Bulgarian Car Production

[Tayne]

As some of you may know I was over in Bulgaria last year and one interesting discovery led to me doing a bit of research on Bulgarian cars.

 

As is usually the case there's a motoring history we're not familiar with over here.

It seems there's always been enthusiasts

 

 

Even though there appears to have been little in the way of domestic motor industry.

 

The communists ruined any chance of interesting free enterprise after the 2nd world war and so created an industry that mostly made utilitarian vehicles, often from bought in kits.

 

Moskvitches were built from '66 to '90 and many Alekos still survive.

Aleko par Tayne, on ipernity

Aleko par Tayne, on ipernity

Moskvitch Aleko par Tayne, on ipernity

 

Total numbers were over 300,000, all of which were assembled from Russian made kits.

 

Renault and Alpine attempted similar enterprises.

The catchy-named Bulgarrenualt made assembled nearly 4000 kits of Renault 8 and 10s between '66 and '70.

 

 

Bulgaralpine seems to have only managed a handful of cars (60-120), it looks like this was used as a publicity exercise when these cars were entered into foreign races and rallies.

 

 

Pirin-Fiat managed only 750 cars between '67 and '71.

 

Perhaps the Bulgarian authorities were difficult to deal with...

 

 

These days the Great Wall Dangerous Toy Company of Shanghai knocks up generic small cars and H-Lux knock offs in Bulgaria as they've somehow found a way to get them past NCAP.

 

 

 

But lets go back to my interesting discovery…

 

Back in 1981 a Bulgarian engineer called Velizar Andreev thought that he could set up his own company building and exporting sports cars.

 

He created the Sofia B.

 

Looks good, doesn't it.

 

Whether the government interfered, the market wasn't ready (it wasn't) or export would have been tricky we'll never know.

 

It may also have been less than fun to drive given the source of the mechanicals...

 

Lada par Tayne, on ipernity

 

Apparently 12 were made between 1985 and 2001 and, even more amazingly 60 of the Sofia C were made between 1990 and 2001.

 

It doesn't seem that there's a high survival rate if this 2006 photo is anything to go by.

 

 

 

However I managed to find 25% of their total production lingering in a semi-abandoned showroom on a Sofia backstreet.

 

par Tayne, on ipernity

 

 

And now my technology has faltered.

More photos to come.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tayne]

Have a Skoda rally picture to keep you going.

 

[Tayne]

Here we go.

 

par Tayne, on ipernity

[Tayne]

it was on the road once...

 

par Tayne, on ipernity

 

The rear wing probably adds more drag than the flat tyre.

 

par Tayne, on ipernity

[Tayne]

I don't know whether tyne silver/red paint job was a custom thing or they were midway though an attempt to make it look like they had built more cars...

 

par Tayne, on ipernity

[Tayne]

par Tayne, on ipernity

 

par Tayne, on ipernity

 

Alloys on the front...

 

par Tayne, on ipernity

[Tayne]

And the cream one behind a "parts" Lada.

 

par Tayne, on ipernity

[RedSparrow]

GR8!
Didn't know about the Bulgarrenault.

[brickwall]

Same here. Interesting stuff.

[Partridge]

That Sofia is weird. It looks like a late 70's Bertone concept scaled down by 45%!

[mercrocker]

Really interesting stuff...thanks for sharing.    Is that Bugeredrenault brochure from your collection?   Interested to know the intended market given the English text....Stuff like this is GR9 for keeping me awake at night!

[Tayne]

BuggeredReno was an image I found on the net.

 

The government's intention had been to trade Bulgarian made goods for CKD kits which could then be (mostly) sold in Bulgaria with a few exports.

[HMC]

Great pics!

 

Anyone here got an Aleko? used to read about them featured in motor shows in old editions of car, but not seen a single uk registered example ever.

 

They look like a talbot alpine cross bred with an FSO Polonez.

[Tayne]

Great pics!

 

Anyone here got an Aleko? used to read about them featured in motor shows in old editions of car, but not seen a single uk registered example ever.

 

They look like a talbot alpine cross bred with an FSO Polonez.

 

Moskvitch bought the rights to the Simca 1307 shell but reengineered the front and underside to accept their own engines in an inline front drive configuration as the existing Moskvitch lump was too big to fit width wise.

 

 

I've only ever seen them in Ukraine and Bulgaria.

[Tayne]

Just found this on the Lost Bulgaria website.

 

[Tayne]

And here's the Moskvitch factory.

 

[Tayne]

http://www.lostbulgaria.com/pic2/3111.jpg

[Squire_Dawson]

I once read that in Romania (?), the Austin Allegro was quite a status symbol.

 

Who are our comrades in the large picture on the wall in the above photo?

