Tbilisi AutoMuseum Car Museum – Georgia
You may not have heard of this, but the small car museum in Tbilisi Georgia really has quite a lot to see. Buried in an industrial area outside the city a couple of bus rides from the centre, this private collection of Soviet era cars and motorcycles is well worth the trip.
Simply called Tbilisi Automuseum it’s fairly obvious which building it is in as you walk the unmade road in the industrial area, past various heavy machinery and stray dogs, it has a sectioned Gaz 21 Volga on the wall.
Entering the yard you can see there is a collection of buildings. It’s not just a museum, they perform restoration work on site too. There are more vehicles collected outside, some are waiting their turn to receive attention, some are just an extension of the collection inside.
The main hall is packed with a great deal of Soviet cars, so if you like Podebas, GaZ Volgas and AutoVAZ (otherwise known as Lada in export markets) you’re in for a treat. I do, so was quite happy to spend quite a bit of time pouring over the cars as much as I could. The guide was giving group tours in Georgian, but was very helpful and spent time with me and gave a great deal of detail and history in fluent English.
I’ve been interested in Ukrainian Zaporozhets, ZAZ, for quite a while. Immediately to the right of the entrance you find a ZAZ 965, which looks a bit like a Fiat 600. It’s not, it’s completely different just taking the Fiat 600 as inspiration rather too well.
Further along that side are some nice ZAZ 968s. Another compact rear mounted car, though this one a Russian friend once descibed to me as “like Porsche”. Probably and earlier one due to the car’s handling characteristics.
On the other side of the building there are a couple of GAZ Chaikas, ZIM and ZIL limosuines. Quite imposing to look at due to their size. In the middle there is a nice convertible Podeba, which is available to hire by the hour. A tempting prospect.
The newer Chaika was at one time also available but due to its size, weight and the local road condition it isn’t anymore.
The museum has quite a collection, there is a Ford Model A in there too, but it extends outside to more cars and a further building with motorcycles inside. There are a few military vehicles in there which is neat.
Outside they have some later GAZ Volgas, one ex Taxinesting in an open barn with a couple more AutoVAZ 2101s.
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