The Soviet Scooter

Viatka 3, 1974

In 1953, a year when Dwight Eisenhower became President, Soviet engineers produced something quite outstanding: the scooter. Just like almost everything else in the USSR, the scooter was initially a brick in the propaganda wall — it was supposed to become the means of transportation which your typical Soviet citizen could buy for their average two-month paycheck (just like Lenin promised.) And the engineers delivered, by accidentally producing a masterpiece.

Initially, Vyatka Industrial Plant which produced mostly military equipment, planned to copy Vespa-150, smack a red star-logo on the front and call it the Soviet scooter (that’s exactly what happened to the Soviet family car Lada, i.e. Fiat.) However, Vespa could not handle Russian roads, cold winters and poor quality fuel. Ironically, it still can’t. So naturally, there was a need for some industrial design and engineering.

In 1957, when the scooter went to mass production, it was truly the Soviet-made product. The scooter, called Vyatka, was 15 percent lighter than Vespa, had more power, could reach 60 miles per hour in 10 seconds and could be easily disassembled for storage; there were other innovations implemented, including electric start. From 1960 to 1975 there were some 1.5 million scooters produced.

In 1960, another Soviet scooter appeared on the market. “Tula”, produced by yet another military plant, was heavier than Vyatka and had much more power. It instantly became a hit in the villages, where farmers bought this cheap little vehicle, added huge trunks and used it to transport their pigs, potatoes and chickens.

The last Soviet scooter was produced in the 1990.

Turist, 1965:

Tula-T 200, 1962:

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