Russian Microcars?

May has been a big traveling month for me, including a few weeks in St. Petersburg, Russia.  I thought I’d see some microcars there because of high gas prices and generally smaller roads like the rest of Europe. I couldn’t have been further off base.

I did see one Microcar; the Smart coupe in the picture below (I might be stretching the definition of microcar here).  Otherwise, not one in site.

Smart Coupe- Is it a microcar?

There’s a huge variety of cars in St. Petersburg. Gas is relatively inexpensive (less than $4.00 per gallon) and they have every kind of car you can imagine. Everything from Chevy Suburbans to small Russian 4WD cars to “Great Wall” cars from China. From almost no cars in Soviet times to millions of vehicles as Russia has become a major economic and oil power, St. Petersburg is struggling with the influx- lots of cars, parking everywhere is free, and you can even park on the sidewalk!

I saw lots of other interesting items too, including the first AK-47 in its own mirrored shrine:

The first AK-47, at the St. Petersburg Artillery Museum

Look for more Heinkel posts in the near future!