What does the Gorky Automobile Plant produce. The thorny history of GAZ, how the legends of the Soviet automobile industry were created

29.03.2019

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Gorky car factory

Gorky Automobile Plant (GAZ) is one of the largest automakers in our country, producing cars and trucks, minibuses, special equipment, special chassis and auto units. The history of the enterprise begins on May 31, 1929, after signing an agreement with Ford motor company on technical assistance in the manufacture of cars and trucks. Construction of the Nizhny Novgorod Automobile Plant named after V.M. Molotov lasted more than three years. On January 1, 1932, the plant was put into operation, and already at the end of January the first car rolled off the assembly line. It was a truck with a carrying capacity of one and a half tons NAZ-AA. After the renaming on October 7, 1932 Nizhny Novgorod in Gorky, this model became known as GAZ-AA. Although in 1990 the city returned to its former name, the name "GAZ" was retained for the plant. In December 1932, the first five-seat passenger car with a body type "phaeton" GAZ-A was released. Both models as a prototype had Ford models- respectively Ford-AA and Ford-A. Since December of the same year, their mass production began, the country received about a thousand of these machines every month. A large number of GAZ-AA with an onboard body went to the army, the national economy, and the release chassis GAZ-AA used in different cars specialized type - mainly fire and sanitary.

In 1933, a seventeen-seater bus saw the light

In 1933, a seventeen-seater bus saw the light, which had a wooden frame and wood-metal sheathing. It was created on the basis of a modification of the experimental models GAZ-2 and GAZ-3. The GAZ-4 vehicle was adapted to operating conditions and domestic technologies, based on the cab from GAZ AA, with a cargo platform attached end-to-end, on which there were two folding benches on the sides. It was equally well suited for transporting six people, as well as for cargo up to 400 kg. In 1936, the GAZ-M1 was released, a four-door sedan with an automatic ignition advance, an adjustable driver's seat, which was also called the Emka. It was a very popular pre-war car.

Modernization of GAZ vehicles

Since the launch of the plant, in addition to serial production, the designers have been engaged in constant modernization. More than a dozen experimental cars were created, produced in single copies. Developments on them were later used in the design of new machines.

GAZ-64 and GAZ-67

Before the start of the war, GAZ-64 and GAZ-67 appear - army off-road vehicles. They were created on the GAZ-61 chassis, shortened by 755 mm along the base. The car had four-wheel drive, open body, instead of doors there were cutouts. In addition to producing cars for the army, GAZ also produced light tanks. From 1936 to 1941, 35 T-38 amphibious tanks left the assembly line, but their production was suspended. Since the 38th year, the plant has been producing GAZ-AAA with a 4M anti-aircraft gun. In wartime, all manufactured equipment was reoriented to the defense direction. Since October 1941, the T-60 tank was produced, a little later - the T-70, which had improved armor. In December 1942, an improved tank with a two-man T-80 turret was produced. In addition, GAZ released the SU-76, a light self-propelled artillery mount. In the spring of 1942, the BA-64 rolled off the assembly line, based on the GAZ-64.

During the war years, GAZ produced military equipment:

176221 vehicles;
About 12,000 tanks;
More than 9000 self-propelled units;
24,000 mortars;
232,000 car motors;
30,000 shells for the Katyusha rocket launcher.

For contribution to the defense of the country, the plant was awarded the Orders of the Patriotic War, I degree, the Red Banner, and Lenin.

Factory upgrade

After WWII Gorky plant updates the lineup. In 1946, the Pobeda M-20 was released, named after the victory in World War II. They were produced 600 units, and in 1948 the production of these cars was suspended. After the modernization and re-equipment of the conveyor, which lasted a year, the new Pobeda GAZ M-20B was presented, its serial production fell on the 49th year. In 1948, the GAZ 63 and 67 trucks and the GAZ 93 dump truck were released. They were intended for operation in difficult road conditions.

GAZ 12 Zim

Large six-seat sedan executive class GAZ 12 ZiM saw the light in 1950, its length was 5530 mm, and the wheelbase was 3200 mm. It was the first domestic car with a hydraulic clutch in the transmission, allowing the car to start off smoothly. The car was designed to transport party and government officials, but it could also be purchased in private ownership.

From Pobeda to GAZ 24

In 1956, Pobeda, which was outdated by that time both technically and externally, was replaced. The production of this car has become a whole era of the domestic auto industry. Middle class sedan, engine power 70 hp. Its speed reached 130 km / h. Luxury models of the Volga were produced for export. The designers of the plant did not stop at the achieved results, the modifications of this car took place constantly, in the flesh until 1970, when the GAZ 24 model got on the conveyor. Spacious interior, roomy trunk, 98 hp engine, maximum speed reached 140 km / h.

GAZ-13

At the end of the 60s, the GAZ 13, a seven-seat Chaika, became the new flagship of the enterprise. The design innovations included a power steering, a hydromechanical gearbox, a four-chamber carburetor, an eight-cylinder engine, whose power was 195 hp. New car was equipped with a windshield washer, power windows, an automatically tuned radio, folding seats in the middle row, were regularly installed fog lights. The next generation of this car came out in the 70s. At GAZ 14, the engine power reached 220 hp, the car could already accelerate to 175 km / h. This instance was recognized as the best of this lineup.

Diesel engine installation

Work on the production and modernization of trucks does not stop either. GAZ 52, GAZ 53A, GAZ 66 began to leave the assembly line. Now they had more powerful engines, the carrying capacity of the machines was increased, the work of the driver was facilitated by the power steering. In the 80s, GAZ was actively working on the introduction of diesel power units on its trucks. In 1984, the plant produces its first diesel truck GAZ 4301, and a little later, a dump truck GAZ 6008, weighing 9 tons, diesel units were developed by specialists from the Gorky plant.

Autogaz

On August 24, 1971, the main enterprise and affiliated plants were transformed into Production Association AvtoGAZ, in 1973 it included 11 plants, it became known as PO GAZ. In 1992, it was transformed into OAO GAZ.

It should be noted that after the collapse of the USSR, GAZ was one of the first companies that was able to switch to a new market economy for our country.

Issue Gazelle 3302

In 1995, the Gazelle, model 3302, was put into mass production; in the course of work, it was widely used and many modifications were made. The next large party model was the Sobol modification of the 2210 and 2310 series, equipped with a four-cylinder gasoline engine. The medium-tonnage Valdai 3310 is also being released. This model was presented in only 3 modifications. Cars had differences only in the length of the base and load capacity.

In 1997, GAZ entered into an agreement with the Italian concern Fiat, joint venture was called Nizhegorod-motors, and three Fiat models were put on the conveyor. In the same year, GAZ began work on a new Siber model, which became last car bearing the name Volga, this was preceded by the signing of an assembly contract auto Dodge Stratus and Chrysler Sebring.

