When the first Russian car appeared. When did the first cars appear in Russia? Description of the car Frese-Yakovleva

Any event that, in one way or another, gave impetus to the development of a fundamentally new type of activity, sooner or later is considered as historical. To establish its authenticity and the exact time of what happened, they usually rely on documentary evidence. The public of Russia relatively recently celebrated the 100th anniversary of the appearance of the first domestic car with internal combustion engines. But before celebrating the round date of the event that gave rise to the automotive industry in Russia, it would be necessary to collect information that would allow us to confidently assert the fact, time and place of this event.

Unfortunately, for a long time, research on the development of the automotive industry in our country has not been conducted. In any case, there were few publications on this topic, and they were of an accidental nature. At the end of the 40s, the attention of Russian historians was attracted by the facts of the primacy of Russian scientists and technicians. Then it became obvious that a country that has become a great world power in an age of scientific and technological progress must have a worthy biography in this area, which would create the foundation for the image of a great power.

In 1899, the first car appeared in Moscow.

The beginning of work in this direction was the article by A.M. Kreer, published in the journal "Automobile and Tractor Industry" No. 6 for 1950, in which for the first time in the post-revolutionary period the names of 39 Russian engineers, inventors, entrepreneurs who played an important role in the formation and development of the domestic automobile industry and transport were named, as well as the creators of the first Russian car: Evgeny Alexandrovich Yakovlev (1857-1898) and Peter Alexandrovich Frese (1844-1918).

Later N.A. Yakovlev (1955), A.S. Isaev (1961), V.I. Dubovskoy (1962), L.M. Shugurov (1971), A.I. Onoshko (1975), N. Ya. Learman (1976), V.N. Belyaev (1981) and Ya. I. Ponomarev (1995) carried out research in this direction. Of particular note is the discovery of A.I. Onoshko. Among the glass negatives M.P. Dmitriev, a photographic chronicler of the Volga region, he found a fairly clear negative of a photograph of E.A. Yakovlev and P.A. Frese, according to which subsequently, independently of each other, V.I.Dubovskoy, Yu.A. Dolmatovsky, L.M. Shugurov and E.S. Baburin, using the graphic-analytical method, determined the dimensional ratios of the structure and the scale. This made it possible to determine the dimensions of the parts and in 1996 build a working copy of the car. Its base is 1370 mm, the track is 1230 mm in front and 1290 in the rear, length is 2180 mm, width is 1530 mm, height is 1440 mm (with the top folded down). The analysis showed that they differ markedly from the sizes of the models "Velo" and "Victoria" of the company "Benz".

Currently, there is one more photograph of the first Russian car, placed by A. Shustov in the album "Illustrated Bulletin of Culture and Trade and Industrial Progress of Russia 1900-1901." Description of kerosene engines E.A. Yakovlev, which were produced since 1891 at his plant in St. Petersburg (B. Spasskaya st., 28), were published on the pages of the journal "Bulletin of the Imperial Technical Society" (issue XI, 1891).

A detailed description of the car itself was placed in the "Journal of the latest inventions and discoveries" (No. 24, 1896), published before the opening of the All-Russian art and industrial exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod, which took place on May 27 (June 9) 1896.

Emperor Nicholas II, as follows from his diary, examined the exhibits for three days and on August 2 (15) he examined the crew department, where he was shown the car in action. ("There is nothing to look at, it is better abroad.")

What was said by the king, God's anointed one, was perceived as the ultimate truth. The emperor did not appreciate the first car in Russia.
At the Nizhny Novgorod fair, the hopes of the creators of the first Russian car collapsed. The engine of the Yakovlev system brought the designer a silver award, the crew of the Frese and K company was also awarded a silver medal, and their main exhibit, the car, was almost never mentioned. As if he was not at the exhibition. Perhaps irritation and resentment, lack of support pushed Evgeny Yakovlev and Peter Frese to the idea of getting rid of their creation.

