Andrey Mikhailov, photo by the author
Buses of the extensive LAZ-695 Lviv family, founded in the mid-fifties, became real long-livers in production: their production continued for more than half a century. Alas, time is steadily moving forward, and Lviv classics are actively leaving the stage. Among the many thousands of cars produced, only a few remain - but what!
History decreed that the LAZ-695N became the most massive bus in the entire history of the Lviv plant. Both in terms of the length of the conveyor life and in terms of the total circulation, he was able to cover all his predecessors (and successors) combined - over 170 thousand buses of this model were produced over the years.
The long-lived model, LAZ-695N comrades, lasted on the Lviv conveyor from 1976 to 2004. After that, the release of the 695 model continued for several more years at the LAZ branch in the Dnepropetrovsk region, at the Dneprodzerzhinsky car repair plant. In addition to factories in Lvov and Dneprodzerzhinsk, in the nineties, buses of this family were produced at the Michurinsky car repair plant in the Tambov region.
LAZ-695N was the basis for a large family, including its brothers - models LAZ-697 and LAZ-699, and provided the basis for many other modifications - improved versions of LAZ-695R and LAZ-695NE, LAZ-695NG gas cylinders, diesel LAZ-695D and LAZ-695T with MMZ and YaMZ engines, respectively. At the turn of the century, there was even a separate long-distance version of the "695th", a kind of heir to the discontinued LAZ-697.
Simple and unpretentious old manholes continue to work in many regions today. But this copy, carefully preserved by the previous owner and brought to perfect condition by the new owner, like any other collectible bus, is still special.
Purchase
After the completion of the restoration of RAF-22038-02, its happy owner, Ivan, known in a number of Internet communities under the nickname Volganin-SU, thought about a really big car. A big car is a bus, Soviet, and urban - the cabin is more spacious, lighter, and nothing prevents passengers from communicating. Undoubtedly, the first thing that comes to mind is the LiAZ-677 that has prevailed for many years in the cities, but, alas, its operation is difficult, and there are no adequate offers of the 677s on the secondary market today. As a rule, LiAZ sellers try to get rid of a battered and rotten bus at an inflated price, unreasonably assessing its real value.
The second option that was considered was the LAZ-695N: there are still more such machines in operation, their design is much simpler, and during the period described, there were several worthy collector's buses on sale. The closest option to Moscow was the LAZ-695N built in 1989, which worked at a defense plant in the city of Zhukov, in the Kaluga region.
I liked the bus right away: this “695th” was rarely and extremely carefully used, kept in a warm, dry box, and the same fixed driver worked in the “mailbox” for more than ten years. In a past life, LAZ traveled only with the children of factory workers to a pioneer camp, and occasionally took factory employees on business trips to the capital. Over time, the bus practically stopped working as unnecessary, and for the last three years of its life at the plant, it stood without getting out under the roof of a heated garage, which allowed it to remain almost in its original form. Moreover, in 2004 the bus was overhauled at the factory. The most optimistic expectations regarding the condition of the car were surpassed, doubts were dispelled, and the bus was added to the collection of its current owner.
By tradition, the new owner LAZ also received a proper name - "Festival". The parallel with the LAZ-695 is simple: the first buses of the family were produced for the sixth World Festival of Youth and Students in 1957, held in Moscow, and specifically during the period of active production and the heyday of the LAZ-695N, the 12th festival took place, which took place in 1985, also in Soviet capital.
LAZ-697: specifications
- Bus dimensions, m - 9.19 x 2.5 x 2.99 (length, width, height, respectively).
- Curb weight - 6 tons 950 kg.
- The total weight of the machine is 10 tons 230 kg.
- Clearance - 27 cm.
- The maximum speed is 80 km / h.
- The power of the power unit is 109 l / s.
- Gearbox - mechanical with five steps.
- Clutch - single-plate type, dry, equipped with a hydraulic drive.
- The width of the doorway is 84 cm.
- The number of seats for passengers is 33.
- Passage width - 45 cm.
- The minimum turning radius is 9.6 m.
On the way to perfection
The total mileage of the bus at the time of sale was 185 thousand kilometers, but here we need to make a reservation: this is not only a modest figure for such a car as a whole, but it should also be taken into account that 10 years ago it visited the Kaluga ArZ. At the LAZ repair plant, the base of the body was restored, the bus was sheathed on the outside, the interior was updated and the engine was replaced, which had not passed even 30 thousand kilometers since installation - according to the sellers, these works cost the company 500 thousand rubles. Thus, the overhaul provided the bus with eternal youth: its appearance and technical condition are close to those in which it once left its native assembly line.
However, the restoration at the ARZ left its mark: during bodywork, the driver's door was sheathed with a flat sheet, when initially its surface had stampings. Also at the repair plant, the hatch for loading the wounded in the front was eliminated: now the car looks a few years younger than it is, since the plant abandoned it in 1991. However, it should be noted that the appearance of these two parts does not suffer, and the car itself looks like a big toy.
Already at the time of purchase, "Festivalny" impressed with its safety: shining and even sides, perfectly clean and well-groomed interior, stable working units. Not every modern bus after 3-4 years of operation looks and drives the same way. You might think that he arrived in the capital as a ready-made museum exhibit, but there are no limits to perfection, and the process of fine-tuning the car to the ideal began to boil.
After a long stop, the inner world of LAZ demanded attention: in addition to routine maintenance operations (oil and air filter changes), the carburetor was replaced and adjusted, the centrifuge was cleaned of deposits, and the ignition was adjusted. If earlier the bus consumed AI-80 gasoline, then due to its complete absence in the capital, the car had to be “retrained” for the common AI-92.
