Francisco Carrion
A couple of years ago a friend of mine put his only classic car on sale: A small 1934 Ford Y, one of those assembled in Barcelona by Ford Motor Ibérica. It had been restored in the early 90s and retained some modifications from the 40s and 50s.
He advertised it on various sales platforms at a price slightly above what would have been reasonable ... and after a little over a year, he sold it. The story, told by owner, was as follows: They had contacted him from Russia (!), They had paid him what he asked without arguing in the slightest, and a few days later a trailer had arrived at his house to take away the little Ford.
Some time later another friend of mine sent me a photo of a trailer loaded with pre-war classics, all of them small displacement and with old Spanish license plates that was driving north on a Catalan highway. I don't know where that photo has gone, but I remember that I immediately recognized the merchandise: They were cars that had been advertised for sale in Spain for a long time but due to their humble characteristics they could not find a buyer. And now they had sold them like that, all at once?
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2- This Fiat 509 has also made a long journey!
In a Russian museum?
Finally about a month ago, snooping around these worlds of the internet, I found the explanation to all these questions. A museum of vintage cars had just opened in Russia and was full of machines released in Spain in the 20s and 30s. In the end it turns out that the story of my friend and his Ford Y that he left for Russia was true ... There was the car!
The museum is called "Retro Cars Museum" and it is located in the town of Chelyabinsk, close to the Ural Mountains - closer to Astana than to Moscow - and with a population of over one million inhabitants, which places it as the ninth largest city in the entire country.
[your_quote]Of 23 vehicles, 15 come from our country and 9 still carry their original old license plates ...[/ su_quote]
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We do not know who the ideologue was, creator or local patron who has had the happy idea of setting up a museum of vintage cars, but the curious thing is that not a single of the exhibits has the slightest connection with Russia.
Right now there are 23 cars on display but there is room for quite a few more; And it is that although the Chelyabinsk museum is still in the process of formation, currently its doors remain open to anyone who passes through that remote place.
Of these 23 vehicles, 15 come from our country and 9 still carry their original old Spanish license plates. The rest are French models of indigenous generalist brands (Peugeot, Renault, Citroën), or of brands almost unknown today: a Chenard Walker from 1929, a Michel Irat from 1927 - the rarest model of all - and a sumptuous Lorraine Dietrich B3-6 from 1929, which is the only luxury vehicle in the entire collection and what was auctioned a couple of years ago by the French house Osenat.
The Spaniards of Retro Cars Museum
But let us now return to "Spanish" exhibited at the Retro Cars Museum in Chelyabinsk. As soon as we enter, we are greeted by a striking Fiat 501 from the early 20s registered in Badajoz, and next to it another Fiat, in this case a small 509 roadster from 1927 with the fins modified in the 40s.
A little deeper several Citroën from the twenties, including a nice B-14 from 1927 with a curious body covered in leather type "Weymann" with a very appropriate restoration. We can also see a small Opel 1,2 Liter registered in Soria in 1933 and equipped with some strange axes "Super narrow" that are certainly not the original ...
[your_quote]Curious, huh? In this globalized world in which we live, one can find Spanish collections in the middle of Russia ...[/ su_quote]
In another wing The Ford Y we were talking about at the beginning is next to an American Erskine from 1927 registered in Seville and with Ford wheels from the 30s. Next to it there is a row of American vehicles from the 30s of the brands Ford, Dodge, Chevrolet or Pontiac, all of them arrived after a true trip around the world.
Originally sold in South America, they arrived in Spain some 10 or 15 years ago in the middle of the “classic import craze”, and are now in the Chelyabinsk museum. The 1928 Pontiac Phaeton still has its historic Spanish “H-BBB” license plate on it. Everything has to be said: These latest specimens have very low-quality restorations and are even painted in garish and / or metallic colors.
Curious, isn't it? In this globalized world in which we live, one can find collections like this one, in which in the middle of Russia we moved to the Spain of the 20s. And also, thanks to Google Maps we can visit it comfortably from home!
