The Yakovlev and Freze automobile — the first domestically produced serial car in Russia, built in 1896 by engineers Yevgeny Yakovlev and Pyotr Freze. The vehicle was first shown to the public at the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition of 1896 in Nizhny Novgorod, where it was seen by Emperor Nicholas II among others, and became one of the most significant technological highlights of the exhibition. At the same time, the automobile was overshadowed by other technical novelties on display: the public was simultaneously introduced to Shukhov's hyperboloid tower, Popov's radio receiver, and the Lumière brothers' cinematograph. Maxim Gorky, working at the time as a reporter for the Nizhegorodsky Listok, wrote admiringly about the cinematograph in his notes but made no mention of the mechanical carriage.[1][2]
History of Creation
The fateful meeting of the two inventors took place in 1893 at the World's Fair in Chicago, where both were studying the German Benz-Victoria automobile. Retired naval lieutenant Yevgeny Yakovlev had brought gas engines to the exhibition; mining engineer Pyotr Freze was presenting samples of horse-drawn carriages. Both received bronze medals and agreed to join forces. Yevgeny Yakovlev had founded his enterprise — the Mytninskiy machine-building, cast-iron, and copper-smelting plant — in 1890; after his death in 1898, the plant ceased production of internal combustion engines.[3][2]
In designing the automobile, the partners drew on the construction of lightweight horse-drawn carriages with large wheels. The engine and transmission were developed by Yakovlev, who refined Benz's engine principles to make it lighter — the output was two horsepower. The engine was equipped with an evaporative cooling system: water boiled, steam passed into a condenser, cooled, and partially evaporated; a thirty-liter water reserve was housed in two brass side tanks. Yakovlev made the ignition electric. Freze was responsible for the chassis: he attached the front suspension springs alongside the wheels, made the wheels from wood with solid rubber tires, and reinforced the construction to withstand cobblestone roads.[2]
The curb weight of the automobile was 320 kilograms, its top speed was 21 km/h, its range without refueling was 20 kilometers, and it seated two passengers. The price was set at one thousand five hundred rubles — half the cost of German and French equivalents (for comparison: a horse at the time cost around 50 rubles).[2]
Display at the Nizhny Novgorod Exhibition
In the summer of 1896, the automobile was displayed on the left bank of the Oka, where the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition had spread across some seventy pavilions. The presentation of the vehicle was conceived not as a display of a curiosity, but as a showcase of a product ready for serial production: the creators hoped to lay the foundation for the Russian automotive industry.[1] The automobile, with its folding roof, set against the exhibition pavilions, was photographed by Dmitriev.[1]
Fate and Restoration
Serial production never came to fruition: Yevgeny Yakovlev soon died, and Freze was unable to continue the endeavor alone. All original examples were lost — only individual parts survived.[1]
In the 1980s, restorer Spartak Grigoryan tracked down parts from automobiles made by Russian designers and set about reconstructing the vehicle, but did not live to complete the work. The unfinished automobile passed through several owners; in the 2000s it was acquired by Moscow art historian Lyubov Yelizavetina. At one point during storage at a technical museum, the car was nearly discarded as scrap metal. The full restoration took twenty years.[1]
In August 2023, the restored automobile returned to Nizhny Novgorod: it was displayed at the Strelka and at the Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka — exactly 127 years after its first appearance. The composition recreated the historic photograph by Dmitriev: the car once again stood in front of the warehouse buildings that had once served as the framework of the central pavilions of the 1896 exhibition and were subsequently relocated to the Strelka.[1]
The demonstration of the automobile before the Emperor took place on July 19, 1896: Finance Minister S. Yu. Witte presented the vehicle to the sovereign, and Freze himself drove past the imperial couple and their retinue; Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna watched the vehicle in motion but declined to ride in it, and in his diary the Tsar made no mention of it, noting only a wine and cider tasting.[3]
Two photographs of the automobile taken at the exhibition have survived to the present day: in addition to Dmitriev's well-known photograph, the second image was published in an advertisement for the Freze factory in 1901 — when it had transformed from a carriage manufacturer into a carriage-and-automobile manufacturer; the author of this photograph is unknown.[3]
Dmitriev worked at the exhibition with the official permission of the Nizhny Novgorod chief of police, who had authorized him to document the Emperor's visit; the Nizhegorodsky Listok of July 20, 1896 reported on the demonstration, calling the vehicle "the first Russian gasoline motor."[5]
Sources
- novoe.media — Day in History: July 16, 1896 — the world saw the first Russian automobile — The automobile was overshadowed by other technical novelties of the exhibition: the public was simultaneously introduced to… (archive)
- history.ru — The Yakovlev–Freze "gasoline motor": the difficult fate of the first Russian automobile — Articles on Russian history for schoolchildren and students (archive)
- Kommersant (Volga Region) — Appearing before the Tsar — The demonstration of the automobile before the Emperor took place on July 19, 1896. Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna watched the vehicle in motion, however…
- Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — The one and only! The first Russian automobile has returned to the Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka 127 years later (archive)
- zr.ru — Chronicle: the first Russian automobile — Photographer Maxim Dmitriev worked at the 1896 exhibition with the official permission of the Nizhny Novgorod chief of police, who had authorized him to document… (archive)