New Commer

Spoke to a chap yesterday who said his friend had one of these Russian machines in his workshop :eek:. An 800cc 2 stroke engine......same as mine :oops:. Any ideas on what vehicle looks like a Commer, but isn't and is Russian!?!
 
This is probably the one, a Uaz 452

uaz--452-03.jpg


but by the size of the engine it sounds more like he's talking about a Barkas

Barkas-B-1000-729x486-980f8e90dcf13a69.jpg
 
I've always loved the Barkasz since my brother got this mysterious yellow plastic everything plastic van with a friction engine. Looked weird, but cute. Many years I found out that this was an Eastern European 2-cylinder two-stroke van with about as much pulling power as a well used rubber band..

The UAZ is a more "recent" discovery for me, first seeing it in the opening scene of "The Spy Game" with Brad Pitt trying to escape a Chinese hospital in one of those. Like the most bizzare thing ever (well. almost), I saw one for sale just south of Oslo on a national website here a few months ago. I haven't ever seen the things before, but spoke to my youngest brother about it - who told me that they are proper hardcore all wheel drive vehicles which actually are pretty capable of making their way just about anywhere. A quick search on YouTube left me no less impressed. Heavy old Russian machinery built to survive whatever you throw at it (well, nearly). So now I quite fancy the UAZ :)
 
Small bit of progress last week, Bob at the Archive Trust came back with a build date for the van so now just awaiting his forms so I can apply to register it again. It's been a painfully slow process with NOVA but with Bobs help we are getting there.
 
I was going to get one! I also took pics of one at the dump a guy was doing the dump run with his it was great to see.
 
Happy New Year all!

Just a quick update - the van is STILL NOT REGISTERED! It has been such a pain in the bum, mainly due to the HMRC being woeful. I received the second rejection letter over Christmas, saying it had still not been cleared by NOVA. I rang the HMRC who told me the VAT payment I paid on the 24th October for when it entered the country (and had to beg them initially 3 times to send me the bill) would take 10 days to clear :confused:. Seeing as it had nearly been 10 weeks I blew a gasket. I was then told after they spent the day chasing it that it was my fault for the delay 'As you had not chased this up until now I was unaware that payment had been made. Usually customers call to say they have paid and ask us to issue the NOVA letter'. So lesson learnt - when dealing with NOVA, do their job for them.... I'll perhaps stop paying my VAT returns seeing as they don't check what payments are made to them :D

A bit of work being carried out this month - Window screen seal is leaking so going to take that out and seal in along with replacing the 1/4 light seals. I am going to replace the wheels with the standard rims as the 13inch wheels whilst looking great are just not practical. The steering idler needs replaced and an electric fan being put in.

Next up will be to replace the wiring loom as it is a bit disjointed - obviously not something I will be doing! Tim is making a new tank and then hopefully going to help fit the overdrive box. And lastly, take it out finally.....and then the interior.
 
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