It’s still unbelievable how in a tiny capital of a little country as ours, where almost all people know each other in person, unique cars can not only suddenly appear but also vanish without trace from it.
By using the phrase “unique cars”, we primarily think of classic cars, which couldn’t be widely spread in Armenia just because of geographical reasons. I guess the brightest representatives of this category are all the cars of American origin. No matter whether it was a luxury Cadillac or Lincoln, a unique Buick or Pontiac, a gorgeous Chevrolet or Oldsmobile, all these cars were considered as disgusting legacy of the malicious capitalistic regime, and the rare holders of such cars were constantly under the close surveillance of KGB. For those reasons, it was almost impossible to see a foreign car on public roads during the Soviet period. It was rumored that in the early 60’s there was an airport employee named Spartak , who had the courage to drive his Cadillac in the soviet Yerevan. As far as I know, no mere mortal could get a job at soviet airports, and our hero was among those few special ones. The black Cadillac obviously stood out on the background of endless stream of indistinguishable soviet cars, thus attracting the attention of countless envious people. But times have changed and what was once considered as a “forbidden fruit”, now, depending on your financial capabilities, is quite accessible without the fear of political repression. But, unfortunately, the trouble is that no material thing lasts forever, as well as our hero with his gorgeous vehicle.
After the death of Spartak his car was a pain in the neck to his children, since it was no longer safe to use it without the communication might of their father. In order to keep the car out of sight, Spartak’s relatives concealed it at a car park close to the cycle track. In spite of the fact that the cycle track was located right in the city center, it was the most appropriate place to shield the car from prying eyes.
By that time the original 6.4 liter V8 engine had already been replaced with a ZMZ-13 soviet engine, which had the same amount of cylinders. According to unverified data, local craftsmen managed to aggregate it with the native 4-speed “Hydra-Matic” automatic transmission. It’s impossible to find out exactly how many years the Cadillac stood there idle. On the side of the old cycling track now there is a monotonous new building. Neither can we find old witnesses. This story could have developed into another urban legend, if there hadn’t been a single “but”… One day, walking through the back streets of the city in search of “car junk”, we came across the ghost-car and even managed to capture that great event by using the cameras of our phones. As you can see on the images, this is a Cadillac DeVille series 6300 in the modification 4-window sedan (index 6339B). This is a modification of the year 1959 and only 12308 units were produced throughout the whole period of its production. The body has a length of almost 6 meters. And although it’s in a deplorable condition, it can still attract you with it charisma and make you feel that it was once a magnificent car.
Interesting is that when we saw the car, it had just appeared in the yard, and no-one had any idea who it belonged to or where it came from. The next day, we came back for our new discovery, in order to collect some information about it and its owner, but to our utter regret and astonishment, we found nothing but an empty space. The ghost-car had vanished without trace. I think this story might soon be continued…
By using the phrase “unique cars”, we primarily think of classic cars, which couldn’t be widely spread in Armenia just because of geographical reasons. I guess the brightest representatives of this category are all the cars of American origin. No matter whether it was a luxury Cadillac or Lincoln, a unique Buick or Pontiac, a gorgeous Chevrolet or Oldsmobile, all these cars were considered as disgusting legacy of the malicious capitalistic regime, and the rare holders of such cars were constantly under the close surveillance of KGB. For those reasons, it was almost impossible to see a foreign car on public roads during the Soviet period.
It was rumored that in the early 60’s there was an airport employee named Spartak , who had the courage to drive his Cadillac in the soviet Yerevan. As far as I know, no mere mortal could get a job at soviet airports, and our hero was among those few special ones. The black Cadillac obviously stood out on the background of endless stream of indistinguishable soviet cars, thus attracting the attention of countless envious people.
But times have changed and what was once considered as a “forbidden fruit”, now, depending on your financial capabilities, is quite accessible without the fear of political repression. But, unfortunately, the trouble is that no material thing lasts forever, as well as our hero with his gorgeous vehicle.
After the death of Spartak his car was a pain in the neck to his children, since it was no longer safe to use it without the communication might of their father. In order to keep the car out of sight, Spartak’s relatives concealed it at a car park close to the cycle track. In spite of the fact that the cycle track was located right in the city center, it was the most appropriate place to shield the car from prying eyes.
By that time the original 6.4 liter V8 engine had already been replaced with a ZMZ-13 soviet engine, which had the same amount of cylinders. According to unverified data, local craftsmen managed to aggregate it with the native 4-speed “Hydra-Matic” automatic transmission.
It’s impossible to find out exactly how many years the Cadillac stood there idle. On the side of the old cycling track now there is a monotonous new building. Neither can we find old witnesses.
This story could have developed into another urban legend, if there hadn’t been a single “but”…
One day, walking through the back streets of the city in search of “car junk”, we came across the ghost-car and even managed to capture that great event by using the cameras of our phones. As you can see on the images, this is a Cadillac DeVille series 6300 in the modification 4-window sedan (index 6339B).
This is a modification of the year 1959 and only 12308 units were produced throughout the whole period of its production. The body has a length of almost 6 meters. And although it’s in a deplorable condition, it can still attract you with it charisma and make you feel that it was once a magnificent car.
Interesting is that when we saw the car, it had just appeared in the yard, and no-one had any idea who it belonged to or where it came from. The next day, we came back for our new discovery, in order to collect some information about it and its owner, but to our utter regret and astonishment, we found nothing but an empty space. The ghost-car had vanished without trace. I think this story might soon be continued…
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