herbert chambers yacht

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Boat of the Week: This Speedy 153-Foot Superyacht Has Its Own Turbo Boost

Push a button and the turbine kicks in, which is yachting's equivalent of light speed., julia zaltzman, julia zaltzman's most recent stories.

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What do you get if you have two friends with a passion for boats, high-profile automotive careers and cash to burn? The answer is the 153-foot superyacht Excellence , a vessel that oozes speed, has brand pedigree and captures the hearts of all who own it.

Built in 2001 by Formula One racing car driver and automobile entrepreneur Roger Penske, who named her  Detroit Eagle , the yacht combined Feadship ’s Dutch craftsmanship with Penske’s own brand of engine. (Disclosure: Roger Penske is the father of Jay Penske, who owns this publication, as well as its sister publications in the Penske Media portfolio.)

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“At the time [Roger] Penske owned a company called Detroit Diesel that made diesel engines for boats, and he was also involved with a company that built turbine engines,” current owner and Penske’s longtime friend, Herb Chambers, told Robb Report . “So, he went to Feadship and built a lightweight aluminum yacht with a shallow draft to demonstrate the capability of his engines.”

The Feadship was originally built and owned for years by Roger Penske, who wanted a very fast, very luxurious superyacht. Penske installed his own Detroit Diesel-branded engines and then added a 5,600-hp turbine to give the yacht a 10-knot pop at the top end.  Courtesy of Burgess Yachts

The immaculate, polished-chrome engine room, with the diesels painted in fire-engine red, has always been a symbolic indicator of the type of impressive speeds the yacht can reach. The engines are 16-cylinder 4000 series, which generate 3,650 horsepower each. Penske then added something the superyacht world had never seen before–a Lycoming TF-50 gas turbine for an additional 5,600 horsepower.

“The boat can cruise at about 23 knots on diesel engines,” Chambers says, “but if you really want it to go fast, you push a button and the turbine kicks in taking the boat from 23 knots up to around 33 knots. It really is a remarkable vessel.”

Serial boat builder Chambers grew up in the Boston area, spending long summers on the water at his grandmother’s cottage. “I always had the desire to have a boat,” he says, a goal he realized at 24 with a 30-foot Trojan flybridge motoryacht. The Trojan would be the first of five yachts called A-Copy , named after his successful copy-machine business.

“After I sold the copy company and had this windfall of money, I ordered a 127-foot Feadship. The name A-Copy wasn’t of any significance to me anymore so I tried to think of a name that I would like,” Chambers says. “I’m not an avid reader, but I read Tom Peters’s book In Search of Excellence and loved it. It’s about running a good business. I thought Excellence , that is a great name for a boat.”

Launched last summer, Chambers’s newest 262-foot Abeking & Rasmussen “Excellence” has a futuristic hull shape, with an eagle-beak bow and large glass panels on the exterior.  Courtesy Abeking & Rasmussen

To date, Chambers has owned more than 40 yachts of many sizes. Some were even sold before he took delivery. The name “Excellence” serves as a constant reminder to his 30-year-long captain for the need to maintain high standards on board, he says. It has also carried through to Chamber’s six most recent yachts. This includes his largest yacht to date, a striking 262-foot Abeking & Rasmussen launched in 2019, on which he enjoys cruising the European waters of Croatia, Greece, Italy and St Tropez. That Excellence won Robb Report ’s 2020 Best of the Best award for interiors.

With its “eagle” reverse bow and triple-height glass atrium, the Winch-designed yacht turns heads wherever it goes. But that’s hardly surprising considering Philip Starck’s opinion-dividing Motor Yacht A was the design inspiration this latest Excellence .

“When I first saw Motor Yacht A , I said, ‘That looks like a submarine. Who would ever want to have a boat like that?’ And the second time I saw it, I said, ‘That boat is pretty nice. I kinda like that bow.’ And the third time I saw it, I thought, ‘I absolutely love that.’ So, that’s where the idea for Excellence ’s bow came from.”

While he has recently listed the Feadship “Excellence,” Chambers plans to enjoy the yacht for while he still owns her. He has often owned two yachts—the newer one that is often under charter, and a smaller, faster one that is at his disposal for his “personal use.” 

While Chambers’s appreciation of Feadship has long endured after his first foray with the Dutch shipbuilder, it wasn’t until a 2018 visit to Fort Lauderdale Boat Show that Penske’s 153-foot yacht caught Chamber’s eye. Prized by Chambers for its flexible speed and six-foot Bahamas-friendly draft, it is one of the few yachts that he hasn’t put on the charter market.

“I view the Feadship as a very personal boat,” says Chambers. “It’s only a four-stateroom boat, but you can bring three other couples or family members with you. When I told Roger Penske that I had bought the boat, he said his family was mad at him when he sold it because they loved it so much.”

An extensive 2019 refit of the yacht includes a full paint job, an updated sound system and refurb of the original John Munford interior. Chambers bought the yacht for his own personal use. “Because my boats get chartered, I always love to have a boat that’s available just for me,” Chambers says. “I built a 94-foot Mangusta for that purpose and used it in America when my big yacht was on charter in the Mediterranean or Caribbean. The Feadship can do pretty much what the Mangusta did, but it’s a bigger, more comfortable boat, so I sold the Mangusta at the start of 2020.”

The 2001 build has undergone a complete refurbishment of the interior. 

Being a serial owner, Chambers also recently listed the updated Feadship. He plans to enjoy the yacht while she is still available. Will he miss this Excellence ?

“I really don’t know,” Chambers says, pausing. “I would maybe look to build a similar boat, around 150 feet, something that would be fast. But the Abeking & Rasmussen Excellence is still new to me. The time for me to sell a boat is when I still like it.”

That creates a great opportunity for a buyer who wants a piece of superyacht history–a very fast superyacht history.

Excellence is co-listed for sale with Burgess  and Merle Wood & Associates for $16,900,000. Here are more views.

Images Courtesy of Burgess Yachts

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Herb Chambers Yacht: Everything You Want To Know

Herb Chambers is an American businessman and a billionaire known for his massive New England and East coast auto dealership empire, the Herb Chambers Companies. His net worth is believed to be somewhere close to $2 billion and, as a man who clearly likes fancy cars and other luxurious things, he spared no expense when it came to buying his own personal yacht back in 2019. The vessel was built by yacht makers Abeking Rasmussen and designed by Winch Design. It quickly became a famous, award winning new yacht thanks to its complicated naval architecture and sleek superyacht design.

What is Herb Chambers Yacht Called?

Chambers chose to call his yacht Excellence which, all things being equal, is certainly an appropriate name for this luxury vessel. Captain Ray Shore, who has been Chambers’ yacht captain for 30 years, is the man behind the wheel. We’ll get into some of what we know about its impressive features and amenities soon that really show off why it deserves the title. 

How Much Did Herb Chambers’ Yacht Cost?

Excellence is rumored to have set Herb Chambers back a whopping $120 million. No wonder Excellence is in the name. That’s not close to the most expensive yacht in the world, but it does put the yacht in the top 30 most expensive in the world. On top of the base cost that Chambers spent to take this vessel home there’s also the annual running cost. Most of us don’t consider this when we think about yacht expenses but the cost of running a superyacht can be absolutely staggering. It’s estimated that, when you account for fuel as well as operating costs like paying the crew, food and other necessities on board, Chambers is spending between $5 million and $12 million per year. 

