New modern replicars. Modern production of retro cars. Replicars and kit cars

This year, Mitsubishi Motors celebrates its centenary of automobile production. There is no large-scale celebration (the company has no time for fat now), but the Japanese, of course, could not completely ignore this event. Back in the spring, the American division planned to build a replica of the brand’s first car (Model A), which could become a show-stopper and attract the attention of the American public, because the leadership of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance set the task of popularizing the brand in the United States.

The cult American studio West Coast Customs, known for its high-profile tuning projects and participation in television shows, was chosen to implement the project. The Mitsubishi rechargeable hybrid acted as a donor of units Outlander PHEV- the company's most advanced car to date. And then, on the eve of the Los Angeles Auto Show, photographs of the Mitsubishi Re-Model A replica appeared. Oh, this is never forgotten!

Apparently, an extremely modest budget was allocated for the construction of the machine. Therefore, in order to “stretch” the retro body onto a modern chassis with an engine located transversely in the front overhang, the proportions of the century-old model had to be disfigured beyond recognition. The long and wide nose of the engine compartment, the overly stretched front part of the cabin, and even those low-profile tires... I remember the trucks that were used for the Moscow Victory Parade in 2005: the Bychka-based vehicles also had ridiculous proportions. But they were made by a dying factory, and we still expected a qualitatively different result from West Coast Customs.

ZIL for the 2005 parade

And it's original Mitsubishi car Model A looked good and quite in the spirit of the times! Although it was structurally similar to the Italian Fiat A3-3. The cars were equipped with four-cylinder 2.8 engines with a power of 35 hp. and were built entirely by hand at the Mitsubishi shipyard. But the fate of this model did not work out.

The patriotic management of the company tried to transfer the country's top officials to domestic cars, however expensive car on a wooden frame they were not attracted. In total, 22 copies of the Model A were made up to and including 1921, after which the cars were forgotten for a long time in the giant Mitsubishi conglomerate. The original Model A cars have not survived, and the example now located in the Mitsubishi Motors museum in Okazaki is also a replica, built in 1972. But much more plausible!

They are replicars (or, as collectors lovingly call them, “replicas”) - cars that look similar to rare models, but created using modern technology.

But what prompted the pioneers to put new content into the old form: either a share of romanticism mixed with a love of progress, or the eternal boyish “I want one like that!” - it’s difficult to say now. But the fact remains: replicas are not only produced - they are assembled with their own hands, collected like tin soldiers, teddy bears and Faberge eggs. They have become a source of pride and fetish not only for collectors, but also for outrageous car enthusiasts. Indeed, in such a car it is difficult to go unnoticed on the road, but you also need to have a lot of shocking blood in your blood in order to decide to become the center of “road attention”.

Replica - topic for discussion

But you shouldn’t blame the creators of replica cars for discrediting the good name of cars recognized as legends. Rather, on the contrary: such attention to a specific model and the desire to “reincarnate” it indicates recognition of its merits and the aesthetic appeal of the design, because only those cars that resonate with modern connoisseurs are “returned” from the past - as they say, have sunk into the soul.

Some people are inclined to think that replicars are simply fakes of rare cars. However, such argumentation does not stand up to criticism: there is not a drop of fraud in the replicas. They are not created with the aim of cheating honest people: replicars do not copy prototypes in the smallest detail - they are more like a sketch of the original, preserving all the charm of the design solution of the prototype.

In any case, they should not be perceived as fakes, unworthy of the attention of true connoisseurs and collectors. According to fans of such cars, replicas are rather an expression of the life philosophy of their owners: the aesthetics of the time, somewhat polished by modern materials and technologies, as well as dynamics - technical characteristics familiar to today's car enthusiasts.

Indeed, in addition to the fact that replicars have the “appearance” of their rare and famous prototypes, they have a completely modern “filling”. And this greatly simplifies the solution to the problem of repairs, the endless search for necessary spare parts, and, importantly, allows you to save not only money, but also time.

So, if we are talking about serial models factory-assembled replicas, they can be installed completely modern engines, components and running parts from well-known manufacturers with a guarantee. The basis for self-assembled replicars can be any modern model(at the owner's choice).

Miracle of creation

There are undoubted advantages to this approach. First of all, such a “designer” is much cheaper even compared to its factory counterpart, not to mention a true rarity. The price difference is especially “felt” when transporting a kit car from one country to another (there is no need to say much about how much customs clearance and vehicle registration costs domestic motorists).

