Would you believe that there's a titled 1992 UAZ 31512 on sale in the United States?
The UAZ 469 is a famous off-roading Jeep clone from the Soviet Union which is well-known for being both reliable and a serious off-roader. Introduced in 1973, the 469 was renamed the UAZ-3151 for the military and UAZ-31512 for civilians.
The seller explains that he went to Moscow in 1992 to purchase the 31512 and then he exported it to Texas, titled as a 1965 so that he would be able to have it registered. In the seller's 20 years of ownership only 2447 kilometers (1520 miles) have been put on the 4X4.While it is curious the seller says the vehicle was made by VAZ instead of UAZ-as the two Russian automobile manufacturers are distinctly different companies-it otherwise is a really rare opportunity to own a famous Russian vehicle in the United States, as long as you are able to fork over 18,000 bucks via the eBay buy it now feature or try to get it for less by placing a bit. The price seems ambitious but I suppose exclusivity will cost you a pretty penny, along with the opportunity to drive what may be the cleanest example of the vehicle you can find anywhere in the world.
Offered for sale by Houston Corvette Service, Inc., the eBay ad can be viewed here....
Great stuff, Blair! Thanks! (And I agree, $18K is "ambitious".)
3 comments:
Oh no, thank you for posting it.
I stumbled across it while looking for unusual vehicles on eBay, and something as noteworthy as that had to be on this site.
Back around 1992 and much to my surprise, UAZ was at the NY Auto Show as they were thinking of selling their trucks in the US (or actually did for a VERY brief period of time)
Yeah UAZ of America had some pretty big plans, but from what I've read the general collapse of the Russian economy and the attendant corruption it fuelled sunk the project. Had it come to N. America they probably would have sold a few hundred at best, it just lacks absolutely anything that the average buyer would consider essential.
They were very popular here in South America. In my country at least they hold their value fairly well for an eastern bloc vehicle, being highly regarded for their offroad capabilities. The Russians were never serious about selling them though, they just dumped them at the port without a good dealer/service network and they never caught on as the Chinese have.
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