Moscow's Free ZIL Factory Museum with Rare Cars is Closing

A unique museum connected with the history of the domestic automotive industry is closing in Moscow. The ZIL factory museum does not have the funds to pay for the territory's rent: according to the institution's employees, the owner has raised the fee fivefold.

The ZIL Museum has been operating since January 2017, opened by the company "MSC6 AMOZIL". All this time, admission to the exhibition was free. On display were models, samples of experimental and serial engines, and more than twenty types of cars produced by the Likhachev plant since its foundation: passenger cars, passenger transport, special equipment.

For example, you could see a one-and-a-half-ton AMO F15 truck, which began to be mass-produced in the mid-twenties. These trucks became the basis for more than 6 thousand ambulances, buses, vans, fire trucks, staff cars and other special vehicles.

From the post-war heritage of special equipment in the exposition, in particular, one can note the all-terrain amphibious vehicle "Blue Bird". This transport was developed and produced in the mid-eighties for the detection and evacuation of cosmonauts. The "Blue Bird" was part of a whole search and rescue complex "490" together with a snow and swamp vehicle and other vehicles.

In Sokolniki, you could also see such domestic car ideas as the ZIL 41052. This government armored limousine was actually built around an armored capsule, which was produced at Kurganmashzavod. It is still considered one of the most protected passenger cars in the world.

After the museum closes, the car exhibits from the ZIL Museum will go to a new museum at bus depot No. 1 in St. Petersburg. They will not be sent to scrap metal.

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