Lutsk SUVs LuAZ-969 in various modifications to this day remain uncompetitive in the light class of all-wheel drive vehicles. That is why many give these all-terrain vehicles a second and even a third life.
Someone is reviving the legendary Volynyanka from oblivion for themselves, someone is selling it. There are many photos of overhauled, restored and tuned LuAZ vehicles on the Internet, but there are practically no photos from these production processes.
There are several explanations for this, and perhaps the main one concerns the possible impact on the future price tag: repairmen and restorers are careful not to show what kind of scrap they sometimes have to make “candy” from.. Especially when the restoration of equipment is carried out for sale.
Of course, it happens when in a pile of rusted metal you can only see a donor car, from which only individual parts or assemblies are selected for car restoration. But basically, their return to restoration technology is long and difficult – there is a lot of hassle.
Few people post photos, let alone videos, about the technology of repair and restoration work in detail.. True, the Avto24 editors did find a good exception.
Ukrainian YouTuber Nazar Voyts, quite interestingly and in detail, conducts video stories about restoration work with Lutsk cars. He has many examples.
Agree, Nazar Voyts’s restored “Volynyanka” looks even better than the factory original. Screenshot: Auto24
The restorer explains step by step how old donor cars are dismantled, how original parts, assemblies, and instruments are carefully selected, washed, and restored.. There are no small things there.
By the way, in one of the videos he specifically admires the quality of the then bolts and nuts on individual LuAZ vehicles. The restoration master demonstrates these fastening attributes and compares them with modern ones: for a good three to four decades, the removed fasteners did not even become corroded, almost like new ones.
He saves such nuts and bolts and puts them back into restored equipment, since modern analogues do not have such quality. The same goes for the original metal – it has stood the test of time, not worn out, and not tired.
Here and there there are real finds with zero expiration date. Nazar Voyts tells with interest and shows a rare find – he managed to buy the original body of a LuAZ 1302 car. This is a kind of time capsule.
The story is painfully familiar: the plant produced the body, but did not bring it to the assembly line – production stopped. One of the plant workers, out of desperation that he would never receive the money he earned, took his salary “in kind,” that is, a brand new body for a car that “wouldn’t even sit on.”
So for three decades that building lay somewhere in a barn or in the attic of a barn. Of course, it was covered in dust, lost its former shine, and was covered in corrosion here and there on the welding seams, but still new and in good condition.
As Nazar says, citing the words of a former employee of the enterprise, the Lutsk Automobile Plant produced very few such bodies – 300 pieces. One of them ended up with a restorer.
Compared to some cars that are practically ready for scrapping, this acquisition is indeed considered very profitable. True, the master tactfully kept silent about the price.
Original tuners, restoration and repair specialists have a rich imagination and a creative approach to their work.. There are dozens, if not hundreds of them in Ukraine. Last year we talked about a tuner from Volyn, who made a tuning version from an old ZIL-130.
Our readers were interested in the story about a 33-year-old dump truck. The tuning car from the last century has received more than 200,000 views – the car in ultramarine metallic paint, with a new diesel engine, LED headlights and a comfortable super interior and really looks like a masterpiece.