When assembling it yourself, the owner is free to choose the filling: he himself determines which model will be taken as the basis of the replicar. On the one hand, someone will say that it is extremely troublesome: searching, choosing, “customizing”... Isn’t it easier to purchase a factory-produced model? It’s simpler, if you are not interested in the “repair time”, you are not worried about the lack of necessary spare parts, the time that will need to be spent waiting for their arrival from distant countries, and many other delights of a domestic car service center. That is why experts prefer to use brands that are the most common and convenient to service in a particular territory as bases for replicas - such a national moment. So, in America, Mustang cars often become such platforms, in Germany - Porsche.

And domestic auto history knows precedents for creating replicas based on the Volga. However, the creation of replicators on the territory of the countries of the former USSR is an extremely interesting topic and worthy of special attention. And bye foreign companies are produced by car designers, carefully arrange all the parts in wooden boxes and send them to the customer’s address, who, according to diagrams and drawings, creates the car of his dreams; domestic craftsmen do everything with their own hands... and practically from nothing.

True, the creators of the dream car face a number of unpleasant moments. Self-assembly replicas are not without a fly in the ointment.

Moment one. I would like to warn against hasty conclusions: replicars can only conditionally be called affordable cars. Purchasing a kit car will cost on average $30,000, and the actual cost of the kit may be significantly higher than what the manufacturer will initially tell you. The second and extremely unpleasant moment: the design. The fact is that domestic legislation is extremely unkind to car replicas. And in order to register a miracle of technology created with your own hands, you will have to spend a lot of time, effort, and additional funds(you can find more detailed information in the following issues of our publication in the “Retro-Law” section).

So, according to the most conservative estimates, the replica will cost domestic collectors $60,000.

Replico manufacturers

But be that as it may, Western manufacturers have long appreciated the benefits that motorists’ love for retro cars can bring them. Indeed, the number of people eager to become owners of copies or originals of exclusive cars, the owners of which are (or were) crowned heads and the richest people on the planet, is steadily increasing every year.

And today, in addition to the antiques themselves, they offer many options and variations “on the theme.” Stylized “a la retro” models are appearing worldwide famous brands(for example, the Chrysler PT Cruiser found on Ukrainian roads), exact copies of exclusive cars are created to order, which repeat their prototype in the smallest detail - and, in fact, are its clone. True, such models are not considered replicars; they are classified as “recreated”. Almost all of their parts are completely duplicated by those of the original, and the customer receives, no matter how funny it may sound, a completely new rarity. However, such autocloning is not a cheap pleasure. In addition, such cars have the technical characteristics of the original, in contrast to replica models, which in appearance are very similar to their predecessors, but have a completely modern interior. Here we are not talking about illegal counterfeits of exclusive cars, when a “clone” car is passed off as an original, blatantly misleading connoisseurs. There are already so many precedents that in the next issue we will talk about this, and will also pay special attention to specific car models and the anti-counterfeiting measures that their manufacturers used.

In general, today there are about 40 companies in the world, quite well known in narrow circles, engaged in the production of replicars.

And it’s not worth talking about the number of auto repair shops in which craftsmen “for the sake of art” create replicas with their own hands...

One of the oldest and, perhaps, the most famous manufacturers of replica cars is the American company Excalibur Automobile Corporation. She began her activities in the late 1960s. It was then that the first Excalibur was created - a replica based on the well-known Studebeker with the appearance of a Mercedes-Benz SSK from 1928-1929. True, initially this model received the combined name Mercebeker, but was later renamed. It was she who became the first in a whole series of replicas based on various models, later launched into production by Excalibur Automobile Corporation. It is worth noting that for a long time Excalibur cars enjoyed considerable popularity. Among the famous replica manufacturers are Sbarro (Switzerland), Penter and Olbeni (England), Laffer S.A. Car enthusiasts who prefer to create a dream with their own hands can purchase a kit from the English company Beauford Cars Ltd., which has been operating on the market for almost a decade and a half.

In a word, the choice is great - the last word belongs to the buyer.

Summary

Quite an interesting material about the restoration of a Mercedes. A lot of work, a lot of show-off, anticorrosive was poured like a bucket onto the composite body (by the way, this is another question about the composite). But, nevertheless, it is a worthy job. Especially watch the videos about painting and interior restorers.

Original taken from aslan How to make a legendary car with your own hands.