Invention of the first automobile

The history of the first Russian car began in 1893 in Chicago, at the world exhibition, where a Benz car of the Velo model was demonstrated. It attracted the attention of two Petersburgers presenting their products here. What's interesting: they first met only at the exhibition. These were the owner of the plant of kerosene and gas engines, Yevgeny Alexandrovich Yakovlev, and the manager of the horse carriage factory, Peter Alexandrovich Frese. The decision to make a similar "self-propelled crew" by joint efforts suggested itself. And three years later, in 1896, the first Russian production car was presented to the general public.

It is easy to guess that the engine and transmission were manufactured by the Yakovlev plant, and the body, chassis and wheels were manufactured by the Frese factory. Naturally, this car was very similar to Benz's design both in appearance and in design. However, it was not a repetition of the German design, but its original design. The drawings have not survived, and historians restored the parameters of the car from the available photographs and descriptions.

What was this design like?

Both in appearance and design, the first Russian car strongly resembled the Benz-Velo, as well as the Richard-Duc car produced in France under the license of Benz.

The equipment of the car included a folding leather top, a horn with a rubber bulb, lanterns with candles. For turning, the steering lever on the column installed vertically in front of the seat served.

The layout is rear-engined. Engine - 2 hp sec., four-stroke, with one horizontally located cylinder. (The "Benz" had a power of 1.5 liters. From.) Water served to cool the cylinder, and two brass containers placed along the sides at the rear of the car served as heat exchangers. The mixture was ignited electrically (dry cell battery and proprietary plug), while many engines of those years used a glow tube. The carburetor was the simplest, so-called evaporative type (as opposed to modern spray-type carburetors). Its body in the form of a tall cylinder was located in the rear left corner of the body. Like all other Yakovlev engines, the exhaust valve had a mechanical drive, and the intake valve acted, as they said at the time, "automatically" i.e. from discharging. In front of the engine (it was located at the rear wheels) under the driver's and passenger's seat was a transverse drive shaft with a differential. Sprockets mounted on its ends through chains transmitted rotation to driven sprockets, connected to the spokes of the rear driving wheels by six stepladders each. Judging by the ratio of the diameters of the chain sprockets visible on the surviving photographs of the Russian car, the final drive ratio was about 5.45. The car had two brakes. The hand brake (from a lever located at the left side of the body) acted on the tires of the rear wheels, pressing the tiny brake pads against them. It was this brake, according to modern terminology, that was the working one, and the other - the foot brake - played an auxiliary role and acted on the drive shaft of the transmission.

Car "Russo-Balt" model 1910 at the State Polytechnic Museum in Moscow.

The gearbox is analogous to Benz's, but the leather belts have been replaced with more reliable ones made of multi-layer rubberized fabric. There were two forward gears and an idle mode. There was no reverse gear. The features of the belt drive made it possible to do without a clutch. The transmission was a very unusual design from a modern point of view. From the box, the force was transmitted to a differential with transverse drive shafts, from which the drive wheels rotated by means of two chain (bicycle) gears. That is, the inter-wheel differential was not between the wheels, but somewhat in front of them. There were two brakes. The main (foot) acted on the drive shaft of the gearbox. Another (manual) pressed rubber blocks against the tires of the rear wheels. The gears were turned on by levers placed on the racks to the left and right of the steering column, there was no reverse gear. Yakovlev and Frese's car was not just a copy of the German model, despite the fact that by 1896 four Benzes were already driving around St. Petersburg: two - the Velo model and two - the Victoria model. In fairness, it should be noted the difference between the Russian and German cars in the engine, steering, in the design of the wheels and other parts. In addition, the first Benz-Velo entered St. Petersburg in May 1895, when even a detailed acquaintance with its device could not affect the basic design decisions of Yakovlev and Frese.