In the fall of 2000, the Basic Element company bought a controlling stake in GAZ OJSC, and the Gorky Plant became part of the RusPromAvto holding, which was later transformed into the GAZ Group. Such significant changes in the company were the result of a major reorganization. The GAZ Group acquired the British LDV Group, which produced Maxus vans and auto components.

GAZelle and GAZon NEXT

In 2014, the fifth generation of GAZon Next medium-duty vehicles appeared, the GAZelle line was also updated, it also received the NEXT prefix.

At the beginning of January, the railway line from the Dvigatel Revolutsii plant had not been completed, although it should have been completed on November 15, 1929. Only an embankment has been completed along the Monastyrka-Doskino railway line, and the access railway line to the harbor is only 30% complete. The construction of two two-story houses for the administration of Metallstroy, a temporary canteen for 300 people, a fire shed, a baggage shed and a stable has been completed. Of the 32 collapsible plywood houses for 50 people, only 14 houses were assembled, and the construction of a permanent dining room for 400 people was only 5% completed. The construction of the plant was in need of experienced technicians and foremen. Due to lack necessary tools the laying of railway tracks was carried out by handicraft methods. Filling and ballasting was done with frozen material, and the filling of the swamp was carried out on permafrost. The wharf was built with blunders, and the cement storage shed looked rather unkempt. Of the 24 barracks, 12 barracks were fully completed, and the rest were completed by 85%. Instead of building semi-permanent barracks, 30 plywood barracks were ordered from the Forest Syndicate and negotiations were underway to supply another 40 such barracks. In the American village, barracks were built by 60%, a canteen by 85%, offices by 100%, 6 houses for American engineers by 22%, two two-story houses for an office and a hostel were fully completed and occupied. Two wells have been dug on the main site and work on the third one is being completed. Two drilling rigs were also completed and work was being completed on two more drilling rigs, but their commissioning was delayed by the lack of transformers. Projects for water supply and electric lighting have been drawn up, and design of a large mechanical workshop has also begun. A canteen for 400 people in one shift is 65% complete, bathhouses are 40% complete, a kitchen for 150 people in one shift is completed, one stable is 60% built and the second stable is fully completed, a garage for tractors is completely ready, one cement shed for 26,000 the cistern is completely ready and the second similar shed is 50% ready, and the construction of the fire station has also begun. At the same time, the construction also experienced a number of problems: there was not enough 5.5 km of rail for laying a railway line to the station. Doskino, there were no cross saws, the lack of apartments for inviting highly qualified specialists.

By the beginning of February, the railway line to the station was not completed. Doskino, problems began in supplying the site with bricks, timber and timber, there were not enough shovels and crowbars, due to the lack of a suitable place, a shed for the production of betonites was built 20 km from the construction site of the automobile plant ready-made betonites to be loaded into wagons and delivered to the construction site by rail), there were no pipes and pumps for laying a temporary water supply system, the equipment of the dryer at the Novaya Sosna sawmill was delayed, there were not enough engineers, technicians, foremen and workers at the construction site. The place for the construction of the western settlement for workers was not finally chosen, since the previously planned site was located in a swamp and was unfavorable for malaria. By the middle of the month, the fire station and the post and telegraph office were only 25% ready, five American cottages - 45%, a two-story house for specialists - 35% (at the same time, the arrival of company representatives in the USSR was expected in March to purchase equipment for mechanization construction works), six two-story houses for Avtostroy and Metallstroy specialists - by 35%, a hostel for employees - by 60%, a bathhouse and laundries - by 50%, an outpatient clinic - by 55%, a forge - by 80%, a locksmith's workshop - by 55% %, the construction of a canteen for 400 people and a passage point were completed, and a roofing workshop was fully completed. In the eastern settlement, only one barrack of a semi-permanent type for workers was assembled, and another 8 barracks were built only by 20%, and in the western settlement, 6 barracks were also built by 20%. At the Novaya Sosna sawmill, the construction of a woodworking workshop and a heater was not started, and the dryer is 78% ready. Railway line to st. Doskino is laid by 60%, and to the harbor - by 45%. The construction also experienced social problems: often the workers came in a drunken state and hooligans, the dining room of the Central Committee was very cramped and was located in a shed, while the workers had to dine standing or sitting on the floor, and the meals were far from acceptable quality, the workers chopped good boards for fires and barrack heating.

By the beginning of March, the construction of a railway line from the Dvigatel Revolyutsii plant to the station was completed. Doskino, earthworks have been completed on the railway line from the construction site to the harbor. In the eastern settlement, 27 barracks have been completed and occupied, and the construction of another 10 barracks is nearing completion, as well as a dormitory for employees of the CRC, a canteen for 400 people in one shift, a bathhouse, a laundry, an outpatient clinic, a pharmacy, a department store and a checkpoint. In the western settlement, the construction of barracks for workers began. The electrification of the construction site is only 10% completed, the network low voltage- by 12%, water supply and sewerage - by 8%, three wells have been dug and 8 wells have been drilled, which are not yet equipped with filters and pipes. At the same time, the construction experienced a need for wood, rails, cement, sand, brick, gravel and rubble stone. By the middle of the month, the railway line to the harbor was 53% complete. In the western settlement, 2 barracks for 100 people were completed and another 11 barracks were completed by 40%, a canteen for 400 people in one shift - by 50%, a department store, an outpatient clinic and a pharmacy - by 10%, a stall, premises for heating workers and a cubicle - by 35%. Arriving representatives of the Austin Company experienced problems with housing, since the cottages for them were only 62% ready. Houses for Avtostroy specialists are ready by 46%, and for Metalstroy by 27%. Drilling rigs with equipment, a temporary dormitory for firefighters, premises for post and telegraph, a roofing workshop, a temporary carpentry workshop, a smithy, two transformer booths have been fully completed, the construction of the commandant’s office has begun, and the fire station is 75% ready, the cement shed is 80% ready, a mechanical workshop, a forge for a mechanical workshop and a car park - by 95%, railway telephone communications - by 80%, a low-voltage network - by 20%, wells with equipment - by 33%, pipes for servicing regimental points have been laid by 6%. Construction experienced supply problems with bricks, slag, sand, scaffolding, rubble, gravel, cement, metal, and rails. Every day, 60 wagons with materials were received for construction, instead of the required 250 wagons.

By the beginning of April, the construction of a concrete plant and a woodworking shop began, while it became necessary to build a railway line to the concrete plant to provide it with slag, which is used in production. By the middle of the month, the construction of department stores, shops, stalls, food warehouses, bathhouses and laundries, outpatient clinics, pharmacies, bakeries, kitchen factories was completed in both settlements, and the construction of clubs and other cultural and community buildings began. Dormitories for Metalstroy specialists, firefighters and storekeepers have been completed. Works on electrification are completed by 30%, on water supply and sewerage - by 16%. The accumulation of melt water on the site and the lack of drainage channels make planning work impossible. Pure water is delivered to the site on horseback in barrels and does not fully satisfy the needs for it.

