I've been in Moscow, and other Russian cities, a half dozen times, and have never seen a classic car on the street. There were lots of very nice, very shiny, newer cars, like MB, Hummers and "off the road chic" Cherokees. Each one that was parked was accompanied by at least one brutish man dressed in black sporting a bad haircut and trying to look dangerous.
The "laws" are different there. People think in terms of what is possible rather than what is legal. For example, if someone steals your car, the police and judges can be bought off. No one is going to even seriously investigate unless they receive a bribe.
I once asked a driver what happens if one is in an accident there, because he had asked me how car insurance works. (His eyes opened wider when I described it.) In response to my question, he said "Well, the drivers sort it out. If one person is obviously to blame, he may give the other driver some money." When I asked what happens if he doesn't have any money, he just shrugged. Shrugging is big in Russia.
Some people there now just have an unbelievable amount of money, all of it acquired in what we would consider an immoral or illegal way, and an equally large need to display it. I think this exhibit is an example. Don't mistake this display as affection, such as we feel, for the marques. It is simply a display of wealth (and the perks that accompany it).
Joe