What Does it Cost To Charter Excellent?

Chambers has made Excellence available for charter and, in fact, he has had several previous yachts also called Excellence. Some of these yachts, of which there have been six, can be chartered as well though most of them have since been renamed. As you might expect, the vessel does not come cheap by any means. If you’re interested, a week will cost $1,150,000, which is one of the most expensive charters you’re likely to find anywhere.

Chambers has gone on record saying having the boat available for charter is important to him because it just costs too much to keep it running. He likes owning it but he doesn’t like paying for it and, really, you can’t fault him for his reasoning. He says, for him, that’s where he finds value in it. It’s worth something to own if he can have it chartered out and make the cost of running it back, which is good business. 

How Big is Herb Chambers Yacht Excellence?

Excellence definitely falls under the realm of superyachts. It clocks in at a very impressive 80 meters which works out to about 263 feet in length. That means it’s quite a bit larger than your average yacht, though still a good deal smaller than the mega yachts owned by the likes of Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.

The largest yachts in the world are, in some cases, twice as big as Chambers’ yacht so it’s by no means the biggest out there. Still, for an individual yacht, this 263-foot monster with a 47.4 foot draft and a gross tonnage of 2,115 tons is by no means small.

The yacht is designed to accommodate up to 14 passengers (though some sources claim 12, despite their being seven cabins) as well as 20 crew (but, again, some sources say 22, though there seem to be just 10 crew cabins).

What is the Cruising Speed of Herb Chambers Yacht?

Despite its size, the Excellence still has a pretty standard cruising speed of around 14 knots. It’s powered by a pair of twin 2,029hp MTU (12V 4000 M65R) diesel engines that can get it up to a top speed of 17 knots. Based on that, Excellence has a range of up to 6,300 nautical miles thanks to her 150,000 liter fuel tanks at cruising speed.

What’s the Interior of Herb Chambers Excellence Yacht Like?

One of the most unique and easily recognizable features of Excellence is the bow. Unlike your average vessel, Excellence is sporting a reverse bow and elongated hull which gives the boat the visual appearance of being upside down in the water, at least at the front. Beyond that, there’s also an extremely hard to miss triple-height glass atrium in the center of the yacht. As you can imagine, this enormous glass centerpiece allows the interior to be flooded with natural light while also allowing for amazing views of the outside from all over the vessel.

Throughout the vessel you’ll find much more glass as well as ample marble and Italian leather. There’s also wood accents of sycamore, burr, limed oak, blue ombre and birdseye maple to give it natural and opulent touches.

The top deck of the yacht is actually the private owner’s suite so it features not just the master bedroom suite but a number of other private amenities. To the aft is a sun deck lounging area only accessible to the owner and invited guests. Head forward and you’ll find your private terrace There’s also access to a private deck jacuzzi as well to ensure that, if you want, you can spend your time in luxury fully away from all the other guests.

The entire, luxury master suite also features floor to ceiling mirrored glass. That allows those inside to have a beautiful 180-degree view of the ocean and surroundings while also being obscured from anyone else looking in. In terms of size, at one point this mirror glass wall rises to a height of 6 whole meters or about 18 feet. 

Above the owner’s deck you’ll find a large sun lounging area with another jacuzzi. However, if you want to make the most of your time relaxing in the water then head to the main deck where there’s an entire swimming pool which also features a swim up bar. 

For most guests, the main deck is where they are spending most of their time. There are 6 double guest cabins located there plus a lot more. A lounge and dining area can manage the full complement of guests plus extras who may be hanging out for a party. In addition there is a fully appointed gym as well as a spa and sauna for use.

Elsewhere on the main deck, guests can enjoy a movie in the cinema space. If it’s a nice day and guests want to head out for fun on the water then heading down below deck is where you want to be.

A large beach club space has a terrace so you can really get out to lounge or enjoy the water. The garage is packed with more toys than you’d think possible. Check out this list of what’s available on board.

• One 9.8m/32’2″ Hogdon limousine tender, for when you want to head ashore in style
• Two standard tenders
• An Angeboat RS 200 two-person sailing dinghy
• A trampoline
• An inflatable platform
• An aquapark
• A pair of sea kayaks
• A pair of sea bobs
• A pair of Yamaha VX cruiser waverunners
• A training center that can actually teach you how to ride waverunners
• Four stand up paddle boards
• Inflatable, towable toys
• Gear for both snorkeling and scuba diving

The Bottom Line

Billionaire Herb Chambers owns the yacht known as Excellence, which is actually one of six yachts he’s owned that all bore the same name. The vessel is believed to have cost him $120 million in 2019 and has an annual running cost of between $5 million and $12 million. To offset those costs, Chambers charters the yacht which costs over $1 million per week for those interested.

One of the most distinguishing and recognizable features of the superyacht Excellence is the reverse bow. The superyacht owner wanted this so it would be clearly different from his previous boat. It also has some of the largest windows you’ll ever see on a yacht, reaching nearly 20 feet in some places.  

Excellence has room for about 20 crew and 14 guests, though these numbers seem to vary. It features a swimming pool, two Jacuzzis and a number of toys.

My grandfather first took me fishing when I was too young to actually hold up a rod on my own. As an avid camper, hiker, and nature enthusiast I'm always looking for a new adventure.

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Superyacht Influencer Interview: Herb Chambers Opens Up About Owning 263-Foot-Long EXCELLENCE

I’ve never met anyone in the superyacht world quite like herb chambers..

Superyacht owners are often, um, how should we say it…pretty aloof. And I can’t say I blame them. But every now and then, I meet a superyacht owner who loves his new yacht, loves the process of designing and building something so unique, and appreciates the incredibly talented designers and engineers and builders who can make his dreams a reality so much that he’s willing to share some of the experience with me–on the record.

But I’ve never met anyone in the superyacht world quite like the owner of 263-foot-long EXCELLENCE, which was designed by Winch Design, built by Abeking & Rasmussen, and won the “Best Exterior Design” and “Finest New Superyacht” awards at the Monaco Yacht Show .

He’s a straight-talking American whose smiling face and common sense one-liners are on nearly every billboard near where I live in downtown Boston. His name is Herb Chambers. And he’s on all those billboards because he owns (and is the face of) more than 1,000 car dealerships in New England that bear his name.

“Well, I’ve had six yachts,” he says when I ask about how he came to own one of the hottest superyachts in the world. “I built two in Holland and then I started building them in Germany at Abeking & Rassmussen.”

“Why so many?” I ask. 

“It’s fun to build a boat,” he says with a twinkle in his eye. “As a matter of fact, from my standpoint, it’s probably more fun to build them than it is to use them.”

“You’re creating something. You’re watching something grow,” he continues. “I think people who develop real estate know what I’m talking about; watching a project grow.”

“I’m in the automobile business, so it’s not quite the same. But building a boat gives you an excuse to go to Europe every three or four months so you see the progress and what’s going on at the yard. And that, to me, is very exciting.”

“Then, you have the opportunity to make a lot of choices.”

When it comes to EXCELLENCE ’s design, “choices” may be a bit of an understatement. Chambers’ design brief called for his new yacht to be “extraordinary” and to create a seamless feeling of openness and connection to the outside world. He says, “I also wanted the boat to be what I’ll call a ‘happy boat’. There are many boats out there that are overdone. They become an exercise in excess. I didn’t want that.”