In May, the construction of the car factory itself began. On May 2, a solemn rally of many thousands took place, and a capsule with a commemorative letter was immured in the foundation of the blacksmith building No. 1: "The Nizhny Novgorod Automobile Plant under construction is one of the most important fortresses of the socialist industry ...". The entire plant was supposed to be built in 15 months, but later the period was extended to 18 months! At the beginning of the month, American specialists arrived at the construction site with a complete set of drawings and a construction project and immediately began laying roads to the site.

“Today was the day of the real start of construction work at the automobile plant in Nizhny Novgorod. All this became part of the main May Day celebrations, and trains full of people arrived from Nizhny Novgorod especially for the celebration. As far as I can tell, there were five thousand spectators” (from the memoirs of the American engineer Allen Austin, 1930).

The firm "Austin Company" handed over to Avtostroy all the necessary drawings and projects. The vast territory along the Oka River was divided into six parts: two blacksmith shops, a mechanical assembly shop, a press shop, a spring shop, a foundry shop, a wheel shop, and a residential town. On May 3, the mechanical assembly building was laid, already on May 8, the construction of the mechanical repair building began, and on May 21, the press and spring buildings. By mid-May, wells had not been fully equipped at the construction site. At the construction site there were seven tractors, fifty cars and seven American cranes, which often failed. Main vehicle for the delivery of goods, horse-drawn reins were used, which numbered at different times from five hundred to a thousand. Mostly peasants worked, there was a catastrophic shortage of qualified specialists - carpenters, masons, concrete workers, plasterers, etc. In part, the shortage of personnel was replenished due to the influx of Western specialists and workers, mainly from the USA, Germany and England. Against the backdrop of the economic crisis that broke out in the West, the USSR seemed to them a new world, where the very concept of unemployment was absent.

By the beginning of June, work was completed on cleaning and draining the area of the automobile plant, digging foundation pits for the foundations of the blacksmith, mechanical assembly and press shops was completed, and work began on digging pits for the repair and forging, spring and reion-mechanical shops. On June 10, the construction of blacksmith shop No. 2 began. The work on laying the foundation of rubble stone for the blacksmith, machine-assembly and press shops was nearing completion. It was not without problems: the construction required two locomotives and 60 platforms, 45 trucks, technical staff, rails and fasteners, and there was not enough electricity. By the middle of the month, a garage for cars and trucks, a bakery, a kitchen factory and a bathhouse were completed in the eastern village. In the western settlement, a water tower, a hostel for foremen, a department store and a network of stalls have been completed, but they have not yet been equipped with water supply and sewerage. In the American village, the exterior plastering of houses was being completed and settlement was underway. An autogenous workshop, a betonite stone factory, a railway line to the harbor were also completed, and paving began. The digging of a foundation pit for the foundation of the forge has been completed. Excavation work on the mechanical repair shop has been completed. A telephone connection has been made. On June 20, the construction of a woodworking shop began.

By the beginning of July, in the building for the press shop, the installation of formwork, blockless ceilings, reinforcement and concreting of shoes for columns began. For the mechanical assembly, foundry, spring shops and the forge, the installation of formwork, concreting of column shoes and ceilings began. Digging of pits, concreting and rubble laying began at the wood-finishing, repair-mechanical and repair-forge shops. In the eastern village, work was underway on laying sewers and assembling plywood barracks. Started installation of equipment at the concrete plant. In the harbor, earthworks have been completed to deepen the bottom and a railway line has been laid to the bunkers of the gravel pits. There was an acute shortage of gravel, 1550 masons, 740 carpenters, 308 fitters, 476 concrete workers, 122 plasterers and 470 movers. There were also problems of a social nature: it was impossible to get food in the cooperative, and in canteens they were fed only salted or dried fish every day. By the middle of the month, the central concrete plant did not work, for which equipment was urgently delivered from abroad. The construction lacked gravel and 1200 masons, due to which the reinforced concrete work was only 50% completed. The canvas has been prepared and the laying of the track of the factory railway has begun. Reinforced concrete intra-plant roads were planned and staking and earthworks began along the slag-tar highway from the plant to Kanavino, and temporary cobblestone roads were paved.

By the beginning of August, the issue with the rollers was resolved, and there was also no crime for the delivery of slag, sand and tar for road construction. The concrete plant is idle due to the lack of washed gravel. The construction of the car factory experienced a shortage of lumber, iron, iron and cast iron pipes and heavy rails. There was also a lack of gravel, the extraction of which was carried out in an artisanal way.

By the beginning of October, the foundations of the workshops were completed and the metal structures of the spring, repair and mechanical, woodworking, repair and blacksmith, makhano-assembly and press shops were received, the receipt of which for construction began in August. On October 1, the construction of the foundry shop began. The installation of the metal structure of the spring shop has begun. Railway(66 km), reinforced concrete road (6 km) and slag-tar road (12 km) were built from 0.3 to 8.3%. The construction was in dire need of gravel, rails, rivets, bolts, 1,200 carpenters, 800 masons, 800 plasterers, 200 joiners, 250 concrete workers, 1,000 laborers, and 1,500 diggers.

By the beginning of November, the concreting of the main workshops and main roads was delayed due to the lack of gravel. Since July, Kommunar tractors have been idle due to a lack of spare parts. We did not manage to lay the water supply and sewerage on time due to the lack of pipes and work force. The spring and woodworking workshops stood without reinforced concrete bindings, since their manufacture had not been established. In the foundry shop, only 15% of the shoes for the installation of metal structures were concreted instead of 80%. Reinforced concrete work in the main office is only 40% completed. There was a need for cement, piomaterials, gravel, roofing felt, pipes, etc. Here is how the representative of the Austin Company, Mr. Coleman, describes the situation in his letter to Avtostroy: “No attention is paid to the delivery of materials. Lime, sand, gravel and rubble brought to the main office building is much more than required in soon. The place that must be used for the correct placement of materials is already filled. River and mountain sand are mixed together with gravel, the forest is filled in and all together looks like a courtyard in a madhouse. Materials are constantly wasted, and no one is responsible for the normal delivery of materials and their storage. The way cement is supplied is disgraceful. At least 5% of the cement produced is wasted, and this does not bother anyone. Barrels are thrown from trucks, which immediately break, cement crumbles and disappears. I have spoken about this many times, but to no avail.”(magazine "Behind the Wheel" No. 22, 1930).

