Yes, can't believe _every_ Ленинград lyric! In seriousness, we wanted to go with some reinforced alloys at first (magnesium ones from Kazan), but due to various constraints went with steelies instead. Main reason - they don't shatter. By the end of the rally, we could lift the car, take off a ruined wheel, hammer it back into shape, re-inflate the tire and re-install the wheel in 5 minutes or so. Alloys have a tendency of shattering instead.
TIL it isn't always true that "К Жигулям — литые диски!" What was the truck with the jet-like thing on the bed? Did you ever see the mongolian stick/rope thing being used to catch cattle, or just to drive them?