This is the front of a 1959 Gaz M13 Chaika made by Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod and housed in Haynes International Motor Museum in Sparkford.
As a limousine-class car, Chaikas were available only to the Soviet government, and could not be purchased by average citizens. However, citizens were allowed to rent Chaikas for weddings.
Chaikas were used by Soviet ambassadors and Communist Party First Secretaries in East Germany, Korea, Bulgaria, Hungary, Mongolia, and Finland, among others; Fidel Castro was given one by General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev, who himself preferred the Chaika to his ZIL, and kept one at his summer dacha.
For their larger size and more powerful V8, Chaikas were also ordered in some quantity by the KGB.