On December 25, the builders of the forge, mechanical repair and spring shops overfulfilled the program of the shock quarter. Due to the lack of metal structures, the construction of the press shop was delayed. On December 27 at 12 noon, a 7-minute meeting of builders took place, at which it was decided to work for the remaining 4 days seven days a week and, if necessary, around the clock to complete the necessary work on time.

Plant "Gudok Oktyabrya" in Kanavino.

1930.7.16. Construction of the Main Gateway of the Automobile Plant, now it is the Komsomolskaya Gateway

1930.7.21. Repair and mechanical shop

1930s, UKS 1

1931.01.01. Power Power is a thermal power plant, if anyone does not know

1931.10.05. Mechanical assembly shop

1931.10.05. Mechanical assembly shop, inscription on the back of the previous photo

1931 presumably. Unpacked boxes with imported equipment. Sergei Petrov Lord! Equipment begins to arrive at the plant, but the place for its receipt and storage has not been prepared. The equipment arrives without documents and without prior notification. The labels attached to the boxes indicate the buildings in which the equipment they contain is to be installed, but there is no information on who, from where and what equipment was shipped: Two issues must be resolved immediately. It was necessary to urgently correct the situation in order to prevent a repeat of the mistake of the previous year, when the arrived equipment was scattered randomly right on the river bank and most of it was lost or stolen. Fred Coleman, Austin Engineer responsible for installing new equipment. From the book Richard Cartwright Austin - Building Utopia. At the Molotov Automobile Plant, then at the Gorky Automobile Plant, then at the GAZ Production Association, then at the GAZ OJSC in the UO (equipment management), the attitude towards the equipment arriving at the plant did not change. It was stored in the same way as shown in this photo - in the open.

Signed on the back of the previous photo. This place, indicated in the photo, is just behind the current Main entrance on the territory of the plant. On the left - press production, on the right - RMK (mechanical repair building). There, in the open air, there were boxes with imported equipment bought for gold.

1931.11.14. General form plant with water tower

Manual traction instead of mechanical

Construction of the car factory. Judging by the age, appearance and clothing of the workers in the photo, this is more likely some kind of subbotnik, and not the construction of an automobile plant. In the 1930s, dense peasants worked at the construction site, who cannot be confused with these.

The rally dedicated to the completion of the construction of the plant. November 1, 1931 On January 29, 1932, the first car came off the assembly line - the NAZ-AA truck. Since December 1932, the assembly of a medium-class passenger car GAZ-A began at the automobile plant. It is almost impossible to fix the end of the construction of the whole plant, but since a rally has been held, it means that it is so - the construction is over!

Gorky Automobile Plant. Nizhny Novgorod region, 1950s. The design and experimental department (KEO, then UKER) has always stood apart from other engineering services of the plant. The building of engineering services (KIS) housed Proekt.U - a design department that could be compared with a large design institute and UGT - the department of the chief technologist with its own design and technology departments.

It looks like a square in front of the main entrance. Fountain, large flower bed in the same places.

The first truck "Ford" of the Soviet assembly - model AA. Nizhny Novgorod. Automobile assembly plant No. 1. February 1, 1930 You give a five-year plan for 4 years in three shifts, on two machines, for one salary! Hurrah, comrades! Sergei Zhelezov. Personally, for many years I was a mechanical assembly worker at GAZ. He collected the Volga GAZ 31-029, GAZ 31-02, GAZ 31-10 in various modifications, and also the Volga-Siber. I would collect Skoda now, but I was lucky to get laid off. Now I.P. I have an antique.

1937, main conveyor

Conveyor GAZ-51 - 1946

Conveyor - GAZ-67.

A.A. Lipgart and A.N. Kirillov near the plasticine model of the Victory, 1945

This is the main conveyor. Subassembly area rear axles trucks. Then these bridges are fed to the conveyor and installed on the chassis of the car.

Sales management car warehouse.

This is the main entrance. Previously, there was a checkpoint for workers (now this place is located KIS - building of engineering services). And the cars left at the same gate as now. Behind the entrance - IShK (tool-stamp case). On the left in the distance - the Body building at the Komsomol checkpoint.

View of the Body building from the side of the plant. It is located along Avtozavodskoye Highway from Komsomolskaya Gateway to North Gateway.

Painted and assembled car body GAZ-M1.

Behind the car GAZ-12 ZiM - Body case. On the right is a three-story building, which used to house the KEO, and later and until recently, this building housed the TsSLA - a car assembly shop.

Car assembly shop.

Old freight conveyor...

Yard at the body building.

This is TsSLA - a car assembly shop. On these stands, the alignment of the wheels is adjusted.

In this picture, the assembly of painted Siber bodies in KSiOK PLA-2 is in progress.

Here, cars are defended that the OTC did not let go on sale. Cars are placed next to the conveyor and defects are eliminated. Ideally, there should be no cars here.

Press forge. These are the presses of the Novo-Kramatorsk Mechanical Plant (NKMZ). Now we will get nothing from there - Ukraine!

Car assembly shop. On the conveyor - cars GAZ-24 "Volga".

CSLA. A painted, assembled and upholstered body of the Pobeda M-20 car is installed on the conductor conveyor.

Robotic line of the cabin welding workshop in the production of commercial vehicles. The workshop for assembly and welding of cabins is located on the 1st floor of the body building. Almost all the automated equipment of this workshop, except for welding robots, was designed and manufactured by the designers and workers of GAZ's own machine tool building department. Thanks to this, in a difficult period of general collapse, in the shortest possible time and at minimal cost, the production of Gazelles was mastered, which are produced on this equipment to this day.

GAZ-20 body tests for rigidity

Wooden demonstration model of the Victory, summer 1944

1955-1958 Photo by Alexander Anikin On the GAZ M-20V conductor conveyor Car assembly shop. The M-20 Pobeda car is being assembled on the conductor conveyor. Then, GAZ-21 and GAZ-24 Volga cars were assembled on the same conveyor.

Production of an exhaust die for a floor panel on a copy-milling machine at IShK. Above - a template, a wooden copy of the floor panel, below - a metal cast iron die casting, which is machined.

1952 freshly painted Pobeda being dried in an electric oven

In the photo, ZIM-12 (GAZ-12) cars. The photo is most likely from 1950.

The main assembly line for GAZ-4301 and GAZ-3307 cars.

Assembly shop No. 1. The assembly of the cab of the Gazelle is in progress.

main conveyor.

Car assembly shop - 2 (CSLA-2). It was rebuilt on the site of the demolished hydroelectric workshop, which adjoined the building of the passenger car workshop (CSLA) on the south side.

Assembly shop No. 1. Assembly of all-metal bodies.

Assembly shop No. 1. Subassembly of a hydraulic vacuum booster before installing it on a Gazelle.

Assembly shop No. 1. On floor conveyors, the painted cabins of the GAZ-3302 lorry are being assembled.

