Pangolina The wiper from two Icarus janitors, filling from the parts of serial vases, periscope instead of the rear-view mirrors, the scarce rubber on homemade wheels ... Even if, at the end of the project, the matrix was not destroyed, the supercar "Pangolina" was destined to become a legend of the samostroy.

The unique homemade car "Pangolina", one of the most famous examples of the Soviet movement "Samavto," was collected in Ukhta in 1980. His creator of Electrician Alexander Kulygin, Education Engineer, led the technical circle at the Palace of Youth in his hometown. Just with pupils-pioneers (without having, of course, no serious technical base), he carried out in Ukhta the final assembly of Pangoline, which began to work in Moscow, where the body was laid. All matrices were destroyed after the completion of the project, and Pangoline was doomed to remain the only one in their own way.
A year later, "Pangoline" learned the entire USSR. Kouligin brought his brainchild to Moscow (by rail, as Soviet highways for a squat car simply did not fit), and soon the car along with his author fell on television and newspapers. Inspired by the stunning Lamborghini Countach, who established the fashion for angular and squat sports cars, Pangolina literally shocked the imagination of the Soviet spectators.
Of course, her design did not differ as valid lines as the works of ingenious Italians from the BERTONE studio. But the Soviet engineer managed to come up with several elegant and original solutions: the cap rising on the hydraulic drive instead of the doors, four headlights in a single block, leaving the hood center, periscope (!) Instead of conventional rearview mirrors. The lightest body of fiberglass rose on homemade wheels from the aluminum alloy, drove into low-profile rubber (it was incredibly difficult to get it in Soviet times).
The internal filling of Pangolines fully consisted of parts and nodes of conventional serial vases. This is due to the classic location of the engine in front, which turned out to be moved close to the driver and placed right under the dashboard. The Pangoline Body repeated the proportions of central supercars, which, under the hood, simply did not provide for the place for the engine.
Despite the use of a standard engine, the maximum "Pangoline" speed exceeded the indicators of ordinary "Zhiguli" and reached 180 km / h - due to improved aerodynamics and a superflux body. Some details, however, were borrowed from other cars - for example, the wiper was collected from two Ikarus janitors.
In the 80s Pangolina, together with its creator, a number of All-Union Optides passed and even participated in an international autovent in Bulgaria (Expo'85, Plovdiv). But over time, the supercar lost an external gloss: for the sake of obtaining state leaders and permission to travel abroad Koulugin had to install standard wheels, mounted mirrors and front headlights. In the 90s Pangolina fell into an accident, because of which the body had to remake, removing the part of the roof. The coloring of the car has changed many times: in our days, Pangolina was painted in "Red Ferrari", gained a throat tinting and tasteless racing stickers on glasses.
The popularity of Pangolins has brought their fruits. At a certain point, Kulygin was invited to work on AZLK, but all its developments remained prototyped. In the 90s, Alexander emigrated to the United States, where he created a small firm that was engaged in the manufacture and sale of kietar. In 2004, Kouligin tragically died in an accident, crashing to death due to another driver.