Looking for content for the community kak_eto_sdelano I accidentally came across a blog in which the author described how he created the car. This was not just any car, but a legendary car with an interesting history - the Mercedes 300SL "Gullwing". I became interested in the history of recreating an automobile rarity and plunged into fascinating reading about how a copy of a legendary car was made from scratch, and not just a copy, but a car assembled from original parts.
Later I was able to meet Sergei, who made his dream come true, and learn some details about the creation of the car. He allowed me to take text and photos from his blog and make a post for community readers.

In the process of creating the Mercedes 300SL "Gullwing", suspension from the Mercedes W202 and W107 was used. Remembering that the best is the enemy of the good, we install adjustable shock absorbers. Special attention worth paying attention to the gearbox rear axle, usually it is with him that the most big problems, which is why customizers love non-split axles so much. On a Mercedes, this unit, along with the drives, is assembled on a subframe, which greatly simplifies working with it.

The stainless steel exhaust system complies with the Euro 3 standard, and the fuel tank is a real work of art: to prevent fuel from splashing, partitions and overflow pipes are installed in it. One of the photos shows the steering wheel lock.

In the Gullwing project, it was decided to use the next generation of M104 engines with a volume of 3.2 liters and a power of 220 hp. paired with an automatic 5-speed transmission. The choice of engine was not accidental - it is more powerful, lighter and quieter. The gearbox is primitive, with a torque converter; many are familiar with these units from Mercedes W124, W140, W129, W210. A hydraulic booster was also installed, all units are new, so there should be no problems.

We make the body.

Back in 1955, the Daimler Benz company produced 20 cars with an aluminum body and 1 with a composite body. We decided to try composite.

After the body is fabricated and the chassis is assembled, the crossing of the body with the frame begins. The process is so painstaking and dreary that no photographs or words can convey it. Assembly and disassembly, adjustment - all this takes more than one day. Many parts are modified on site, and the body is attached to the frame through special dampers with bolts in 30 places.

All body parts are installed and adjusted - doors, hood, trunk lid. There is a lot of hassle with glass - they are mounted on rubber seals, and since all the seals are original and designed for steel, you have to strictly observe the thickness of the frames of the openings. Each part is removed, adjusted by hand and only then installed in place.

Many parts for the most popular rare models are still produced in small batches in some workshops, which is actively used by all restorers. But let’s be honest: the factories themselves counterfeit their rarities, and Audi and Mercedes have especially succeeded in this.

Many museums have blatant copies. So, recently there have been a lot of Horchs. This is especially interesting considering that all factory documentation was lost during the war. Dozens of workshops use equipment from those years to produce fakes, passing them off as carefully restored products. The devil is in the details.

So we simply bought and collected all the details that could decorate any rarity for 500 thousand euros. I assure you, every nut and bolt (I’m not talking about rubber bands) is correctly marked as 1955. Everything is original, even the seat slides.

The body has already been primed, and this is the most important point, because the composite is a special material for painting, because it requires plasticizers and all sorts of other complex things. The secrets of the primer are kept and no one will ever tell you. But it looks beautiful.

A short video of the painting process

Well, while the body is being painted, let's prepare the components for assembly. As I already said, the devil is in the details, and there are more than 2 thousand of them in the car! Dashboard, they were looking for her for a very long time.

We also find devices and relays, but of course not everything works out right away.

But with enviable patience and perseverance, you will have the opportunity to get a completely authentic instrument panel consisting of 80 (!) parts.

The main thing is that it will work later: the devices are all expensive. Cheap is never good.

The body is covered with 6 layers of varnish, it is very beautiful and there is no need to cover it with chrome film. Yes, shagreen is a must, and the grain should be fine. Nowadays they don’t paint like that anymore, they dilute everything with water, they care about the environment, they take care of nature. By the way, paint 744 (silver) is the most difficult to paint, as any painter will tell you.

The chassis and body have finally been married.

The doors were installed. It would seem that this is not a tricky matter, but I want to tell you a story. Mercedes 300SL "Gullwing" had many design flaws. One of them was the doors themselves: they were steel, heavy and attached with hinges to the roof of the body, and were fixed by a spring enclosed between hollow steel tubes with hinges at the end.

In the uppermost position, the spring was compressed, and when the door was lowered, it stretched and slammed the door with a roar. When opening, it was necessary to overcome the resistance of the spring, which simply tore out the door along with the brackets (900 euros each).

