Until Riga Motor Museum you will drive your own car for quite some time, and on the bus or tram - even longer. But this is not fearful, because then you will be stuck here not for one hour. The museum stands in Mezciems, in a rather deserted residential area, far from tourist places, and not all Riga residents know how to get there. But in terms of the richness of the collections, it is one of the best such museums not only in the post-Soviet space, but throughout Europe.
"Kremlin" collection boasts top class limousines on which members of the Politburo traveled. Among them Brezhnev's Rolls-Royce, presented by the government to M. Gorky Lincoln, armored ZIS and ZIL, on which Khrushchev and Stalin traveled.
The old cars museum in Riga was founded by an antique car club, created in 1972. Specially for the museum, according to the original design project, a modern building of Finnish materials was built. They opened the museum in 1989, and in 1992 it received the status of the state in the Ministry of Communications. Today, here on an area of about 3,000 square meters. meters and there are several permanent expositions at three levels, and another one is more interesting
Old Cars Museum in Riga
The collection of Latvian modes of transport includes two-wheeled vehicles and a special pride of the museum - the old Rousseau-Balt fire truck with a wooden body . The same collection includes passenger and minibuses produced at the Riga bus factory RAF . "Kremlyovskaya" collection boasts top class limousines on which members of the Politburo traveled . Among them Brezhnev's Rolls-Roy s ", donated by the government to M . Gorky Lincoln, armored ZIS and ZIL, on which Khrushchev and Stalin traveled . The expensive foreign cars of the 1930s were lined up here: Pakkardy, Buicki and t . d . A collection of pre-war vehicles and motorcycles from around the world includes legends such as Ford-T (1919 .) and Chevrolet-Superior F (1924 .), as well as specific creations of the German automotive industry: rare Horch-853, Mercedes-Benz 170V, BMW-328 . Among them there are also a variety of old Soviet cars .
Of separate interest is the exhibition of racing cars and cars first to set the sports records. Her pearl is the German Union C / D of 1938. And on the ground floor visitors are waiting for a hall with special and military equipment, including cars that took part in the battles on the Eastern Front during the Second World War. Lend-lease American "Studebakers" and "jeeps", as well as motorcycles "Harley-Davidson" and "Indian" are also shown here. Finally, the museum has a collection of Latvian sports motorcycles of different ages.
In addition to cars as such, the Motormuseum can admire the original 30th-century Shell gas station, the 20th century horse-drawn dugout (wooden car-cabriolet) and an identical copy of the gray Soviet telephone booths. On the wall proudly stands a stand with samples of various automobile license plates.
At the museum of old cars, there is an own restoration workshop, which works not only for its own needs, but also restores exhibits of other auto museums, for example, from Germany.
In 2014 the Motor Museum was closed for reconstruction, and part of the exposition temporarily moved to Kekava volost, to the other end of Riga
Audi 920 cabrio, Old Car Museum in Riga
Ford Eifel, Old Car Museum in Riga
La France Roadster, Old Car Museum in Riga
Mercedes Benz 320B cabrio, Old Cars Museum in Riga