Gazelle Assembly Conveyor.

I took this photo around 1963 to send to my pen friend in England. Then it was in the spirit of the times to correspond with foreigners. I wanted to show with this photo that we in the USSR do not slurp cabbage soup with bast shoes. We know how to build modern buildings of glass and concrete. This is the first "modern" building on the automobile factory land. Vladimir Sergeev

CSLA. A GAZ-3102 executive class car is assembled on the conductor conveyor.

The picture shows a GAZ-22 Volga station wagon ambulance. Filmed inside the factory. On the left is the body building. To the right is the CSLA building.

Car assembly shop. Release of cars GAZ-21 "Volga".

1970 Car assembly shop. The end of the production of GAZ-21 Volga cars and the start of production of GAZ-24 Volga cars without stopping production.

Vladimir Sergeev Assembly shop №2. It was a workshop of high culture. Mostly women worked on the assembly. It was located on the 3rd production floor of the body building. All parts and components were delivered to the shop freight elevators. The assembly and upholstery of the bodies was carried out on floor conveyors, which moved the bodies along the covered gallery to the passenger car assembly shop.

GAZ-53 trucks are being assembled on the main conveyor.

The building of the Body building from the side of the plant. On the first floor of the Body Building there were: a large stamping shop, a medium stamping shop, a cabin assembly shop, a body assembly shop, a repair and tool shop, and a mechanical repair shop. Here, on the premises of the medium stamping workshop, there was a site for setting up large dies of the ISHK. On the second amenity floor, along the entire length of the body building, there were offices for managers, engineering services, a trade union committee, a party committee, a library and dressing rooms with showers for workers. On the second production floor there was a carcass and muffler workshop, a Red Corner and canteens. On the third floor, there was a GAZ-13 Chaika body shop and assembly shop No. 2, in which painted car bodies were assembled and upholstered. On the fourth floor of the body building there was a workshop for assembling the cabs of the GAZ-66 car. The finished GAZ-53 and GAZ-66 cabs were sent along the covered gallery on overhead conveyors to the truck assembly building, where they were painted and assembled. On the 4th floor of the body building there was also a body painting shop and a painting shop for small and medium-sized parts. The workshop for painting car bodies used to be part of the assembly shop No. 2 as a section. In 1970, a new part of the Body Building was added to the old Body Building - up to the Northern Gateway. This outbuilding housed equipment for welding and assembling GAZ-24 car bodies, which made it possible to switch to the production of the new Volga GAZ-24 instead of the Volga GAZ-21 without stopping production in 1970.

The GAZ-13 Seagull was not assembled on a common assembly line. Now she is standing on the stand for adjusting the camber-toe.

And until now, this feed tape exists at the factory in the same form.

CSLA. The removal of the car from the conductor conveyor and its installation on the floor conveyor was carried out by an automatic manipulator.

2014. 03. Forge

memorial sign

This is a forge production of a car factory. A steam hammer is installed on the stand near the hull, on which car parts were previously forged. If you go straight, 150 meters, then there will be a spring shop (in the same building) and opposite its road, to the right, to the Main entrance of the plant, past the Assembly of trucks and Gazelles, Press First and LIO.

Memorial plaque on the forge building

CSLA. Release of the thousandth car GAZ-3102 "Volga". From left to right: Kalikin V.P., Novikov F.P., Pugin N.A., Semennikov B.M., Pankov B.A. This picture was taken at the Passenger Car Assembly Shop (CSLA) on January 25, 1983. In this photo: Kalikin V.P., Novikov F.P., Pugin N.A., Semennikov B.M., Pankov B.A.

L.I. Brezhnev in assembly No. 2. Photo by N. Dobrovolsky

Solemn rally on the occasion of awarding GAZ with the Order of Lenin. 02/12/71. Photo by N. Dobrovolsky

2011.11.04 I give a finger!

2011.11.04 Doesn't come off, another one!

Photo from the book by M. N. Vdovin, A. M. Gorev "Everything for victory!"

The car is in the making

V.V. Lebedev and designer V.P. Duarte

The birth of the car

At the model of the car V.V. Lebedev

Sculptor-artist V.V. Lebedev

Soviet auto industry: Gorky Automobile Plant May 11th, 2013

Let's start a series of posts about domestic auto industry. A very controversial and controversial topic for many. It seems to me that not everyone fully understands what Soviet cars were like at the dawn of their youth, so to speak, in the prime of their development. Let's find out some little-known facts and get a better idea about this industry.

Today I would like to talk about some representatives of the Gorky Automobile Plant. Founded in 1932 as the Nizhny Novgorod Automobile Plant named after V. M. Molotov. I think everyone knows that this plant was created with the help of the American auto giant Ford Motor Company. But few people know that the entire electricity supply was created by the General Electric Corporation.

The history of the GAZ open joint stock company (formerly the Gorky Automobile Plant) dates back to 1929. On March 4, 1929, a decision was made by the Supreme Economic Council of the USSR and an order was signed to build an automobile plant. On April 6, 1929, a decision was approved on the choice of the area for the construction of the future automobile plant - near the city of Nizhny Novgorod.

On May 2, 1930, the foundation stone of the future automobile plant was laid near Nizhny Novgorod. Thanks to a successful project, skillful management, personal responsibility of each participant, the plant was built in 18 months. On January 1, 1932, the automobile plant went into operation. On January 29, 1932, the first car came off the assembly line - truck GAZ-AA. Since December 1932, the assembly of a medium-class passenger car GAZ-A began at the automobile plant.

Let's jump ahead a bit in the plant's lineup of vehicles. For example:

1) GAZ M20 Victory.

The legendary Soviet car GAZ-20 is not just one and a half tons of metal, this car has become a whole era of the domestic automotive industry, its first, and probably the only real Victory.

Assessing the Russian Victory, the American journal Science and Mechanics wrote in 1957:
Quiet on potholes, cornering and acceleration. Good on difficult roads if you're not in a hurry. Holds up great on the road. For its size it is very stable - apparently because of the weight and powerful springs.

And Auto Age magazine in 1953 reported that
American engineers carefully examined the Pobeda and found the workmanship to be excellent in many respects. On body elements many signs of manual labor. In some places you can see traces of a file, but, in general, the quality of the body is very good.

The British authoritative magazine The Motor, after conducting comprehensive tests of the Russian Victory, noted:
The design of Pobeda provides, first of all, reliability and the ability to drive long distances in a country where roads are bad, and service points are few and far from each other. The beauty of lines and high performance are sacrificed for practicality and utilitarian purposes. However, despite this, the fact that attention is paid to such details as the arrangement of cigarette lighters, heaters and other interior amenities indicates that such equipment is valued in Russia as well as elsewhere.

