Who Is Leonard F. Yankelovich? The Founder of DARTZ

Every DARTZ ends up in the same place before it is built: the office of Leonard F. Yankelovich.

A shareholder’s great-grandson

In 1894 most of the shares of the Russo-Baltic Wagon Factory in Riga were sold to new investors. Among them, DARTZ records, was Gershn Antikol, who received 40 shares and 8 votes and became a minority shareholder. His great-grandson is Leonard F. Yankelovich.

The family’s story runs through Riga’s hardest century. DARTZ’s Wall of Fame honours Zalman Antikol, Gershn’s son and Leonard’s grandfather: an engineer and mechanic, chief engineer of Riga before the Second World War, and an organiser and leader of the resistance in the Riga Ghetto in 1941 and 1942.

Engineer, soldier, armourer

DARTZ says its founder trained as an engineer-mechanic and, after graduating from military college, served as a grenade-launcher operator and infantry sergeant. When he revived the family heritage, he began where his experience lay: armouring cars, together with friends who had real combat experience.

1988: DARTZ

In 1988, eight decades after the Russo-Baltic works named its car department Division Automobile Riga, Leonard F. Yankelovich revived the heritage under a name built from it: D.A.R., T for Tank and Z for Zavod, factory. Read what DARTZ stands for.

In nearly four decades, DARTZ says, it has never changed its owner or its principles.

Responsible For Everything

His title at DARTZ is R.F.E., Responsible For Everything. DARTZ calls him The Supreme Leader, or simply Leo, and it likes to recall that Jalopnik once called him the Lunatic in Chief. At DARTZ, it says, clients don’t deal with managers who come and go, but with him. The people around him are not a team, he insists, but the DARTZ FORCE, some of them with him since his school days.

He does not drive. The DARTZ Black Book explains why: when you are broke you cannot buy a car and do not need a licence, and when you have money, you hire a chauffeur.

In his own words

He has been quoted by the BBC, HotCars, TopSpeed and many others, always in his own voice.

“Luxury is too common a word… luxury you can buy in a supermarket. I use the word opulence.” To the BBC, 2015

“We have no dealers. And we have no plans to have dealers. Our strategy is to have direct sales.” To HotCars, 2021

“Every tuner can upgrade the powertrain. But we are other-level guys and we focus on the body.” To TopSpeed, 2022

“We all live in what we are doing – that’s why in every car is our soul.” To Luxurious Magazine, 2020

“The client did not ask us to copy pixels. The client asked us to build what the pixels were trying to become.” On the DARTZ Nightshark VI, 2026

What he built

Under his direction DARTZ has supplied the golden cars of The Dictator, helped develop the MRAP of A Good Day to Die Hard and the villain’s car of The November Man; built the Iron Diamond, Black Dragon, Black Alligator and Black Stallion; revived the Frese electric name as FreZe EV; relaunched the Aeronautical Department; and, in 2026, built a real HVY Nightshark. Read the DARTZ model guide.