An antique ZIS-115 car – a heavily armored limousine that purportedly carried around Joseph Stalin himself – has been stolen in Moscow. The missing vehicle is estimated to be worth around $2.8 million.
The incident, which took place overnight in the north of Russia’s capital, has been reported by social media outlet BAZA. The rare vehicle, which was sitting in a garage, was stolen by six people who broke in and took the ZIS-115 with a tow truck.
В Москве украли лимузин Сталина.
ЗИС-115 — уникальный советский автомобиль. Он предназначался для высших советских чинов, и с 1949 года на нем катался лично Иосиф Виссарионович. Машина находилась в гараже на севере Москвы. pic.twitter.com/zZsSAUldZU
It must be quite a tow truck, since the limo weighs a whopping 4.2 tons. The car features very heavy armor capable of withstanding an FMJ rifle-caliber bullet from a distance of 25 meters (including hits on the windows), as well as an underbelly grenade explosion.
It was not immediately clear why the rare vehicle was sitting in a regular (and apparently not-that-well guarded) garage, since only 56 cars of the type were produced in 1949-55. The car was based on the ZIS-110 unarmored limo, and the creators did their best to make the two vehicles indistinguishable.
The ZIS-110 limo was produced in significantly larger numbers – over 2,000 of all modifications. Apart from carrying around high-profile Soviet officials, many were used as long-rage taxies. They certainly knew how to roll with style back in the 1950s!
While the incident was widely publicized by Russian media, no official information is available so far.
