The ban on importing vehicles below the Euro-2 standard has stopped the inflow of rarities
Despite the difficult situation and the lack of specialized laws, classic car collections continue to grow in Ukraine and thematic museums are opening. The most valuable examples of world automotive antiques were taken out of the country back in the 1990s, while the current ban on importing cars below the Euro-2 standard restricts the replenishment of expositions. This was reported by RBC-Ukraine (Ігор Широкун), according to the portal PromPolitInform.
The Ukrainian movement of historic vehicle enthusiasts faces a lack of proper support and regulation from state institutions. Unlike most European countries, where vintage cars have a special status, preferential insurance, and simplified technical inspection requirements, domestic collectors are deprived of such advantages. Draft Law No. 7374 On Historic Vehicles has been stuck in the committees of the Verkhovna Rada for nine years.
Import restrictions
The main obstacle to the full development of the market remains the ban on importing cars that do not meet the Euro-2 environmental standard. Because of this, collectors and museums cannot legally import machinery older than the 1996 release year. As noted by Pavlo Lozovenko, head of the Kolesa Istorii museum of machinery in the city of Kyiv, such restrictions harm national cultural heritage and the younger generation.
The worst thing about this is that Ukrainian museums and private collectors cannot replenish their collections with valuable exhibits, which harms our national cultural heritage, Pavlo Lozovenko said. According to him, future engineers and students are deprived of the opportunity to visually study the achievements of world mechanical engineering.
Features of local collections
As a result, most private collections and museum expositions are formed mainly from domestic models or machinery imported before January 1, 2006. Among unique serial cars of Ukrainian production, connoisseurs single out motorized carriages and Zaporozhets cars of the ZAZ-965 and ZAZ-966/-968 models. Collectors also pay attention to all-wheel-drive LuAZ-969, ZIM GAZ-12 executive sedans, and UAZ-452 minibuses.
According to experts, the most valuable trophy German models like Mercedes-Benz, Horch, or Adler Diplomat were massively exported abroad back in the 1990s. Today, the flow of historic cars across the border remains one-way, as restored specimens regularly replenish collections in Europe and the USA. At the same time, Ukrainian enthusiasts continue to restore finds on their own, holding exhibitions despite economic and wartime hardships.
Photo: Ігорь Широкун, РБК-Україна
