ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine -- It is the end of the road for the Zaporozhets, the "tin can on wheels" that made car ownership possible for millions of Soviet citizens. The last one will roll off the assembly line Thursday, closing 34 years of proletarian automotive history. Its makers called their squat, noisy, cheap machine the "people's car." Nikita Khrushchev gave it the "tin can" label when he ordered its production in 1960. Viktor Suzalenko, chief of research at the plant, said the Zaporozhets "will be remembered as a vehicle of its time.""It is a no-frills car," he said. "Basic, yes basic. Style or how much fuel it drank wasn't an issue when it was designed. The key question was whether it could cope with the rotten roads in the Soviet Union." Andrei Petrovich, a local motorist, described it as "the only car I know that makes the Lada look sexy," referring to a popular sedan produced in Russia by the AvtoVAZ automaker. Petrovich owns a Lada, just one boxy step up from the Zaporozhets. The Z68, with its tiny engine tucked under the rear trunk, became the basic Zaporozhets model. It was introduced in 1968 and has remained virtually unchanged. Efforts to export it under the name Yalta failed. What did change was the market. The collapse of the Soviet Union brought both soaring production costs and a wondrous new element: choice. Status-symbol foreign cars and new Russian and Ukrainian models vied for public favor. War veterans on small pensions stuck with the Z68, as did disabled people who found it easier to maneuver than heavier cars, but they were not enough. Like many Soviet innovations, the sturdy Zaporozhets suspension was a spinoff of military technology. Until 1967, the auto plant in southeastern Ukraine doubled as a research and production center for an amphibious jeep designed for trench warfare. While ruggedness was important, the major selling point of the Zaporozhets was its price, which the Soviet planned economy strictly controlled before Ukraine became independent in 1991. In those days, a Z68 cost 20 times the average monthly pay or about 1,000 bottles of vodka. The price today is 39 million karbovantsy, the temporary Ukrainian currency or 87 times the average monthly pay, equivalent to $870. Ukraine and Russia took 80 percent of the plant's production until last year, but heavy tariffs imposed between the two former Soviet republics have caused Russia to cancel orders. The Ukrainian government, short on cash, has defaulted on payments to the factory. Managers and workers at the plant pin their hopes for keeping it open on the Tavria 1105, an aerodynamic five-door car with an engine built by Italian robots. A prototype of the Tavria is proudly displayed in a rotating glass showcase outside the neoclassical Stalinist fa?ade of the main entrance. Promotional plans for the Tavria 1105, now being made, are unlikely to include the slogan: "From the makers of the Zaporozhets."