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For many decades various models of ‘ZiL‘ tracks (‘ZiL‘ is an acronym for ‘Zavod Imeni Likhacheva‘ - ‘The production plant named after Likhachev’) were dominant on the market… Oh, wait a minute.. What am I talking about?! - there was NO MARKET in the Soviet Union whatsoever.. OK, let’s put it that way: ‘they represented the most common type of the middle capacity truck in the country’s transportation industry‘, - how about that?

And of course, the mentioned Mr. Likhachev never was the plant’s OWNER

On this picture is shown one particular variant of a large track family originated from a core line prototype dubbed ‘ZiL-130′. Numerous modifications were built for utilizing a number of jobs, and with no doubt for very long they served a sort of ‘workhorse role’ for the industry. So, pictured here is a ’sedelnyi tyagach’, or a ‘trailer tractor’, and it was mainly used to haul a variety of long-sized loads, such as logs, poles, long concrete construction elements. My dad drove this track for a number of years. Before driving this one he worked on a few models of dump trucks, and all of them were of  a ‘ZiL’ make. I can assume, that after having had so many years of driving experience on various models of ZiLs, he eventually became an ‘expert of this trade’

You may believe it, or not, but I saw the same vehicle just… less than a week ago. It was in Santa Clara, Cuba, where we were flying to on the charter from Halifax.

It’s funny, - a little bit of ’spying’ needed in order to get this picture! The Cuban security guys weren’t sensitive enough when I asked them to turn to my mode, and let me go over that part of tarmac and rejoice with a subject of my ‘nostalgia’

P.S.

A more recent picture, taken in 2008, - again, in Cuba. This time there were no trouble with security whatsoever! Oh, those ‘unpredictable Cubans.. Got in ‘full contact with the past’…