He conquered space and launched a technology race that would turn the whole world history upside down in the future. Thanks to best minds The USSR will then begin to develop the space industry. Together with space technologies, science and medicine, it developed in big country and the automotive industry. However, despite serious progress, the USSR lagged behind other countries in the automotive industry. But this does not mean at all that Soviet cars are bad. Let's get acquainted with the most famous representatives of the domestic auto industry, which today are considered retro classics.
The birth of the domestic auto industry
In 1927, the head of the Soviet Union, Stalin, demanded that during the first five-year plan - from 1928 to 1932 - a powerful and competitive automobile industry be created in the country. At that time, in comparison with the countries of Europe and the USA, the auto industry was virtually absent in the country, and the USSR was not a competitor for the world's auto giants. However, due to the rapid development of industrialization, by the middle of 1928, there were more than 3 million people employed in the production of automobiles.
When the first five-year plan ended, more than 6 million people were already working in the auto industry. Thanks to this plan, a new social class was formed in the USSR - these are workers for the automotive industry with good incomes for that time. But although a huge number of jobs were created and the standard of living grew, for many a car was a luxury even then. bought only wealthy working class. This is taking into account the fact that the capacity of car factories by 1932 reached about 2.3 million copies.
KIM: small car
The head of the auto industry in August 1938 proposes to develop and launch the production of small cars. It was planned to establish it at the Moscow car assembly plant created in honor of KIM.
To develop the car, a design department was formed at the plant. The process was led by a specialist from NATI A. N. Ostrovtsev. GAZ specialists worked on the design and construction of the body. To make the development go faster, they decided to take the American Ford Perfect, which was produced at that time in the UK, as a basis. The solutions that Ford engineers used were well known to engineers from the USSR - several car models based on Ford A and AA were already produced in the country. Although it was taken as a basis English car, body design - completely Soviet. GAZ specialists worked on it. During the process, they created two options - a model with a closed body and two doors, as well as an open phaeton. Interestingly, the car was produced on equipment from the USA.
It was planned to connect many factories of the USSR to production. So, frames, springs, forgings were to be manufactured at ZIS. At GAZ, the main body parts and castings were made. A huge number of the most different industries it was supposed to provide the assembly shop with everything necessary - glasses, tires, upholstery materials, as well as all the details that simply could not be manufactured at KIM.
Exterior
The model was called KIM-10, and at that time it was a serious step for the entire automotive industry.
The appearance of the car was newer and fresher than the others. Soviet cars. The body shape and overall design practically did not differ from foreign samples. The body of this car was very progressive for its time.
The hood opened up and was of the alligator type. In order to open it, the designers created a nose decoration. The sides of the hood served as fairings for the headlights. The doors were wide enough in size, they were additionally equipped with swivel windows. The side windows could be lowered.
Design features
In addition to modern ideas, more conservative solutions were used at the time of the creation of this car. So, an engine with a lower valve arrangement did not have mechanisms for adjusting them. The connecting rod bearings were filled with babbitt. The thermosiphon cooling system is already outdated, but was used on KIM-10. Also among the conservative solutions are dependent suspension system, mechanical brakes. The turn signals were of the semaphore type.
Specifications
This car was made in two types of bodies - a two-door sedan and a phaeton with side parts. The car could accommodate four passengers.
The length of the body was 3960 mm, width - 1480 mm, height -1650 mm. Clearance - 210 mm. The fuel tank held 100 liters of fuel.
The engine was located in the front, longitudinally. It was a 4-cylinder carbureted four-stroke power unit. Its volume was 1170 cubic meters. see. The engine gave out 30 liters. With. at 4000 thousand revolutions. The motor was paired with a three-speed mechanical box gears. The car had rear-wheel drive, and its fuel consumption was only 8 liters per 100 kilometers.
The history of this machine ended in 1941.
Car GAZ-13 "Seagull"
The need for this car arose in the 50s. So, in the USSR they had to create a representative-level car that would correspond to the fashion trends of that time. The designers also developed the project ZiS and ZIL. In addition, the ZIL-111 car is already outdated.
The result of the work of GAZ specialists was presented to the public in 1956. The car was launched into mass production only two years later, in the 59th. For those 22 years that this model was produced, only 3189 copies were produced. The eminent designer Eremeev worked on the legendary design of the described car. In the exterior of the car, you can trace the features
GAZ-13 "Seagull" became the way it was later remembered, far from immediately. In the process of working on the body, two options were created. They differed from production models in taillights, front sidelights, moldings on wheel arches and windshield frame.
Specifications
This car was huge. The layout is front-engine, and rear-wheel drive. Surprisingly, even then a three-speed hydromechanical gearbox was installed on this car.
There were two engines - GAZ-13 and GAZ-13D. These are eight-cylinder V-shaped engines with a volume of 5.5 liters. But the first unit was calculated on A-93 gasoline, and the second on A-100. Also, the second motor has a higher compression ratio and a power of 215 hp. The first unit had a capacity of 195 liters. With. The design of the motor was innovative - this is an aluminum cylinder head and valves.
The engine was equipped with liquid cooling and a four-chamber carburetor. The motor, together with the automatic transmission, could accelerate the car up to 160 km. Up to 100 km, the car accelerated in 20 seconds.
As for fuel consumption, in the combined cycle the car consumed 18 liters per 100 kilometers. The automatic transmission allowed the use of three gears - this is neutral, first gear, movement and reverse. I had to switch them using the keys on the dashboard.
Modifications
So, GAZ-13 is base model. Three rows of seats were installed in the back of the cabin, and the prototypes differed significantly in equipment from the serial ones.
GAZ-13A is the same basic model, but a partition was installed in the cabin between passengers and the driver.
13B is a convertible car, this modification was used in military parades.
13C is a station wagon. This modification did not go into the series. In total, about twenty such machines were produced.
Subcompact car "Moskvich" -400
This next model after KIM-10-52. Work on the car started after the war, in early 1946. Also after the war, the plant changed its name to Moskvich. This one should have been created before the war.
The car was made in the image and likeness of the Opel Kadett K38, which was developed by General Motors in 1938. All the equipment was taken to Germany, the stamps for the production of bodies could not be saved, so they had to create their own, Soviet ones.
This car was developed by domestic and German engineers. The cost of the car, according to various sources, is from 8,000 to 9,000 rubles. It was a lot of money, and at first only a few could afford the new Moskvich-400, but in the 50s the well-being of people increased, and a whole queue lined up behind the car.