He just needed to meet the designer that could create what he wanted.

“So how did you decide to build such a radical new yacht?” I ask.

“We were at a boat show when I still owned my previous EXCELLENCE (a 198-footer also named EXCELLENCE and built by Abeking & Rasmussen), but I was thinking about building something new. Then I walked into the Abeking & Rasmussen stand. And they had a rendering on the wall. And he–” Chambers says, pointing at the man who just sat next to him at the bar on the lower deck of his award-winning new yacht where we are sitting, “had done the rendering.”

The “he” Chambers refers to is Andrew Winch, the founder of Winch Design and the head of the design team that designed every element of the yacht, from the striking exterior and complicated naval architecture to every detail in the interior.

“I was thinking about a boat with lots of glass. And then I stopped and said, ‘I like that boat,’” he explains, pointing at a rendering that was just a concept Abeking & Rasmussen and Winch Design were collaborating on. Soon Chambers was making changes and making his own additions to the design. And not too long after that, the boat was being built.

Winch describes the process with Chambers like this: “Herb trusted us to design and build something that was so new, it was way beyond the comfort zone of most people. He had the courage to do it.”

In fact, the team at Winch Design came up with a superstructure that’s so unique, it’s no wonder EXCELLENCE has been so well-received. The instantly identifiable reverse bow and the yacht’s profile built around huge areas of mirrored and curved floor-to-ceiling glass executed brilliantly by Abeking & Rassmussen may point to where the future of superyacht design and construction is headed.

What’s more? We can help you charter it for yourself! 

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Excellence V, the superyacht built with the charter market in mind

Excellence V has the luxury of space where it matters, which gives her wide side decks, a five-level lift encircled by a central staircase, three hull openings for boarding from the sea, large main-deck guest suites, a dedicated cinema, a water-front gym, a beach club, an owner’s deck and multiple outdoor lounges and spa pools.

‘The exercise was how to put the interior of a 78 metre superyacht into a 57 metre hull, and then we stretched it to 60,’ says Captain Shore. Shore has been with owner Herb Chambers since 1989, and the two of them have built a hugely successful charter following with their yachts, starting with the original 38.7 metre Feadship that was the first Excellence . ‘When he started designing this boat, more room was key, as was incorporating things not heard of five years ago,’ says Shore. ‘He knows what he likes, and we use a lot of input from our repeat charter guests.’

Thirty years of offering his yachts for charter has given Chambers an acute understanding of the market and what makes a yacht a success. For example, there is a handsome double cabin on the upper deck, just aft of the master suite and opposite the office, designed to accommodate a charterer’s children, bodyguard or doctor. An adjacent door, hidden in the paneling, gives this cabin access to the deck’s pantry and to the stairs to the galley and crew areas below, should the person occupying it be a staff member.

Flexibility is why there are three hull openings, too. By putting the beach club amidships to starboard, guests congregating there aren’t bothered by the launch and retrieval of the tenders, which happens at the stern, or by the use of the portside platform that doubles as a crew tender access point and a waterfront gym or massage room. Flexibility has also driven the provision of 10 different outdoor spaces for guests, including three bars and seven lounging areas.

A small asymmetrical saloon with a bar on the starboard side and a cool wood floor, leather walls, crocodile tabletops and velvet chairs forms the transition from the aft arrivals deck to the interior. Forward of this is the dining area, set apart by its leather flooring, Macassar table and black emperador marble and white onyx countertops. This splash of drama sets the stage for the beautiful and dramatic foyer, with its gleaming glass lift, marble floors and a custom stair surround that is a majestic, four-storey, deco-style tableau of transportation.

A stairway takes guests on board Excellence V to a lower foyer opposite the beach club, and glass walls with a sandblasted pattern are all that separate them from the blue beyond when the club deck is lowered. Pass through the glass doors and this club is like an island. It has a shaded bar, a seating area and open teak decking large enough to host a couple of lounge chairs just above the surface of the sea. With its access to the stairs and lift, it’s a great place to arrive by tender.

The beach club isn’t the only reason to venture to the lower deck of the superyacht; forward is a state-of-the-art cinema with 102-inch screen and nine reclining chairs that vibrate along with the heavy bass audio tracks of action movies. A ‘candy store’ and beanbags for children complete the scene.

As pleasant as the guest cabins on Excellence V are (two twins, two doubles, and a VIP), the master suite is the sort of show-stopper you would expect of an owner with 30 years’ experience of messing about in boats. The suite’s subtle arrangement of doors and stairways helps give the owner privacy or informality when needed, and allows him to interact with the captain and crew. A fore and aft private outside staircase takes the owner down to the main side deck, while a circular staircase brings him directly to the bridge deck above. Thus the owner can arrive by tender or passerelle at the stern and move to his suite without going through the rest of the superyacht.

But the pièce de résistance is the waterfall, which splashes down the back of the superstructure and seems to disappear under the sole, only to reappear in a glass-fronted spa pool flanked by a bar with stools and sunpads. It’s a fitting feature for this yacht, which with equal emphasis mixes youthful relaxation and fun with the highest quality finish and technical sophistication.

Excellence V is available for charter at rates starting from €595,000 per week.

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Excellence (2019). Photo: Abeking & Rasmussen

The pursuit of Excellence

For Boston-based businessman Herb Chambers, building a superyacht is just as enjoyable as enjoying the finished product.

“My exposure to boating began with summers spent at my grandmother’s cottage, just south of Boston,” says serial yacht builder Herb Chambers. “I had friends who owned small boats, and I always had the desire to own one too.” Fast forward to today, and Herb has owned in excess of 40 yachts, often selling them as quickly as he can buy or build them.

For Herb, the enjoyment of yacht ownership comes from being on the water – “it’s somewhat magical,” he enthuses – but his appreciation for the design and the build process itself is integral to the experience.

Herb Chambers on board his superyacht

Herb regards yacht design as an art form. Scouring marinas wherever he goes for inspiration, his self-proclaimed fascination for boats is bolstered by the sheer diversity of yachts on the market. “I could look at boats all day long, because they’re all different,” he says. “Even when I took delivery of my latest yacht, I walked the marina during the 2019 Monaco Yacht Show looking at every other boat out there.”

“I always get so excited when I see a shipyard’s progress of the wiring, the plumbing and the layout of a boat. Some people don’t care about that, but I love it,” he says. “It took about three or four years to build my first Feadship yacht; I enjoyed building it just as much as I did using it.”

For all the other visitors attending the principality’s annual boat show last year, it was Herb’s 80m Abeking & Rasmussen head-turner Excellence that became the star attraction. Scooping Finest New Superyacht and Best Exterior at the 2019 Show awards, the yacht’s unusual bow (a homage to Philippe Starck’s highly distinctive Motor Yacht A ) and triple-height glass atrium demand attention. For Herb, who has always believed that the future of yachting will involve huge glass windows, Excellence is the realisation of a long-term vision made possible by technical advances in large-scale glass manufacture and shipyard capabilities.

“When designer Andrew Winch showed me a rendering of the design, I saw the big windows and said, ‘That is terrific. I didn’t realise that you could get glass that size.’ He explained that it was a new technology. To get the glass is one thing, but then to be able to install it on board is an engineering feat in itself.”