The chassis of the car, made by the Frese factory, had a lot in common with horse-drawn carriages. The body was a two-seater, open, with a convertible cloth top. In general, the whole structure was very reminiscent of a cab without irradiation (the place where the driver sat) both in appearance and in structure. The suspension used full elliptical springs (also called "coach"). The wheels are wooden, the rear wheels are larger than the front ones, with solid rubber tires. The wheel hubs were mounted on plain bearings - a classic trolley solution! The front and rear axles were connected by a subframe, forming a kind of chassis, to which the body was attached with the help of springs. The steering was carried out in a very original way. The front wheels turned on pivots together with springs.

The car weighed about 300 kg and could reach speeds of up to 21 km / h. The gasoline supply allowed us to move for 10 hours. The length was 2.2 meters, the width was 1.5 meters.

The first Russian car was shown at the Nizhny Novgorod exhibition in 1896, where it made demonstration trips. Unfortunately, it did not arouse interest among the officials of the Russian Empire, and the creators of the design could rely only on themselves. But both Yakovlev and Frese were not fanatical inventors, but industrialists. And already in 1897 in the newspaper "Novoye Vremya" there was an advertisement with the following content: "The plant of E. A. Yakovlev offers self-propelled crews with fast execution of orders and at reasonable prices." It is no longer possible to establish how many cars were produced. One thing is for sure: the Yakovlev-Frese design was created precisely as a serial, commercial vehicle.

The first Russian car played the role of a kind of battering ram, which broke through the wall between Russian entrepreneurship and the emerging automotive industry in the world. Quite a few energetic people have undertaken this, in their opinion, a re-objective and profitable business. In the capital city of St. D. Yakovlev ". “Yves. Braytigam "," Victory ", joint-stock company" G. A. Lessner ”, and also Skavronsky, Meise, Krummel, Rogozin, Romanov and some others. In Moscow, P. Ilyin headed a group that began to build cars in the Karetny Ryad. The construction of "motors" began in Riga, Warsaw, Yaroslavl, Nakhichevan, even in Blagoveshchensk.

When did the first cars appear in Russia? Before answering this question, you need to understand the very concept of what a car is.

What is a car

The word "car" has two parts. "Auto" is of Greek origin and means "myself", and "mobile" in translation from Latin means "movement".

It turns out that a car is a device that can move independently. That is, this design must have its own propulsion mechanism - steam, gas, electric, gasoline, diesel - no matter which one, as long as the wheels turn with its help. This means that it appeared in Russia exactly when a structure invented by some craftsman was able to move without the help of horse traction or the muscular efforts of a person.

But nevertheless, the founders of the domestic automotive industry should be considered those Russian "left-handers" who were able to make their structures move without the participation of horses, and it would be unfair not to mention them.

The origin of the domestic automotive industry

The history of the first car in Russia began on November 1, 1752 in St. Petersburg. There, for the first time, a four-wheeled carriage was shown, which was able to move without the help of horses and other draft animals. It was a steel mechanism set in motion with a gate of a special design and the muscular efforts of one person. The carriage could carry, in addition to the driver, two more passengers, and at the same time moved at a speed of up to 15 km / h. The designer of the machine was an ordinary self-taught peasant serf living in the Nizhny Novgorod province - Leonty Lukyanovich Shamshurenkov. The mechanism he created, of course, cannot be considered a car, but it was no longer a cart.

Russian designer Ivan Petrovich Kulibin was much closer to our usual vision of the car.

Kulibin's crew

The design, invented by Kulibin, consisted of a three-wheeled chassis, on which a two-seater passenger seat was installed. The driver himself, who was standing behind this seat, had to press alternately on two pedals associated with the wheel rotation mechanism. Kulibin's crew is especially noteworthy for the fact that it contained almost all the main structural elements of the cars of the future, and it was he who first used a gear change, a braking device, bearings and a steering wheel in his wheelchair.

The appearance of the first car in Russia

In 1830, K. Yankevich, who was a recognized master of carriage works, together with his assistants assembled "Bystrokat" - a self-propelled wheeled vehicle with a steam engine. The engine had a device based on the designs of steam power units by II Polzunov, ME Cherepanov and PK Frolov. As a fuel, according to the inventor's plan, pine charcoal was to be used.