Experienced Gullwing owners know that if used improperly, this will inevitably lead to deformation of the roof, and the brackets themselves simply break. Over time, the rod and spring assembly became a frantic shortage and its cost increased to astronomical heights. Each owner of such a rarity repairs these units once a season. We decided to go the other way and install gas shock absorbers.

It would seem that it could be simpler, but it was not so. We had to develop the entire unit, which took 4 months of hard work. Fortunately, a workshop was found that brought the ideas and drawings to life. With complete external authenticity, the doors today open like the rear fifth door of a German SUV. The knot turned out to be so successful that it immediately became an object of desire for all owners of rarities; I think that soon all “gulvings” will have doors that open very effectively and smoothly, without knocking. Now this process has truly become like the flapping of a seagull's wing - graceful and smooth.
This is just one, and the simplest example of the problems that had to be solved during the construction of this car.

By the way, the door lock mechanism has also undergone changes. Despite the cost of 1,500 euros, it very often jammed and did not fix the door, but that's another story.

At the very beginning of the project, it seemed that finishing the interior was the smallest problem, fortunately there are workshops at every step for re-upholstering interiors, but now any craftsman can handle the leather. The trick is to cover a bunch of parts with leather, but as it turned out, this is a HUGE PROBLEM!
After four attempts to create interior parts in tuning studios, I realized: everything is much more complicated.

The products being created did not want to look like the originals. Everything looked like a cheap fake: the leather was bristling, traces of heat treatment were visible, the texture did not match, and no one could match the material. In short, I began to delve into the intricacies and found out that modern craftsmen do not know how to work with felt, wool and other materials used at that time. They stupidly warmed and stretched the skin, used foam rubber wherever they could, actively worked with an iron, in short, mercilessly destroyed materials, depriving them of their naturalness and nobility. I'm not even talking about durability.

After suffering for six months, we came to the conclusion that only restorers are capable of such work. They have special foam and felt. In general, we found a company, guys - wolves, guys, about 60 years old, who have been restoring only Mercedes for 40 years. What they showed and told us is just a novel about leather, and they guard their secrets in much the same way as the secret of making paper for a dollar.

The video shows an approximate progress of the process.

The interior details for my baby took 4 months to complete. The skin is simply alive.

Let me also add that the leather that manufacturers offer today is chemical bullshit with impregnations. It’s not for nothing that all owners of Mercedes and BMWs are freaked out after a year of use - the interiors look like those of old redvans: not fresh, the skin stretches out and peels off. As I said earlier - the devil is in the details.

I'm not even talking about vinyl, which is widely used by the Japanese, and indeed by all manufacturers in principle. Nowadays in a Mercedes there isn’t enough leather for a jacket, it’s just bullshit, that’s why options appear - “design”, “individual”, “exclusive”. Leading manufacturers will offer you real leather for at least 10-15 thousand dollars, but what they sew for you for 50 thousand rubles is hard to even call leather.

Wheels are one of the important details car. So for our handsome guy there were two types of wheels. The first ones were installed on the civilian version.

The latter were offered as an option. They came from sports - real ones, with a central nut. Of course, it’s nice to have chrome wheels, but the price of 5 thousand euros per wheel is somewhat annoying.

How can you then hit the nut with a hammer, knowing that it is gold? The original disc for the classics is also not cheap - 3 thousand euros. So I think I really want to save 8 thousand euros.

One of the main factors in engine operation is the removal of exhaust gases (combustion products). I don’t want to remember the laws of thermodynamics here, I’ll just say that the last 150 years exhaust pipe is a symbol of progress. Remember locomotive chimneys, steamships, blast furnaces. Remembering my love for detail, I want to assure you that the most careful attention was paid to the pipe. This is a masterpiece of engineering.

The exhaust system is made of stainless steel, which no manufacturer can afford, and is a complex system of thick-walled and thin-walled pipes mounted one inside the other, this made it possible, with complete authenticity of the appearance of the pipe, to solve the problem of “guzzling” - noise and heating of the interior. Well, the main thing is the sound of the exhaust, it’s just a song. The problem was solved using resonators installed inside the system.

If you want to understand what kind of car you have, look at the exhaust pipe!

Don’t pay attention to the date in the photo, you just bought a decent camera. So they clicked it, but they didn’t understand the instructions and it turned out to be the wrong date. Well, to hell with it, everyone interested - enjoy.

We made a lot of changes to the design, we try to make everything as authentic as possible. A very tricky handbrake.

