Russians get a lot of flak in the media these days, but ask any of these denizens in this video, and they’ll likely laugh about it and hand you a bottle of vodka. These guys are out and about to have fun in their ridiculous builds, and see what their creations can handle when put up against the elements.

In the vast expanse that is Russian geography, the country has over 6.6 million square miles of land, and within that, there is a mix of steppes, mountains, forests, and marshes. Almost all of these are put up against some incredible rigs that make use of old and new.

Something interesting to note about these rigs is that almost all of them center around the Russian automaker GAZ, and in particular the GAZ-66. The GAZ-66 dates back to 1964 and was a military truck. It used a 4.2-liter V8 making 115 horsepower and eventually got bumped up to a turbocharged diesel motor making 123 horsepower. Over the years, variants upon variants arose to meet different needs, from vehicle recovery to special forces deployments.

But enough history talk. Let’s focus back on the Russkies and their antics as they take their highly modified GAZ-66s out for a thrilling joy ride. As mentioned before, almost all of them come from the GAZ-66, but vary in the types of bodies they use. One is a Mercedes-Benz S500; another is an Isuzu Trooper; still another is a BMW E38 7 Series. It’s insane what these builds come out looking like, but they’re undoubtedly awesome.

What do you think of Russia’s take on off-road builds? Let us know in the comments below.