The first Soviet passenger car with a load-bearing body and one of the first in the world to be mass-produced with a fully pontoon-type body - without protruding wings and their rudiments, steps and headlights.

A total of 235,999 cars were produced, including 14,222 convertibles and 37,492 taxis.

First edition win. Unfortunately, due to the fact that about 100 of them were produced, now not a single one has survived in the world ....

The first search sketches were made by the artist V. Brodsky in 1943, the car already has the same pontoon sidewall and fastback body with a sloping rear wall as the future serial Pobeda, but otherwise it does not look like it and is visually more archaic , with the design of the ends of the body made in the style of the late thirties - in particular, with a narrow radiator grill of a semicircular section; The V-shaped windshield is supplemented with small glasses on the sides, as on a number of foreign models; the rear doors are hung on rear hinges and open in the direction of travel.

The final look of the car was developed in the works of a talented young designer Veniamin Samoilov.

Initially, the car was designed under the GAZ-25 index and the motto "Motherland" - later they were replaced by the usual "twenty" and the word "Victory".

When the Pobeda car was created, domestic car factories did not yet have established emblems, so literally every model had its own original nameplates. On the pedestal of the "Victory" towered the letter "M", in which at the same time one could see a hint of a battlement of the wall of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin and a soaring seagull - a symbol of the Volga. The very same letter indicated the name "Molotovets" (from the beginning of the 30s to the end of the 50s, the plant was named after People's Commissar V. M. Molotov). The official name of the car was recorded as GAZ-M-20 - "Molotovets, twentieth model." The fill of the emblem, of course, was red - the colors of the banner of the USSR.

The number "20" assigned to it reflected the belonging of the car to the new line of models of the Gorky Automobile Plant with engines of a reduced working volume compared to pre-war models - in the future it was continued by the GAZ-21 and GAZ-24 models, unlike multi-displacement car models, whose designations began with a unit - GAZ-11, GAZ-M-12 "ZiM", GAZ-13 and GAZ-14 "Seagull".

Initially, two versions were designed - six- and four-cylinder, the latter for a taxi, but subsequently it was decided to leave only the four-cylinder version as more economical - the fuel situation in the post-war country was difficult. Hence, one of the main disadvantages of Pobeda is the insufficient engine power, the same as that of the four-cylinder GAZ-M-1, and much less compared to the serial GAZ-11-73 ( upgraded version"Emki" with a six-cylinder engine GAZ-11, 76 - 85 hp), produced shortly before and some time after the war. Nevertheless, in comparison with the most common GAZ-M-1 in those years, a significant increase in fuel efficiency was achieved (which is quite natural, since the engine displacement decreased from 3.5 to 2.1 liters).

As the main features incorporated at this stage in the project "Victory", it can be noted: "wingless" load-bearing body with a sloping rear wall; modern, for those times, layout - the levels of the floor and roof of the body were significantly lowered, and the power unit was moved into the space above the front axle; the lower valve engine is much more advanced than the GAZ-M-1 design, and with almost twice the power output from one liter of working volume; independent spring front suspension; hydraulic drive brakes; V-shaped windshield and curved rear; significantly improved trim and interior equipment.

The victory of the second edition. For the radiator grill, she was nicknamed the "vest".

Third edition. The main difference is a different radiator grille. There were many more differences, but I will not go into details :) By the way, Pobeda is the world's first production car with an aerodynamically well-thought-out body.

Convertible win. The world's first frameless convertible. Do you know why? The thickness of the metal made it possible to cut off the roof :) The body is so rigid that the absence of a roof did not affect the rigidity at all, on the contrary, with this body the car accelerates more readily, as it has lost about 80 kilos :)

GAZ M20 Victory "Sport". Initially, the car was created to break the world speed record on land. The design speed, according to the expectations of the engineers, was to be a little more than 400 km / h. Actually, they tried to beat this speed. Beaten, but the result was not officially recorded. Unfortunately…

GAZ M72. Body from victory, put on bridges from GAZ-52. The world's first SUV. The world's first frameless jeep.

And now… TARAAAAAM!

GAZ M20G. It was equipped with a 6-cylinder engine from the GAZ-12 ZIM. The first Soviet catch-up. (I remind you that simple victories have a 4-cylinder engine).

2) GAZ-21 Volga. The first Volga, which laid the foundation for the cult of the Volga in the USSR.

GAZ-M-21 -a car middle class, mass-produced at the Gorky Automobile Plant from 1956 (1957) to 1970. The factory model index is originally GAZ-M-21, later (since 1965) - GAZ-21.

In 1951, chief designer factory Andrey Alexandrovich Lipgart, without waiting for instructions from above, began to work on a new machine. By this time, the GAZ-M20 was already obsolete. Lead Designer new car Vladimir Solovyov was appointed, who had previously led the design group for rear axles and drivelines. The new overhead valve engine was entrusted to Harry Ewart, who had previously created a torque converter for ZIM. The appearance of the car was to be dealt with by the sculptor Lev Eremeev, who had worked on ZIM at one time. By that time, Eremeev was the most experienced of the new team, the only one who worked on the scale of the whole car. The name of the new car was "Victory-M21". Lipgart was unable to complete the car. He was exiled as a simple engineer to the UralZIS Chelyabinsk plant.

The second generation of Pobeda was brought to a natural plaster layout. A three-volume sedan with the same wheelbase as the M20, a “deaf” rear roof pillar, ZIM-Packard rear fenders, semi-covered wheel arches and four predatory fangs on the bumper. There was nothing new in this project. It had neither its own engine nor transmission. The work did not go further than the layout.

In 1953, the GAZ bodybuilder, Englishman John Williams (real name Thomas Boting) began to create the M21. He started as a modeler at a factory in England. Later, Boting ended up in Spain, where he participated in the battles for the republic and from there, as an honored internationalist warrior, he ended up in the USSR, where he was sent to GAZ in a body design bureau. Among his sketches were three-volume sedans with wide panoramic windows, and two-volume vehicles with a very teardrop-shaped aviation back, and even a five-door hatchback. Only a two-volume sedan reached the stage of a plaster model. Predatory mouth in front, sloping "Pobedovsky" back, wings, turning into keels in the American style. Wheelbase 50 cm shorter than the M20 base. This model was called the M21 Zvezda. She was driven in parallel with another machine, with which she shared the calculations of the engine, transmission, economic indicators and the model shop. With Lev Eremeev's Machine, which will eventually be called "Volga".