 

The car-making facilities look well up to the standards of the day. Could easily be one afternoon at Longbridge!

[RedSparrow]

I once read that in Romania (?), the Austin Allegro was quite a status symbol.

 

Might've been me who said that about Czechoslovakia. Apparently it was possible to buy them from the state run dealers, as well as a surprising amount of other western motors.

[Tayne]

I wasn't aware that the Austin Allegro made it to Romania, I didn't see any there.

 

The comrades in the above photo, going by my experience of the former soviet bloc, will either be the, then current, Bulgarian leader and the trade minister OR the Bulgarian leader and the Russian minister for CKD car export (or whomever had that responsibility).

 

It was more the mud on the floor that struck me...

[Squire_Dawson]

Good-o, when I read it I smiled for several reasons, mainly because it was such an out-of-the-blue fact and also that the Allegro made it to such an unlikely country and was treasured as a status symbol, which, given the circumstances, it would be easy to see why. BL did have an Allegro plant at Seneffe, Belgium.

 

I can't for the life of me remember whereabouts I read it, but I was mildly surprised (and somewhat pleased) that a Western car could be obtained behind the Iron Curtain. Might've been Czechoslovakia, aye.

[garethj]

Excellent stuff!

 

With my keen spotter's eye, the white one abandoned on the street looks like the very first one in the top photo.  The door only extends down to the base of the window, where the later ones (I'm guessing it's a design refinement) had the lower edge of the door come past the swage line.

 

It's mid engined, do you think they kept the engine lengthwise so they could use the Lada gearbox?  If so, the screaming waterpump must be just behind your head and it's got the world's shortest propshaft to the solid rear axle.

 

I'm consumed with desire for one.

[Junkman]

There was at least one more kit car built in Bulgaria, this one with Moskvitch oily bits:

 

 

[Junkman]

Here is a brief chronicle of Bulgaria's automobile heritage:

 

http://www.automotive.bg/?go=about&p=history

[morris_ital_lover]

I can't for the life of me remember whereabouts I read it, but I was mildly surprised (and somewhat pleased) that a Western car could be obtained behind the Iron Curtain. Might've been Czechoslovakia, aye.

 

From what I can remember, in the Eastern European sattelite states such as the GDR, Czechoslovakia etc it was comaratively easy to get hold of Western motors... Only in comparison to the USSR though. In Russia apart from small numbers of cars from other communist countries there was little beyond the Lada/Moscovitch/Volga/Chaika options. In Eastern Europe where the 'proletariat' had to wait for ages to get their hands on Trabbis and Skodas, the elite seemed be pretty keen to splash out on Mercs, Volvos and Citroens etc with the only real obstacle being the expenditure of precious 'hard cash' on these motors.

[Junkman]

Old DDR joke:

 

There is no difference between here and West-Germany. You can buy anything for West-Marks.

[Tayne]

BulgarAlpine

 

[Bucketeer]

Tayne'll Fix It

BBC TV Centre

Wood Lane

 

Dear Mr. Tayne

Please could you fix it for me to know the whereabouts of the Sofia B collection. I have been in love with the Type B ever since I was a 37 year old boy and was shown some pictures by an ex-owner. It was only a couple of weeks ago that I came out and declared my love to (a very small percentage of) the world, whilst posting a Sofia C for sale on the Ebay Tat thread. Any information would be hugely appreciated, from a vague area of the city to a screen grab of a scan of a photo of a map scrawled on a beer mat.

Yours expectantly,

Alex (aged 38^₁/₂)

 

PS: I would also like a job on Saturday Swapshop, a bed made from Jelly Babies and the phone number for Debbie Gibson.

[Tayne]

I can't help you with the Swapshop job, jelly baby bed or Debbie direct dial.

 

The Sofias are quote easy to find, they're even on Street View...

 

 

Where was the C for sale?

[Tayne]

Found it.

 

 

Mega rare Sofia Type C.

Bulgarian kit car using bits from a 1979 Lada.

Not cheap at 3000 leva / £1400 though.

 

http://nfs.mobile.bg/pcgi/mobile.cgi?topmenu=1&act=4&adv=11357129903983931&f1=details&slink=5nmuj9

 

 

This however is not a patch on it's sibling, the Sofia Type B which in my eyes is the King MechaGodzilla of all shite.

I got chatting to a chap driving in a Trabant rally in BG last year who showed me some pictures of the Sofia B that he used to own. I've been smitten ever since.

Only 20 or 30 were ever built, and to complement the stunning* aesthetics it has a Lada (1300 I think) engine, gearbox and interior and even manual crank operated pop-up headlights.

 

Here's a picture of a Sofia B.

 

If anyone should ever happen to spot one of these for sale, fire the bucket-signal high into the sky and I will come running.

 

I'll PM you some details.