
Klasse Auto 👍 Greetings from Brandenburg 🇩🇪
5:35 I didn't know that zaporozhets were also exported. Later in the video we see that they were renamed Jalta. Finland had a weird relationship with its big bully neighbour. In return for not being invaded yet again, they bought a lot of Soviet equipment for their military, including MiGs, in addition to Soviet cars.
They were briefly. The quality was below the lowest expectations, so they didn't sell here. The golden age of soviet cars in Finland was before 1962, when western products had limitation for importing because of lack or currency, and later when Lada was introduced. Generally Finns preferred western cars because of quality. That is also why Japanese cars quickly got popularity here.
It didn't quite go like that. We needed to export our goods and the Soviets had no cash so we bartered. Those Migs and Soviet tanks we got for a fraction of their actual value. Similar numbers of similar-capability systems bought from the west would have bankrupted us.
Finland used its unique opportunity of having an access to a massive closed market and sold loads of stuff to Soviet Union via bilateral trade agreement, but it turned out that USSR struggled to match what it bought with the equivalent value in products and natural resources. At the time of its fall, USSR had a debt from not matching the bilateral trade of over 700 million euros in today’s money.
@@tapio_m6861 удивительно)) и как финны смогли так хорошо жить при такой невыгодной торговле с СССР? Особенно учитывая, что это был их основной торговый партнёр.
Сказки не заменят реальности. И доказывать это будет сегодняшний день и экономическое положение Финляндии после добровольного разрыва с Россией всех связей.
И по поводу агрессивного соседа, как так вышло, что Финляндия существует не в качестве части Швеции? Почему говорят не на шведском и не считают себя шведами?
Кто придумал грамматику финскому языку? Кто построил университеты, школы, города, промышленность во второй половине 19го века? Кто дал возможность иметь свою политическую и экономическую систему в границах огромной империи и дал возможность в этом рынке торговать и зарабатывать?
Если вы считаете, что это была не Россия, прочитай пожалуйста историю повнимательнее. 😊
What a treat. Where did you find this? For non-Finnish viewers: there was a running gag during the Cold war about the country badge on cars. Can you guess what it was? The fact that it was changed from SF to FIN at about the time the Soviet Union led only to yet more sniggering.
С таким сервисом, на этом Москвиче,до сих пор можно было бы ездить.
The young fella at 5.00 would be in his 80's, and would have certainly dwelled on the 'lost oppurtunity'.Lol🌻
Great simple times…
Sorry, auto part inventory is not computerized at O’Reillyskorva auto parts store. We will call you in 3 weeks to see if we have part. Oh, you don’t have phone?
Notice that it seems that the Konela company have to adjust and repair brand new cars from the Soviet Lada factory before the was ready for the market. Tells all about the lack of quality control.
The regulations of what you can drive in Finland versus what you could drive in the USSR were massively different even back then. Just to be compliant with the Finnish road regulations, they had to check and adjust things to be compliant with our laws. I imagine that back then when the standards were not really global, other brands had to do the same. It's not like today when the new car that is driven out of the factory is perfectly up to the EU code.
@@tapio_m6861While that’s true, they also did quality control. They weren’t exactly japanese quality.
@@tapio_m6861 That's true. Like working brakes and correct wheel alignment.
As always...love this comment section. Thanks, Sergei. Hope all is well. 👍
59 years ago, good history long live peace, love and unity
Спасибо вам
Thank you!!!!
What a Treat.
Magnifique se reportage merci
Τάξη, καθαριότητα, αρχοντιά! Εύγε!
Thank you again, for your videos 🙂
Really an underestimated car the Moskvics, especially the 1500 (typ 412). Unkillable and reliable.
SAJEBIS PASIBAAA! kitos! super harasoo!
I test drove a brand new Lada (Little Darling) in Ontario in 1980. I drove to the Volvo dealer who sold them in my crusty, Datsun 510 which had over 100,000 miles on it. My opinion was that my old Datsun drove much better than the Lada which cost just $2,995. They all rusted away pretty quickly in Canada, but I still see plenty of them grinding away in Cuba
Finnish: too many umlauts! Nice photography and the cheesy kinda soundtrack I love!
Finnish companies really invested a lot in films like these in the 1960s, I've seen quite a few that nowayads have a true documentary value.
2:36 The phone hanging from the ceiling absolutely killed me for some reason! 😂
I love the look of soviet 60s cars but I wouldn't want to buy or own one.
You are like someone who loves to see the poor and simple people but does not want to be one of them.😂
I'd gladly own one. I wouldn't need to worry about repairs because I could just make my own parts. If it's 2 stroke engine I believe it was mixed 50:1.
I live in a 90s Jayco eagle camper and drive a 70s Ford f 100, I'm not poor?
Poor is a state of mind, youre just impoverished @swampwillow
@@swampwillow The Ford is like 300k, If you sell those two, you got your mansion, stop cosplaying as poor.
Loving the Jacques Tati / Monsieur Hulot vibe here,,,
In 70's the cost of Lada in Europe was about $1500 while in SU was about $5000.
The reason was SU had foreign obligations in foreign currency. So was obliged to sell autos abroad even with discount to get foreign currency.