Exterior
Opel Kadett K38 was used as a basis. Stalin really liked the car, and he ordered that an exact copy be made in the USSR. It must be said that Opel was created in Germany before the war, and in the 40s the whole structure, together with the design, was very outdated. Opel at that time produced more interesting models, but no one dared to argue with Stalin. Later, the appearance will be updated a bit, but this will not affect the body.
Engine
Since there was no documentation on the power unit in Germany, Soviet engineers developed a new motor. The car was equipped with a four-cylinder eight-valve unit, the power of which was only 23 liters. With. with a working volume of 1100 cubic meters. see Motor worked with a pair of three-speed manual transmission. The power unit was created for A-66 fuel. Consumption was 8 liters per 100 kilometers at a maximum speed of 90 km/h.
GAS
A lot of different interesting models were produced at this plant. One of them is GAZ A. The history of the car begins in Detroit. It was then that old man Henry Ford decided that the Ford T was simply hopelessly outdated. And he took it off the assembly line. Instead, model A was launched. First of all, the engine was finalized - after the transformation, its power changed from 23 hp With. up to 40. The volume increased to 3.2 liters. Also in the car was a dry single-plate clutch.
Then Ford created a truck - AA on the basis of passenger car A, and then a three-axle AAA machine went to the conveyor. It was this unified and generally universal car that Soviet leaders liked. Based on it, they decided to create a simple, reliable and technologically advanced Soviet passenger car. So GAZ A was born. The model was produced from 1932 to 1938.
Design
The bumper was a failure of two elastic strips of steel. The radiator was covered with nickel, and the first nameplate adorned it. The wheels were equipped with wire spokes - their peculiarity was that they did not require adjustment.
For windshield triplex glass was used. It had a gas cap in front of it. The tank itself was located on the rear wall of the engine compartment - this is how the fuel pump was excluded from the design. Gasoline got into the carburetor by gravity.
These Soviet cars were produced in a chaise-type body for 5 seats. In the event of rain, a tarpaulin awning could be pulled up.
Salon
The steering wheel was black, and the material for it was ebonite. Next to the signal on the steering wheel, the designers placed special levers - with the help of the first, the ignition timing was adjusted, and the second served to supply gas. The speedometer was a drum with numbers. Below the gas pedal, a special heel stand was installed.
Design features
If you disassemble the car, then only 21 bearings will be typed. It was also used, there was no possibility to adjust the valve, a low compression ratio of the engine - 4.2. As a suspension, transverse springs were used.
A little later, this model will be replaced by the GAZ M-1 sedan, which is also based on the Ford A, but modified for off-road patency. So, they increased the strength of the body, strengthened the suspension. The voracious 3.2-liter engine was modified so that its power increased to 50 liters. With.
This GAZ M-1 off-road limousine entered the series in 1936. Released more than 60,000 copies. It was a very successful model.
These are Soviet passenger cars in a body type "sedan". In mass production, the car was launched in 56, and it continued until the 70s. This is the most successful model of the domestic auto industry.
Development began in 1952. Initially, they worked on the M21 models. L. Eremeev and artist Williams worked on the design. In 1953, the first mock-ups of the M21 were created, the Williams project did not fit. Then, in the spring of 1954, the first prototypes of the Volga GAZ-21 were assembled.
Tests were carried out, during which the cars showed good results. The new "Volga" turned out to be economical, significantly superior in terms of dynamic characteristics ZIM. In addition, the car has a unique design.
The first models were equipped with a lower-valve engine, its working volume was 2.4 liters. Engine power was already 65 hp. With. This is a motor from Pobeda, which was boosted at the factory. Paired with the power unit, a three-speed manual gearbox worked.
The owners of the car "Volga" (GAZ-21) talked about the high resistance of the body to corrosion, about the good cross-country ability of the car. Today it is already a retro car, and you can see its representatives in private collections.
GAZ-24
Later, in 1968, the GAZ-24 was released on the basis of this car. The car was produced in two bodies - sedan and station wagon. At one time it was the most prestigious car. The model began to be developed immediately after the launch of the 21st Volga. The car managed to survive three restyling, the design gravitated towards the features of American cars. But there were original features in the exterior, which gave the body swiftness.
Vehicle Specifications
GAZ-24 was produced, as already noted, in two bodies. Ground clearance was 180 mm. The engine was located in front of the longitudinal. As power unit a 2.4 liter petrol engine was chosen. Its power was 95 liters. With. He worked in tandem with a four-speed manual transmission. Fuel consumption - 13 liters per 100 km. With this unit maximum speed is equal to 145 km/h.
On the basis of the described Volga, many different modifications were then released. They also produced models for export. Finished production in 1985.
I must say that Soviet cars are much more interesting than those that are produced today. It is now that everything seems uninteresting to modern people, but then each new model was a real treat for motorists. These cars are now being filmed in films, are in museums and private collections, the ZIS-110 car is very popular abroad, including in the USA and Europe. Many motorists give huge sums for the purchase and restoration of such cars. This is real retro. And let them scold domestic auto industry, but then even in our country they knew how to make good cars.
For a long time, a personal car for Soviet citizens remained an outright luxury. In the 1920s there was no organized import of motor vehicles and spare parts to them into the territory of the USSR, therefore, domestic car park characterized by small numbers and extreme diversity. According to modern researchers, out of 24,218 cars in 1925, only 5,792 were passenger cars; most brands were represented by one to ten cars, and only Ford sold more than 330 units of equipment in the USSR. However, by the early 1930s. only 15.5% of cars were in the personal possession of citizens. Thanks to cooperation with the G. Ford company, the Soviet Union received the plans, patents and drawings necessary for the deployment of its own mass engineering. But the industrial mechanism in the USSR in the 1930s. was focused primarily on defense needs (and, accordingly, on the production of means of production). This was due to the fact that in the pre-war period, mainly freight transport, and not passenger transport, developed. The car could be taken into personal ownership as a bonus, for example, for hard work. That is why the cars in those years carried a reflection not so much of wealth, but of "mysterious and formidable power, the breath of the blessings being distributed."
