Owners of Soviet Oka cars played life-and-death games while driving these vehicles. Small and fragile, they were often crushed like tin cans in case of a crash. Appeared in 1988; VAZ-1111 Oka was one of the last car models designed in the dying Soviet Union.

Samokvasov/Sputnik At first, Oka was intended to be used by disabled persons. However, it was also driven by all categories of Soviet society.

Vitaliy Arutjunov/Sputnik One of Russia's smallest cars, VAZ-1111 was inspired by Asian and European automobile models. It resembles a Japanese Daihatsu Cuore, which belonged to the type of small compact Japanese cars known as kei cars.

Mikhail Medvedev/ASS On the other hand, Oka took much from the Italian FIAT 126p Maluch.

U. Feklistov/Sputnik Small and fragile, Oka was widely considered as one of the deadliest cars in Russia.

Mikhail Medvedev/ASS During a crash the car was often completely smashed like a tin can, leaving few chances for the driver or passengers to survive.

Roman Yarovitsin/TASS Oka became widely known as a "capsule of death."

Igor Zotin/SS VAZ-1111, however, had positive features. The first and main advantage was its low price, which was significantly important during the lean 1990s in Russia.

Pavel Petrov/SS As a small car it needed little gasoline, allowing Oka drivers to significantly save money.

Boris Kavashkin/TASS In 2008, 20 years since the first VAZ-1111 was assembled, the car's production was finally stopped.

Yuri Abramochkin/Sputnik If using any of Russia Beyond's content, partly or in full, always provide an active hyperlink to the original material.

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