What’s ZIS? It’s a pre-war Russian Custom…

Russian Automobiles of the 50s and 60s were widely known to poorly copy popular American and Western European sedan designs, and were usually downright ugly as a result. However, imagine a classy, sporty pre-war roadster with a sectioned body, flush headlamps and a sweeping decklid. This straight 8-powered beast is a ZIS 101-A Sport built in 1939 by some young Stalin car factory engineers with a serious love of Duesenberg and Auburn designs. Sure, it’s a little busy on the front end, and the bodywork looks slightly crude overall… Still, it’s a pretty sweet ol’ sled for late 30s Russia! Unfortunately the 101-A Sport (based on a larger sedan model) was front heavy and slightly underpowered, and along with the looming world war, she was put away and never seen from again. Imagine if this baby did go into production, and young Russian vets got their hands on them after the war. They could have had a whole custom car movement of their own.

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