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The Red Army removed the tooling from Opel's Russelsheim factory during war reparations in 1945, and built their own version of the pre-war Kadett which they called the Moskvich, or 'son of Moscow'. It was updated in 1956 with a full-width body, but a Moskvich we would recognise didn't emerge until 1964 in the shape of the 408 with modest tail-fins and a more angular profile. Connoisseurs can distinguish the 408 - which still used the old Opel-derived engine - by its quad circular headlamps. Searching for uplifting things to say at the European launch, pundits noted the car's magnificent toolkit, which included a radiator blind for those chilly Moscow mornings.
Exports didn't get into their stride until the introduction in 1969 of the 412, which had a brand-new overhead-cam 1500 cc engine. The Moskvich engineers had got hold of a cutaway sketch of a BMW four-cylinder unit and built their own, providing the 412 with straight-line urge that was very much in excess of its ability to go around corners. In fact, the 412 was so quick that the importers entered it in saloon-car racing which, at that time, was organised along price lines. In a field of 850 cc Minis, Dafs and Hillman Imps, the Moskvich cleaned up - the terminal understeer and wilting drum brakes didn't matter when you could blow everything away on the straights. Its moment of glory didn't last long, however; terrible press reports hinted that the car might actually be a danger to the public and imports dried up in 1975. Production in Russia continued well into the '80s, however.
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