ZIS IS NOT A PACKARD!
At grand military parades in the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War, authoritarian leaders were driven around huge squares in huge cars, often convertibles, in great style. These parade cars were large and impressive looking, so ideal for such occasions. The propaganda pictures that reached the West convinced many people that the mysterious car in question was an old Packard... But nothing could have been further from the truth.
As you will see, this car, the ZIS 110, was developed and manufactured in the Soviet Union, using the 1942 Packard as a model. To restore and develop the vast country after the October revolution in 1917, a proper network of roads and a reliable fleet of lorries and military vehicles were needed. Private cars were not seen as important. And demand was limited as ordinary people did not have the purchasing power to acquire even small cars, for decades to come.
What was needed, however, were large