The design was a covered wheeled carriage, in which, in addition to the driver's seat, there was also space for passengers.

However, the mechanism turned out to be very cumbersome and difficult to operate. Therefore, the design of the machine was not viable. Nevertheless, it was the first domestic car in Russia that could really be considered a real self-propelled car with a steam engine.

The appearance of an engine capable of running on gasoline gave an impetus for the further development of automotive technology, since it was he, thanks to its relatively compact size, that could become a source of driving force for future cars.

The first cars in Russia with internal combustion engines

According to some historians and researchers, the ICE was constructed in 1882 in a small town on the Volga. The authors of the machine were engineers Putilov and Khlobov. However, no official documents were ever found to reliably confirm this fact. Therefore, it is believed that in Russia, equipped with liquid fuel engines, were imported from abroad.

In 1891, Vasily Navorotsky, who worked as the editor of one of the Odessa newspapers, imported the French Panard-Levassor car into Russia. It turns out that for the first time in our country, residents of Odessa saw a gasoline car.

Progress in the form of gasoline cars reached the capital of the Russian Empire only 4 years later. On August 9, 1895, St. Petersburg saw the first gasoline self-propelled car. A little later, several more such cars were brought to the capital.

Apparently, the appearance of imported samples on the world market prompted domestic design engineers to take action.

The first Russian car with an internal combustion engine

In 1896, at the Nizhny Novgorod exhibition, a completely domestic car, equipped with a gasoline engine, was presented for public viewing. The car received the name: "Car of Frese and Yakovlev", in honor of their designers - E. A. Yakovlev and P. A. Frese. Yakovlev's plant manufactured the transmission and engine for the car. The chassis, wheels and the body itself were produced at the Frese factory. However, it cannot be said that the appearance of the Russian car was solely the merit of Russian engineers.

Western sample for Russian car

Most likely, Frese and Yakovlev used the experience of the German designer Benz in the manufacture of their car, and his car "Benz-Victoria" was taken as a standard, which they saw when they visited the 1893 exhibition in Chicago, where it was exhibited, as in appearance, the domestic car was very reminiscent of the German model.

True, it is worth paying tribute to the Russian engineers, the car was not a one hundred percent copy of a foreign counterpart. The chassis, body and transmission of the domestic car were significantly improved, which was emphasized in the press of that time, closely following the innovations in the field of discoveries and inventions.

The documented parameters of the domestic machine, as well as the drawings, have not survived. All judgments about the car are based on the descriptions and photographs that have survived from that time. Actually, it is not even reliably known how many cars of this series were produced in general. But in any case, these were the first cars in Russia, from which the mass production of Russian cars began.

The finish line for the first gasoline car

The story of the machine assembled by Frese and his companion ended quickly. In 1898, the engineer and industrialist Yakovlev died, which, in fact, was the beginning of the end for the firstborn of the domestic automotive industry. The death of a companion forced Frese to buy engines for cars abroad, which, of course, was extremely unprofitable for him. In 1910, he sold all the established production to the Russian-Baltic plant.

Nevertheless, the fact that the first domestic cars in Russia appeared thanks to Freza and Yakovlev is forever inscribed in the history of the domestic automotive industry, and RBVZ became the next step in the development of the production of Russian cars.

Russian-Baltic Carriage Works (RBVZ)

Cars of this brand have established themselves as durable and very reliable, which was confirmed by the success of cars participating in long-distance runs, car competitions and even in international rallies. There is a documented fact that one of the cars, produced in 1910 under the "S-24" index, covered 80 thousand km in 4 years of operation without serious breakdowns and repairs. Even the imperial garage in 1913 made an order for two models of cars "K-12" and "S-24".

60% of the vehicle fleet of the Russian army consisted of Russo-Balt vehicles. Moreover, not only cars were purchased from the plant, but also chassis for use on armored cars.

