Biglorryblog’s man in Russia and all-round good-egg Vladimir Chekhuta has sent me some nice pictures of massive MZKT Russian lorries in the past. However, for 2008 he’s kicked off with shots of the Kamaz truck range and along the way I‘ve learnt something I didn’t know before!
Vladimir tells me: “I’m sending you some different pictures of KAMAZ trucks. KAMAZ trucks aren’t so big a lorry as an MZKT but its plant is the biggest in Russia. And it’s spending a lot money on rallying so the brand is known in many parts of the world.” However, Vladimir goes on to say: “The weak spot of KAMAZ is its cab. For a long time the Russians used their own first type of cab which has been in production since 1976” and here’s an example of it pictured above.
“But in the 90s KAMAZ tried using various cabs from other European firms including this one based on a DAF 95 Series cab”—-something BLB was unaware of. "
"And also from the Finnish truck maker Sisu (which I did know). And here’s a shot of a KAMAZ tractor with a Sisu cab and Cummins engine." Now click through here to see the latest cab on the KAMAZ and exclusive news from Vladimir on what’s likely to replace it.
However, here's one more shot of the KAMAZ with a Sisu cab--on a rigid.
And here is the current model, which I reckon has a touch of the old Steyr/MAN M2000 cab about it don’t you? But what’s going to replace it in the future? Vladimir reveals that: “I’ve heard that the Russians will solve that problem with an MAN TGA cab.” By which BLB presumes it’s the old TGA cab that’s just been replaced by the TGS/TGX…which would make sense.
He finishes off by telling me: “KAMAZ is currently doing its own Euro-3 engine and using a license-built ZF transmission. I haven't heard about new engine for KAMAZ but I’ve seen spy's photos of a KAMAZ with an MAN cab in a Russian newspaper! Best wishes and Happy New Year!”
Great stuff Vladimir and thanks for the KAMAZ update. And if you do get a chance to take a picture of the new cab we’d love to see it on BLB!
It's interesting that long before the days of Glasnost and Peristroika (is that the correct spelling?) KAMAZ had a very efficient PR machine and their claim that they would "build 150,000 trucks a year" went from being a fictional and hopelessly optimistic boast to an "assumed" fact. I say assumed because as far As I know they never came anywhere close to producing that number of trucks in any year yet that same "statistic" was bandied about for years!Just shows that the pen is quite often mightier than the production facility.
I never knew Kamaz had built a truck with the DAF "cabtec" cab - that's a new one to me. The Hungarian manufacturer, Csepel, also built some of their last trucks with the Sisu cab as pictured on the Kamaz chassis.
I reckon the current Kamaz cab is just a modified version of the '76 model with a higher roof and new bumper arrangement. If you examine the cab shell the pressing lines look the same as the earlier version.
I remember UMO plant exhibited Kamaz trucks at the NEC Motor Show of 1978.
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