Excellence (2019) at the Monaco Yacht Show. Photo: Mc-Clic 2019

His latest yacht may be his largest, but his eye for detail came to the fore in 2005 when sketching designs for a previous incarnation of Excellence . “I sat on the aft deck of my boat in France with Abeking & Rasmussen, and we designed it together,” he recalls. “I told them what I wanted the bow to look like, and I had different ideas on other features, which we incorporated. The shipyard built the boat and I sold it before I even took delivery. Abeking built four or five more boats that were almost identical in design after that because it was something that was very appealing to other people besides me.”

The volume of yachts that Herb has designed, built and owned has shaped his preferences today. Time spent with his family and entertaining friends is crucial, and draft length has become a point of focus for the entrepreneur, so as to allow him to access his favourite cruising grounds, such as Ocean Reef Club on the Florida Keys and the shallow waters of the Bahamas.

Excellence (2001)

With the majority of his yachts made available for charter, keeping one back for his private use is also integral to Herb’s happiness. He considers his 46m yacht built by Feadship (also named Excellence ), which is currently listed for sale with Burgess and Merle Wood & Associates , to be his personal boat. Bought by Herb in 2018, but built by his long-time friend Roger Penske in 2001, the yacht is lightweight and fast.

“It has a beautiful engine room, everything in chrome and fire engine red, and it runs at about 23 knots on diesel engines. If you really want it to go fast, you can push a button and the turbine engine kicks in taking the boat up to about 33 knots,” he says. “I enjoy cruising at around 13 knots, but every now and then, if the weather’s kind of turning or you’re in a hurry to get some place and you want to go fast, in that boat you can.”

Size matters, too. When cruising the deep waters of the Mediterranean or the Caribbean, bigger boats are more comfortable in rough seas, he says, with more space to store tenders and toys. Hence his need to always have more than one yacht at a time. But most important of all is design.

“You don’t want your boat to look like a cookie-cutter,” he says, reflecting on his latest choice. “I wanted a boat that if you were a mile away from it, you would recognise it as being Excellence . I like that.”

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Wheels of Fortune

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AT A GATHERING OF BMW DEALERS in South Carolina, Herb Chambers found himself at the same table as a competitor he’d heard was having financial troubles. Chambers has 47 car dealerships these days. Or maybe it’s 46. It’s difficult to keep track because he’s constantly adding to his automotive empire. In all things, Chambers moves quickly when he sees what he wants. He’s been known to close a deal on a new location in half an hour, and now, sitting across the table from his weakened rival, he sensed the chance to close another.

“I was thinking, I want to buy his store,” Chambers recalls. “I knew they were struggling.” So he offered the guy a ride home to Boston on his corporate jet. “I’m thinking, If I can get him on my plane, I can talk to him. Maybe by the time we land, he might do something.”

“What time is your flight?” he asked the car dealer.

“Oh, 6 o’clock tonight.”

“We have wheels up at 1:15,” Chambers replied. “Come back with me.” The man thought about Chambers’s offer for a while. “No,” he said at last. “I don’t think I better do that.”

Win or lose, Chambers has a fondness for bold action. His collection of dealerships is now the 13th largest in the country. Or it could be 12th. (“I feel like General Custer and he’s Sitting Bull,” says his friend and competitor Jim Carney, who owns the Bernardi Auto Group. “He’s got me surrounded.”) Specific calculations of what Herb Chambers actually owns are problematic, because, when it comes to Herb Chambers, ownership is a fluid concept. Pretty much everything in his possession will eventually be sold, and anything he wants in his possession will eventually be purchased, only to be later sold…a kind of self-perpetuating cycle of buying and selling that, when you factor in his forever-extending empire of outside business interests, makes a precise accounting of his belongings at any particular moment essentially meaningless. (“I don’t know how many companies I have,” he says. “There are probably 65 or 75 different companies — I know that we do 65 or 75 tax returns.”) However you add it up, Chambers has a lot to keep track of. He sells approximately 45,000 automobiles a year — one out of every five in eastern Massachusetts — and services another 40,000. He employs 1,900 people, has $300 million or so worth of inventory sitting on his lots on any given day, and, according to this magazine, had a personal fortune in 2006 of nearly $2 billion. But that was five years ago, and with all his buying and selling since then, who really knows how much he’s worth today?

So yes, there are a lot of important details for Herb Chambers to keep straight. And the one that’s been vexing him lately has to do with the 40,000 apples he gives away every year at his service shops. As a diabetic, he prefers to promote healthful snacking, but the gesture has created an unexpected headache. “What’s driving me crazy,” he says, his voice rising, “is I like the red apples — and at the dealership, you have to polish them — but some of them are still putting out green!” What’s this? The billionaire with 46 or 47 car dealerships is upset because his people put out the wrong color apples? Yes, and so much so that he finally called together some of his top execs to get to the bottom of the situation. “I’m going over this with people in management. So I guess we’re going to go with 80 percent red and 20 percent green. I guess some people like green.” FIGURING OUT WHAT PEOPLE LIKE and then rushing to provide it to them faster and with better service than they imagined has been the life’s work of Herb Chambers.

He’s the high school dropout who got his start selling photocopier supplies out of his car and over time made himself into one of the wealthiest and most powerful people in New England. And he’s built that incredible success by sweating one tiny, seemingly insignificant detail after another. One of his favorite words is “perfect,” as in, “I’m not happy unless it’s perfect,” or, “My customers expect it will be perfect.” But nothing ever is, and that can lead to Chambers getting twisted up with anxiety about the slightest problems, about the stuff the other guy doesn’t even know exists.

Like right now. He’s supposed to be giving a tour of the gleaming 120,000-square-foot Lexus store he opened a few years ago in Sharon — the place looks like a chic Vegas hotel, with soaring ceilings, lots of marble and glass, and flat-screen-crowned urinals — but he keeps getting distracted by the slightest sign of clutter or wear. Descending the grand staircase that connects the sales and service floors, he sighs and scoops up a scrap of crumpled paper. In the shop, he frowns at a smidge of grease along the wall. “I try to be as carefree as I can,” he says, “but there is this constant thing that it’s got to be right, it’s got to be perfect. I try to calm myself down when I’m talking to our employees, because otherwise they’re going to think I’m crazy. You know, ‘When is this guy gonna let up?’”

Yes, when? At 69, there doesn’t seem to be much left for him to achieve. He’s rich and his legacy is secure. Harvard brings him in to talk shop with the business students. He’s a must-get for Boston charity fundraisers. He has a beautiful girlfriend. He lives on the 12th floor of the Mandarin Oriental, and in a tastefully renovated farmhouse in Connecticut. He takes lunch with Herald publisher and president Pat Purcell and dinner with his friend Herb Lipson, who owns this magazine. (Chambers spends $1 million a month on advertising and, full disclosure, some of it goes to Boston magazine. Then again, some of it goes to just about every media outlet in the region.) “I’m the luckiest person you’re ever going to meet,” he says again and again. “And I’m not kidding.”

But then there’s that other side, the intense competitiveness and drive for perfection that are almost certainly responsible for everything he’s accomplished — but that have probably kept him from fully enjoying the ride. “It’s a curse not to be able to relax,” he says. “It does make you unhappy.”