There was also an opportunity to get a car as a prize through the system of voluntary societies "Avtodor" and "Osoaviakhim". The Avtodor Voluntary Society, designed to promote the development of the domestic automobile industry, the development of transport and the improvement of roads, united not only professional drivers, but also motorists. Its tasks included training drivers, disseminating information about cars and their maintenance, as well as conducting propaganda campaigns, for example, against off-road. The roads in the USSR, as it turned out during the inspection of the Party Control Commission in 1935, were in an "exceptionally neglected" state, often representing a porridge of bitumen, sand and gravel, called the "black highway". The issue of lotteries was supposed to contribute to the collection of funds for the construction and repair of roads. Participation in the lottery in the 1930s provided for ordinary citizens almost the only opportunity to officially acquire the status of a car owner. After the liquidation of Avtodor in 1935, Osoaviakhim became the main distributor of cars through the lottery system. Mikhail German, the son of the popular playwright Yuri German, recalled that his father, having both free financial resources and literary fame, was forced to buy the winning Avtodor ticket for a GAZ car, since the cars were not available for free sale. Obviously, the cost of the purchased ticket was noticeably higher than the nominal value, although the memoirist does not mention this. But he still remembers the campaign of 1936, during which the owners of "gas trucks" were persistently offered to exchange their cars (with a surcharge) for the M-1 ("emka") under the pretext that old cars spoil the streets of big cities with their appearance . After minor repairs, the vehicles were planned to be sent to provincial cities and collective farms. As noted by the American researcher L. Sigelbaum, during the exchange it turned out that more than 400 individual owners of cars who claimed to receive the M-1 and were included in the replacement lists had very “doubtful” rights to this. Among them were several former Avtodor activists, officials of the Tsudortrans organization, which had already defunct by that time, representatives of the Main Directorate of the Tractor and Automotive Industry (GUTAP), in particular, the head of the GUTAP garage, Yakunin, who tacitly sold during 1936 alone. ten trucks, eight cars and spare parts for 28 thousand rubles.
In 1940, only 5.5 thousand “cars” were produced in the country, and no more than 500 were owned by personal property, for example, in Moscow. With the outbreak of war, almost all personal vehicles were seized for defense needs.
In the second half of the 1940s. The global automotive industry has experienced a milestone. From then until today, most of the technical developments in the automotive industry have focused on improving the driving experience. Trophy cars of the post-war period aroused the admiration of the Soviet inhabitants. The writer E. L. Schwartz, for example, noted the variety of brands that surprised him: “From the “DRV”, so low that it seemed as if the passengers were sitting in a bath, to the “Oppel-Admiral”, or “Horch”, or “Mercedes” . American cars appeared, "Buick-ite" of unheard of beauty ... "
With the end of the war, according to the report of the First Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR S. N. Kruglov, cases of officials and individuals applying to the traffic police for registration of cars and motorcycles, the source of which they could not document, became more frequent. This applied primarily to areas liberated from German occupation, where cases of appropriation of trophy vehicles happened especially frequently. S. N. Kruglov pointed out that the refusal of state registration did not at all solve the problem of preventing abuse, since in this case the car or motorcycle remained with the unrecognized owner, he could freely store, use, change, sell it. Therefore, the NKVD of the USSR considered it necessary to give the bodies of the State traffic inspectorate the right to confiscate such vehicles in an administrative manner. This proposal was discussed in the government of the country. On April 26, 1945, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR decided to grant the authorities of the State Automobile Inspectorate of the Main Police Department of the NKVD of the USSR the appropriate right in relation to those cars and motorcycles whose owners could not document the legality of their acquisition.
However, abuses with captured cars continued, which was often facilitated by the police officers themselves. So, in February 1947, an anonymous person reported to the Party Control Commission that Captain Yu. M. Minkin from the third department automotive service 1st Ukrainian Front bought an Opel for 361 rubles. under the guise of spare parts, repaired it for 450 rubles. and as his own put on record in the traffic police. A month later, he registered another car, a Mercedes-Benz, although he did not have any documents for purchase or ownership. Inspector Maksimov allowed illegal registration in exchange for the repair of his personal M-1 car by the auto service of the 1st Ukrainian Front and the opportunity to use a Mercedes.
It was possible to limit the scale of abuses only as a legal domestic market for domestically produced cars was created and developed in the USSR. After the war, the equipment and technologies of German automotive enterprises came to the Soviet Union, which made it possible to start mass production of cars.
By the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of May 16, 1947, the sale of small cars"Moskvich" on an individual basis. At the same time, it was recommended that the priority right to purchase be given to the ministers of science and art, advanced workers and engineering and technical workers. By subsequent decrees of September 2, 1947 and February 12, 1948, the government proposed to Glavavtoselmashsnab to open eight more specialized shops for the sale of motor vehicles. The head of this department, Umanets, reported in a memorandum to the Deputy Minister of Trade of the USSR S. A. Trifonov that the minimum assortment of company stores consisted of Moskvich cars, motorcycles, bicycles and spare parts for them. It was also planned to sell related products: tools, glass heaters, polishing paste, cleaning suede and others. In the future, it was planned to organize workshops for warranty repair with the replacement of out-of-service, through no fault of consumers, machine units and assemblies.
In June 1946, the GAZ M-20 Pobeda rolled off the assembly line of the Gorky Automobile Plant. The cost of the car reached 16 thousand rubles, the vast majority of the population of the USSR could not afford it: the average monthly monetary wages of workers and employees in the whole national economy of the country in 1945 amounted to 442 rubles, in 1955 - 711 rubles.
The real buyers of expensive cars were black market dealers. So, in the course of the implementation of undercover cases "Procurers" and "Aces" in 1952 in Tashkent and Sverdlovsk, 23 people were arrested, including Brodsky, deputy manager of the Tashkent commodity depot, and Afanasiev, the procurement commissioner. 727,183 rubles were seized from them. cash, bonds in the amount of 115,200 rubles, five Pobeda cars, two Moskvich cars, and the total value of the described property exceeded 3 million rubles.
Had the financial opportunity to acquire the "Victory" and executives. In particular, the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (according to the resolution of the Politburo of December 9, 1947) were set official salaries in the amount of 10 thousand rubles, the deputy chairmen of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the secretaries of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks - 8 thousand But a state-owned car was relied on by the high leadership according to their position. So, in 1947, the Minister of Justice of the USSR N.M. Rychkov had at his disposal five official vehicles and one of his own, serviced by the garage of the Ministry.
