Images created by Lux
Chapter I
The 50’s - Rock ‘n‘ Romanov
What a time to be alive!
With Stalin dead, Communism on the rise, the world aka the Soviet Union slowly recovering from “Stalinism” and WWII, while the younglings were secretly throwing their legs all over the place to the new rhythms from the West, times were changing for the better.
The USA and the Soviet Union were competing to be the world’s superpower, and with the rivalry came a lot of economic competition and the demand for motored vehicles seemed never-ending.
At the time, there were only two car manufacturers worth mentioning in the Soviet Union.
GAZ – (Gorkowski Avtomobil’ni Zavod) creatively named after the car plant located near the city of Gorki, today known as Nizhniy Novgorod, building vehicles after the role model (and license) of Ford.
OAO Moskvitch with its headquarters in Moscow, starting out after the war with production lines from Opel Germany, in order to build a Soviet version of the successful “Kadett”.
They had two things in common – First: The cars were simple constructions, made to withstand the rough roads and even rougher climate in Russia, making them reliable and easy to maintain. Second: Both brands never really had long lasting success outside of the Soviet Union, apart from Moskvitch and their short lived motorsport fame in the late 60’s and early 70’s.
There also was an ongoing rivalry between Leningrad, the former capital of Russia until 1918, and Moscow, the new center of the Soviet Union. With Moskvitch, Moscow had a car brand representing the city and by 1955, it was evident that “Piter”, as it was commonly called by the people, needed a brand of its own.
This brand was to be Romanov, aiming to compete with big European brands like Mercedes, Fiat and Renault, along with the obvious competition from the States, Ford and Chevrolet.
However, in an environment of communism with planned economy, where everything depends on the “da” from the government, support of the committee for transport was crucial. The initial request to produce service vehicles for Leningrad had been approved, the choice of name remained a big issue.
Concerns were voiced that “Romanov” reminded and possibly glorified the name of the last Tsar of the Russian Empire, who was murdered with his family by the Revolution leaders in 1918. Even 37 years later, the name Romanov was still despised by the new government.
As it was common in these situations, the issue was solved after a few debates which included vodka and innocent envelopes filled with currency. Officially, the name of the car plant (and therefore the brand) was “Leningradski Avtomobil’ni Zavod”, at least on paper.
Finally, Romanov was granted an old industrial complex in the center of Piter, which was quickly setup to host 400 workers and the engineering office, led by A.S.Simonov.
Tools and machinery had to be organized from various sources and were often in questionable condition. An assembly line proved impossible to establish in time, so the first 125 Romanov Odin had to be welded and put together by hand.
The firstcar was really a wild mixture. Most parts were delivered from GAZ, who were shifting their production to a new model and were ordered to send leftover parts to Romanov. The engine was the same iron block used for the GAZ M20 “Pobeda”, which required a lot of structural rework, an improved fuel system and top-head to meet the requirements of Romanov.
In late summer 1956, all Romanov Odin of the first generation had been delivered and
additional funds to setup a proper assembly line were granted.
“Now is the time to show what we’re really able to do”, Simonov told his comrades.
His plan was to make a second version of the “Odin”, that would be able to compete outside of the Soviet Union. With leather interior, an improved suspension and a few more tweaks to the engine, combined with a memorable design to give the brand Romanov a new face.
Towards completion of the “Odin B” in 1959, Simonov received a letter from Cuban Revolutionist Che Guevara, asking for two Romanov to be delivered to the Caribbean island. He explained that he had heard about the ambitions of the young car plant and felt they were fighting for the same thing: “freedom in a rough political climate”.
A few phone calls later, the cars were as good as on their way across the Atlantic and a photograph
showing Che Guevara in a Romanov later went viral in the Soviet press. From that moment onward, the car was referred to as “Che”.
The “Che” was produced in Leningrad until 1967, under license in several countries even until 1973.
With nearly 100.000 units build and around 28.000 cars sold in Northern and Western Europe alone until 1970, Romanov grew from a small project with unknown outcome into a serious brand, with a chance to gain foothold beyond the iron curtain.
Images created by Lux
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Wow! The production quality here is amazing!
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Wow! That was amazing! the story and the graphics… the presentation and the car 
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Holy macaroni on meatballs! That’s awesome! I really love those picture , so classy and old! and i wish i have really good editing skills as yours.
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Ok, now I am hungry!
Thanks for the comments guys, greatly appreciated. I would like to point out that while I write the stories and build the cars, the artwork and presentation is ultimately done by my friend Lux, who’s a talented designer.
Also, we have a lot of ideas and stories in the pipeline, so stay tuned!
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Do more of these things. Many more of these things. 
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The great automotive “what if”. Just what would the current automotive landscape look if communist engineers had been allowed to freely develop and market their radically functional ideas? Not only a great presentation, but a highly fascinating Idea. Deserving of every like.
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Well, we’re definitely going to find out what could have been done…
Edit: Also, we just updated the first part, as it is going to be a diary type of story, from one of the employees at Romanov.