The tank is a different story; we made ours from stainless steel, slightly changing the location of the neck, but that’s a separate story.

There is a good saying - it is better to see once than to read about it a hundred times. Everyone who reads and watches my blog knows my favorite expression - THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS. It is these details that I will show you today. There is no point in writing for a long time, you will understand everything yourself.

Braided harnesses and wiring, well, I think you just haven’t seen anything like this before, a two-tone horn, in short, just look, all this is called TECHNOLOGY.

The main task facing the implementation of this project was to create complete authenticity of all interior details. It would seem that it could be simpler than copying an existing sample, but as they say, everything is not so simple, and much more difficult than even restoration.

So, we needed to get all the analog devices to work, and to work correctly with electronic units modern units; stick a bunch into a cramped car additional equipment such as air conditioning, power steering, brake booster. All this should work from standard toggle switches and switches. The heater dampers used to have mechanical drives, like on the Volga Gaz 21, so the heater also had to be thoroughly redesigned. But the biggest problem was making the gear selector.

The whole difficulty was that the car was originally built for sports, it was small and very low, even the engine had to be placed at an angle of 30 degrees so as not to disturb the silhouette of the car. The box was located in a tunnel and had a direct articulated drive.

There was no more than 2 cm of free space between the box and the box itself. I have already said that the car itself was cramped and very noisy, this problem also had to be solved. Since a standard engine-box pair was taken, the task became even more difficult, because automatic transmission much larger in size and has a completely different control principle.

After much torment, a hinge and a rod system were designed, which made it possible to completely imitate this unit, which is easy to verify by looking at the original.

Well, the most interesting thing: if you carefully study the photographs, you will see that the seats are much lower than those of the original, this is also a trick. The fact is that the car was so cramped that a person with a height of 180 cm rested his head on the roof and was forced to sit hunched over at the steering wheel, but I like to drive with straight arms, so I had to change the angle of the steering column to ensure comfort and not disrupt the overall appearance. How this was achieved is a whole novel, from the manufacture of unique slides to the redesign of the floor and seats.

I'm not the first who decided to recreate the legendary car. Back in the late 70s, similar attempts were made in America; Tony Ostermeier, a former mechanical engineer from Gardena, advanced the furthest. He managed to build about 15 cars in 10 years using units from Mercedes of those years. Today these cars themselves are rarities.

I have seen them, of course they are not nearly as high quality products as I would like, but they are the best that have been made. In the 90s, there were attempts by the American company "Speedster", using Tony's matrix, to implant it on the assemblies of the Chevrolet Corvette C03. Only 2 cars were produced. One of them is now in Ukraine, and the other is in Moscow. The cars were sold for $150 thousand.

Actually that's all. True, there were attempts to put a shell on SL and many more loud statements, but it was all zilch, people ran ahead of the locomotive, as with our e-mobile: there is nothing yet, but 40 thousand applications have already been submitted.

By the way, working with composites is very difficult. Only its high-quality painting costs about 10 thousand euros. Well, and most importantly: FORGING AND COPYING ARE TWO BIG DIFFERENCES.

They say that everything in a car should be perfect, both the engine and the trunk. On the first car they decided to use gas shock absorbers to open and secure the trunk lid.

We slightly redesigned the filler neck, reasonably thinking that if it would fit tightly to the trunk lid. this will reduce the risk of the smell of gasoline spreading inside the cabin if it is spilled.

I didn't like the idea. On this car they made it closer to the original, changing only the shape filler neck(the steel funnel around the cover should prevent fuel from spilling onto the carpet).

Of course, the collective farm couldn’t do it without it: they built a leather condon around the filler neck. It seems to look nice, and they abandoned the shock absorbers, installing the original mechanism (stick) for fixing the trunk lid. You could, of course, mess around with the springs, like on modern cars, but it seems to me that this would kill the very spirit of the car. The trunk looks very nice when open.

And everything looks very cool from the back. Considering that today everyone already uses tubeless tires, we decided to free up space by placing a spare tire in the trunk instead of the standard wheel. Now at least I have somewhere to throw my string bag.

Actually, the matter is inexorably moving towards its logical conclusion. Of course, it’s nice that everything ends so quickly, all that’s left is to smear it with Movil and stick the wheels on.

The wheels are temporary so as not to spoil the original.

That's basically it!

Let's go around the car.

I can only add one thing: before you start doing something, think carefully about whether you have the strength to complete what you started.

After arriving in Russia.