For ordinary citizens, it was more realistic to purchase a Moskvich car, in the late 1940s. costing its owner only 9 thousand rubles. According to L. Sigelbaum, even in the mid-1960s, when the list of brands of passenger cars produced by the domestic industry turned out to be somewhat expanded, only Moskvich could claim the status of a car for millions of Soviet citizens: “If the Zaporozhets was too small , and the “Volga” was more than required, then the “Moskvich 408” (like Mishutka’s bed in the fairy tale “Three Bears”) was “just right””.
During 1947, in a specialized network of branded stores, buyers were able to purchase 1350 "Moskvich", in 1948 - 1403, most of them in the capitals. Thus, 1,070 vehicles were sold in Moscow through Glavavtotraktorsbyt, 259 in Leningrad, and 21 in Tbilisi. 84, in Yerevan - 80. In the largest industrial centers - Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, Molotov, Donbass - residents did not have legal opportunities to purchase a car. Therefore, the government returned to this problem in June 1948.
The result of the discussion was a resolution on June 22, 1948 "On the organization of the sale of cars." From September 1, 1948, the Ministry of the Automobile and Tractor Industry was to launch retail sales of Moskvich and Pobeda cars to the population through specialized stores for cash. The sale of spare parts for them for cash could only be carried out by individual owners of vehicles registered in the prescribed manner. For this, the office "Avtomotovelotorg" was organized. The list of cities in which car shops were to be opened included 12 largest regional centers: Moscow, Leningrad, Tbilisi, Kiev, Minsk, Baku, Riga, Alma-Ata, Tashkent, Novosibirsk, Sverdlovsk and Khabarovsk. In the future, their list was somewhat expanded.
The Council of Ministers ordered the Ministry to ensure the sale in the second half of 1948 to private individuals of 6,500 Moskvich and 900 Pobeda cars, as well as spare parts worth 700,000 rubles. In addition, the USSR Ministry of Trade was to allocate to the Ministry of Automobile and Tractor Industry at the expense of market funds 4,000 units of Moskva and Kievlyanin motorcycles and spare parts for them for 160,000 rubles.
In May 1948, the Gorky Automobile Plant received a government assignment to develop a six-seater passenger car, which rolled off the assembly line in 1950 under the name GAZ-12 ZIM. In the mid 1950s. it cost about 40 thousand rubles, so it was listed on the free sale. However, few people could afford to buy it because of the high cost. Famous ballet dancers N. Dudinskaya and K. Sergeev, photographer V. Strekalov-Obolensky (author of a series of Roman portraits from the collection of the State Hermitage) traveled in ZIM in Leningrad.
In the USSR, despite the declared equality, a particular brand of car often corresponded to a certain status of a person. This is reflected even in the work Soviet classic S. V. Mikhalkov in the early 1950s:
In ZIL-110, in a green car,
Next to the driver is an old scientist.
In "The Seagull" - a gray-haired lieutenant general,
Next to the driver is his adjutant.
In a beige "Volga" - a miner from the Donbass,
A noble high-class slaughterer.
In the gray "Victory" - a famous violinist,
And in "Moskvich" - a doctor.
OBKhSS employees periodically checked the lists of persons who purchased cars. So, after clarification of undercover information about the predominance of people without specific occupations among car buyers, it turned out that most of them were pensioners of various departments. By checking the contingent of car owners in Moscow, it was found that in 1953 and the first quarter of 1954, ZIM cars were purchased by: 14 clergymen, 10 writers, 16 scientists (including academicians, professors, etc.), 6 military men, 5 artists , 8 employees, 1 housewife, 2 drivers.
During the first quarter of 1954, among the 1,169 citizens who bought Pobeda were: 15 deputies of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, 329 military men, 203 employees, 138 engineers, 103 housewives, 69 drivers, 68 workers, 58 teachers and medical workers, 29 disabled people and pensioners, 22 students, 64 scientists, 9 writers, 23 artists, 27 artists, 2 clergymen.
The acquisition of a new car became one of the most serious problems, even if the citizen had money for this: in addition to the new thirsty ones, the lucky ones, who had already waited for their new car, were in line to purchase the next one. Same day without wasting time. Because it will take several years for the list to reach you.” In order to get a new car, the person on the waiting list had to submit a certificate of the sale of the old one; as a general rule, it was not allowed to own two cars at the same time.
In specialized stores, there were always huge, in the words of one of the publicists, "fabulously long, like Chernomor's beard," queues. For example, in the Moscow special store on May 15, 1954, there were 13 thousand people on the list of those wishing to purchase a Pobeda car, but on average no more than 625 cars were sold per month. The number of people enrolled in the queue for the purchase of Pobeda and Moskvich cars in Leningrad was 22 thousand people, in Rostov-on-Don - 4100, in Tbilisi - 2800, in Kiev and Riga - about 2 thousand people each, in Yerevan - 1200 people.
Due to the significant demand for passenger cars and motorcycles with sidecars, almost from the very beginning of the organization retail OBKhSS employees began to record the facts of their resale at inflated prices (in other words, speculation), as well as abuses in their trade, especially often in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Riga, Yerevan. So, on July 19, 1952, a group of citizens of four people was arrested in Kyiv, who since 1950 had resold nine cars purchased by them in the Ukravtotraktorosbyt store and from the hands of individual citizens. The contracts certified by them in a notary's office were the basis for registering cars. However, when registering, the cost of "Victory" was indicated at 16 thousand rubles, in fact, the group members received 25 thousand in their hands with each transaction. During the arrest, police officers confiscated three new Pobeda cars, 16 spare slopes for them, and 8,000 rubles from them.
To maintain order, commissions and elders were elected from among their midst. Thus, the commission at the Moscow Glavkulttorg store developed and adopted a special “Regulation on the rights of people on the waiting list to purchase Pobeda cars” and achieved a restriction on the sale of places in lines to speculators. According to this document, entry into the queue was made weekly on Sundays from 9 to 12 noon, marks were made from 8 to 11 hours, and on Sundays from 9 to 12 hours - upon presentation of a passport or identity card. Correspondence of the queue was allowed no more than once per family member upon presentation of a notarized power of attorney and a passport in advance within no less than 150 numbers. When the queue approached, the citizen had to purchase a car, or lost the right to purchase.