“I keep telling him, ‘Slow down, it’s time to slow down,’” says Al Abate, his friend of more than 50 years. “He says, ‘You’re right, but I can’t.’” CHAMBERS MAY NOT EXACTLY be unhappy right now, sitting in the Kiss 108 radio studio, but this interview is going far from perfectly, and the smile on his face is slipping. He’s appearing live on the Matty in the Morning show to promote a TV Diner charity event he’ll be hosting days from now at that Lexus dealership in Sharon. Sitting at a tall desk, Chambers is surrounded by host Matt Siegel, his sidekick Billy Costa, and Jenny Johnson, the producer of TV Diner . As always, he’s well tanned, and he’s wearing a dark suit, a lavender tie, and big radio headphones.

Though Chambers is among friends — he socializes occasionally with Siegel and Costa — the interview has taken on an edge, mostly because Siegel revels in starting trouble. “How’s that yacht of yours?” the host asks him. Chambers, who lives a lifestyle of extreme luxury but can’t stand the thought of coming off as ostentatious, responds with silence. “I know I’m making you uncomfortable,” Siegel says, “and I apologize for it, but I’m so fascinated by it. You’re a self-made man, and that’s the American dream.”

Chambers jumps at the chance to change the subject, launching into the story of how he borrowed $500 from his mother to start the copier business he eventually sold to a Fortune 500 company, then parlayed that windfall into his auto kingdom of today.

“Now he has 47 dealerships, a jet, a yacht, and a helicopter,” Siegel says. The station cuts to a commercial break and everyone moves to a lobby adjacent to the studio. “From selling paper out of your trunk to where you are — that’s an incredible story,” says Costa.

“That’s what I wanted to get at in there,” says Siegel. “It’s not like Ernie Boch Jr., where you were born into it. He did it the easy way.”

“Some days I wish I could do it the easy way,” Chambers replies.

Siegel says it’s hard to believe Chambers could still care one way or the other how many cars he sells.

“Absolutely!” Chambers says, slamming his fist into his palm. “You’ve got to get out there and beat them every day! It’s just like you.”

“No,” Siegel responds. “I need it. You don’t need it. What do you need, another helicopter?”

“Well,” Chambers says, “you want to win.”

Siegel, who likes cars, asks about the collection of automobiles Chambers keeps at his Connecticut home. He has several vintage Ferraris and one of only 65 street-ready McLaren F1s in the world.

“You keep them on a turnstile?” Siegel asks.

“Ernie Boch has them on turnstiles.”

Chambers’s look goes serious. He has a complicated relationship with Boch. Not with the man, actually — he doesn’t know him well — but with the idea of the man. Though Boch, with only a handful of dealerships, poses no danger to Chambers’s bottom line, he’s the only dealer in New England who rivals his name recognition. Chambers would never admit it, but this fact may bother him. There’s also the way Boch has taken the stereotype of the flashy car salesman and cranked it up to 11, like a guitarist in his rock band, Ernie and the Automatics, maxing out the volume for an extended solo. Boch can come across as a kind of nouveau-riche buffoon, and you get the feeling that Chambers, a fellow big-spending, high-profile car dealer, worries his image takes a hit by association. Finally, there’s Boch’s deceased father, Ernie Boch Sr., a legendary car salesman. Long before Chambers conquered automobiles, he used to sell copiers to Boch Sr. “When I got my first dealership,” Chambers recalls, “someone talked to him and said, ‘What do you think about this Herb Chambers coming into the car business? You think he’s going to be a threat to you?’ He said, ‘No, never. He knows nothing about the car business and he’ll invest 100 million bucks, he’ll lose it all, and walk away.’ I have great respect for him, but he didn’t have very much for me. He thought that I was just a guy with some money.” Standing in the radio station, you can almost see Chambers formulating a response to Siegel: I could put my cars on turnstiles if I chose to. I just choose not to .

Before he can say anything, though, Siegel slaps him on the shoulder. “I’m just kidding!” he barks. “You always fall for that.” HERB CHAMBERS GREW UP dreaming big. When he was a toddler, a photographer for the old Boston American captured him at the beach, scooping up water with a metal can. The photo caption described him “bailing out the ocean.” Chambers still has the clipping. “Typical Dorchester kid,” he says, laughing. “Conventional plastic pail and shovel? I had a paint can.”

Chambers was born in a two-family Dorchester home owned by his maternal grandmother. His father was a commercial artist, and his mother was a homemaker. “My father was very easygoing,” he says, “and my mother was the taskmaster.” When Chambers hit his teens, the taskmaster started charging him rent, $15 a week. His brother and two sisters got the same deal.

To pay the rent, Chambers lied his way into a job at Stop & Shop when he was 13. (You were supposed to be 16.) He collected the shopping carts in the parking lot. Far from drudgery, it was fun. “It was almost a game with me, to see how few carriages I could have sitting out in the parking lot,” he says. The ultimate goal: “no carriages out there that somebody didn’t have their hands on.”

He excelled at the supermarket, earning a series of promotions and raises. School, however, was a different matter. He ended up dropping out during his senior year. It was 1959, he was 17 years old, and he needed something to do. So he joined the Navy.

While serving in the Florida Keys, his job was to supervise the cleaning of fighter jets. The guys working for him were generally lazy and uninspired. But Chambers was intrigued by the challenge of motivating his shiftless charges. “I couldn’t control their pay, but I could control when they showed up and when they left,” he says. He worked out a contest in which the two hardest workers got extra time off. Soon everyone was hustling. “So it was fun; it was a game,” he says. “It was a puzzle.”

In 1963 Chambers got out of the Navy and moved back in with his parents, working for a couple of months at a rough-and-tumble bar in the South End his mother had inherited from a deceased brother. The place was dingy, the mirrors so discolored from cigarette smoke that the barflies could scarcely see themselves. Chambers, though, was undaunted. “I was going to take this bar and turn it into Mistral.”

Before he got the chance, however, he was out of a job. One Sunday after he’d been at the bar for two months, he got a call from his mother.

“Yes, Mother?” he said.

“Don’t you ‘yes, Mother’ me,” she snapped. “You’re fired.”

“Fired? For what?”

“You were supposed to open the bar today,” she said, insisting that his name was on the schedule. He tried to explain that it was his father — also named Herb — who’d failed to show up, but his mother wasn’t interested.

“Don’t you give me any of this crap,” she said. “You’re fired, that’s it.”

Chambers tells the story with a laugh, but it’s clear the memory pains him. “She was so tough,” he says. “I was so crushed by this that I went home and I basically had just Navy clothes and three or four pairs of jeans. I threw it all into a bag and brought it to my sister’s house in Braintree.” CHAMBERS ALWAYS keeps one residence or another in Boston. He’s lived at the Mandarin since it opened in the fall of 2008, and before that he was in a 9,000-square-foot single-family townhouse in the Back Bay. But for the past 32 years, home for Chambers has been his farmhouse in Old Lyme, Connecticut, near the confluence of the Connecticut River and Long Island Sound. That’s where we’re heading now as we cut south in his sleek black helicopter, moving at 140 knots, 1,500 feet above the ground. It’s a spectacular late-autumn morning and the sun is shining magnificently, breathing a few dying moments of brilliance into foliage that, at season’s end, has gone mostly dull. It’s a breathtaking sight, the kind Chambers experiences all the time. This is his regular commute, lifting off from the helipad atop his Mercedes dealership in Somerville and touching down 38 minutes later right outside his front door in Connecticut.

