On most occasions when a leisurely conversation takes place in a group that also includes German people, jokes about the War are inevitable. I’ve witnessed it as early as my teenage years, when I had my first encounter with a group of German tourists, and this tendency to re-live the past is apparently a big thing in Russian traffic.
We are now approaching Victory Day, which Russia celebrates on May 9th (the rest of the world uses May 8th) and this is a time when Russian motorists start decorating their vehicles for the occasion. So, yes, some enjoy doing this early.
Many say that, for Russians, May 9th is the second most important celebration following New Year’s Day. With the enormous number of cars on Russian roads, it was only normal for a rather important number of vehicles to wear stickers that celebrate the capitulation of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union during the Second World War.
When we speak about Russia on autoevolution, we bring you their amazing military contraptions, their car-testing beauties, as well as the obvious dash cam crashes. However, on this occasion, we’ve brought you media that shows how proudly Russian drivers wear these symbols.
Shades of Red
As with any public manifestation of this kind, some keep things classy, sticking to the well-known ribbon while others tend to take things closer to extremism, displaying offensive messages. We’re not really good with Russian, which means we won’t be doing any translation here.
Of course, celebrating victory is one thing and turning this into a triumph of communism is another thing, so there’s more than one crossroad that separates the categories of celebrating drivers. Obviously, the stikers aren't confined to domestically-produced cars, spreading from Ladas to BMWs and Chryslers.
However, we have attached some of the stickers available in the photo gallery below - just like in the rest of the world, vehicle wrapping has exploded in Russia. This means you don’t have to do too much in order to transform your car into a rolling symbol of May 9th. Of course, you don’t have to wrap you entire vehicle. For instance, the simplest way would be to go online and order a sticker.
The first clip below brings us footage of a May 9th parade that took place last year. Nevertheless, the video underneath it describes the “before May 9th” phenomenon we mentioned above. Judging by the approximate translation of the Youtube comments, it seems this extended celebration is a bit of an opinion splitter, even in Russia - some obviously consider things have gone too far and that the energy spent decorating the cars could be used to support veterans.
In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist. Full profile
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