Minibus "Start"
I remember the first time I saw this minibus in Moscow in the late 1960s. The Moscow boy, who had seen even foreign cars by that time, the outlandish car, nevertheless, seemed a fantastic creation - an alien from another, very unusual, and therefore beautiful and alluring world. What the boys are there! Adults also looked at an unprecedented car with interest. Those who are not indifferent to cars spotted a wonderful minibus in the final shots of “The Caucasian Captive” by Leonid Gaidai. By the way, filmmakers have chosen the most advantageous angle for the car. But in 1967, when the film was released, the story of “Start” had already finished a couple of years.
FREEDOM FROM GLASS
Minibus "Start"
Familiar instruments and driver tools - from the 21st Volga. Familiar instruments and driver tools - from the 21st Volga.
As you know, Nikita Khrushchev was a controversial figure. Barely allowed to print what the authors despaired of seeing during their lifetime, he soon again began to build writers and artists "in rows and columns." But it endowed local industry with relative freedom, creating (or rather reviving) in 1957 the councils of the national economy - the economic councils. In addition to large, powerful factories, small enterprises grew in the country, the driving force of which was energetic technicians and business executives.
Here is the head of the Severodonetsk motor transport department A. S. Antonov, a graduate of HADI, was able to infect the same romantic enthusiasts with the idea of building a trailer-cottage made of fiberglass, and then a similar car. This material was then raved all over the world. Back in the 1950s, a lot of experimental and even serial cars appeared (say, Chevrolet Corvette) with a body made of the most modern, as it seemed in those years, material - light and not subject to corrosion.
The design of Severodonetsk car was developed by the artist Yu. I. Andros. Units and units A 10-seater car received from GAZ-21 - there was, in fact, nothing to choose from. The first sample was collected at the end of 1963.
WORLD, LABOR, "START"
The Soviet space chronicle of 1963 recorded launches of artificial satellites almost every couple of months, and there was also the flight of the first female cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova. Domestic aviation that year marked the first flight of the IL-62.
What could be a minibus of the country of great social and technical achievements, which is about to overtake the United States in terms of production and welfare? The courage to the creators of "Start" really was not to occupy. Of course, the influence of American stylistics on Ukrainian artists is obvious. But in the world there would have been few companies at that time whose designers did not experience this influence. Four lights under the visors, a long tail at the back ends with sharp “fins” (however, in the USA they are already out of fashion). Here would be panoramic windows - indispensable elements of American aerospace design. But who will give the small business glass from Chaika? The car was made on the principle of "what you can get."
Minibus "Start"
A modern linker would make the cabin much more rational. But spacious! A modern linker would make the cabin much more rational. But spacious!
If we use the Soviet terminology of school literature lessons, the Volga and the Latvian RAF made on its basis are socialist realism, but the Ukrainian minibus is a clear and vivid representative of socialist romanticism. Not calling the minibus “Start” too original, he was taken to Moscow at VDNH, where he was shown to Khrushchev himself. Nikita Sergeevich liked the car. Notes on the unusual car hit newspapers and magazines. And its creators received limits for several dozen sets of components and assemblies of the 21st Volga. Economic councils economic councils, but there was no free market for such products in the USSR. So, without the permission of high authorities, it is impossible to launch even small-scale production.
BIG "VOLGA"
Oh, these Ukrainian sixties romantics! Of course, for half a century, ideas about ergonomics have changed a lot, but for those years, “Start”, to put it mildly, a kind of car. Enthusiasm for those who created it, of course, did not hold, but they obviously did not have experience in designing cars. With the stomach, which rests on the steering wheel, of course, we must fight. But what to do with the legs? Right, unnaturally bent, attached to the gas pedal, at first it hurts just desperately. To transfer the foot to the brake, it is necessary, without bending, to lift it almost to the helm. The same fate awaits the left limb, if necessary, squeeze a tight grip. Well, why not move the seat even a little back, bringing the driver's pose closer to natural? To make the cabin more spacious? There are just plenty of places. Modern linkers, having sacrificed a wide passage, would fit much more seats here. True, the transformed seats were not known then, not only in the USSR.
Minibus "Start"
Unlike the RAF, in the "Start" the falling windows of the front doors. Unlike the RAF, in the "Start" the falling windows of the front doors. However, you can get used to everything. So the right leg hurts not so much anymore, having adapted to press the gas pedal with the toe. In general, you can ride. It is advisable, however, to slow down and shift gears less often. Light roads and weak by today's standards, but the high-torque Volgov motor allowed this. But, sitting in the “Start”, even the small-sized minibus RAF-977 (ЗР, 2012, No. 9), not to mention the 21st “Volga,” you recall as amazingly comfortable for the driver. But in the long tail of the "Start" is quite roomy trunk separated from the passenger compartment. Oh, that tail! You know that he sticks out there, but when maneuvering in the rear window, he is not visible, and the car does not have side mirrors. On the go, "Start" - like a big "Volga" or a slightly reduced RAF. The car, with the thoughtfulness of a student who has not learned a lesson, reacts to taxiing and brakes, accelerates without zeal even with three passengers without luggage, tumbles in corners. However, in this car is similar to most foreign counterparts of the time.
“AND LIVE HOPE ANOTHER”
The famous Atlantes - the anthem of the romantics of the 1960s - Alexander Gorodnitsky also wrote in 1963, when other romantics, in Ukraine, took up an unusual fiberglass car. "Start", like many of the beginnings of that controversial time, was the victim of not quick, like, but inexorable changes.
Minibus "Start"
Several cars were assembled at the Lugansk car repair plant. The tireless Antonov, transferred to Donetsk in 1964, tried to organize production at the Glavdonbasstroy motor depot. But under the name "Donbass" they collected no more than ten cars. In 1965, the economic councils were abolished, and in the finally centralized economy, “Start” became superfluous. It would never have occurred to anyone to sell such cars to private owners. And how much they could cost in laborious semi-artisan production! GAZ could hardly cope with the supply of units for the Volga, RAF, and since 1966, and YERAZ. By the way, Riga minibuses were much better brought, and in addition more capacious and more technologically advanced in production. Of course, Gaidai, creating a romantic comedy in 1967, did not think at all about the problems of the Soviet automobile industry, but he captured for posterity one of the most (if not the most) romantic cars in the history of our country. The machine that got into the frame, they say, served at Mosfilm. In general, the few "starts" lived for a long time: the body did not rot, and parts from the 21st with some effort can be obtained. Here is the car that we traveled in the 1960s today, recreated almost anew from the remains of a rotting body. Half a century ago, this car seemed fantastic. But not without reason today that far time in modern interpretations and human rumor is often inhabited by fantasies. An interesting route we started with Start - not only in space, but also in time.
Minibus "Start"
FROM START TO FINISH
The Start minibus with a length of 4830 mm and a base of 2700 mm was developed in Severodonetsk in 1963 on the basis of Volga GAZ-21 units - a 70-horsepower 2.45-liter engine and a three-speed gearbox. The model was built in Severodonetsk, Lugansk and, under the name "Donbass", in Donetsk. In total, no more than 100 copies were made.
