Glasnost? No, Glas-lost!
Published: 14/02/2022
The UK’s only club for all ‘Cold War Classic’ cars and motorbikes, the Wartburg Trabant IFA Club UK (IFA Club), is tackling the industrial heartland of Scotland, home of the ‘Big Yin’ and deep-fried Mars bars.
And no, we don’t plan to get ‘lost’ in Glasgow. A play on ‘glasnost’ – the 1990s period of openness and transparency in the Soviet Union (USSR) under the Gorbachev administration – it also reflects the 2021 transformation of Glasgow into 1980s Russia.
Starring award-winning British actor Taron Egerton, the Scottish city was transformed into the streets of 1980s Russia – using IFA Club members’ cars for street scenes - during filming for Tetris, to be released this autumn.
The free-to-attend 23/24 April event sees the first-ever gathering of Cold War cars and motorbikes at Glasgow’s new Riverside transport museum and an afternoon road run through the city, passing landmarks such as the Finnieston Crane and the People’s Palace.
Sunday is the national ‘Drive it Day’, and sees Trabants, Ladas and Moskvitch cars and others drive to the impressive Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust collection before a run to the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway, near Edinburgh, home of the Museum of Scottish Railways.
Says the club’s Event Organiser Richard Hemington: “We’re back with events! After our superb last Scottish event taking in the scenic sights of Loch Lomond, this year we tackle the industrial heartland of Scotland, home of the ‘Big Yin’ and deep-fried Mars bars.”
The IFA Club is the home of eastern bloc classics and its 300 members in the UK and Republic of Ireland have vehicles covering a remarkable 41 makes, produced before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Non-members are very welcome. The event is free to attend*. Details can be found here: www.ifaclub.co.uk
* Although there is no charge to participate in the event, attendees pay their own venue admissions etc