Employees of the OBKhSS recommended using such experience everywhere. However, often (in particular, in cities such as Moscow, Riga, Kiev), enterprising citizens who were members of the commissions arranged for bribes to change the order for a faster purchase of cars. According to the traffic police of Moscow, only in five districts of the city (Sverdlovsky, Baumansky, Zheleznodorozhny, Leningradsky and Pervomaisky) 115 people were registered, who during 1951-1953. bought and resold 4-5 Pobeda and Moskvich cars each. For example, the driver of the Ministry building materials USSR G. Levontin (previously repeatedly prosecuted, including under Articles 182, 162, paragraph “c”, 120 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR) purchased and resold five Pobeda cars and two Moskvich cars, and by that time, how he got into the field of view of the OBKhSS officers, he again stood in line for Pobeda.
The limited network of specialized stores caused an influx of buyers to the cities where they were located. Nonresidents could not wait in line for a long time, and were forced to purchase a car with an overpayment from speculators or a place in the queue. It was also practiced to be on duty (for a fee) in line for those non-residents who, having signed up, were forced to return to their place. permanent residence. Checks for the right to purchase cars also became the subject of speculation. In February 1954, in Rostov-on-Don, the manager of the Rostov regional office of Glavmashsbyt Pirogov, the head of the motorcycle section of a specialized store, Dombaev, and the driver of the regional executive committee, Ignatenko, were prosecuted for speculation. Pirogov received sales receipts for Moskvich and M-72 motorcycles from the store director Tkachenko and Dombaev, then sold them for 1500-1850 rubles. each, Ignatenko acted as an intermediary in transactions, sellers received bribes for sales out of turn.
The work of the police was hampered by the fact that it was rarely possible to expose a trade worker in speculation. During interrogations, witnesses, as a rule, insisted that they had purchased the car at the state price, or even below it. Although, according to the estimates of the OBKhSS employees, the resale of a car made it possible to extract in their favor an average of 6 to 18 thousand rubles. when selling "Victory" and 3-5 thousand rubles. when selling "Moskvich".
Almost in all major cities there were special markets for the sale of second-hand things. But they also traded in new goods. For example, in the market in Krasnodar, along with astrakhan hats and radios, one could buy a Pobeda car for 20-25 thousand, a Moskvich for 12-18 thousand rubles. In the future, such cars were often resold in the outback. Thus, from 1954 to 1960, a resident of Krasnodar, Lebedinsky, systematically traded in buying and reselling cars. The court managed to prove the facts of the speculative sale of three cars, and in February 1960, when trying to sell for 80 thousand rubles. "Volga", acquired by him in October 1959 for 40 thousand rubles, he was arrested.
Acting head of the Main Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Bodunov, in a memorandum dated May 20, 1954, expressed the need to expand a specialized network for the sale of cars. The sale should have been made according to the system of pre-orders with the payment of the full cost of the car already at the stage of placing an order (this measure was not fully implemented, but in the future the potential buyer had to pay a quarter of the amount when registering in the queue). Bodunov also proposed to establish a norm for the sale of cars: a citizen could purchase only one car of a certain brand within two years. The traffic police were asked to register the cars of only those persons whose names were indicated in the invoices issued by the store.
But cars, as well as products made of gold and fur, after the war were increasingly involved in the orbit of resale. In this regard, legal scholars suggested that Article 107 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, which provided for liability only for the resale of consumer goods, should be interpreted broadly in order to avoid exemption from punishment for those guilty of speculation in non-mass consumer goods. On September 12, 1957, the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR clarified the concept of the subject of speculation, including consumer goods, agricultural products, cash, sales receipts and coupons, tickets for entertainment and other events, books, notes and other valuables. Thus, the established practice of condemning the resale of motor vehicles as speculation was legislated. In the early 1960s The Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted special resolutions "On additional measures to Combat Speculation in Cars” (March 23, 1961) and “On Additional Measures to Combat Speculation in Heavy Motorcycles with Sidecars” (October 23, 1962). They established that the sale of cars and motorcycles owned by individual owners could only be carried out on a commission basis through state trade shops. Otherwise, the bodies of the State traffic inspectorate were forbidden to carry out state registration of personal vehicles.
In pursuance of these decrees, commission shops were organized in large cities to sell cars accepted from private individuals. But this, in turn, contributed to the growth in the scale of resales. The cost of the car was set by the store in agreement with the deliverer (but not higher than the state retail price in force at the time the car was handed over to the commission). Although the commission was 7%, it was not uncommon for thrift store employees to informally ask for a significantly higher amount from potential buyers who agreed to pay the difference to the sellers in hand for a car in good condition and out of turn.
As in previous years, a Soviet citizen could become a car owner by pulling out a winning lottery ticket. In 1961, for example, ads in Soviet newspapers urged people to buy tickets for a money and clothing lottery: for just 30 kopecks, along with a piano, refrigerators and carpets, one could win a Moskvich car.
Since the mid 1950s. in the USSR, outbound tourism began to actively develop: in 1956 alone, 561,000 Soviet citizens went abroad on vacation. Their special attention was attracted by the windows of sparkling car dealerships on the central streets of European cities: “There was a smell of perfume from there, dazzling varnished limousines with open leather interior doors slowly rotated on stands; employees in impeccable uniforms expressed not only their faces, but also their figures, politely joyful expectation of dear customers. And with a sharp dissonance - the impression of the Soviet service at the car pick-up point: "A log, uncle, a restless dark crowd and dirt underfoot."
But still, the 1950s. became a milestone in the formation of new consumer stereotypes of citizens (and motoring in the USSR, of course, was a product of urban culture). I. A. Andreeva, the chief art critic of the All-Union House of Fashion Models, in her memoirs about life under socialism, it is not by chance that she begins her “report” with the chapter “ private car”, and only then in the list of the eternal everyday worries of the Soviet man in the street are an apartment, a summer house, clothes, and only at the very end - work. The purchase of your own car in the USSR became perhaps the first significant opportunity to exercise your right to personal property (there was no talk of private property) for “household and household items, for personal consumption and convenience items”, the protection of which was guaranteed back in 1936 the Stalinist Constitution. Personal property (according to the generally accepted interpretation) differed from private property in that it could not be used for profit, for enrichment, for earnings. N. S. Khrushchev publicly advocated the unification of cars in rental garages, believing that the “private direction” of using cars for a society building communism is not suitable.
Nevertheless, it was in this decade that not only the production of passenger cars increased noticeably, but also their retail sales to consumers. In 1950, Soviet factories produced 64,554 passenger cars, of which 5,176 (8%) were exported, 36,378 (56%) were distributed among departments and organizations, and the remaining 23,000 (36%) were sold to individual owners. In 1956, the number of cars that went into retail sales increased to 64 thousand (59% of the total number produced by industry).