I’d buy one I heartbeat lol.
It was cheap too.
No sure how thing went elsewhere, but here is how they went in Hungary. If you had USD $1,360 in early 1968, you could have picked up a brand new West-German NSU 1200C sedan. How did you get the foreign hard currency? Usually via a relative or friend who lived in the West. I accompanied my uncle László to Csepel island in Budapest on February 18, 1968, where he picked up his NSU. There were two NSU 1200Cs on the lot -- a yelloy and a white one. He picked the white one. BTW, you could have gotten the 1200C or a Prinz, also you could have gone for a Benz, 2 or 3 Volkswagen models, Renault, Peaugeut, Citroen, etc. Rarer were Porsches, British cars. There were tons of American cars in Huangry back then, but you could not get them new, only 2nd hand.
Thank you for finding and sharing this unique video John Wayne Cheeseburger!!
After watching lots of Garage 54 videos, I would go with the Lada
The guy at 3:41 is having a good look at the running gear. Some things never get old, do they. Thank you for the view back down the calendar. 😊
I read through all the comments just waiting for someone to make mention of the guy trying to look up the lady's skirt as she walked up the stairs. LOL
@@bigloo609 Well, I regard him as just another honest Ankleologist. Taking measures for adjusting the pedals of her car. Kiitos:)
Did they run better on Finlandia Vodka,or just the drivers??!!
Koskenkorva!
I worked on these cars not long after this film was made , they were imported to the UK , the quality was very poor in general . I don,t having much trouble with the engine though .
the most surprising fact of this excellent film is: there are only soviet cars existing in Suomi/Finland. only one or two Volvo´s are to be seen and they made the great effort to block all other car-models when the camera appeared. So, Finland seems - at that time - to be only driving soviet cars and lorries
Sorry, i Drive a Lada 2111, now 21 years old. Better than expected. No big problems. Cheap and easy to repair 🎉😊
It's a pity that there aren't subtitles available. I am Finnish and understood of course everything, but I am thinking about international watchers.
Automated subtitles kinda work, but as Finnish has nothing in common with eg. English, the poor Translator Robot is really struggling... 😂
It seems Finland didn't build cars for them so Soviet Cars are welcome but I am baffled by such a deal after the position of Finland during WW2.
It was part of an effort by Finnish leadership to establish a non-military relationship with the Soviets. Basically the theory is, “if they’re making money trading with us, they’re less likely to attack.”
They never attacked, so maybe it worked.
Part of the trade treaty was also Soviet Oil. And it was meant to keep good relations so countries like Finnland stay neutral....which failed last year
Actually that trade was very good for us.
@@juhopuhakka2351Hi. Regards from the UK.
@@jimtalbott9535 had finland before the winter war no economic relation wit udssr???
I used to know a guy who worked for Konela! Thought me everything I know about fixing cars. He also had some rather, uhh, extreme ideas about politics.
Finland very beautiful country.))
This was fun to watch, and i know the language as a bonus 🙂
Basic transportation. Soviet cars made finnish roads rolling. Basic cars are apperecitiadet because of easy maintainance. Thanks for finnish narrative.
Western cars made Finnish roads rolling. Cars from the USSR were a minor niche. To my understanding, their market share was 20% at best and usually less than that.
The desire for sweet foreign hard currency partially explains why the average Soviet waited _years_ for a Lada (let alone the perpetual wait for repair parts).
I'll let Finns explain whether or not they were getting the better of the deal...
"Soviet Finland" would be a horrible alternate history
Фашистская Финляндия, которая переобулась в прыжке в 1944-м и стала "демократической", конечно лучше!
Whats horrible is how finnish goverment and media treat russia and russian people nowadays just because of some bullshit war that we have nothing to do with. They have ruined decades of good relationship and diplomacy between russia and finland. We should treat every country like this if they start a war. So stupid and childish behaviour but what can you expect from goverment filled with stupid young women.
Many Finns had to sacrifice their lives to avoid ending up there...
@@fortune300 Still it was worth it and we would not have had it any other way🇫🇮♥️
@@timoilonen1926 мне так нравится ваше "европейское единение"!
Как насчёт других жизней, которые финны уничтожили в 1918-м, например? А, это же русские были! Пусть и гражданские. Всё равно их надо было убить, да?
Или советские дети согнанные в концлагерь. Они ведь не люди, не то что славные финны, да?
Ссср отправлял на экспорт автомобили лучшего качества и обеспечивал снабжение запчастями, при этом внутри страны покупка и владение автомобилем было тяжелым испытанием
Сейчас то же самое и в России 🇷🇺
Всё лучшее - за границу, а гражданам остаётся неликвид
@@Shubinsn-h1f лада веста и лада гранта не продается за границу, правда двигатель неплохой чугунный блок 1985 года, его до сих пор развивают.
i got an old moskvich as a birthday present in my teens but i never got it in driveable condition because the parts are hard to get now days
Do you still have it?
@@kennethocongerskin9460 nah i sold it 6 months ago
@@lenzku1428 😢. I want one.
@@kennethocongerskin9460 no u dont they are shit😂
@@lenzku1428 I do want one. They are so rare in the UK.