International Automobile Exhibition in St. Petersburg (1913)

To organize the event, an exhibition management committee was established. The chairman of the committee was the chairman of the Russian Automobile Society, Vladimir Vladimirovich Svechin . All the forces of the organizers from the side of the “Russian Automobile Society” were focused on preparing the car dealership. To do this, had to abandon the holding of several major events. Thus, the International Run for the Prize of Emperor Nicholas II and the Test Run of the Military Department were canceled. Mikhailovsky Manege in St. Petersburg was chosen as the venue for the car dealership, but it could not accommodate even half of the participants. The organizers had to urgently build temporary wooden pavilions, thereby bringing the exhibition area to 15,000 square meters. meters The decoration of the stands and the exhibition as a whole was entrusted to the architect of the Highest Court, Robert-Friedrich Meltzer .

According to the rules of the exhibition, all exhibits were divided into twelve classes:

• Ready cars for city driving, tourism, sports and their chassis
• Four wheel car trim
• Military vehicles
• Machines of special use ( fire , sanitary , motor plows, tractors)
• Trucks, buses and their chassis and other commercial vehicles
• Internal combustion engines
• Motorcycles and bicycles.
• Motor boats and their parts
• Car tires and accessories
• Machines, machines, equipment for the automotive industry
• Automotive supplies and clothing. Books, magazines, posters and more
• Fuel, lubricants , containers for their storage and transportation

The Organizing Committee, in order to attract more exhibitors, set a low fee for the rental of exhibition space, announced a significant reduction in insurance and customs tariffs for exhibitors, and provided preferences for room and board for delegates. Delivery of exhibits by rail across the territory of the Russian Empire was free. A large number of personal invitations were sent out. The fourth automobile salon was the most numerous both in the number of represented countries and in the number of participants. More than 150 enterprises, firms and companies from the USA (10 participants), France (32), Italy (5), Sweden (3), Austria (1), Switzerland (2), Germany (56), Belgium (3 ), England (17).

Firms - exhibitors:

Manufacturers brought 386 different cars and a large amount of equipment, spare parts and related products. Among them: 250 passenger cars, 32 trucks, 8 ambulances , 3 omnibuses , 11 fire engines , 9 three-wheeled vehicles, 3 tank trucks , 3 self-propelled aircraft hangars, 3 searchlight vehicles, 2 mobile radio telegraph stations, 7 marching kitchens on automobile chassis, two motor shows, 5 motor boats, 7 tractors, 3 motor plows, one motor- skating rink . 26 aviation, outboard and stationary engines. The car dealership turned out to be successful from the commercial side. almost all the cars presented were sold, and many firms increased their order book .

The organizing committee of the exhibition made a decision in principle to encourage manufacturers of trucks, specialized and agricultural machinery. Only cars of these groups were awarded medals and diplomas. From domestic companies, two boat engine manufacturers received awards: the Andre and Rosenquist joint-stock company from Abo and the Alfa plant from Helsingfors .

In addition, 16 manufacturers received from the " Ministry of Trade and Industry " Large and Small gold and silver medals. The awards were awarded by the “ Main Directorate for Land Management and Agriculture ”, “The Ministry of Railways ”, “The Imperial Russian Fire Society”.

Shortly before the end of the exhibition was held 230-circuit circuit race. 18 participants registered for this Russian “ Grand Prix ”. The winners were G.M. Suvorin on the car "Benz" and I.I. Ivanov in the domestic Russo-Balt.

On May 14, on the Volkhonskoye Highway , the St. Petersburg Automobile Club ran a distance of one mile . The German racer Franz Hörner, speaking on a Benz car equipped with a 200-horsepower engine, showed a result of 202.1 km / h.

On May 16, tests of fire trucks were conducted on Petrovskaya Embankment.

During the exhibition, practical tests of tractors and motor plows were carried out at the Komendantsky airfield .

• IV International Automotive Exhibition
• International auto shows in pre-revolutionary Russia

• 4th International Automobile Exhibition // Automobilist: magazine. - 1913. - № 9 . - pp . 25—26 .
• Overview of the stands of firms participating in the 4th International Exhibition of Automobiles // Automobilist: magazine. - 1913. - № 13 . - pp . 25-28 .