Bulgaria Auctions Off Communist-Era Limousines
BalkanTravellers.com
The inclusion of 20 automobiles of the Soviet brand Chaika attracted the interest of collectors from Germany, Austria and Russia, the Romanian newspaper Evenimentul Zilei reported, adding that the starting price per vehicle was 11,500 euro.
“All presidents and prime ministers who visited Bulgaria between 1960 and 1990 rode in these automobiles,” representatives of Bulgaria’s National Security Service, which owns the cars now, told media. Among them were Fidel Castro, the now former leader of Cuba, and Valentina Tereshkova, a Soviet cosmonaut and the first woman to fly in space.
The Chaikas to be auctioned come complete with luxuries, such as Persian carpets and electronic gadgets, which were a rarity for that period, but later models of Volga and Lada automobiles will also be on offer.
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