As the helicopter passes through the area of Foxwoods casino, Chambers mentions that he’s an investor in a nightspot there called Shrine, one of three projects by the restaurateur Ed Kane that he’s put money into. Backing Kane is a rare instance of Chambers joining someone else’s deal. Most of his net worth is tied up in his car companies, though he is “very heavily invested in the market. I don’t choose stocks on my own. I have Goldman Sachs and I have Bank of America and they make those decisions for me.” So why work with Kane? “I know him personally,” Chambers says, “and I know his character.” Kane, like so many of the people Chambers is drawn to, is a self-made man. He started with little, worked as a bartender, attended Harvard, and eventually hit it big. Chambers spends most of his time with family — he has a son from a marriage that ended in divorce after 13 years — and a small circle of very close acquaintances, most of them up-by-the-bootstrappers like himself.

As we near Chambers’s house, a wide stretch of river comes into view. “It’s a great boating area,” he says. “It’s really one of the main reasons I stay here.” Chambers is passionate about boats. In addition to an array of personal crafts, he owns a 188-foot yacht, Excellence III , that summers in the Mediterranean, winters in the Caribbean, and is chartered to some of the richest people in the world. The boat — which will be sold once its successor is completed in October — charters for $500,000 a week.

We begin circling down and the helicopter comes to rest on a helipad in front of the garage where Chambers’s vintage cars are kept. We hop out and Chambers, in white cargo pants, a linen shirt, and suede loafers with no socks, leads the way up to his house. Outside stands a rust-colored statue of Richard Nixon holding his head in his right hand and flashing a peace sign with his left.

Like the place at the Mandarin, the farmhouse’s décor is casually elegant. It’s very high-end, yet there is nothing flashy about it. As we walk through the house, though, Chambers stops at something that looks like an anomaly — a painting he commissioned a few years ago depicting a group of attractive young people frolicking on Shell Beach in Saint Barts. After the artist sent his initial sketch, Chambers told his secretary to inform him that “their boobs are too small” and should be made bigger. We complete the tour of the house and walk down Chambers’s vast front yard of rolling green, past his two life-size fiberglass Clydesdale horses and through a fence that leads to the parking lot of a marina he owns at the end of the property. Out on the dock bobs a gorgeous 44-foot Rivarama, a sporty Italian boat Chambers bought during a recent trip to Europe. The Rivarama was shipped to Connecticut six weeks ago, and today it’s going to be put into storage for the winter.

We jump onto the boat, and Chambers takes the wheel. He eases out into the Connecticut River and guns the engines once we enter Long Island Sound a few minutes later. The boat surges forward, leaving behind it an enormous wake. Half an hour later, we enter a marina in Westbrook, Connecticut, and Chambers expertly positions the Rivarama alongside the dock. We step off the boat and are met by a man named Paul, who captains Chambers’s personal yacht.

Paul drives us to another part of the marina, where the 83-foot yacht has been put away for the season in a heated hangar that seems only inches longer than the boat itself. We walk around and climb a ladder that brings us to the rear deck. The yacht is spotless, but Chambers is focused on the gleaming wood that lines the stern. Paul says he’s just finished polishing the area. “I was noticing there’s a bare spot on the varnish,” Chambers says, frustrated. “I was wondering where that came from.”

AFTER GETTING FIRED by his mother, Chambers was suddenly in need of a job. So he picked up the Globe and found an ad for a copy-machine repairman. Though he didn’t know what the machines did, he managed to talk his way into the position. The pay was $75 a week, plus commission on any service contracts he could sell.

The other repairmen would have six or seven service calls backed up, but Chambers, in his early twenties, was determined he’d never be a single call behind. “I never took breaks,” he says. “There was a place that used to sell hot dogs for a buck down on Broad Street. I’d run and get a hot dog down the street with my toolbox, heading to fix the next copy machine.”

It didn’t take long for him to realize, though, that the real money was in the service contracts. He was surprised to discover how effective he was at selling the insurance plans. Soon he was covering two territories, and the service contracts were rolling in. The suits back at the home office in Illinois started asking his boss about the kid who’d sold more contracts than anyone in the country. Was he a sales guy? No, Chambers’s boss told them, a repairman.

Chambers was quickly transferred to the sales team. Now his job was to sell copier supplies, primarily paper and toner. That sounded easy enough, but there was one thing standing between him and all the money he hoped to earn: He was painfully shy. It was no big deal to sell contracts to people who’d already given him a natural opening — they’d invited him in to fix a copy machine — but the notion of cold-calling strangers was excruciating. So he signed up for a Dale Carnegie course to learn how to speak to people when he was nervous. It wasn’t long before his training was put to the test. One day Chambers was making cold calls in the Garment District. He entered a building on Kneeland Street and walked up a set of stairs to an office where, behind a pane of glass, an old woman was answering the phones. “Hi,” he said. “I want to talk to somebody about supplies for the copier machine.”

“No, no,” the woman said. “We’re not interested.”

Chambers kept up with the sales pitch. Suddenly, he heard a howl from a man in an unseen office: “We don’t want any!” Chambers quickly left.

A month later he returned to the office, climbed the stairs, and tried again. He asked the old woman if he could leave her samples. Again, a man yelled, “We don’t want any!”

“Can you come out here for a second?” Chambers called out. “I want to show you something.”

At that, the man came roaring out of his office, stormed over to Chambers, and proceeded to kick his briefcase down the flight of stairs. “Now get out of here,” he screamed, “and don’t come back!”

“It was one of the low moments of my life,” Chambers recalls. “Somebody doing that to me, treating me like dirt.” But as he began picking up the papers that had scattered from his tumbling briefcase, he realized what he had to do. “This is a moment I have to win,” he said to himself. “You don’t give in.” He marched back up the stairs and asked to see the man again. Amazed by the kid’s moxie, the guy placed a big order — and offered Chambers a job. He declined.

Chambers was making plenty of money as it was. He sold more in a day than anyone else was doing in a week. So when his supervisor resigned, Chambers was promoted to the position. He’d been a salesman for a month.

Al Abate recalls being dumbfounded the first time he visited his old buddy from the Dorchester streets. “The secretary referred me to his personal secretary,” Abate says. “He had this fancy office and big desk. I told him, ‘This is unbelievable.’”

“I’m quitting,” Chambers said.

“What? You’re quitting? You’re crazy!”

“If I can do it for them, I can do it for myself.”

Chambers gave his notice, intent on starting his own company. But a non-compete clause meant he’d have to work at least 100 miles from Boston. So he formed a company called A-Copy America and opened for business next to a barber shop in Hartford. Abate, who’d gone down with him to scout locations, told him he was crazy. Chambers didn’t care. “He just believed in himself,” Abate says.

The strategy was simple: Find a tall building, take the elevator to the top floor, and work your way down, office after office. “And after I had hit all those offices downtown, then I would hit the florist shops, I’d go to car dealers and places like that.”

Chambers likes to say he’s the luckiest person he’s ever met. If that’s true, one important bit of fortune for him was the timing of his entry into the copier game. Not long after the launch of A-Copy came the introduction of affordable copy machines that businesses could buy rather than lease from the manufacturer. Soon Chambers was hawking copy machines along with copy supplies.

He started selling Minolta copiers in the early ’70s and before long was the world’s largest Minolta dealer. Then he became the largest Canon dealer. Sharp and Ricoh were big brands for him, too. At its height, Chambers says, A-Copy employed 1,400 people in 36 offices.

