The Putilov Plant, Leningrad L - 1, Leningrad 1 (diecast 1:43, Hongwell / Nash Avtoprom)

This is L - 1, Leningrad 1. The model is made by Hongwell for Nash Avtoprom in scale 1:43. Nothing opens.

L - 1 also called Leningrad-1 is a Soviet experimental passenger car, released in 1933 in a series of 6 copies at the factory "Krasny Putilovets" in Leningrad. The predecessor and to some extent the prototype of the later ZIS-101. At the beginning of the thirties, the USSR had already solved the task of organizing production for the full cycle of its own middle class car - it was the GAZ-A car factory that had been developed at the Nizhny Novgorod (Gorky) automobile plant.

Efforts were also made to establish a small-class car (NAMI-1). Meanwhile, although there was a small but significant demand for a "heavy-duty" cars, with a sturdy chassis, a capacious body, a powerful motor that could develop high speed on highways and provide a stock of traction necessary for driving in heavy road conditions, and a large power reserve, allowing long trips. Moreover, this type of car by many specialists was considered the most suitable for domestic road and operational conditions, provided that the necessary level of strength, maintainability and patency are ensured. Such cars were used as representative and service vehicles at the state and party organs, headquarters in the Red Army, and sanitary vehicles were built on their chassis. The demand for them was met through the purchase of various foreign models of brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Steyr, Buick, Packard and Lincoln, whose purchase, maintenance and repairs cost the Soviet state quite cheaply. Two Buicks were purchased in the United States, one of which was intended for removing drawings from all parts and selecting the materials necessary for their manufacture. The development of the "Soviet" Buick "" took place with great difficulties - suffice it to say that even a diaphragm gasoline pump in those years was a complicated and unusual product for Soviet industry (from the same GAZ-A fuel came from the gas tank with gravity). "Buick" was a car with a complex and progressive for its time the design, in an abundance of contained automatic and various servo drives. For example, it had a highly-engineered overhead valve (OHV) engine, very sophisticated dual carburetors with automatic air supply control, a semi-automatic clutch controlled by vacuum in the engine intake manifold, a thermostat automatically opening and closing the shutters of the radiator blinds located on the sides hood, adjustment of the stiffness of the lever shock absorbers from the driver's seat, depending on the number of passengers and the quality of the road surface.

The assembly of the first cars began in March 1933, all of their details were manufactured by the forces of Soviet enterprises. The first chassis was delivered on April 24, and on the May Day demonstration there were already six fully assembled cars that received the L-1 brand. On May 19, they took part in a test run to Moscow and back, combined with the "show-offs" of cars by the head of the People's Commissariat of Industry, GK Ordzhonikidze, who was generally pleased with the novelty and promptly set the plant the task of releasing a series of 2,000 cars next year. The administration of Krasny Putilovets also counted on receiving a large order for the production of L-1, even the volume of the output was called-about 20,000 cars a year after the full deployment of production. However, in the end, the work on cars on the Krasny Putilovets was unexpectedly stopped. The 6 L-1 cars were transferred to various institutions of Leningrad, and in autumn 1933 four cars were sent to the party organization of the Mongolian People's Republic as a labor gift.