Biglorryblog's favourite globetrotting Pole Mariusz Kościński is back on BLB after being away for far too long! And he's been to the recent War and Peace Show, at the Whitbread Hop Farm near Maidstone in Kent.
"Apart of getting a sunburn and a plenty of photos of various tanks, troop carriers, Jeeps and Land Rovers I also managed to snap quite a few trucks." And when Mariusz says 'a few' you can assume he means 'alot'!
And in particular he's captured some great Iron Curtain kit too as he explains: "There were also some Russian GAZ and KRAZ trucks together with a MAZ 537 rocket launcher prime mover as well as Czechoslovakian made Praha V3S, East German IFA W50 and Polish made Star 25L. Regards Mariusz..." And here they are---all you have to do is tell me which is which for a pie! And click through here for more....
And what are these little 'uns?
Looks American..but it isn't,...so what is it?
Just the ticket for taking the mother-in-law out for a drive.
Super stuff Mariusz...so how did you do BLB army?
There was someone running an IFA similar to the one in the first picture, (no crewcab and van body), around Hereford some time ago, it operated with a pressure cleaner trailer cleaning blockplave etc.
Looks American..but it is a Czechoslovakian-built Praga V3S powered by a 6-cylinder air-cooled Tatra diesel. Production ceased around 1990.
"These little 'uns" are Soviet-built GAZ 66 4x4s. Production of those ceased around 1999.
Cheers from Poland.
Andrzej
The 'small trucks you have pictured are Gaz 66
The American looking truck is a Praga with an air cooled diesel engine, they sound great and are very capable off road.
Pictures in order are
Pic 1: Star (Polish built)
Pic 2: Kraz 255b
Pic 3: Zil 131
Pic 4: Gaz 66
Pic 5: Praga V3S
Pic 6: Maz 537
Pic 7: IFA W50
Just had this forwarded to me by gerald Woodgate at tachoblog
Russian Trucks.
Posted by Mike Ponsonby BA at 31/07/2009 09:24 AM
Good Morning Brian,
The eight wheeler looks like a Russian copy of the German Faun Elefant, which was principally built as an 8x8 tractor unit for Tank Carrier applications. But this Russian copy was clearly manufactured as a Missile carrier, Fuel Tanker or Water Bowser with Russian versions probably built by MAZ, or variant factorys who called their products Kamaz, Belaz or Volat.
The Six wheeler depicted is a Tatra, built for Eastern block armys in Czechoslavakia in the 1970's.
Kind Regards
Mike Ponsonby BA
To Neil:
Your identification is spot on, except that Pic. 1 shows an IFA, while Polish-built Star 25L mobile workshop unit is shown on Pic. 7.
Andrzej from Poland