You can talk for as long as you like about whether or not life was good under the communist regime. But hardly anyone will argue with two things. Firstly, the USSR was a great state. Secondly, products in those days were made for centuries. The history of the Soviet Union is divided into several eras, each of which is directly connected with rather tragic events of a global scale. First of all, this is war, therefore it is not surprising that all the forces of the state were aimed at strengthening the army and military power.
Mass consumer goods were also produced, but their assortment was scarce, and some shipments were almost piece-wise. Especially scarce were considered high-quality and interesting children's goods: clothes, shoes, girls' dolls and boyish cars. Toys of the USSR are generally a separate topic for discussion, because they got it with great difficulty. Therefore, they were valuable for both children and adults.
Queue, “thieves” or ... nothing
The basis of the Union’s economy was strict centralization. Upstairs, in the ministries, all issues were resolved. The instructions concerned absolutely everything. So, officials made decisions about which republic, which plant, and which template would make furniture, textiles, tableware, clothes, and even children's cars. Toys of the USSR were also produced according to plan and according to agreed designs.
Among them were cheap products for the masses of working people. But on sale there were quite rare, collectible models. If dolls and small dolls were no different, then iron cars are toys of the USSR, which collectors from all over the world dream of getting into personal bins. Replenishing stocks of toy cars of those times has always been a difficult and costly affair.
Limited editions, as well as a relatively high price, became a serious obstacle for children and parents, so toys were not bought often, but if a child was given such a gift, he cherishes his jewel like the apple of an eye.
Children will not understand
It is very difficult for modern children living in the era of a developed market economy, when the stalls are full of lots of different goods for every taste and budget, to understand how the guys living in the last century could spend hours looking at a dozen cars in the store window and dreaming of collecting this collection for years . In the "Children's World" and in the departments of supermarket toys you could always buy inexpensive plastic cars.
Toys of the USSR did not differ in brightness and functionality. They were simple, reliable and strong, made with the expectation that the child would play with them for more than one year. There were also several interactive games in the assortment (“Driving”, “Young Driver”), in which the player controlled the machine using the steering wheel, in addition, there were models with remote control.
The peak of production and prevalence of these toys occurred during space exploration, and therefore among them were a moon rover, a planet rover and futuristic cars. Toys of the USSR were rich in various variations of machines with an inertial mechanism. Among them, racing cars, the Barkhan SUV and reduced copies of real Muscovites, UAZs and Volga cars produced at that time were especially popular.
Dream
The most coveted toys are USSR auto-legend cars, exact copies of their older brothers, only on a reduced scale. These were model models, 43 times smaller than real cars, but their pride was the highest quality and beautiful appearance.
These toys are now the greatest financial value in private collections. During production, the cost of such cars fluctuated around 10 rubles - the amount for which a family of 3-4 people could live quite quietly a week. The prototypes of these toys were IZh, VAZ, Moskvich, UAZ, ZIL, ambulances, police, emergency services, rare cars Pobeda, Volga, Chaika, which have already become a rarity. Everything was good in them: a strong metal case, hinged doors, an opening hood, a trunk, and sometimes even luminous headlights.
Non-kids games
These are wonderful toys of the USSR - cars that were proudly demonstrated by children among classmates, and even the fathers of families happily turned their dreams in their hands, albeit in a much smaller version. It was metal models that were most often collectibles and rarely made for mischievous games in the yards. Thanks to this, a lot of them have survived to the present day.
In flea markets and auctions, you will have to pay a lot of money for such a car, especially if there were no changes in its original appearance. Cars in perfect condition, in which all the parts are in place, factory painting, or even packaging, is preserved, can be sold on specialized trading floors for 3-4 thousand rubles. Their less fortunate counterparts, rusted or with other defects, are offered for more acceptable 1-1.5 thousand.
Wooden toys
But many forgotten toys of the USSR - wooden cars. Now you can sometimes find small trucks with a wooden cabin and a body. These are rather angular, heavy cars, but their strength and endurance are their pluses. What can I say, children often saddled such instances on horseback and rode them along long corridors.
Even the most reliable metal toys could not stand such a disrespectful relationship, so now they are extremely rare on sale. Other wooden amusements of the Soviet Union were beautifully decorated hens and cockerels, gurneys and rocking horses.
Heavy trucks
No less favorite toys in the USSR are trucks. That distant country was rich in both strong trucks and dump trucks of various caliber and composition. Most often they were made of tin and plastic or in their combined combination (the cabin is made of durable plastic, and the body is metal).
Up to now, quite a few such toys have existed, not only small trucks for home games, but also models designed for hiking on the street. There was no greater joy for the boys than dragging a weighty metal colossus along the road, while loading it with stones and sticks found in the courtyard.
A bit of prose
But, of course, the most affordable, and therefore popular in the USSR, were inexpensive plastic toys. Among the machines made of plastic, various trucks, tractors and other toy agricultural and construction equipment were sold in stores (you could even find a combine, a concrete mixer, a crane).
Unlike metal counterparts, who were not rich in decoration, glass and headlights were present in such cars. Sometimes electromechanical models with remote control went on sale.
The distinctive features of plastic toys of that time were rather faded colors that did not fade over time, and extreme resistance to shock and wear, which made them practically indestructible.
Pedal cars
The top dreams of any child were pedal toys of the USSR. Cars, the photos of which are presented, are not copies of any particular cars, the designers developed toys of free design. Nevertheless, they quite clearly demonstrate the engineering fashion of the last century.
Such a pedal car was equipped with a wide and comfortable seat, steering wheel and, actually, a pedal mechanism. Acceleration she took, albeit small, but with proper dexterity, the driver could go at a speed of up to 8 km / h, which with considerable weight (about 15 kg) was quite impressive and dangerous. Such cars were rare in children. Produced in small quantities. But even despite the decent price (25 Soviet rubles), they sold out very quickly.
Until our time, there are not very many such cars. But those that are, many owners are restoring. Then put up for auction, helping out a lot of money for old toys.