An important fact is that almost all parts, assemblies and mechanisms were manufactured by the plant on its own. Only tires, ball bearings, and oil pressure gauges were purchased abroad.

RBVZ produced cars in large series, and inside each of them there was almost complete interchangeability in units and parts.

In 1918, the enterprise was nationalized and continued its history as an armored plant.

Exactly 120 years ago, on July 14, 1896, the first serial Russian car was presented at the All-Russian industrial and art exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod. The first domestically produced car with an internal combustion engine was ready and passed a series of tests in May 1896. In July, at an exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod, he made demonstration trips. It was Frese and Yakovlev's car.
In the wake of the rapid industrial upsurge that was observed in the Russian Empire since the second half of the 19th century, the emergence of the domestic automotive industry looks like a completely organic phenomenon. The pioneers of this industry in our country were the retired lieutenant of the Imperial Navy Yevgeny Alexandrovich Yakovlev and the mining engineer Pyotr Alexandrovich Frese, who designed the car presented to the general public in July 1896. It was they who launched the serial production of cars in Russia. The Frese factory in St. Petersburg became a pioneer in the serial production of cars and trucks. From 1901 to 1904 alone, more than 100 cars were assembled here, including those equipped with an electric drive. Also, a trolleybus and a road train with an electric transmission were tested here.

The creators of the first Russian car

Peter Alexandrovich Frese was born in St. Petersburg in 1844. In his hometown, he graduated from the mining institute, after which he ended up at the famous carriage factory of K. Nellis. He almost immediately managed to prove himself from the best side, quickly gaining the full confidence of the owner of the enterprise. The business of this company in those years went uphill, and Nellis made a talented young engineer his companion. At the same time, in 1873, Peter Frese created his own carriage workshop, which in 1876 merged with Nellis's factory, forming a new company "Nellis and Frese". After another five years, he became the sole owner of the company, which was renamed the Frese & Co. Crew Factory.

It should be noted that in those years, the products of Russian carriage factories were highly valued all over the world, which is clearly evidenced by the fact that they received quite a lot of awards at international exhibitions. A special sign of quality can also be the fact that at the beginning of the 20th century, cars of the now legendary German automobile brand "Mercedes" were equipped with Russian bodies.

Evgeny Alexandrovich Yakovlev was born in 1857 in the St. Petersburg province. Until 1867 he studied at the Nikolaev Cavalry School, and from 1867 in the Nikolaev naval cadet classes. In 1875, after completing his studies, he was transferred to the navy as a cadet. The pinnacle of his naval career was the rank of lieutenant, which he received on January 1, 1883. In the same year he was dismissed on an indefinite leave, and a year later he completely retired from the service "for domestic reasons." After leaving the naval service, Yakovlev began to actively develop engines, acquiring patents for their manufacture. The liquid-fueled engine he created even earned approval from the famous Russian scientist Dmitry Mendeleev. Yakovlev's projects turned out to be quite profitable, over time he acquired regular customers, so in 1891 he opened the First Russian Plant of Gas and Kerosene Engines.

Fate, with its invisible hand, brought these people together, their love for automotive technology became a unifying element. Their personal acquaintance took place at an exhibition in Chicago, it predetermined the further fate of their joint brainchild. It is worth noting that Yakovlev's engines in those years had a large number of advanced design solutions (removable cylinder head, electric ignition, pressure lubrication, etc.). In 1893, at the World's Fair in Chicago, they were awarded a prize. At the same exhibition, one of the world's first mass-produced cars, the German "Benz" of the "Velo" model, was also presented for the first time. This machine attracted the attention of Yevgeny Yakovlev and Peter Frese. It was then that they decided to create a similar car, but already in Russia.