In December 1965, the head of the Ministry of the Automotive Industry, created in the same year, A. M. Tarasov, reported that in the USSR there is one passenger car per 238 inhabitants, while in the USA it is 2.7 people. But even then, a car parked in the yard could become a bone of contention. So, B. Sarnov became an outside witness to the scene of a showdown in the district court between two neighbors. The plaintiff's "Moskvich" was regularly located under the window of the defendant (who was still waiting to receive the coveted postcard with a notice of a queue for a car), thereby not only occupying a potential parking space, but also poisoning the life of the defendant "with his vile unpresentable appearance." The defendant “in a moment of strong emotional excitement” doused a parked car with ink, which resulted in a meeting of neighbors in court.
By by and large, the Soviet car enthusiast had only two joys: buying a car and selling it, since it was even more difficult to maintain it than to buy it. So, in 1966 in Moscow, only 12 service stations within the city, and 2 in road motels, provided services to motorists. Despite the fact that the plans for the five-year period provided for an increase in the production of passenger cars to 800 thousand per year, spare parts were not available. The Moscow plant of small cars, for example, did not include in its production plans production of fenders, bumpers and other details. Only after persistent requests did he start stamping the wings, but for some reason only the right ones.
One of serious problems refueling the vehicle. Gasoline (a liter of which in 1956 cost 1 rub. 50 kopecks) could be purchased with coupons sold in kerosene shops, often located several tens of kilometers from the petrol stations. Today it is hard to believe, but in 1963 there were only four gas stations in Leningrad, the sale of gasoline at which was sometimes limited according to the norm: 5 liters per tank. Of course, many motorists were forced to purchase "left" gasoline, without restrictions, coupons and visits to a kerosene shop.
M. Yu. German wrote that the Soviet “miserable “thingism” was provoked not only and not so much by the formation of social codes, the “prestige” of certain objects, ordinary snobbery or simply an increase in income ... In our country, the desire for things was one of the few means of oblivion , the national sport… Even going to the grocery store was a gamble, the customer became a conquistador, hoping for success and ready to fail, and returning - regardless of the result - exhausted and bloodied. The whole way of life of a Soviet person did not contribute to the attitude towards the car as an object of everyday use, but it became the more desirable it became.
You can scold the Soviet auto industry as much as you like for the fact that the same cars have been produced for decades, but that's just not the fault of the designers. They constantly gushed with ideas and were not afraid of internal competition. Recall unusual modifications well famous models who were never given the green light.
~ 1936 ~
Create an incredible cross-country vehicle, successfully pass all state tests with it, wait for the model to be adopted, and then ... achieve the cancellation of all these decisions. This is madness? It's GAS!
All my life one of the greatest automotive designers Vitaly Andreevich Grachev dedicated to the creation of an all-terrain vehicle. First on GAZ, then on ZIL. One of the stages of this path was the experimental GAZ-21. Six wheels, four of which were driving, additional wheels on the bottom that helped roll over bumps, spare wheels that allowed you to move off vertical walls - is it necessary to say that the “twenty-first” amazed the imagination with its cross-country ability? The military rejoiced, because they needed just such a car. But Grachev had already created an all-wheel drive four-wheeled "Emka", the patency of which was even higher: it was she who went into the army.
The all-terrain vehicle borrowed the rear bogie from GAZ-AAA. Subsequently, domestic cardan joints were replaced with imported ones.
The GAZ-21 chassis was to become the basis for the BA-21 armored car. He, like the pickup truck, was made in a single copy. The army had to start the war on the BA-20, built on the chassis of the usual "Emka".
From this plan, small additional wheels on the bottom and spare wheels, which are the rear dimension of the car and increase the geometric cross-country ability.
Despite the excellent "geometry", large wheel crossing angles and a high-torque motor, another pair of driving wheels was still missing. On really difficult ground, you had to put chains on the drive axles.
On the basis of the GAZ-21, the GAZ-25 sedan was built, which had seven seats: five in the cabin and two more in the folding "mother-in-law's seat". Considering that the number of wheels has increased, there are also more spares - two.
AZ-12A Phaeton
~ 1949 ~
As you already understood, we love ZIM. Because it is big, beautiful and innovative. But, alas, the most beautiful version of the GAZ-12, the phaeton, did not reach the conveyor. Even if its massive top had to be lifted by hand, even if it was deprived of a roof load-bearing body was bursting at the seams, and the power of the 90-horsepower engine was desperately lacking for the heavier car. But the phaeton was damn attractive!
Open cars were shown to Stalin along with closed ones and received the approval of the leader. But the tests that took place both in Moscow and in the Crimea turned out to be much more merciless than Joseph Vissarionovich - the car did not go into production.
The open ZIM was a real phaeton without side windows. This photo clearly shows the celluloid tie-down windows.
Already in the course of testing side windows made of glass, but they still had to be installed separately. Thanks to the rigid roof frame, the silhouette of soft-top and hard-top cars was almost indistinguishable.
During tests in the Crimea, the phaeton also visited Artek. The enthusiasm of the pioneers knew no bounds!
Fortunately, one of the two prototypes has survived to this day. Interestingly, over time, the number of phaetons even increased: in the regions, ZIM was handicrafted into ceremonial cars.
GAZ-12V and GAZ-12G "Seagull"
~ 1956 ~
No, we did not make a mistake with the number when we printed the model name. It’s just that in the 1950s, new models were created in Gorky as quickly as in Detroit. In the Soviet automotive industry, it was not customary to scatter resources: you are either busy improving an existing model, or working on a promising one. But the indefatigable "gazovtsy" did not seem to know about this.
It does not matter that in 1956 work on the GAZ-13 was in full swing, and already in 1957 the first driving prototypes were built. Engineers have also developed a variant of ZIM restyling! Updated sedan received an engine boosted to 110 horsepower, a different front and rear design, new rear fenders, an automatic transmission from the Volga, which was promising at that time, and a new name, Chaika. However, the ministry did not understand why one country needs two cars of the same class at one plant. As a result, only a new name went into the series, but Gorky will still return to the project of a six-cylinder sedan one step lower than the GAZ-13.
The name "Seagull" was given to the car for a characteristic overlay on the radiator grille. This is the only design element of the prototype that has reached the serial GAZ-13.
