Lucky strike! ZIL bus 158

On May 26, in the territory of the Krasnodar region, we found a ZIS 155M bus, ZIL 158, aka LiAZ 158. This bus was mass-produced in 1957. The first buses featured improved finishing, additional seats and glazed roof slopes. This arrangement of the bus was associated with the VI Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow. Later, the decoration was simplified somewhat, the glazed roof slopes disappeared. ZIS-158 was produced in 1956-1961. A total of 9,515 buses were produced. In 1959, the production of ZIL-158 was transferred to the Likino Automotive Plant (LiAZ).

The bus that we found directly worked on the collective farm: brought people to work from the village, carried out flights to the city and in the summer drove the residents of the village into the sea. In the early 1970s, when he was written off, Andrei’s grandfather – the current bus owner, at that time worked in that collective farm, where there was a bus and handed over to the scrap metal equal to the bus, took him home. Where an individual in the early 1970s was able to take 6.5 tons of scrap metal, history is silent, but one way or another the bus drove into the courtyard, where it stands to this day. It is used as a wood driveway, which helped to save the bus.

The back of the bus is covered with a roof, the inside is dry. Even the native floor has been preserved! We, of course, still have to conduct a study to more accurately identify the bus, well, and we present you a photo report on ZIL 158.