Video from inside the recreated car.

In this video you can see how the Germans are restoring the hero of the report, the same “gullwing”.

A real replicar

(article from the magazine "4x4 Club")

GAZ-69A, produced in 1959, lived out its difficult days in very poor condition. But the new owner’s desire for beautiful and complete solutions, combined with the experience of the Auto-40 tuning center, turned him into a stylish young man. They were going to carry out the upgrade in full, that is, to build a real replicator. So he turned out to be a replicator...

First of all, it must be said that in the Auto-40 workshop there is a tradition of using exclusively domestic components. And this “golden rule” was religiously observed even in small things.

At the time of purchasing the car, the power unit was entirely from UAZ, and the axles and suspension remained original, from GAZ-69. But considering that the springs were completely worn out, and there was no particular point in looking for new ones or forging them (according to chief designer Igor Plakhotin, they were initially quite weak), the idea was born to completely rearrange the car to the UAZ style, preserving the original body and frame.

The car was walked around from all sides several times, carefully examined and, of course, the whole thing was disassembled almost piece by piece, first of all separating the body from the frame. The dust of time from the almost antique metal of the frame had to be cleaned off for a long time, using various special chemicals, ranging from kerosene to washing off old paint. Having discovered places damaged by corrosion, they put them in order. At the same time, we carried out the necessary welding work on the suspension - installed new mounting brackets for springs and shock absorbers. The original shock absorbers of the GAZ-69 were of the lever type, so to replace them with modern telescopic ones, it was necessary to install other mounts at completely different points. The entire frame was then coated with marine primer and modern weatherproof paint. And only then we got to work on the rest.

When choosing an engine, we settled on the modern 16-valve ZMZ-409 with a volume of 2.7 liters, which is equipped with the latest UAZ vehicles, but reconfigured the valve timing. Engine compartment It took a very long time to put together. The fact is that the capacity of the GAZ-69 is almost half that of the UAZ. Therefore, the car had to be immediately lifted by 40 mm, otherwise there would be problems with installation power unit. For this purpose, a homemade lift kit was made using engine mounts from GAZ-24 (they were drilled and bushings were installed). This ensured sufficient structural strength and at the same time reduced the transmission of vibrations from the frame to the body. Another serious layout problem is with placement air filter-we managed to get around it by installing a “zero” resistance filter and making a short intake tract.

The engine cooling fan immediately became electric, from Sobol. The space between the grille and the radiator from the UAZ-3151 turned out to be quite enough for its installation. The diffuser had to be modified a little - and the cooling turned out to be quite decent both when moving and in place. At the same time, to optimize the operation of the cooling system, the thermostat was selected together with the electric fan activation sensor.

In general, all electrical diagram for the replicar it had to be drawn and re-made. The original electrics of the GAZ-69 are almost completely out of order, although in principle even in working order it could not provide operation modern car. Now, just like on the world’s best analogues: turn off the ignition - they go out

headlights. The windshield wiper is no longer controlled by a toggle switch, but by a half-steering switch, and the wipers are automatically set to the extreme position (on the GAZ-69, when the windshield wiper is turned off, the blades stop where they were turned off, so the extreme positions must be caught). The instrument panel, newly coated with powder enamel, uses “Zhiguli” instruments; their calibration matches the sensors from the ZMZ-409 engine. And since the devices fell into the existing original holes in the panel, adapter rings were machined from polished stainless steel under this shield. It turned out very stylish! Powers electrics powerful generator Bosch with 140 A output.

To prevent the steering wheel from being too heavy, it was equipped with a standard UAZ hydraulic booster. However, when installing the pump, it turned out that the factory bracket was not suitable for layout reasons, so they installed a self-made bracket. To mount the Momo steering wheel, we also had to make an adapter of our own design. By the way, the chrome handles of the gearbox control levers and transfer case, also Momo.

ZMZ-409 did not leave any free space under the hood, forcing us to work on the layout

Filter zero resistance

Power steering pump

In general, there were enough problems with the steering: we had to bend the bipod so that the wheels turned normally, and as a result we got less than three turns on the steering wheel “from lock to lock”! But since the sensitivity of the steering wheel in the near-zero position has increased, when driving in a straight line at high speeds, there is now a feeling that the car is “scouring” along the road. To somehow smooth out the unwanted effect,

When installing the springs, the installation angles of the front wheels were set in such a way as to slightly increase the castor (the longitudinal inclination angle of the kingpin), while trying not to bring the operating angle of the front crosspiece of the front universal joint to critical levels. This increased directional stability. To reduce reaction loads, an additional damper taken from a Jeep Grand Cherokee was installed on the steering wheel. At the same time, the installation kit was designed in such a way that standard steering parts from UAZ could be used during repairs. Unscrewed it steering rod, screwed on a new one, bought in a village store or military unit - and off you go!