In the mid-1950s, according to the latest fashion in Gorky, they actively experimented with two-tone coloring. Alas, black production cars executive class, as now, has not been revised.
~ 1958 ~
In the decaying capitalist West, after the sedan, the coupe and cabriolet would have replenished the range of business-class cars, but Soviet factories, as you know, have their own pride. Therefore, the van became the next modification of the Volga.
However, the 21st was difficult to spoil with something, so the van looked great. Two-tone coloring, chrome, a deer on the hood - this is not a sin to use as personal transport! As is often the case, an interesting car remained just a project. Largely because it was built not at GAZ itself, but at Gorky bus factory. Meanwhile, the demand for such cars was. Not without reason, many motor transport enterprises, during the overhaul, converted the GAZ-21 and GAZ-22 into vans and even pickups. It turned out they did, however, not so elegantly.
Work on the van was carried out simultaneously with the station wagon and ambulance, but the van was ready a whole two years earlier.
The carrying capacity of the car was 500 kilograms. To create a flat cargo area, the spare tire moved underground, and the tank moved to the middle of the bottom.
~ 1964 ~
Why is there no "shishiga" in our reviews? Because a truck was built in Gorky, which was even cooler!
Since the 1930s heavy trucks ZIS answered, and GAZ was engaged in cars one step lower. But in Gorky they were not going to put up with this, therefore, as soon as they lowered the directive from above to create a three-axle four-wheel drive truck new generation, built their own version. And do not care that such machines have already been developed by ZIL (model 131) and Ural (375). The truck from the banks of the Volga received the name GAZ-34 and was generally based on shishiga units.
With the same carrying capacity as that of the ZIL, the "thirty-fourth" was 1.3 tons lighter, half a meter shorter, had more cargo platform and consumed less fuel. But in 1967, ZIL finally launched mass production of its all-terrain vehicle, and since competition in the USSR could only be in the case of patronage from one of the ministers, the GAZ-34 did not get on the conveyor. Although it was recommended by the military for adoption.
As you can see, even for military trucks, the "gazovtsy" chose cheerful colors.
"Thirty-four" borrowed the gearbox along with the clutch from the ZIL-131, and rear axles along with the suspension - at the ZIL-157.
During the tests, five GAZ-34s traveled the route from Moscow to Ashgabat and Ukhta, carried soldiers (27 people could fit in the back), towed 122-mm howitzers, trailers and even an airplane.
~ 1965 ~
what kind of 408th "Moskvich" you definitely have not seen! However, this is not quite "Moskvich". In 1965, with active lobbying by the future Minister of Defense Dmitry Ustinov, who in the early 60s was in charge of the entire national economy, the construction of an automobile plant began in Izhevsk. And original car the new plant did not have: instead, it was planned to launch the production of the latest Moskvich-408.
However, the team of designers of the young enterprise did not quite like this development of events. Instead of traveling on Moscow luggage, Udmurtia developed own car, which received the name ZIMA-1. The compact coupe received frame structure and body panels made by bending and rolling. From the 408th, only the engine, doors, hood and windows remained.
Soon the first prototype was followed by the second - the four-door sedan received a different grille and the name ZIMA-2. But no arguments could outweigh the outdated design, so the industry leadership ordered the people of Izhevsk not to engage in nonsense, but to work on the development of the Moscow sedan.
The creators of the car claimed that ZIMA is an abbreviation that stands for "Izhevsk Small Car Plant".
ZIMA-2 was a more familiar sedan. Pay attention to how light shoes one of the women has not in winter. Udmurt ladies are so severe...
Over time, ZIMA-1 underwent a slight restyling - the radiator grille changed. Interestingly, it still remained original, and was not unified with the sedan.
The fate of both cars is unknown. Some time ago, at one of the exhibitions, a very “polished” sedan appeared, which the owner passed off as ZIMA-2, but the plausibility of these statements raises questions.
~ 1973 ~
"Directorskaya Volga" GAZ-3102 for a long 26 years was the coolest Soviet car that an ordinary person could buy. Meanwhile, only a small part of the design ideas reached the conveyor. V6 engines, automatic transmission, spring rear and pivotless front suspension, a new front panel - buyers did not see all this on the serial 3102.
The fuel crisis of the 1970s, the stagnation in the Soviet economy, the abandonment of the production of "Moskvich" series 3-5, with which new Volga the automatic transmission was supposed to be divided, and, most importantly, the priority financing of VAZ to the detriment of other plants forced the Gorky engineers to significantly simplify the original project. As a result, the GAZ-3102 received only a forced version of the old engine, disc brakes in front and new design interior and exterior. And again AvtoVAZ is to blame for everything ...
In 1967, Gorky planned to create 3101 in a completely new body, but the beginning slowdown in the economy forced them to work on a new generation car in the back of the GAZ-24.
Due to the colossal costs that the new plant in Togliatti required, GAZ was financed on a residual basis. The "Gazovtsy" had to drag the car, which was already ready for production, to various exhibitions in the hope of convincing the top management. As a result, the money was allocated only for the greatly simplified GAZ-3102.
The interior of the 3101 is much more sporty than the 3102. The dash and center console form a kind of cockpit around the driver. Pay attention to the automatic transmission selector on the central tunnel.
~ 1974 ~
The legend says that we should personally thank Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev for the birth of the all-wheel drive "twenty-fourth". In fact, the cause is confused with the effect. Experiments with the creation of cars off-road were carried out in Gorky since the 1930s, but only the all-wheel drive Pobeda GAZ-M72 became serial.
Creative search did not bypass the Volga of the second generation. They didn’t change the cooking recipe: the body and engine of the Volga were “married” with elements of the UAZ-469 chassis. In total, five cars were built, one of which was presented to Brezhnev. Another car was left at the plant for the needs of the director of the enterprise. These machines have survived to this day. The remaining vehicles were dismantled by the Ministry of Defense and the Gorky regional party committee. And dismantled, it seems, not figuratively - the trace of these machines is lost.
Despite seemingly good prospects, production of the 24-95 never began. Obviously, stagnation, like devastation, occurs in the minds, because in the 1950s it was not necessary to beg the factory workers to set up the production of a new modification.
The same "Volga" Brezhnev. It is distinguished from other cars by the green color of the body and the green upholstery of the seats. It turned out very stylish. Now the car is in the museum on Rogozhsky Val, which we have already mentioned more than once - perhaps the best collection of Soviet cars in Moscow is collected there.
