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1932 RUSSIAN ZIS-101 - FIRST LIMO COPIED FROM 1932 BUICK 90L
In early 1930s without any licensing arrangements Soviet engineers copied the first limousine car for Communist party executives. In 1932 six limousines were copied off the American Buick 90L. However, later the factory production line was switched to producing caterpillar tractors,so the limousine business was shifted to Moscow Stalin Factory.
The car, based on the engine of the Buick and the body copied off the Cadillac, was given another non-poetic name, ZIS — 101. It also had Buick radiator bars.
By the beginning of the Second World War there were three huge car factories in the USSR. Despite the fact that the USSR already had its own highly educated and talented engineers, the very first post-war limousine ZIS-110 was also a copy of an obsolete American car. When making a decision about the launch of a new car, the engineers selected four models – Packard 180, Packard Clipper, Cadillac 75 and Cadillac 63. Stalin himself was to make the decision, and he picked the Packard 180.
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