Camping van made of UAZ-452 (known as ‘Bukhanka’, pan loaf in Russian).
It is my new project to build a camping van using a van manufactured at the Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant. I’m absolutely sure that it will not be a shining show car equipped with yacht gadgets and plastic sanitary ware. It takes a long time to build such a car and it would be a shame to ruin it. Neither will it be a fishing van with the classical handmade sleeping place as large as the entire passenger compartment.
It will eventually be something in between: a comfy and non-fancy automobile for long-haul family journeys that can travel both along paved roads and off-road. That’s all I have to say so far about this project. It’s the first time since I’ve bought my first UAZ Patriot that I stand on the verge of something vague but very interesting. I must admit it’s an extremely enjoyable feeling!
This car still has not been tuned and even has no name. No name at all: neither a regular nor a fancy one. Of course, it will eventually pop up by itself, but you can suggest a name through any of social networks. It might be the one I’m looking for! The Bukhanka van will be happy to be named, and you’ll get my compliments and a title of its godparent.
You can follow the tag to read about tuning and trips made on the Bukhanka van.
An expedition automobile UAZ Patriot ‘Apopheosis of Romance’
Yes, it’s my second UAZ Patriot car that appeared to replace the Little Truck. And yes, I’m fully aware of what I’m doing and I’m positive that this car is the best choice for long-haul journeys with quite harsh off-road conditions.
The life awaiting this car is not simple but quite interesting: this automobile is destined to become an ideal expedition vehicle from my viewpoint.
Yes, you have heard it right: an ideal expedition vehicle. With my first car, it was more about learning and experiments. So having gained some experience, I’m starting car modification.
Only the best technical solutions, optimal tuning, and best-proven specialty equipment will be used for this ‘construction toy’.
We say ‘no’ to gigantomania or designing tractor-like vehicles and are building a beautiful and functional car for long-distance journeys.
Within just half a year, the car has travelled over 25,000 km (15,335 miles) and been to the Ural Mountains and a long trip to Mongolia.
Follow this tag to read about the modification process of the Apopheosis of Romance and journeys made on it.
Cross-country Tula TMZ-5.952 motorcycle ‘Pursuing a Dream’
It is a Russian off-road motorbike, a blend of detachable equipment from an IZH Jupiter motorcycle and an engine taken from the Muravey scooter. The infernally low-speed engine with a forced air cooling system makes this bike a real off-roader, while wide knobby tires allow it to move nice and easy where feet might get bogged down.
I bought this apparatus for a good reason to achieve a long-pursued dream. In order not to accidentally frighten the dream away, I neither tell about it, nor answer any questions, nor announce any plans. You can only read about what has already been done: that’s not a secret. It’s pointless to ask questions. Once I have done something and written about it, feel free to read it.
You can follow the special tag to read about the life of the Tula motorcycle. All articles devoted to it have the ‘Pursuing a Dream’ prefix. I hope you enjoy reading them!
Expedition vehicle UAZ Patriot ‘Little Truck’
It was my first car and my first “project” (isn’t it an annoying word?) aside from the GAZ 66 truck and MTZ-80 tractor that I was driving in my happy rural childhood years. I have intentionally bought this car to be converted to a long-haul expedition vehicle.
The most interesting things happed after I had bought off-road tires and a winch. I became actively engaged in activities of the Novosibirsk branch of the All-Russia UAZ Patriot Club. The vehicle has been substantially modified for expedition purposes (the caster and kingpin inclination angles, the sleeping deck and roof rack, various little useful things, navigation, and ergonomics of the interior).
The key postulates for using this car:
1. It is a “long-haul vehicle”. It does not require Simex 35″ tires, or extreme body lift and mounting the electronic control computer under the vehicle roof.
2. It is my car for my pleasure. And if I decide to mount an antenna on its roof, the hole will definitely be drilled!
This car has experienced a lot: it has travelled all over the Novosibirsk region, ran to Mongolia and Lake Baikal, the Ural and Altai Mountains. It has travelled beyond the Arctic Circle twice.
Of course, the life during expeditions is rather harsh and takes away ‘health’ and service life from our cars. The Little Truck was no exception: when its odometer showed > 120,000 km (74,560 miles), most of which were the miles travelled outside cities, I sold it to a clubmate and started building the next expedition car using a UAZ Patriot vehicle as a platform.
Follow this tag to read about the difficult but vivid life of the Little Truck (its complete life story has not been published on the website yet, but I copy one or two articles from the Livejournal and Drive2 platforms almost every day.)
Expedition automobile GAZ Sobol (Russian for ‘Sable’) 4×4
In cooperation with Sarmat autocenter, we are designing a full-fledged expedition vehicle for comfortable, safe, and enjoyable journeys on the basis of the as-manufactured Sobol 4×4 car.
By now, the vehicle has been equipped with some hardware and two winches. A sleeping deck for two adults has been built. An air compressor, an autonomous heater, and a refrigerator have been integrated into the car’s ‘organism’. The car interior has been reorganized; the front seat conversion mechanisms have almost been constructed; and the ergonomics of driver’s and navigator’s seats has been improved.
Follow this link if you would like to learn what modifications can be done to a GAZ Sobol vehicle. Modifying the Sobol vehicle always arouses a storm of emotions, a great tornado of advice, and a sea of criticism.
Today, the Sobol vehicle impresses people passing by the showroom of the Sarmat autocenter at Bogdan Khmelnitsky Street in Novosibirsk. You can take a look, touch or even buy it. Unfortunately, I have got no chance to give it an offroad test: the directors liked the car so much they just could not withstand the mere idea that it can get damaged or scratched.
Off-road gastronomy
What is the difference between true bloggers and the ones just pretending to be a blogger? The true Internet gurus are permanently taking photos of their food while cooking, eating, and even digesting it. Then the bloggers get a bunch of likes as a reward, world fame, women of easy virtue, illegal drugs, and illicit liquor.
So why can’t we be as good as them? It does not matter that I actually have not been cooking (if using the everyday meaning of this word) for about ten years. This is not the point. The point is the desire to concoct something that appears once you get a gobbet of roe-deer venison that yesterday was running free.
Here you won’t find salads, choux pastries, or egg yolk cream.
Only food that you can cook over a campfire, pair with 15-year-old Armagnac while looking at the sunset, and ‘polish’ with a decent Partagas cigar.
Too lazy to cook? Then we’ll make a raid on a nice eatery. Do you want to know where they make the best khash soup along route M51? Follow the special tag and you’ll find an answer.
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