The legendary AZLK plant in Moscow, on Volgogradsky Prospekt, opened in 1930, was closed due to bankruptcy. Its territory occupied a huge area, which now houses various small enterprises. By the half-century date of the auto giant's activity, the plant management decided to build the AZLK museum.
Anniversary opening
Today, not only the assembly shops of the plant are not operating, but the AZLK museum has also stopped its exhibition activities. Only a remarkable architectural form remained from it, the use of the premises themselves has not yet been found. The museum was opened in 1980 for the fiftieth anniversary of the AZLK plant. The architect of the project was Regentov Yu. A. The building resembles a landed flying saucer. This concept was popular during the construction of the object.
Exhibition concept
The first concept of the exhibition involved a demonstration of the latest developments of the automotive giant, but by the time of the opening the idea had changed, it was decided to give preference to the historical retrospective of the car lineup. Under the domed roof of the opened hall werealmost all car models have been collected, starting from the first Fords and ending with experimental models that have just passed the stage of creating a sample.
The AZLK Museum in Moscow contained unique specimens on display that had never been mass-produced. The audience was surprised by racing cars that won more than one prize at domestic and international races and rallies. The formation of the exhibition took place around the central support of the room, on which the central circular lamp was mounted. Entering the showroom, the visitor entered the cycle of cars of the same brand, many of which remained projects made in a single copy.
Exposure composition
The exhibition at the AZLK Museum began with the two first-born of the plant - Ford cars, one of which is a sedan, and the second has a chaise-type body. Next to them was a legendary domestic car - a GAZ-AA lorry. These cars were produced at a time when the plant was named KIM (in honor of the Communist Youth International).
Before the war, the KIM plant planned to release the KIM-10-50 car model; the only surviving installation copy was exhibited at the hall stand next to the M-40 machine, the production of which began in 1947. Also in the museum, one could examine in detail the export models M-408, M-412 and the M-402 in demand in the Union in various modifications.
The most interesting part of the exposition was devoted to the developments of the design bureau, which predicted completely new practical andmodern car models. Prototypes - "Svyatogor", "Prince Vladimir", jeeps, pickups, specialized cars for police and ambulances promised a new round in the development of the automaker. But the default and lack of government support buried all plans and ruined the plant.
Bankruptcy of the factory
AZLK Museum was a rare occurrence in the engineering field. Not all enterprises built a separate building for the museum, under the roof of which such a number of cars were assembled. During the formation of the exposition, all models were exhibited on the podium, but over time there were too many of them, and they took up all the free space.
AZLK plant stopped work for the first time in 1996, at the same time the museum was closed to the public. A few years after the officially declared bankruptcy, access here was possible, but the site could only be visited by prior arrangement.
Reviews
According to the reviews of rare amateurs who came to the AZLK museum after the bankruptcy of the plant, the room fell into a dilapidated state, in low light it was difficult to see the collection of cars. But the exposition was admired by everyone who managed to get acquainted with it.
The cars kept in the museum were the pride of the Soviet automobile industry and demonstrated the huge potential of the enterprise, noticeable in the models of the last years of activity. Many have expressed the opinion that the participation of the state in solving the financial problems of an enterprise is not onlywould prevent bankruptcy. Timely subsidies would have saved the entire industry, because there were enough talented engineers. Cars such as "Yuri Dolgoruky", "Svyatogor" and their modifications clearly proved the competitiveness of car lines both in the domestic and foreign markets.
Timelessness
After the official closing of the plant, it was assumed that the AZLK museum would transfer the entire collection to the funds of the Museum of the History of Moscow, where it was planned to create an exposition based on the received cars and documentation. It was supposed to include documents about the history of the plant, achievements, developments that did not receive serial continuation. In addition to the automotive part, it was expected that there would be an exhibition of other products produced at AZLK, as well as documentation: badges, toys, household appliances, layouts, drawings, photo archives and the archive of the factory newspaper.
What happened to the collection since 2001 is unknown. The museum was officially closed on August 22, 2008. After that, rumors were circulating among collectors and motorists about the destruction of unique samples, car models. It was rumored that the entire collection of the retropark was being sold into unknown hands or cut into scrap metal, some managed to get into the AZLK museum. Photos from the "forays" periodically appeared on the forums of photography enthusiasts.
New life of the collection
In 2009, on City Day, the collection of cars stored in the AZLK museum was solemnly donatedMoscow. Today, an almost complete collection of historical models can be seen at the Museum of Vintage Cars. Almost the entire fleet of vehicles was transferred to the Metropolitan Department of Transport.
The first KIM Ford cars and the most popular Moskvich 400 and Moskvich 420 models, unique racing cars and single-piece models are on display at the booths. Fans and connoisseurs of technology can also admire the anniversary models of technology, which marked a certain milestone of achievement - the 4- and 5-millionth car. Today, everyone can see the collection, which was previously collected by the AZLK Museum in Moscow. Address: Rogozhsky Val, Building 9/2.
The latest developments of AZLK are also presented at the stands. Models with "princely" names are shown here: "Ivan Kalita", "Yuri Dolgoruky", "Svyatogor" and others. The only questions that remain are where the documentary part of the exposition was sent, as well as the entire archive of photo and video documents, which constituted a significant part of the country's heritage and the history of the development of the domestic automotive industry.
The Museum of Retro Cars of the Capital on Rogozhsky Val carefully preserves and adequately represents the former AZLK Museum in Moscow. Opening hours: from 10:00 to 21:00, day off - Monday. Thematic excursions are held for visitors, one of them is dedicated to the AZLK plant and is called “The History of Moskvich”.
