1949 Aero Minor
An undoubted star of the exposition of the 22nd Oldtimer – Gallery became a Czechoslovak Aero Minor — a small car, presented in 1949 to the great leader of all peoples Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin on his 70-th jubilee. The Minor was considered to be lost for a long time and only in summer 2013 it was discovered in Russian province standing under the shed in the kitchen-garden. After that the car underwent a full restoration cycle in the workshop “Auto-heritage”.
The fact itself that Stalin’s car was found, notably in quite a complete state is an apparent motive for a sensation. The news about finding the historical Minor spread itself all over the Internet, appeared in newspapers and magazines, came out on TV. In Czechia this event sparked a real furor — till that moment the admirers of the mini-car had seen Stalin’s Aero Minor only in the photos. To the credit of the present owner all the offers to sell the car into Czechia were rejected.
To assemble the Minor for comrade Stalin the workers of the plant Rudý Letov labored on their days off, and they paid all materials from the money, which they earned for voluntary Saturday work at a collective farm. An official greeting from the plant workers was appended to the gift sparkling with lacquer and chrome: “Dear comrade Stalin! We congratulate You on the 70-th anniversary of Your birth and wish You solid health in order You will lead the working people all over the world to socialism for a rather long time far in the future. We swear You that we, the workers of the plant Rudý Letov, believing ardently in verity and invincibility of Marxist-Leninist teaching, will build socialism in our dear Motherland under the leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia with Your pupil at the head, our President comrade Clement Gotwald.”
But the most interesting thing was that in the process of the Minor restoration two unofficial messages from the workers of the plant Rudý Letov were found out hidden in the automobile itself. Inside a right front fender there was a note on the sheet of paper glued to the metal: “The workers of CSSR, Prague send a present and their best to comrade Ozif Stalin on his 70-th birth anniversary 2/XII 1949”. The inscription with a pencil on the cardboard: “The respect and gift on the 70-th birth anniversary to comrade Ozef Stalin from the workers of Czechoslovakia” was made on the underside of the right door covering.
The fact itself that Stalin’s car was found, notably in quite a complete state is an apparent motive for a sensation. The news about finding the historical Minor spread itself all over the Internet, appeared in newspapers and magazines, came out on TV. In Czechia this event sparked a real furor — till that moment the admirers of the mini-car had seen Stalin’s Aero Minor only in the photos. To the credit of the present owner all the offers to sell the car into Czechia were rejected.
To assemble the Minor for comrade Stalin the workers of the plant Rudý Letov labored on their days off, and they paid all materials from the money, which they earned for voluntary Saturday work at a collective farm. An official greeting from the plant workers was appended to the gift sparkling with lacquer and chrome: “Dear comrade Stalin! We congratulate You on the 70-th anniversary of Your birth and wish You solid health in order You will lead the working people all over the world to socialism for a rather long time far in the future. We swear You that we, the workers of the plant Rudý Letov, believing ardently in verity and invincibility of Marxist-Leninist teaching, will build socialism in our dear Motherland under the leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia with Your pupil at the head, our President comrade Clement Gotwald.”
But the most interesting thing was that in the process of the Minor restoration two unofficial messages from the workers of the plant Rudý Letov were found out hidden in the automobile itself. Inside a right front fender there was a note on the sheet of paper glued to the metal: “The workers of CSSR, Prague send a present and their best to comrade Ozif Stalin on his 70-th birth anniversary 2/XII 1949”. The inscription with a pencil on the cardboard: “The respect and gift on the 70-th birth anniversary to comrade Ozef Stalin from the workers of Czechoslovakia” was made on the underside of the right door covering.
