The UAZ-469 should be familiar to many as the Russian answer to the original Jeep. In production in some form or another from 1971 through current day as the UAZ Hunter, the UAZ-469 is, at best, a crude little SUV that can do pretty well off-road…and that might be about it. It’s a staple of Russian and European off-roaders, so what in heaven was MotorWeek doing with one in 1994? Apparently a company based out of Virginia was getting serious about making UAZ trucks legal for import into the United States and had two Russian-spec vehicles, a UAZ-31512 (an updated version of the -469) and what we believe is a UAZ-3303 pickup truck. It’s easy to look at either one and make cracks about how simplistic and unrefined it is compared to a contemporary-model Jeep Wrangler, Land Rover Defender 90, or any U.S. spec pickup truck that would compare with the -3303’s load rating, but these were home-spec vehicles. UAZ of America was actively pursuing General Motors to stick a 3.8L V6 into at least the -469, which would have made for an interesting seven-seater sport-ute, and you have to hand it to the Russians when it came to body construction…only the thickest metal would do. Would you have entertained one if UAZ had actually managed to import one of these little beasts to the States?