For more reliable operation of the suspension off-road, dual gas shock absorbers were installed. This decision was suggested by the experience of preparing cars for competitions - it was quite logical and very reliable (of the obvious disadvantages, the only obvious disadvantage was the car’s rough passage of small asphalt irregularities).

To increase cross-country ability, they installed gear axles, equipping them with helical limited-slip differentials of the "Thorsen" type. Two full-time fuel tank replaced with one made of polished stainless steel.

The significantly increased power supply of the car (from 52 to 136 hp) required strengthening of the brakes. As a result, disc brakes of our own design appeared at the front. As was decided from the very beginning, they use domestic components - discs and calipers from Sobol. To ensure that everything fits onto the hub as it should, the workshop produces forged steel brackets according to its own drawings, which have a very large margin of safety. The only foreign part in the entire brake system turned out to be a vacuum brake booster from Chevrolet, which by some miracle appeared on this GAZ-69 in its past life. It was just reinstalled correctly.

During development brake system It was decided to redesign the pedal assembly at the same time so that it meets modern ergonomic requirements. To do this, we had to re-bend the brackets and strengthen the axes of rotation. Several times they even did anthropometric fittings and consulted with the owner. The result turned out to be a kind of compromise between the recommendations of the designers and the wishes of the owner of the car.

Almost standard installation for UAZ front axle has altered castor

The fuel tank has a "tunnel" to accommodate the driveshaft

final drives increase ground clearance

Front suspension and steering

Uniquely configured fuel tank located inside the wheelbase

Steering rods are standard, from UAZ, but the bipod had to be bent

Twin shock absorbers for increased suspension performance off-road

Front disc brakes of original design from domestic components

Brackets from UAZ on the GAZ-69 frame

Engine ZMZ-409, UAZ gearbox and RK

Fifteen inch cast wheel disks"Nadezhda" Krasnoyarsk

production provided sufficient space for installing calipers, successfully complementing appearance car. And on Cooper STT tires measuring 32x10.50, you can not only move comfortably on asphalt, but also overcome very serious off-road conditions. To accommodate such “rollers,” the wheel arches were put in order: their geometry was aligned, and extensions were installed.

The chrome “layout” on the body and the stainless steel sills are successfully complemented by a finder headlight in a chrome housing. The modern white headlights from the UAZ also came in very handy. The car looks amazingly stylish! The widened track and larger wheels added brutality to it, and chrome handles complemented the appearance very well. An important finishing touch is the Pobeda clock in the middle of the front panel.

The only drawback in the whole structure is, perhaps, the lack of a decent awning. What is now used for storing a car on the street cannot be called an awning.

Of course, I couldn't refuse the offer to ride a replicar. On the move, the car turned out to be surprisingly soft and very dynamic. Very low gear ratios in transmission and powerful engine with a lot of torque at the “bottoms”, they make it easy to start from a stop in second gear with amazing dynamics! The typical UAZ exhaust sound sets you up for leisurely acceleration, and the car literally jumps from its place. Maximum speed significantly exceeds the capabilities of a speedometer calibrated to 120 km/h.

We didn’t have to spend much time off-road, but we were able to discover that the suspension has very good articulation, and the locks in the axles and high ground clearance allow you not to bother yourself with choosing a trajectory - the car goes where it needs to go without straining. Regardless of the initial task, the car turned out to have a “dual” purpose - in addition to the fact that it has a unique style, it can be driven, and not only on asphalt...

