14 DAY TRIAL // Should you ever take the time to visit the city of St. Petersburg in Russia, don't freak out if a red military vehicle chances to cross your path. It might look rather scary, but we can assure you that this vehicle is not a threat to your safety.
In fact, you might even find it quite useful. Just as long as you are desperate to reach one destination or another and a run-of-the-mill yellow cab is nowhere in sight, that is.
That's right, the red military vehicle that we have in mind, featured in the photos accompanying this article, is actually a taxi. A taxi that packs a machine gun and that looks nothing like all the other vehicles of this kind that we are all too familiar with, but a taxi nonetheless.
A brief history of Russia's red cab
Oddity Central tells us that, when manufactured by Soviet Union workers several decades ago, the red taxi was known as the BRDM-2 Combat Command and Reconnaissance Vehicle. True, it's former name was quite fancy, but as it turns out, the vehicle was well worth this distinction.
Thus, word has it that, when it left the workshop where it was put together, the former BRDM-2 Combat Command and Reconnaissance Vehicle carried a 14.5 mm Vladimirov heavy machine gun together with a 7.62 mm Kalashnikov’s tank machine gun.
When the vehicle's owner first started thinking about turning it into a cab, authorities in Russia told him that there was no way they would ever grant him permission to move forward with this wacky extreme makeover plan. Still, they eventually changed their mind.
In a nutshell, the BRDM-2 Combat Command and Reconnaissance Vehicle's owner was told that, as long as he painted the military vehicle any other color than the green and brown used for camouflage, and deactivated the guns fitted on it, he could turn it into a cab.
Why choose this cab over the more conventional yellow ones
For starters, one has to admit that being driven around in a former Soviet military vehicle is way cooler than exploring the city of St. Petersburg while chilling on the backseat of a conventional yellow taxi.
Besides, there is little doubt that this former military vehicle is way more spacious than a regular cab. Add to this that it is an amphibious vehicle and can carry people across bodies of water such as Russia's Onega Lake, and it should not come as a surprise that folks love and adore it.
By the looks of it, the only downside is that just one ride has a price tag of $100 (about €83). What's more, word has it that, because of its size and weight, the vehicle is not allowed to travel up and down streets in St. Petersburg's historical center.
