‘Leningrad’, a one-of-a-kind Soviet roadster - 70 years later!
Have you ever heard of such a car? The ‘Leningrad’ two-seater roadster is the creation of Soviet engineer Arkady Babich. Together with other enthusiasts, he was a keen designer of racing cars and even took part in competitions himself.
To create the ‘Leningrad’ roadster (which ended up being the only copy ever made) in 1956, the engineer used the engine, suspension, main units and body parts of the GAZ 12 (ZIM) sedan. In the 1950s, they were often used as Moscow taxis.
Three years later, Babich successfully tested his roadster on the Simferopol-Leningrad route. It is hard to believe, but he covered the total distance of 2,125 km in just 20 hours, as reported in the 1959 September issue of the car magazine ‘Za Rulem’.
They even made a small documentary about it. Despite its success, no one followed up on it and it never went into serial production. And then, the car disappeared from view for several decades.
The car was in the possession of the engineer’s relatives in St. Petersburg. Back in the 1990s, they tried to sell it, but the asking price of $6,000 was too much at the time, comparable to the cost of an apartment and no one seemed interested.
In June 2013, the car was advertised for sale again and, on the same day, the new owner became automobile historian Vladimir Kireev from Moscow (his collection includes several dozen Soviet homemade and designer cars, including the ‘Argo’ amphibious all-terrain vehicle. Read about it here.)
As he told us, by that time, ‘Leningrad’ had been seriously damaged, including several reconstructions.
“Its historical restoration required extraordinary resources and a team of professionals capable of immersing themselves in the atmosphere of Soviet Leningrad motorsport of the early to mid-50s,” Vladimir says.
However, it was Alexander Obimakha, head of the Lithuanian restoration workshop ‘Motors LT’, who took on the restoration work after buying the car from Kireev in 2014.
For six years, he and his team worked on recreating the legendary car, having studied photos, drawings, documents. And the result is what you see today!
