Altai Firefighter Drives A 70-year-old Armored Car To Work Every Day

2023 Author: Natalie MacDonald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-26 13:59

A resident of Novoaltaisk, Valery Babailov, who works as a firefighter, saved the 1949 BTR-40 military armored car from death and now drives it every day. And not only in the city.

• In 2012, comrade Valery accidentally saw this armored personnel carrier in the Kemerovo region. From the car, in fact, only one body remained, which the owner gradually sawed in parts and handed over for scrap.
• The firefighter bought the remains of the armored vehicle and spent five years rebuilding it. Enthusiasts from all over the country helped to find original spare parts, and the engine was sent from Belarus.
• Babailov works as a fire engine driver and always drives his BTR-40 on duty. The road to work is about 7 kilometers, but in the life of a rare armored personnel carrier there were also longer trips, to Barnaul and even to Novosibirsk.

• According to Valery, the armored car is very often stopped by the traffic police - "practically everyone who gets in the way." But the car and its owner have no problems with the law: according to the documents, the APC passes as an armored vehicle (along with collection vehicles), so the firefighter registered it without any problems and even took out insurance.