In 1983 Chambers sold A-Copy to the Alco Standard Corporation for a reported $80 million. He spent two years working for the publicly traded conglomerate, but he hated it. There was no passion, no competitive zeal, no urgency to win. So one day after spending half an hour in a Connecticut Cadillac dealership, he walked out with more than a car. He’d decided to buy the entire dealership. CHAMBERS IS BEHIND THE wheel of what just may be the hottest car on the road today, a black Bentley GT Supersport that goes for around $240,000. “You know what’s great about it, too?” he says. “It’s not flashy.” (He’s right, by the way. If it’s possible for a quarter-million-dollar sports car to be understated, this is the one.)

We pull out of his Somerville Mercedes dealership and onto McGrath Highway, setting off for Beacon Hill. Chambers is attending an event tonight to raise money for the preservation of mounted patrols in the Public Garden. He frequently walks the park in the morning, and has been hearing that budget cuts might mean the end of the patrols. “I can’t even imagine — somebody should get involved and maybe people can contribute money to keep those horses here,” he’d told his girlfriend, Melissa Lees, who then suggested that he might be just the man. “That’s on Sunday,” he says. “On Monday, I’m going through my mail, and I open up an envelope and there is a picture of a horse.” It was an invitation to the fundraiser.

The event is being held in the Parkman House, which overlooks the Common and is the mayor’s official reception hall. It’s an older crowd, about 50 people dressed formally and mingling across two adjoining rooms with high ceilings, hardwood floors, elegant rugs, and a bar.

Everyone knows Chambers. He smiles graciously, offering self-deprecating jokes and easy conversation. It’s hard to believe his shyness once led him to take a Dale Carnegie course. He explains later that he decided as a young man, “I am going to become somebody I’m really not. I have to be confident and carefree and just happy-go-lucky, and that’s what I’m gonna be, an actor. And I’ve done it for so long that I’ve become that person.”

Standing by the bar, Chambers spots someone he knows. “Hi, Tom!” he bellows.

“I’m Tom Kershaw,” the man says. “I own the Hampshire House, Cheers….”

“I know who you are!” Chambers says heartily.

“But more importantly,” Kershaw says, “I’m a customer. I just ordered one of the golden Mercedes.”

“Did you really? I hope you bought it from me.”

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Kershaw says. Kershaw’s wife, Janet, leans in. “I just saw Ernie Boch,” she says with a grin. “I thought that was kind of funny.”

Boch is standing against a wall about 15 feet away, fiddling with his cell phone and looking uncomfortable. Though everyone else is in suits and ties, he’s dressed for one of his band’s gigs, with long hair and a goatee, a black coat, black sneakers, and a thin black sweater over a black shirt. There’s no real reason why he and Chambers should say hello, but everyone in the room seems to be watching. Chambers keeps chatting with his small group and Boch turns away to say something to someone near him. The moment passes and the two men do not speak.

“Maybe he didn’t see me, you know?” Chambers says as we walk back to the Bentley. “I mean, I was talking to somebody and my plan was to go over and say hello to him and next thing, I think he was gone.”

Later that night, we meet a number of Chambers’s employees for dinner at Strega Waterfront. Denise Devoe, a corporate controller who’s been with Chambers for nearly 20 years, brings up the time a decade ago that the big publicly traded companies began approaching Chambers about buying him out. He had 10 or so stores, had all the money he could ever need and, at the time, was nearing his sixties. Rumors were rampant that he was going to sell.

“So anyways,” Devoe says, “he has a big meeting with all the managers, and he goes, ‘I’m not selling because I’m not going to do Burger King next.’ So that’s why he’s still selling cars. I’ll never forget that.”

Chambers says he never seriously considered selling for a minute, but the attention was flattering because it validated his success. “I always thought I was a one-trick pony,” he says. “Being able to do what I did in the copier business and to be able to replicate that is hard to do.”

Then again, Chambers seems to have a gift for willing what he wants into existence, like deciding that the mounted patrols in the Public Garden should be saved and then, the very next day, hearing from the fundraisers. “It sounds spooky,” he says. “What happens is, I always have these moments when I think about something and the next day it happens. It just happens to me again and again.”

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• Superyachts

EXCELLENCE Yacht – Supreme $120 Million Superyacht

EXCELLENCE yacht is one of the largest superyachts in the world with a total length of 80 meters (262.5 ft).

She is often considered a masterpiece of design with her unusual reversed bow.

EXCELLENCE yacht interior

The interior of the EXCELLENCE yacht was designed by Andrew Winch, an English yacht designer specializing in the luxurious and unusual design.

The yacht perfectly combines indoor and outdoor living with her three-story glass atrium that allows the interior to be bright and open.

Fourteen guests find space on board in seven cabins, as well as a crew of 20 who have a designated area below deck. The interior of the yacht is decorated in beige and creme tones, perfectly complimented by dark wooden elements.

There is a cinema, spa with a sauna, and gym aboard EXCELLENCE and the aft of the vessel holds a large beach club with direct water access.

Specifications

The EXCELLENCE yacht has a length of 80 meters (262.5 ft), a beam of 14.45 meters (47.4 ft), and a draft of 3.45m (11.3 ft).

Her twin MTU engines allow her to reach top speeds of 17 knots, although her average cruising speed lies at 14 knots. She carries 30,000 liters of water and 50,000 liters of diesel on board.

The EXCELLENCE yacht is the 7th largest yacht built by ​​the renowned German shipyard Abeking & Rasmussen.

Her exterior was designed by Andrew Winch, who also worked on the interior of EXCELLENCE.

Her most unusual feature is definitely the reversed bow that is sure to catch the attention of onlookers anywhere she docks.

She has plenty of deck space that can be used for sunbathing or covered up with awnings if required.

On the main deck, a pool with a swim-up bar allows guests to relax and unwind. EXCELLENCE has a sizeable aluminum superstructure and an elongated steel hull.

She has unusually large windows which allow the interior to be flooded with natural light. 

The owner bought EXCELLENCE for a price of US$120 million in 2019. She generates annual running costs of US $5 to 12 million depending on use.

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• Abeking & Rasmussen
• Herb Chambers
• Winch Design

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40 facts about elektrostal.

Written by Lanette Mayes

Modified & Updated: 02 Mar 2024

Reviewed by Jessica Corbett

Elektrostal is a vibrant city located in the Moscow Oblast region of Russia. With a rich history, stunning architecture, and a thriving community, Elektrostal is a city that has much to offer. Whether you are a history buff, nature enthusiast, or simply curious about different cultures, Elektrostal is sure to captivate you.

This article will provide you with 40 fascinating facts about Elektrostal, giving you a better understanding of why this city is worth exploring. From its origins as an industrial hub to its modern-day charm, we will delve into the various aspects that make Elektrostal a unique and must-visit destination.

So, join us as we uncover the hidden treasures of Elektrostal and discover what makes this city a true gem in the heart of Russia.

Key Takeaways:

• Elektrostal, known as the “Motor City of Russia,” is a vibrant and growing city with a rich industrial history, offering diverse cultural experiences and a strong commitment to environmental sustainability.
• With its convenient location near Moscow, Elektrostal provides a picturesque landscape, vibrant nightlife, and a range of recreational activities, making it an ideal destination for residents and visitors alike.

Known as the “Motor City of Russia.”

Elektrostal, a city located in the Moscow Oblast region of Russia, earned the nickname “Motor City” due to its significant involvement in the automotive industry.

