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Oldies but Goodies: Finns Auction Off Old Soviet Cars Dumped by Migrants

© Flickr / mangopulp2008Volga (Russian Car) Mayfair, London, England
Volga (Russian Car)  Mayfair, London, England - Sputnik International
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Finnish customs officials sold off 128 vintage cars, most of them Soviet-made, left behind by asylum seekers crossing into the country through Russia, in an auction held on Friday, Yle reported.

The vehicles going up for auction include models of Lada, Volga and Moskvitch cars never imported for sale in Finland - Sputnik International
Old Bones: Soviet Car Junk Auction Big Hit in Polar Finland
According to a spokesman for the customs unit in Salla, the Finnish state earned around 23,000 euros from the sale, with a hard-to-find Volga 3010 fetching 1,200 euros, way more than any other vehicle on offer.

On the opening day of the two-day auction the vintage cars were available at under 640 euros apiece, but on Saturday the price tag had already gone up to 800.

The cheapest lot went for just 1 euro. None of the 128 antiquated cars remained unsold.

Late last year and early this saw a spike in the number of refugees from the Middle East and Africa massing on the Russian-Finnish border.

The so-called “Northern route” had been chosen after Norway decided to tighten border zone security. Banned from crossing the border on foot, the asylum seekers bought long-used cars in Russia, mostly rusty Soviet-era Ladas, Volgas and Moskvichs from the 1970s and 1980s, and drove them to the border.

After crossing the Finnish border, they left their ramshackle vehicles behind.

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