GAZ-69

1964 GAZ 69

Offered by H&H Auctions | Newbury, England | September 19, 2012

Pretty beefy, eh? This Cold War-era Russian military truck is a cheap way to have fun with both an old car and a serious off-roader. Although it is listed as a GAZ-69, it is most likely a UAZ 69. What’s the difference?

Well, GAZ (or Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod… which translates to Gorky Automobile Plant)  is and has been one of Russia’s largest vehicle producers for a very long time. Founded in 1932 as NAZ (roughly, Nizhny Novgorod Automobile Plant, named after it’s location), it was a company set up by the Soviet Union and Ford. Well, the Soviets and western business never really got along and Ford was ousted after a year and it was renamed in honor of Maxim Gorky, a Soviet author and political activist.

GAZ has built cars over the years, but commercial and military vehicles are their specialty. The GAZ-69 was introduced as a light off-road truck for the Soviet Army in 1953. GAZ only built them through 1955, when production was taken over by UAZ (a similar, but different, company). UAZ built them through 1972. So this is technically a UAZ 69, but all UAZ models were referred to as GAZs, thus heightening confusion.

These were also built in Romania as ARO IMS-57. You can learn more about ARO vehicles on other parts of this website, namely here. The truck you see here has a 2.1-liter  straight-four making 55 horsepower. You can expect to pick it up for between $6,400 and $9,600. For more information, click here. And for more from H&H at Newbury Racecourse, click here.

Update: Sold $8,000.

DAF YA 126

1957 DAF YA 126

Offered by H&H Auctions | Buxton, U.K. | May 24, 2012

DAF, the Dutch truck manufacturer, is primarily known among car-types as the company that built small family cars in the 1960s – like the Daffodil. They were also the first company to sell a car with a Continuously Variable Transmission – that soul-sucking device used to improve fuel mileage.

Well, they built trucks first and continue to do so as a subsidiary of PACCAR, the Washington-state-based heavy-duty truck conglomerate. They have also been building military vehicles such as this for the Dutch military for many years.

This is a YA 126 – which isn’t as much as a model name as it is the first few digits of the chassis number. It is a popular truck among militaria collectors – there is a DAF YA 126 club in the Netherlands. In some ways it’s similar to the American “deuce and a half.” This truck is powered by a 4.6-liter straight-six that is described on H&H’s website as “meaty.” It has permanent four-wheel drive and is a canvas-topped troop carrier – with room in the back for six of your friends.

So if you’re in the market for cheap, fun way to, I don’t know… say, roll up to a paintball match in style – then this is your truck. It’s estimated to sell for between $6,400-$8,000. For the complete catalog description click here. For the rest of the H&H lineup at Pavilion Gardens, click here.

Update: Sold $4,900.