volgann.r52.ru was the site of the Nizhny Novgorod trading house "Volga-NN" (Торговый дом «Волга-НН»), which sold automotive electrical equipment[1]. As the home page reported, the firm "operates successfully on the Nizhny Novgorod market" and supplied "the Nizhny Novgorod region" with generators, starters, chargers, and electric drives for domestic cars[1]. The page footer carried the signature "© 2001 VolgaNN", along with "Hosting by r52.ru"[1]. The home-page snapshots recorded in our census span the period from January 6, 2002 to December 21, 2009[1][4].

What the site looked like

In the surviving snapshots, the home page consists of a single section — "About the Firm": a solid block of text about deliveries, a list of partner factories and product lines[1]. It ended with a direct call to action: "Come and order. Our prices will always be cheaper!"[1]. In the 2002 version, below the main text there was a separate short list of items — ATE-2 ignition coils, generators and starters, and high-voltage wires of the firm's own manufacture[1].

The footer of the early versions contained two technical credits: "Coding by Info-online" and "Hosting by r52.ru"[1][2]. By the 2005 snapshot both credits had disappeared from the page, leaving only the copyright notice[3]. At the same time the page title changed: instead of the plain company name it began listing merchandise — "Trading House 'Volga-NN' — sale of generators, starters, auto parts"[3]. Neither a postal address nor a phone number appears anywhere in the surviving home-page texts: the warehouse is described only as "conveniently located next to the office"[1].

What the firm sold

By its own account, "Volga-NN" began with a partnership with the ATE-1 factory, supplying the region with generators and starters for the GAZ 406 and 402 engines, as well as for the "Moskvich", "Zhiguli", UAZ, MAZ, KamAZ, GAZ-53, and PAZ[1]. It then added contacts with ATE-2 — B-116 ignition coils for GAZ, B-117 for VAZ models 01–07, 27.3705 for the eighth and ninth "Zhiguli" families, and 3012 for the 406 engine and the "Oka"[1]. In the 2002 snapshot the firm called itself a dealer of "ATE-1" and the PO "Eltra" production association, promising prices 10% below factory prices[1].

The 2003 version described an already larger deal: in 2002 the trading house signed a dealer agreement with the RABOTEK concern and, by its own claim, became the exclusive seller in the Nizhny Novgorod and Kirov regions for the output of three factories — OAO "ZiT" (electrical equipment for cars, trucks, buses, and tractors), OAO "BRT", and ZAO "VRT" (rubber technical goods, as well as roofing material, construction chalk, fire hoses)[2]. The range expanded to include radiators from the Likhoslavl radiator factory, and the price promise changed its reference point — now 10% below market price[2]. The firm considered its own production to be sets of high-voltage wires for the GAZ-24, GAZ-53, and ZIL-130, and spark plug caps[2].

The page described its working conditions as follows: the price list changes weekly, new shipments arrive twice a week, order assembly and reservation take up to three days, the firm's own fleet delivers goods free of charge, the payment form is "any", and equipment that fails during the warranty period is replaced on first request, with every return checked for "improper replacement"[1].

Place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet

The site operated in the Nizhny Novgorod domain zone r52.ru and therefore belongs to the Nizhny Novgorod Internet. It entered our census not through a ranking but via the directory listing of nn.ru; the directory entry described a wider range of goods than the home page itself — generators not only for cars but also for motorcycles, tractors, and combine harvesters, something the site's own text never mentioned. In Counter.nn.ru it has no recorded ranking or votes: it does not appear in the surviving counter samples, see the Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating. The site contained nothing beyond the description of the firm and its goods.

How it closed

After 2003 the text stopped changing: the 2005 snapshot differs from the 2003 version only in the page title and the removed footer credits[2][3], and the texts of the 2005 and 2009 snapshots match word for word[3][4]. The last recorded home-page snapshot is dated December 21, 2009[4]; as of the census the domain volgann.r52.ru no longer exists. The Wayback Machine index lists 38 captures for the address; four home-page snapshots made it into our sample — the dealer agreements, the lists of ignition coils, and the promise that "our prices will always be cheaper" survive only in them[1][4].

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 2002 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — Home page, 2003 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Home page, 2005 (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — Home page, 2009 (archive)