The car was provided by the tuning studio "Auto-40"

Tel. (095) 517.78.73

SOME SIZES

Max, width (wheels), mm 1870

Footrest height, mm 970

Vehicle length, mm 4000 Ground clearance under gearbox. lane bridge, mm 305

Max, height, mm 2100

Base, mm 2310

Track, mm 1580

Alexander Biryukov:

I am a Russian person, I spent my entire childhood in the village, as they say, in the outback, and I don’t forget about my roots. Sometimes you think why do I need all this, but the children want to leave the car so that they know what their grandfathers and fathers drove. You watch films from those years when virgin soil was raised and the chairman of a collective farm jumped over bumps in such a machine, you understand - this is really a fighting machine! What led me to this purchase was a long-standing desire to have a car from those years. At first there was a love for the 21st Volga. A cult car. And one day, while fishing with friends, I saw a GAZ-69 near the lake. And then the thought flashed through my mind that this car, in addition to being a rarity, was also a very good SUV! Upon arrival in Moscow, I saw an advertisement for the sale of such a car. It had already been partially “tuned” and painted by the previous owner. I didn’t really want to have it in its original form, because it would be impossible to drive such a car - it would have to be stored in a garage and only taken care of, since it is a collector’s item, and its price increases from year to year. I wanted to enjoy the car. After a short euphoria from the acquisition, some shortcomings began to appear - the wiring would burn out, or something else would go wrong. And it was decided to completely remake the car. I wanted to have a car that more or less met modern requirements. Friends at a car service center advised me to contact the workshop of the 40th Automobile Plant. I’m very pleased with the car’s truly high cross-country ability. You can, of course, take some new or used imported SUV, but you can’t really go anywhere with it - you’ll be afraid of breaking something, and repairs will cost a pretty penny! And you can buy our domestic spare parts inexpensively in any store. And the feeling of driving such a car cannot be compared with anything else!

Constructors and designers created factories where production retro cars carried out using modern technology. This direction is developing primarily in America, Germany, and England. Citizens' love for the traditional external shape of cars allows them to sell several hundred cars a year. The production of equipment stylized in antique style is carried out by:

• the Allard company, based in Canada, manufactures sports cars;
• the Excalibur company, which produces copies of the Mercedes-Benz SSK;
• British companies Penter and Albeni produce custom retro cars, and Asquith also produce retro-style buses;
• in Switzerland the company Sbarro.

Experts believe that there are more than forty companies involved in the production of retro cars, and no one can count how many small studios that restore the retro appearance on a modern chassis.

Replicars and kit cars

Famous cars of the past have become antiques and settled in the collections of the world's richest people. But mechanics and technology enthusiasts have found another way for modern lovers of vintage technology. Production of retro cars that have the appearance of famous cars of the past, but with modern chassis, put on industrial rails. Such machines are manufactured in small series or in single copies. The combination of past and present in one machine is called replicar production. The remake has no museum value, but it brings emotional satisfaction to the owner at an affordable price.

The production of replicars is based on the fact that the body of the donor car is removed, all the filling is disassembled into its component parts and mounted under the body of the model that is needed. The interior with all panels is made of modern materials, but the style of a retro car is preserved. The body is also made from modern material using modern technologies.

Some manufacturers produce kit cars, which are a set of body and interior equipment. Such a car designer allows you to independently select a donor car and assemble retro cars with your own hands. For example, kit cars from the English company Beauford Cars Ltd, produced for almost 20 years, are in demand among buyers.

The paradox of modern replicators

The production of retro cars began from the time when a mechanic who saw an industrially manufactured Bugatti or McLaren decided for himself that he was no worse than the famous designers. The absence of the concept of copyright or its partial use also implies the level of development of the production of retro cars. Reputable manufacturers acquire production licenses

• small size models;
• replicators;
• constructors for self-assembly.

Most Russian antique car lovers have vintage cars, the sale of which was associated with difficulties in obtaining documents. Not a single private studio will deal with licenses for the production of Bentley or Bugatti, but they can restore the car. But it is very difficult to register them with the traffic police.

This is how it turns out that in Europe, oldtimers with bodies typical of the 60s of the last century are often seen on the streets, and on the roads of our cities, oldtimers appear only during parades.

Maxi or mini collection

A collection that includes real retro racing cars can be assembled by a person who has the time, money, space to store the cars, and the ability to provide timely technical care. The production of retro cars in full-size sizes began after there was great demand for oldtimer models.

There are different options for car collections. Sometimes collectors stop at collecting full-fledged mini-models. The green Bentley model, reproducing the legendary “Blower Bently” of James Bond, is in the same demand as real retro cars. Popular:

• 1937 Studebaker Coupe yellow;
• 1948 Tucker Torpedo blue;
• Ford F-1 1949 light green;

In the collections of mini-models, products made in an industrial way are valued. The production of retro cars in the size range from 1:18 to 1:64 and smaller has been established by Yat Ming for 30 years. Beginning collectors often grow into real mechanics; interest in old timers remains with them forever.