Car debut

The debut of the first Russian car and its first public display took place in July 1896. The car was demonstrated at the XVI All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition, which was held in the Nizhny Novgorod region of Kunavino. In the pre-revolutionary era, it was the largest exhibition area in the country, which demonstrated the best domestic achievements in the field of industry. The Emperor personally took care of the financing of the exhibition. Among the many wonderful and interesting exhibits at the exhibition, the joint development of Frese and Yakovlev was not lost.

Description of the car Frese-Yakovleva

Outwardly, the car presented at the exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod, like many foreign analogues of that period, looked quite like a light horse-drawn carriage. In its features, it was possible, if desired, to consider the cab. The prototype of the car was the German Benz Velo, which inspired the creators. The weight of the model they developed was approximately 300 kg.

At the heart of the car was the single-cylinder, four-stroke engine, which was located at the rear and produced up to 2 hp. Such a small motor allowed the car to reach speeds of up to 20 km / h. Especially for cooling the engine, an evaporative system was implemented on the car, in which water was used, and the role of heat exchangers was played by brass tanks placed along the sides in the rear of the hull. Together, these tanks could hold up to 30 liters of fluid. During the movement, the water periodically boiled, and the steam, heading into the condenser, returned back to a liquid state.

The car used electric ignition, which was made in the form of a battery and an induction coil. The simplest evaporative carburetor was responsible for preparing the fuel mixture. Which was a container filled with gasoline, while the engine was running, gasoline was heated by exhaust gases and evaporated, combining with air. With the help of a special mixer, it was possible to easily change the composition of the mixture. But its quantitative adjustment was not provided.

The car's gearbox was similar to that used on the Benz car, but the leather belts on the Russian car were replaced with more reliable ones made of multi-layer rubberized fabric. The belt transmission provided two gears: forward and idle. The gear shifting process was controlled using the levers located on the side of the steering wheel. The car had two brakes. The main one was foot and acted directly on the drive shaft of the gearbox. The second brake was manual, it pressed rubber blocks against the solid tires of the rear wheels of the car.

The simple design of the car was supplemented by a double wooden body of the phaeton type, which had a folding leather top. The car body was articulated with a leaf spring suspension, which worked on the principle of frictional vibration damping. The springs consisted of a fairly large number of sheets, which, interacting with each other, damped sharp vibrations and shocks while the car was moving. The use of this design did not require the installation of shock absorbers, but it forced the springs to turn in time with the wheels, the rotation of which was provided by special metal bushings. The wheels of the car were quite bulky (the front wheels were smaller than the rear ones) and, like their spokes, were made of wood. The wheels were covered with solid rubber tires. At that time, there was no production of inflated tires in Russia.

It is worth noting that Frese and Yakovlev were quite talented enough to bring to life many of the ideas that were used in the global automotive industry at the end of the 19th century. In this regard, their development was not unique or exclusive. At the same time, the idea of turning the presented copy into a mass commercial production car looked very interesting at that time. There is still no information about what exactly happened to the sample presented at the exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod. Perhaps it was simply destroyed by the inventors themselves. According to the surviving photographs of this car, for its centenary, which was celebrated in 1996, an exact copy of it was created - a replicar. The car was recreated in the scientific and technical center of the Russian newspaper "Autoreview" with the direct assistance of the editor-in-chief of the publication, MI Podorozhanskiy.

After the untimely death of Yevgeny Yakovlev in 1898, his companions decided to redesign the plant, abandoning the production of internal combustion engines. This forced Peter Frese to look for ways to produce his own motors. As a result, he was forced to conclude an agreement with the French company "De DionBouton", with which he worked closely until 1910. This year he sold his factory to the Russian-Baltic plant, after which he gradually retired. Frese died in 1918 in his native Petersburg.

One year after the first demonstration at an exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod, sales of the presented car started in the Russian Empire, but how many copies of the Frese-Yakovlev car were produced and sold is unknown. According to some reports, the price tag for Frese-Yakovlev's car started at 1,500 rubles. It was half the price of a Benz car and about 30 times the price of a regular horse.

