Prior to the 1917 Russian Revolution some vehicles were being produced, including Yakovlev and Freze petrol automobiles from 1896. A Russo-Balt car was placed in the top ten of the 1912 Monte Carlo Rally. After the Revolution the impetus was to build trucks rather than cars, and a Fiat derived truck was produced by AMO. GAZ was established in 1930 in partnership with Ford of America. Vehicle production took off in the 1960s after a licence agreement to produce the Fiat 124 as the Lada, and several large plants were built for the production of KAMAZ lorries, Moskvitch cars and other vehicles. After the collapse of Communism many Soviet automakers went into decline, whilst some were handed a lifeline by partnership with other European makers which enabled new models to be brought to production.