Home to the Elektrostal Metallurgical Plant.

Elektrostal is renowned for its metallurgical plant, which has been producing high-quality steel and alloys since its establishment in 1916.

Boasts a rich industrial heritage.

Elektrostal has a long history of industrial development, contributing to the growth and progress of the region.

Founded in 1916.

The city of Elektrostal was founded in 1916 as a result of the construction of the Elektrostal Metallurgical Plant.

Located approximately 50 kilometers east of Moscow.

Elektrostal is situated in close proximity to the Russian capital, making it easily accessible for both residents and visitors.

Known for its vibrant cultural scene.

Elektrostal is home to several cultural institutions, including museums, theaters, and art galleries that showcase the city’s rich artistic heritage.

A popular destination for nature lovers.

Surrounded by picturesque landscapes and forests, Elektrostal offers ample opportunities for outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, and birdwatching.

Hosts the annual Elektrostal City Day celebrations.

Every year, Elektrostal organizes festive events and activities to celebrate its founding, bringing together residents and visitors in a spirit of unity and joy.

Has a population of approximately 160,000 people.

Elektrostal is home to a diverse and vibrant community of around 160,000 residents, contributing to its dynamic atmosphere.

Boasts excellent education facilities.

The city is known for its well-established educational institutions, providing quality education to students of all ages.

A center for scientific research and innovation.

Elektrostal serves as an important hub for scientific research, particularly in the fields of metallurgy, materials science, and engineering.

Surrounded by picturesque lakes.

The city is blessed with numerous beautiful lakes, offering scenic views and recreational opportunities for locals and visitors alike.

Well-connected transportation system.

Elektrostal benefits from an efficient transportation network, including highways, railways, and public transportation options, ensuring convenient travel within and beyond the city.

Famous for its traditional Russian cuisine.

Food enthusiasts can indulge in authentic Russian dishes at numerous restaurants and cafes scattered throughout Elektrostal.

Home to notable architectural landmarks.

Elektrostal boasts impressive architecture, including the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord and the Elektrostal Palace of Culture.

Offers a wide range of recreational facilities.

Residents and visitors can enjoy various recreational activities, such as sports complexes, swimming pools, and fitness centers, enhancing the overall quality of life.

Provides a high standard of healthcare.

Elektrostal is equipped with modern medical facilities, ensuring residents have access to quality healthcare services.

Home to the Elektrostal History Museum.

The Elektrostal History Museum showcases the city’s fascinating past through exhibitions and displays.

A hub for sports enthusiasts.

Elektrostal is passionate about sports, with numerous stadiums, arenas, and sports clubs offering opportunities for athletes and spectators.

Celebrates diverse cultural festivals.

Throughout the year, Elektrostal hosts a variety of cultural festivals, celebrating different ethnicities, traditions, and art forms.

Electric power played a significant role in its early development.

Elektrostal owes its name and initial growth to the establishment of electric power stations and the utilization of electricity in the industrial sector.

Boasts a thriving economy.

The city’s strong industrial base, coupled with its strategic location near Moscow, has contributed to Elektrostal’s prosperous economic status.

Houses the Elektrostal Drama Theater.

The Elektrostal Drama Theater is a cultural centerpiece, attracting theater enthusiasts from far and wide.

Popular destination for winter sports.

Elektrostal’s proximity to ski resorts and winter sport facilities makes it a favorite destination for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter activities.

Promotes environmental sustainability.

Elektrostal prioritizes environmental protection and sustainability, implementing initiatives to reduce pollution and preserve natural resources.

Home to renowned educational institutions.

Elektrostal is known for its prestigious schools and universities, offering a wide range of academic programs to students.

Committed to cultural preservation.

The city values its cultural heritage and takes active steps to preserve and promote traditional customs, crafts, and arts.

Hosts an annual International Film Festival.

The Elektrostal International Film Festival attracts filmmakers and cinema enthusiasts from around the world, showcasing a diverse range of films.

Encourages entrepreneurship and innovation.

Elektrostal supports aspiring entrepreneurs and fosters a culture of innovation, providing opportunities for startups and business development.

Offers a range of housing options.

Elektrostal provides diverse housing options, including apartments, houses, and residential complexes, catering to different lifestyles and budgets.

Home to notable sports teams.

Elektrostal is proud of its sports legacy, with several successful sports teams competing at regional and national levels.

Boasts a vibrant nightlife scene.

Residents and visitors can enjoy a lively nightlife in Elektrostal, with numerous bars, clubs, and entertainment venues.

Promotes cultural exchange and international relations.

Elektrostal actively engages in international partnerships, cultural exchanges, and diplomatic collaborations to foster global connections.

Surrounded by beautiful nature reserves.

Nearby nature reserves, such as the Barybino Forest and Luchinskoye Lake, offer opportunities for nature enthusiasts to explore and appreciate the region’s biodiversity.

Commemorates historical events.

The city pays tribute to significant historical events through memorials, monuments, and exhibitions, ensuring the preservation of collective memory.

Promotes sports and youth development.

Elektrostal invests in sports infrastructure and programs to encourage youth participation, health, and physical fitness.

Hosts annual cultural and artistic festivals.

Throughout the year, Elektrostal celebrates its cultural diversity through festivals dedicated to music, dance, art, and theater.

Provides a picturesque landscape for photography enthusiasts.

The city’s scenic beauty, architectural landmarks, and natural surroundings make it a paradise for photographers.

Connects to Moscow via a direct train line.

The convenient train connection between Elektrostal and Moscow makes commuting between the two cities effortless.

A city with a bright future.

Elektrostal continues to grow and develop, aiming to become a model city in terms of infrastructure, sustainability, and quality of life for its residents.

In conclusion, Elektrostal is a fascinating city with a rich history and a vibrant present. From its origins as a center of steel production to its modern-day status as a hub for education and industry, Elektrostal has plenty to offer both residents and visitors. With its beautiful parks, cultural attractions, and proximity to Moscow, there is no shortage of things to see and do in this dynamic city. Whether you’re interested in exploring its historical landmarks, enjoying outdoor activities, or immersing yourself in the local culture, Elektrostal has something for everyone. So, next time you find yourself in the Moscow region, don’t miss the opportunity to discover the hidden gems of Elektrostal.

Q: What is the population of Elektrostal?

A: As of the latest data, the population of Elektrostal is approximately XXXX.

Q: How far is Elektrostal from Moscow?

A: Elektrostal is located approximately XX kilometers away from Moscow.

Q: Are there any famous landmarks in Elektrostal?

A: Yes, Elektrostal is home to several notable landmarks, including XXXX and XXXX.

Q: What industries are prominent in Elektrostal?

A: Elektrostal is known for its steel production industry and is also a center for engineering and manufacturing.

Q: Are there any universities or educational institutions in Elektrostal?

A: Yes, Elektrostal is home to XXXX University and several other educational institutions.

Q: What are some popular outdoor activities in Elektrostal?

A: Elektrostal offers several outdoor activities, such as hiking, cycling, and picnicking in its beautiful parks.

Q: Is Elektrostal well-connected in terms of transportation?

A: Yes, Elektrostal has good transportation links, including trains and buses, making it easily accessible from nearby cities.

Q: Are there any annual events or festivals in Elektrostal?

A: Yes, Elektrostal hosts various events and festivals throughout the year, including XXXX and XXXX.

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