The status of town was assigned to the village of Naberezhnye Chelny in Tatarstan only in 1930. At that time its population was about 5,000 people. In 1970, the population of the town was 38,000 people, while over the next 10 years it rose 10 times. The fact was that a plant for producing heavy-duty trucks started being built on the bank of Kama. The first truck – dropside Kamaz-5320 model – rolled off the production line of the plant on February 16, 1976. Today, everybody knows that Kamaz trucks, like tanks, are not afraid of dirt, dust, heat, and other things that may be met on the way from Paris to Dakar, and therefore are many-times winners of this rally. By the way, the very first truck is still here. It worked for many years in Bashkortostan, then was bought out by the plant’s museum, and now is displayed as exhibit.