Estonia’s first homegrown bus, the TA-1, on an urban route

In 1950, the chief engineer at the Tartu Auto Repair Workshop in Estonia conceived an idea: to build a bus of their own design. By the spring of 1951, the first such bus rolled out of the workshop gates. Following a few months of testing, an official order from the head of the transport enterprise (ATP) allocated seven GAZ-51 truck chassis to the Tartu Auto Repair Workshop for the construction of new buses, with a completion deadline set for 1952. The documentation outlines two versions of the bus—one designed for urban routes and the other for rural/intercity routes. In honor of their city of origin, the buses produced at the Tartu Auto Repair Workshop were branded with the mark “TA,” and the first models were officially designated as the TA-1. Scale: 1/43. Limited edition of 300 units.