In October 2006, another car of the GAZ 31105 series was “born”, that is, exactly two years before the end of production of the last Volg family (in 2008). In November of the same year, he passed into my possession.
For readers who are not familiar with the Volga family of cars, I will say that since 1952, work has been carried out in parallel on two independent M-21 projects under the mottos Zvezda (design artist - John Williams) and Volga (design artist - Lev Eremeev). As a result, the name "Volga" was chosen.
On the development of the GAZ 31105 series, you can read articles written in Russian using a translator. It is also worth referring to the Wikipedia article, also in Russian (since it is more complete than in the English version), which contains information about all the cars of the Gorky Automobile Plant (GAZ), including the Volga.
I remember that due to the lack of enough money I had a dilemma that year (in the year of purchase - 2006) whether to buy a used foreign car, or a new Volga. I had experience operating used foreign cars at that time. An old Volkswagen Jetta of 1981, imported from Germany, which was driven by a German for 12 years, then my dad for 3 years, and then I was for another 10 years. In 2006 he was 25 years old.
Contrary to the prevailing opinion in Russia about the super-quality of foreign cars, as with any other equipment, there were problems with it, although when my dad bought it, its mileage was 87 thousand kilometers, not so much. Due to the lack of spare parts, and their high cost, it was necessary to install converted and fitted parts from the cars of the Volga Automobile Plant (VAZ).
Given previous experience, I decided not to repeat myself, and gave preference to a new, domestic car.
When I bought the Volga, there was a choice to take either with the 406 engine of the Zavolzhsky Motor Plant (ZMZ), or with the EDZ engine, from the Chrysler company. I still voted for the Chrysler engine. Although ZMZ engines are also of good quality.
I will not write about all the advantages of the Volga 31105, which distinguished it from the old Jetta in terms of comfort. Let me tell you, there were many. And what to write? A lot of articles have been written about the comfort of the Volga. Let me just say that I fell in love with the Volga then.
To date, only 106,000 km (65,865 miles) have been covered on the Volga. The condition of the car over the years has not changed much. The engine runs like clockwork, there is corrosion only in a few places (at the corners of the doors, and along the lower edge of the thresholds).
And everything would be fine, I would have traveled further, but the trouble is, in April 2019, the car suffered from a fire of a Gazelle on fire (the name of the truck, also of the GAZ brand), which was standing nearby in the parking lot. The whole side was burnt on the left side.
Since I used the car every day lately, I had to urgently buy another car.
Sometime later, after my family and I had calmed down from what we had experienced, the question arose of what to do with the Volga, to hand it over for analysis (for scrap), or to restore it.
I didn’t want to hand it over for analysis, because for so many years the car served faithfully. Yes, and money for it in this state, I would not get much.
In addition, it remained in working condition, the engine started, almost all electrical equipment worked. The electrical wiring in the area of the block with the relay and plug connectors was slightly damaged.
The restoration, according to the most conservative estimates, should have taken about 70-80 thousand rubles ($1100-1200). In addition to buying parts, I would have to do everything myself, including painting, which I never did.
Another problem was finding spare parts for the Volga. They can still be found on the chassis and engine, but the body iron and trim elements are very difficult.
I thought I thought, but attachment to the "swallow" outweighed the upcoming costs and labor. It is worth noting that getting attached to things is a bad trait.
First of all, in May 2019, he began to “dig” the Internet in search of spare parts. I found almost everything in the catalogs, except for some small things on the door. Based on financial capabilities, for two months I purchased the parts found through the Autopiter website. At the time of this writing (in 2019), it remained to buy a windshield, a rear and front bumper (buffer), power windows and a left side rear-view mirror. I decided to leave the doors and the front fender, which suffered the most, and restore it, since, most likely, the heating of the iron was in the region of 200-300 degrees Celsius, and therefore it only warmed up. Although I would like to buy new ones. I found new ones at Autopiter, but they were expensive. One door cost only about ten thousand rubles ($154).
From July 1, 2019, he rented a garage box and began repairs. More on this in the following articles.