Characteristics of the car Frese and Yakovlev:

Body type - phaeton (double).
Wheel formula - 4x2 (rear wheel drive).
Overall dimensions: length - 2450 mm, width - 1590 mm, height - 1500 mm (with folded awning).
Back track - 1250 mm.
Front track - 1200 mm.
Weight - 300 kg.
The power plant is a 2 hp single-cylinder gasoline engine.
The maximum speed is up to 20 km / h.

In the wake of the rapid industrial upsurge that was observed in the Russian Empire since the second half of the 19th century, the emergence of the domestic automotive industry looks like a completely organic phenomenon. The pioneers of this industry in our country were the retired lieutenant of the Imperial Navy Yevgeny Alexandrovich Yakovlev and the mining engineer Pyotr Alexandrovich Frese, who designed the car presented to the general public in July 1896. It was they who launched the serial production of cars in Russia. The Frese factory in St. Petersburg became a pioneer in the serial production of cars and trucks. From 1901 to 1904 alone, more than 100 cars were assembled here, including those equipped with an electric drive. Also, a trolleybus and a road train with an electric transmission were tested here.

The creators of the first Russian car

Car debut

While personally examining the novelties presented at the exhibition, the Russian Emperor Nicholas II visited the crew department, where the Russian "gasoline engine" was located, so named by the local newspaper "Nizhegorodsky leaf". And although there was no particular reaction from the representative of the royal house to the car, he personally inspected the car in action, and the authors of the first production car in every possible way continued to advertise their joint brainchild in the future.

Description of the car Frese-Yakovleva

Characteristics of the car Frese and Yakovlev:

Sources of information:
http://rufact.org/wiki/Automobile%20Frese%20i%20Yakovlev
http://visualhistory.livejournal.com/441450.html
http://www.calend.ru/event/2373
Based on materials from open sources

The history of the automotive industry in Russia is multifaceted. No wonder it was the Russian man who was one of the first to invent a self-propelled vehicle. In 1791, Ivan Kulibin presented to the public his own - a cart with a flywheel, a brake and even a gearbox.

The first cars with an engine that Russia saw were imported from Europe. At that time, all technical innovations flocked to the capital of the Russian state, Petersburg, from there. In 1891, the car was brought from France by V.V. Navrotsky.

In the 90s of the 19th century, more and more cars and motorcycles began to appear in Russia. In 1898, the first races were even held in St. Petersburg, in which the technical innovations of that time participated. However, all cars and spare parts for them were imported. Their deliveries to Russia were controlled by representative offices of foreign firms.

The first Russian car also appeared in St. Petersburg. Its creators were enthusiasts Evgeny Aleksandrovich Yakovlev and Petr Aleksandrovich Frese. Yakovlev was engaged in the production of kerosene and gasoline engines, and Frese - in the production of crews. Despite their experience, the creation of the car was a real breakthrough for these inventors.

The first Russian car

The invention was successfully tested in May 1896, after which the car was exhibited at an exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod. The car had a two-seater body and developed a speed of up to 20 km / h.

Later, the Frese enterprise was created, which tried to establish the production of cars and trucks. At the beginning of the 20th century, several cars and trucks, as well as a trolleybus and the first electric train, were produced there. However, imported spare parts were still used in production, and it was not possible to establish a serial production of cars.

The first enterprise that set itself the task of producing truly Russian cars with native parts was the Russian Automobile Plant of IP Puzyrev. In 1911, the models "28-34" and "28-40" were produced here. and demanded close attention at that time. Therefore, the car was strong enough, heavy and with high ground clearance. The inventions of the plant also became cam clutches, with the help of which the speeds were switched. All control levers were already inside the body.

Before the revolution, full-fledged car production had not been established in Russia. For example, the Russo-Balt plant assembled about 10 cars, but they were again based on foreign spare parts. The revolution completely changed the course of Russian history, and at the same time began a new era in the production of cars that have already become Soviet.