Tula Muravey Utility Scooter

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Founded in 1955 in the Russian city from which it takes its name, Tula Motorcycle Works (or TMZ – Tula Motorzikly Zavod) was the only producer of scooters in the Soviet Union.

The machines they made were effectively a straight copy of the Glas Goggomobil, a German scooter made between 1951 and 1956 by Glas GmbH of Dingolfing, Bavaria, which in turn was a copy of the Italian Vespa but with more bulbous bodywork.

Tula also customised their version of the Vespa/Goggomobil and it was available in several formats including a fairly conventional step-through scooter, a rather bizarre ‘Tulitza’ semi-enclosed scooter, a fully enclosed three-wheeler ‘Zaika’ microcar and a three-wheeler ‘Muravey’ load carrier, as here. All were powered by a 200cc air-cooled engine with electric start, chain final drive and a four-speed gearbox.

Erroneously recorded on the DVLA database as a 'Vypabeu' (the Cyrillic spelling of ‘Muravey’), this Muravey utility scooter was manufactured in 1962 and first registered in the UK as TSK 958 in December 1991, joining the Stondon Museum Collection a short while after. Presented in the condition in which it left the Motherland, it is uncertain when it was last in use or how much work may be required to get it functioning again. Built to the usual ruggedly simple Soviet standard, it is unlikely to require computer diagnostics to coax it into life once more.

At the time of cataloguing the documents could not readily be located but, as the machine is still on the DVLA database, an application using form V62 should result in a new V5C in short order if one has not turned up by the time of the sale.