smh the inventor of communism didn’t travel by wrapping himself in a postal sack and demanding to be shipped by non-priority mail. contradictions

Lenin probably never even saw that particular car, never mind rode it it. Although he (along with others) did have use of a similar early Rolls Royce’s over the years. It was less about luxury and more about the fact that Rolls Royce has an engineering firm had a global reputation for reliability - especially in extreme weather - compare to other car manufacturers because of their experience making aeroplane engines and components.

If people are interested, the Surrey Vintage Vehicle Society put out a three part article tacing its provenance and clearing up some of the myths on the internet about it. That link starts on Part 3, which is the bit explicitly about that model and the cars Lenin did use, but it’s all interesting (if you’re a massive transport or history nerd). There’s a few minor, smug asides from the author, but the work is good and it contains some amusing details, like finding doucments showing that one car had to be returned to Moscow for repair because someone joyrode it and almost crashed into some cows.

While this car is often called “Lenin’s Rolls-Royce”, it should be noted that this was one of four Rolls-Royces maintained by a state-owned special garage for dignitaries and such during the Lenin years. Although Lenin did have a personal Rolls as well, it didn’t survive the Revolution - there’s no definitive record of what happened to it afaik, but a lot of cars were stolen or cannibalized for parts in those years, so it wouldn’t surprise me if that was its fate.

Was there a large discrepancy in price with cars back then? It doesn’t seem like there was enough difference between cars back in the day. The only thing I can think of is that the assembly line made them more affordable.

Not knowing much about it, I would guess that car culture has a lot to do with how the prices got set and how brands got elevated. It would have to develop over time

the chadmobile

Holy shit that fucking rules

love this gotcha shit. he was supposed to greet heads of state in a horse-driven cart wearing a barrel and suspenders. fuck you Smithsonian

I just misread the spoiler and left out the “against”

Half-track, full Chad.

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Lenin the driving crooner