First edition. A distinctive feature - a star on the grille and a deer on the hood. The rarest 21 Volga. The price of an unrestored copy ideally reaches one and a half million Euros. Do not believe me, ask Dmitry Oktyabrsky how much he bought a "star" in a shipping package. By the way, a deer is depicted on the coat of arms of Nizhny Novgorod, and the GAZ badge was drawn precisely from the coat of arms of Nizhny Novgorod. so the deer appeared on the hood :)

This is how John Williams' GAZ-21 Zvezda was supposed to look like

In 1953, Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov was appointed chief designer of the GAZ department dealing with cars. Alexander Nevzorov was put in place of Solovyov to develop the M21 machine. In November, Nevzorov began to assemble a new car. An overhead valve, all-aluminum engine with a cast crankshaft and wet liners, with a volume of 2445 cm 3, is being prepared for it. 2 gearboxes were prepared for the car. First domestic box machine designed for models common use and a manual for the "taxi" variant. In addition to the “machine”, there were also innovations: a front sofa that folds out in a couple of minutes into a relatively flat and soft bed and centralized system lubrication (CSS - When you press a special pedal, liquid oil flows from the tank through oil pipelines to 19 lubrication points of the front suspension and to the steering rod joints).

The very first prototype of the Volga, cherry red, was made in March 1955, had a manual transmission. Two more samples, blue and white, built in April, had an automatic transmission. By the May holidays, it was not possible to make the fourth copy. The fourth prototype, ivory with a dark roof, was built in May 1955. Later, it was transferred to the radio factory in the city of Murom for the final debugging of the A-9 model radio receiver intended for the Volga.

The first experimental Volga, 1955

In addition, all cars had slight external differences, mainly differed in the number of slots in the radiator grill - from 10 to 16, the design of lighting equipment, interior, and so on.

On May 3, 1955, only 3 cars went to the test. Part of the test was the Moscow-Crimea run and back.

The Ogonyok magazine wrote in July: “A few tens of kilometers from Simferopol, on the territory of the Way to Communism state farm, in a dense thicket of bushes lies an abandoned clay road. It seemed unnatural to see a beautiful, high-speed car floundering in deep ruts of flimsy mud. Scattering columns of water, he jumps over swollen ditches, climbs out of the sucking sand. "Volga" should go where the "Victory" took place, and tests showed that it even surpasses its predecessor in cross-country ability. It should be said that in addition to the Volga, Pobedy, ZIM and " foreign analogues". The press savored the fact that during the rally one of the Volga's "sparring partners" - the Englishman Standard Vanguard - collapsed with particular joy.

Field tests were successful, more responsible ones were ahead - the presentation of the beauty in the Kremlin. In the Kremlin, the novelty was presented to the legendary Marshal Georgy Zhukov, USSR Minister of Defense and Chairman of the Council of Ministers Nikolai Bulganin. The chairman of the commission, Zhukov, as a military man and accustomed to strictness, could not but criticize anything. There was nothing to complain about, so he scolded the “shark grin” of the radiator lining. At that time, it looked like a second-issue grille, that is, with a stamped grille with wide vertical slots. And this fully confirms its originality. The designers and constructors were given two weeks, and they came up with a very successful idea, attaching a star to the horizontal bars, like on marshal's shoulder straps. In 1955, there could be no claims to the star!

Second issue. It features a large-mesh grille and a deer on the hood. True, since 1961 the Deer was removed.

Third edition. It is distinguished by the absence of a deer and a fine-meshed lattice. Pictured is the Monte Carlo Rally. They did not take the first place, but they were quite high. And that, for one simple reason. The Volga is too big a car for such winding roads.

GAZ 22 - station wagon of the 21st Volga. Used as a nurse.

Gaz 21TS. Volga made for a taxi. It was distinguished by a built-in taximeter and an engine for the 66th gasoline. Such a motor had an index D (deformed) and had 62 forces. Standard - 75. 120-horsepower engines were exported.

And finally… TADAAAM number 2.

Someone said that we had no competitors American cars. Well…

But what is this? Meet GAZ 23. Catcher. V8 from GAZ 13 Seagull. 200 forces and about 450 torque. Three-speed automatic. The car burns rubber just like that. And the dynamics - about 9 to a hundred. Not weak, huh? The maximum speed goes to 200 km / h. And due to the large weight of the car is not stressful. The tradition of high-speed cars with a V-shaped 8-cylinder engine was continued with the advent of a new model - the GAZ-21 Volga. With the start of mass production of this model by the factory, it became necessary to also produce a high-speed version of this model. When designing the GAZ-23 Volga car, difficulties arose, primarily layout. It was necessary to install a rather large V-shaped 8-cylinder ZMZ-13 engine in a limited engine compartment"Volga", where there was only enough space for the four-cylinder ZMZ-21 engine, especially since the engine was followed by automatic transmission gears with a torque converter from Chaika.

The engine was placed by turning it around the longitudinal axis crankshaft by two degrees (the layout belongs to F.A. Lependin). However, the gaps between the engine and the surrounding parts were very small. Skeptics believed that when the engine oscillated on its suspension (and even more so after its cushions sagged in operation), there would not be enough gaps. But in the end, a special technology was developed and, with great perseverance, it was possible to achieve its implementation in production. On each car, the accuracy of engine installation was within one millimeter of what was required. Assembly and operation all the years went without problems.

The mass of the car has increased by more than 300 kg, both due to the mass of the engine (in front) and due to special cargo in the trunk. Without such a load was not enough grip weight on wheels at the back. With a sharp start, the wheels slipped so much that the rubber burned, leaving a black mark on the asphalt. The next problem was the temperature of the brakes. disc brakes we didn't have it back then. Ductile iron drums were used in the brakes with air blowing over hot castings according to the selected mode. This significantly increased their hardness and wear resistance with sufficient machinability. The casters supported the proposals of the designers and worked in commonwealth. This method has found other applications at the plant.

Brake pads had pads made of wear-resistant and heat-resistant materials. Brake fluid to avoid boiling, it consisted of a mixture of isoamyl alcohol and castor oil with a boiling point of at least 130 degrees. Subsequently, experimental tests were carried out brake drums made of aluminum alloy with cast iron friction inserts (al-fin process). But they turned out to be effective only with good airflow on high speeds. And it was impossible to organize intensive airflow due to the design of the wheels due to the requirements of conservation appearance, “Like the Volga”. The last requirement also created a problem with silencers. On the "Seagull" there were two of them and, accordingly, two exhaust ducts. On the Volga, they had to be connected at the exit into one exhaust pipe. Difficulties arose during the design, but as a result of the tests they were overcome.

Tests also showed that the acceleration time from standstill with a full load to a speed of 100 km / h was 16 s (for the "Seagull" - 18). With the selected final gear ratio of 3.38 (for GAZ-13 - 3.58), the maximum speed exceeded 170 km / h. IN specifications 160 km/h was indicated. From 1962 to 1970, 603 of these cars were produced, and there were no serious comments, although the strength of the parts caused concern driveline and the drive axle, the loads and stresses in these nodes measured during road tests were significantly higher than on conventional production vehicles. But this took place only in the first seconds of acceleration, and, due to the short duration of the impact, the metal, apparently, did not have time to collapse. In practice, these fears were not justified.

