OREANDA-NEWS.  February 17, 2012. Today, on the 16th of February, 36 years have passed since the first KAMAZ vehicle was produced.

On this date, 6 years after the official commencement of construction of KAMAZ, the first 5 vehicles rolled off at that time the only line of the main assembly conveyor which worked in a starting-up and adjustment mode. It was a very significant event for the builders of KAMAZ – the workers of KAMAZ plants even competed for a chance to participate in the assembly of the first vehicle KAMAZ-5320. On February 16, 1976, about 15 thousand people gathered at a festive ceremony. By tradition of those years, trucks of the first batch were decorated with the slogan "Our Present for XXV Congress of the CPSU". KAMAZ veterans recall that, when the red truck with the number 000 000 1 slowly rolled off the conveyor and stopped near the podium built at the plant, the people at that moment were crying and hugging and congratulating each other.

This event was very important not only for KAMAZ, but for the whole country. The moment of the launch of KAMAZ’s conveyor was captured in documentary films and numerous photos, described on pages of newspapers, discussed on radio and shown on TV. The whole Soviet Union waited for this day, because people and enterprises from all corners of the country were engaged in this construction project. New KAMAZ trucks were immediately sent to Moscow to be presented to the delegates of the regular Congress of the CPSU. By the way, 5,000 heavy trucks of four models were assembled by the end of 1976. Many drivers arrived in Naberezhnye Chelny to get their long-awaited new vehicles and asked to draw six zeros and one on the hoods of their vehicles – the number they remembered from the pages of newspapers and TV screens. The painters of the automobile plant used the first stencil to paint these numbers for a long time.

Later, Vehicle 0000001 of the first model KAMAZ-5320 was bought back by its manufacturers after several years of its operation in one of the fleets of Bashkorstostan. To date, it is kept in the Scientific and Technical Center as a functional museum piece, and it is operated only on the days of its anniversary or other special occasions.

Yesterday, after 36 years, the two millionth vehicle rolled off the main assembly line of the assembly plant. The anniversary vehicle with the number 2,000,000 is a model of the "heavy" line-up of trucks with higher payload – KAMAZ-6522 which features improved performance and high reliability. The top managers of the company decided to make it a museum piece, like the first product of the automobile plant. Celebrations devoted to the output of the first truck will be held at the plant today.