Compare front cabriolets: the last ZIL and the first Aurus
From the ideological point of view, it is better to consider as the predecessor of the open Aurus not these shameful handicrafts, but real, “factory-made” ZIL cabriolets, which were made at the factory itself. The latest generation of these cars was the model with the index 410441, it was created in the same 2008-2009, but it never showed up at the parade – precisely because Deripaska “pushed” its “GMC-ZIL” in due time .
From 2010 to 2018, ZILs-41041 AMG were used at parades. From the ZIL they have only the body, and the frame, chassis and almost all the technical “stuffing” are taken from the American GMC Sierra
Initially, three copies of 410441 were built at ZIL. After the assets of the passenger shop of ZIL were purchased by a private company, MSC6 AMOZIL, at the end of 2014, they made another cabriolet. The last, fifth sample, is still in the process of assembly.
We decided to compare the ZIL-410441 and the Aurus Cabriolet – in order to see which representative class was created quite recently on the remnants of the Soviet industrial and technological reserve and which is being created now from scratch, due to huge inflows from the federal budget.
Immediately make a reservation: we are talking about correspondence comparison, ZIL-410441 and Aurus Cabriolet never intersected with each other in space-time. However, we have excellent photos of the Zilov car, made by Sergey Tsyganov, a dromovsky journalist at the factory a few years ago, and no less high-quality photos of Aurus, taken at a recent show of new convertibles to the press.
ZIL-410441
The cabriolet 410441 has classic proportions for passenger ZILs – a compact cab, a long hood and trunk … In general, the style of the 70s
ZIL-410441 – the swan song of the once mighty ZIL plant. Those who were close to this project, spoke of him succinctly: “This is a labor feat.”
Imagine the situation. In the yard in 2008, the Likhachev plant in Moscow has been in a deep financial crisis for many years, and the situation is getting worse every day. The conveyor assembly trucks (main products) 80% of the time, the passenger shop is interrupted by the service of old limousines. Salaries at the enterprise are meager even by average Russian standards, and public utilities from time to time turn off water and heat to the plant (in winter) due to huge debts.
Steel-gray ZIL-115V took parades on Red Square for 29 years – from 1981 to 2010
At this moment, a request from the Ministry of Defense comes to ZIL, they say, we need new ceremonial convertibles. The parades then used ZIL-115V (41044) 1981 built with the body of an overcoat. Although the cars were kept in ideal conditions and simply did not drive, for 27 years they grew old physically – there was a risk of failure at the most crucial moment (although in fact there were never such cases).
There is ruin on ZIL, production is barely breathing – but the plant’s management responds positively to the request of the military. The staff of engineers at that time already consisted of people of pre-retirement / retirement age and completely “green” young people, graduates of technical universities, who simply needed experience in the specialty. The administration of Moscow (the owner of ZIL) allocated a target subsidy to the plant specifically for this project – the topic was personally supported by the then mayor, Yuri Luzhkov. The amount of the subsidy was modest – something about 30-40 million rubles, this is money for both development and the manufacture of machines. Nevertheless, the ZIL launched a full-fledged research and development work on the project (R & D).
Of course, the plant could not create a completely new model, but the used parts did not use it – engineering ethics did not allow.
In the passenger ZILah has its own unique charisma
Even from the index it is clear that 410441 is a variation of the most canonical family of passenger cars ZIL – 4104, which appeared in 1978. At the heart of the design of the cabriolet is the spar frame from the short-base sedan 41041, it was taken new from the warehouse stocks. In the beginning of the 90s, anticipating difficult times, the foremen of the car shop made dozens of frames and bodies for sedans and limousines for the future – they were gathering for many years in the far corners of production. At the same time for 410441 designed a new body – for most of the internal parts, it is unified with 41041, but all the exterior panels, except for the hood and trunk lid, are completely original. The body was designed on computers, but the external and part of the internal elements were tapped on wooden blanks – hello to the body manufactories of the first half of the 20th century.
The folded top should be covered with a special casing, but it is not installed on this machine.
Appearance modernized due to the headlights with polycarbonate glass, new lights and plastic bumpers. Folding soft top designed and manufactured by the German company Hartmann – for each of the copies, it cost about $ 10,000.
The interior was designed by independent designer Gleb Wiesel. The four-spoke steering wheel is taken from some foreign car, but it has an original hub. The instrument cluster is own, with a small Zilov badge.
