Automotive Antiques Museums

Vladivostok has been recognized as the most auto-mobilized city in Russia not only because of its heavy traffic, but also because it is home to two privately owned Automotive Antiques Museums in the Primorye capital.

The first museum opened in 2002 and is located on Sakhalinskaya Street. Its founder, Nikolai Shulzhitsky, is an enthusiast and veteran of the automotive industry in Primorye. The museum has three different types of exhibits: old cars and trucks that were made or used in the Soviet Union, a hall dedicated to motorcycles and motocross competition (Russian and foreign), and a special exhibit of Soviet vehicles used in WWII.

Anatoly Kozitski, another enthusiast and collector of retro cars, opened the second museum in 2014. The museum grew out of the “Machines of the 20th Century” club and is located in the Sadgorod district (21 Gryazelechebnitsa Street). What immediately catches your eyes is the collection of Russian tanks. The collection honors first Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs, or Russian: BTR), Combat Reconnaissance Patrol Vehicles (BRDM), a whole family of trucks, “Zaporozhets” cars (Soviet era rear wheel drive subcompact cars), “Tavria” cars (front wheel drive subcompact cars), LuAZs (Utility Terrain Vehicles manufactured at the Lutsk Automobile Plant), trams, and trolleys.

The Kozitski’s collection exhibits a “Pobeda” car that starred in the movie Territory, based on the book by Oleg Kuvaev, and an old “Datsun” driven by a Japanese admiral in 1945. Among the artifacts of the museum is a six-meter manual assembly black ZIL-41047 limousine, in which the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation and future first Russian President, Boris Yeltsin, traveled in.

You’ll find this unique exhibit thoroughly fascinating and truly unforgettable.