Although the bus was preserved in a state close to ideal, during the period of operation it received a number of minor cosmetic defects - something was wrinkled, something turned rusty, and the paintwork of the roof had significant holes. However, greenhouse conditions and the thick metal of the body did not allow corrosion to spread, and all this was eliminated in a few days in a familiar and beaten path: stripping, processing and re-painting from a spray gun with selected enamel. By the way, for the selection of paint, the owner had to take to the workshop no less than the middle section of the front skirt - and there was no limit to the diva of the masters.
With the onset of cold weather, an unpleasant phenomenon came to light: along with the inclusion of heating, smoke began to enter the cabin, which does not at all add to the pleasant sensations from the trip. Heating at LAZ-695 is powered by heat from the radiator compartment, which is located in the stern, and the direction of movement of warm air - out or into the cabin - is determined by the position of the damper, which has petrified over many years of inactivity. In its past life, the bus left only in the warm season, and the flow of warm air into the cabin was deliberately excluded - up to plugging the air supply channel along the left side with a rag that once served as a jersey. Through the hatch between the engine and radiator compartments, smoky air from the first was sucked into the cabin, which created discomfort. The smoky air in the engine compartment was reduced by introducing a drain hose into the oil filler neck leading under the bus. However, after the heating system was brought to life, the bus again became warm and cozy even in the winter cold.
An important advantage of buses that worked as service buses is also the excellent preservation of the passenger compartment. The contingent there usually travels the same, so random people do not tend to leave their mark there. Add a little thrift and we get the perfect condition that we see in this car. The ceiling panels were not affected by the repair, the side trim was updated at the repair plant, and the seats, after restoration, were preserved in perfect integrity and safety. They are arranged a little differently.
Attention to detail always affects the quality of recovery. In order to live up to the name, stickers with the emblem of Forum 1985, the 1985 Youth and Student Festival, appeared on the bus, which can be seen in the corners of the windows. Outside, "Volgov" fog lights were added, which took empty places under the front bumper, small details of the optics were updated, and the black headlight rims gave way to the corresponding chrome ones found in the bins of the Motherland. As the internal space of the car was mastered, various kinds of artifacts also began to appear in the cabin: pennants on the cabin partition, the Soviet flag, and even an authentic first-aid kit hanging under the panel at the front door. In its own way, the stylish “Service” sign in place of the route sign went to the bus from the previous place of work, and the buyer persuaded the sellers separately to keep it complete with the car.
During the overhaul, the so-called TGU, a transport loud-speaking device, was dismantled from the bus. Apparently, the customer of the work considered that without it the car was quite capable of performing its functions: the connector for the device on the dashboard was tightened with leatherette, and the device itself was put aside in a box, where it was later found. After cleaning and soldering, the TSU with a microphone was put back in place, and in addition, speakers and a modern car radio appeared on the shelf behind the back row, which were hidden from view. As a result, the bus can work quite adequately with a guide, and the holiday in the cabin will not remain in silence.
Body and interior
Wagon-type body with load-bearing base. Number of doors 3: two passenger hinged 4-leaf, and a driver's door. The width of the passenger door opening is 830 mm. Ventilation is natural. The heating system is calorific from the engine cooling system.
Number of seats 34, total capacity - 60 people. The seats are arranged in 4 rows, the last 5 seats are combined into one sofa, consisting of 3 sections (two 2-seater and one single). In cars of different years of manufacture, 1 service place is also provided near the rear door.
The driver's seat is movable in 3 directions. Controls and instruments are located organically, control devices with large dials are very informative.
New life
I cannot but note that the owner of the "festival" gets a lot of positive emotions from the creative process of working on the bus and driving it. In many ways, learning about a new design for yourself and working on a car in a pleasant company is an interesting experience even for a person who has owned many different cars. Each new step in the bus world becomes a kind of achievement, but while there are no "rights" of category "D", rare trips in the pilot's seat - even in closed areas - cause him real boyish joy.
Among other things, the bus not only pleases the eye of the owner, but also periodically works for its intended purpose. It carries, of course, no longer factory workers: now LAZ serves various kinds of orders, primarily weddings and holidays, acts in films and often appears at various events related to retro technology. For example, in the summer they drove it to Tula to the Autostrada, and in September it became an exhibit at the Automotive Industry exhibition in the Cosmos pavilion on the territory of the revived VDNKh. The latter was a real recognition for the bus and its owner: it is on a par with the exhibits of the best collections in the country, which means it corresponds to the level they set.
In the next series
After the fall of the Union, LAZ began to lose the title of the flagship of the post-Soviet bus industry.
Despite the fact that many new models managed to go into series after the classic family, the rapid decline in demand for large buses, on the one hand, and economic isolation and the loss of large markets, on the other, could not but make themselves felt. At the end of the nineties, the annual production of buses went from thousands to hundreds, in the new century to dozens, and in recent years it has been exclusively single. Since 2006, LAZ has been in a state of sluggish bankruptcy and has been fighting creditors in litigation. In recent years, the plant has been fulfilling rare and small orders - primarily for trolleybuses in bodies, which were prepared with the expectation of large tenders of the cities participating in Euro 2008 (welding of new bodies stopped back in 2011). Now that the country's economy has felt especially bad, the plant has stopped even applying for tenders and is slowly dying, losing personnel and its last vitality.
The plant in Dneprodzerzhinsk, where the production of the old family was transferred, produced the LAZ-695 in a fairly limited amount. By 2008, the production of new bodies was stopped, and the rest began to be sold only as repair ones to “replace” the old ones (in fact, the bus turned out to be new). Such cars appeared until 2011, on which the history of the illustrious family ended.