The car enjoyed phenomenal popularity in Western Europe! Very large, very fast (about 190 maximum speed), dynamic enough, not very gluttonous, and, moreover, it was ideal for taxes. The power of export engines was reduced to 99 forces, adding high-torque. The car has not lost in dynamics. On the contrary, since the motor is lower, it began to accelerate even better.

An attempt to create a car to replace the rapidly aging "twenty-first" at GAZ was made almost immediately after the start of its production. The car, which survived three restylings, despite the fact that they were as efficient as possible, based on the resources available to the designers, was already deeply obsolete by the end of the seventies.
American design, which was guided by when creating their GAZ models, moved forward by leaps and bounds in the sixties. The three-year-old car looked already outdated, the lineups of companies numbered dozens of models and hundreds of versions. Against the background of this abundance, the "twenty-first" looked like a "poor relative" - rounded, large shapes and aerostyle went out of fashion along with fins, and the factory workers had to prepare an adequate response. The search for the image was long and painful.

The designers (or, as it was then called, designers) of the new machine were young specialists L. I. Tsikolenko and N. I. Kireev.

Like many other designers and constructors, GAZ specialists were impressed by the American industrial exhibition held in Moscow in 1959 with its chrome, gloss and two-meter tail keels. For this reason, the first models of the future Volga vividly resemble the "average American" of those years.

However, it soon became clear to stylists that such an exterior would look modern for a very short time, until a new “coil” in design. Simple, canonical forms, proven solutions, the absence of bright, momentary details were needed. Gradually, sketch after sketch, model after model, the image of the future car was nurtured from plasticine, clay and wood. During the creation of the car, six full-size mock-ups were built against six for the Twenty-First Volga. Still, the car gravitated toward the American school of style. By overseas standards, it was a mid-size sedan of quite a classic design. The "whalebone" radiator grilles and sidelights hinted at a certain continuity of generations, small vertical rear lights were designed to emphasize the width of the car and were a common design element on the car of those years ...

There were also original finds: a “mirrored” Hoffmeister bend within the front doors, interesting chrome “fangs” near the license plate (later removed), a parking light in the deflector on rear rack, strict and stylish grille. Thanks to the sloping sideline, the car has a swift, dynamic image.

Designers had to solve a difficult task - to give dynamism executive sedan large sizes, while not overdoing it, but not making it an American "suitcase", and they coped with this task flawlessly.

The design was initially carried out for four types of engine - a 2.5-liter aluminum “four” based on the GAZ-21 engine (apparently, it was originally designed to work in a taxi), a V-shaped six-cylinder 3-liter (base), a V-shaped eight-cylinder volume of 5.53 liters (special version for law enforcement agencies), a four-cylinder diesel engine (for Europe, where taxi drivers respected the diesel Volga - according to the experience of export sales of the GAZ-21; import was supposed).
Initially planned as the base V6 (2.99 liters, 136 hp) of models 24-14 (cast-iron block) and 24-18 (aluminum), it did not leave the experimental stage by the beginning of mass production, it was planned to be mastered at the second stage work on the car is already in parallel with mass production.

But in the early seventies, oil prices rose sharply, and in such conditions, a three-liter engine for a middle-class car was apparently considered redundant. The remaining options for the power unit were implemented to one degree or another.

Mechanical boxes were originally supposed to be used on modifications for taxis. In practice, only a four-speed manual with a lever in the floor remained as the simplest, cheapest, conducive to fuel economy and most consistent with the level of the world (albeit mainly European) automotive industry.
In 1966, two running prototypes of the new Volga appeared. One of them had an unusual four-headlight lighting system, which was abandoned in favor of the more familiar two-headlight. The main leitmotif in the design of the car was a stylized shield. In its form, an emblem was made on the grille, stamping on the hood, as well as the general decision of the front end.

Phenomenal beautiful car! And, by the way, in Europe he was still loved for his amazing reliability and smoothness.

By the way, 24 Volga had a resounding success in circuit racing.

GAZ 24-02 was taken by many for big family. If it was necessary to transport a large load, the second and third rows folded and formed a flat floor with guides. By the way, GAZ 24-02 was recognized in 1972 as the most stylish station wagon in Europe.

The “hot” Volga was also with an index of 24. All the same stuffing, but the car was now called GAZ 24-24. Specifically, in the photo - GAZ 24-34, the basis for which was the later GAZ 24-10. But the point is the same.

To escort government vehicles Chaika and ZIL, the KGB of the USSR used a modified base Volga GAZ-24-10 - GAZ-24-24.

Officially, the car had two names "Escort car" and "Fast car", and unofficially, surrounded by the KGB, it was called "catch-up" or "double".

Visually, the GAZ-24-24 did not differ from production model, but in the cabin there was an automatic transmission lever. From a technical point of view, it was the same serial "Volga", but it had some reinforcement measures (powerful front spars), a selector lever in the floor, a three-stage "automatic". power unit ZMZ-24-24 V8 with a volume of 5530 cm³ and a power of 195 hp. The transmission ratio is 3.38:1. The car had a reinforced suspension, and steering had hydraulic power.

Sometimes the cars were equipped with special communication systems and light signaling, with which it was possible to give signals when moving in a column. GAZ-24-24 was assembled manually. Painting was carried out according to the "Tchaikovsky" technology, the anticorrosive was very good.

The number of admitted copies is unknown. According to the operation of the car, its maximum speed reached 160 km / h.

GAZ-25

1937

One copy released.

An experimental three-axle car GAZ-21 with a pickup body (not to be confused with GAZ-211956!) was created by a group led by V. A. Grachev on the basis of components and assemblies GAZ-M 1 and GAZ-A, as part of work on off-road vehicles . From July 15, 1937 to June 8, 1938, the car was tested and accepted for serial production, but did not get up on the conveyor. Instead, they began the production of a more successful and technologically advanced GAZ-61. Modification GAZ-21 - GAZ-25 with a sedan body, built on the basis of GAZ-M 1, was seven-seater: five seats in the cabin, two in the trunk.

Specifications

Dimensions, mm
length x width x height	4830x1760x1865
base	2440 (+860 between the rear axles)
Body	sedan
Layout
engine	front
driving wheels	middle and rear
Maximum speed, km/h	87
Engine	GAZ-M, gasoline, carburetor, in-line
number of cylinders	4
working volume	3285cm 3
number of valves	8
location	top
power, hp/kW	50/37 at 2800 rpm
Transmission	mechanical three-stage
pendants
anterior
rear	dependent, on longitudinal springs
brakes	mechanical
front	drum
behind	drum
electrical equipment	6 V
Tire size	7.00-16