GAZ-24-95 is a full-fledged "Volga", and not a mestizo with a "goat". From the latter, only bridges, a leaf spring suspension and a transfer case were taken, and the "samoblocks" migrated from the GAZ-41, better known as the BRDM-2.
The lifted Volga may not be too elegant, but for such cross-country ability it was easily forgiven for her.
The General Secretary's car served in the hunting area in Zavidovo, but Leonid Ilyich did not like the GAZ-24-95 too much - because of the small windows. The large open window of the "goat" was convenient to use as a support for shooting, but in the "Volga" it did not work out that way.
VAZ-2103 Porsche
~ 1976~
In Zuffenhausen, long before the development of the G8, they were eyeing the Soviet automobile industry as a source of orders. Less than three years have passed since the start of production of the VAZ-2103, when Porsche, by order of the Soviet company Vneshtechnika, has already developed a restyling project for the most sporty Zhiguli. All chrome was removed from the car, and the steel bumpers were replaced with body-colored plastic ones.
The project was rejected by the Togliatti designers, since by that time their own, cheaper restyling project, the VAZ-2106, was already ready. But the enterprising Germans were remembered, and after a couple of years they returned to them with a front-wheel drive hatchback project.
The Germans did not limit themselves to design changes. Noise isolation was improved, suspension settings were changed, anti-corrosion protection of the body was increased, and the engine was brought to the most stringent environmental standards.
~ 1976 ~
Initially, a copy of the FIAT-125 was supposed to be the flagship of VAZ, but in the process of negotiating the purchase of a license, the Soviet side demanded that the Italians create a luxury modification based on the FIAT-124 so that the unification of the two versions of the Zhiguli was maximum. The Italians had to create a more expensive version of the 124 from scratch. In the course of the work, the Soviet side was offered both a sedan, which later became the VAZ-2103, and a station wagon with a similar front design. Then the leadership of the Togliatti plant refused, but the idea was remembered. And in 1976, three station wagons with a four-headlight lighting system were built in Tolyatti, which received the index 2104.
One car was handed over to the Dmitrovsky training ground, the second to the AvtoVAZtekhoobsluzhivanie division, and the third was left to the factory Style Center (the division that dealt with the appearance of Lada cars). But things didn’t go beyond prototypes, and the index eventually got a station wagon based on the “five”. It is curious that the Italians also managed only a four-door modification of their 124 Special.
The only photo of the luxury station wagon has survived to this day.
Several "twos" and "fours" received the front part from the VAZ-2103 by the owners. For example, this station wagon comes from Ukraine.
VAZ-2106 "Tourist"
~Year unknown~
In the late 1970s, on the instructions of the Technical Directorate of the plant in Togliatti, an experimental pickup truck was built on the basis of the latest "six" at that time. Pickup trucks, created in a handicraft way from serial sedans for in-plant needs, were built at all enterprises in the country, but only at VAZ they decided to build a car that would now be called SUT - Sport Utility Truck. After all, she was called not to carry oiled tins, but to help her owner enjoy life.
Metallic silver, trailer tent, elegant silhouette and powerful motor- Alas, there was no place for such a car in the Soviet Union. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that the head management of the plant rejected the project. The tent was removed, the pickup itself was repainted red and sent to haul those same oiled tins. When the car ran out of service, it was quietly sent to a landfill.
"I blinded you from what was." "Tourist" was sculpted from serial parts, but it turned out surprisingly harmoniously.
And this is what most of the factory homemade pickups looked like. The seams of the welded door are clearly visible in the picture.
Such scale model Tourist is produced by Vector models. The model is not made very neatly, but the only alternative is to make a pickup truck from the "six" with your own hands.
VAZ-2108 "Targa"
~ 1988 ~
European distributors domestic cars with enviable regularity demanded modifications from our factories with a convertible body. And if in the 1960s it was possible to do without them, then in the 1980s many began to build convertibles based on the VAZ-2108 on their own. This is how Lada San Remo and Lada Natacha appeared.
They did not sit idly by at the plant itself. Only now, instead of the banal cutting off of the roof in Togliatti, they decided to create something of the kind. So the VAZ-2108 Targa was born. The only copy of the "eight-tee-top" was made in the "VAZ" Style Center in 1988, and already in 1992 it was destroyed. It's a pity, because this is perhaps the most beautiful and certainly the most unusual modification Samara.
Targa, or rather T-top, did not turn out during the banal cutting of holes in the roof: the car has a rear overhang from the VAZ-21099 sedan and a “long wing”, which became serial only in 1991.
Safety in the event of a rollover was provided by powerful longitudinal and transverse beams.
Moskvich-2142
~ 1990 ~
In the early 1980s, when the base model of the fourth generation of Moskvich hatchback 2141 was already ready for production, AZLK started developing next car family - sedan 2142. Moreover, the differences from the hatchback were not only in the appearance of a separate trunk. The sedan received new fenders, bumpers, grille, rear lights, improved interior, chassis and engine of the promising AZLK-21414 family - in a word, it was a full-fledged restyling.
It was planned that the sedan would be on the assembly line as early as 1992, but the collapse of the USSR, the inability to complete the construction of a new engine plant and the worsening economic situation of AZLK made these plans unrealizable. Only in 1997 did a stretched version of the sedan get on the conveyor, which received its own name - "Prince Vladimir". Unlike the original 2142, the stretch got an old interior, and the design of the front end completely repeated that of the Svyatogor hatchback. Subsequently, on the basis of "Vladimir", a business-class stretch sedan "Ivan Kalita" appeared, the appearance of which delighted only Chinese designers.
The design, though reminiscent of the Ford Sierra, was completely original.
Interestingly, in 1983, on the basis of Simca 1308, on the basis of which the “forty-first” was created, the Talbot Solara sedan was produced for a short time. But Moskvich has nothing to do with him.
The original plan for the creation of the fourth generation Moskvich did not include a sedan, but already in the 1980s it was corrected. The problem was that at AZLK there was no calculation of the power structure of the Simca 1308 body, with which 2141 was “fought”. As a result, the work was delayed, and rear end ended up looking like a suitcase.
The promising sedan received ventilated disc brakes in front and a different suspension, and the plans included the introduction of an all-wheel drive transmission. Late 1990s four-wheel drive nevertheless appeared on Ivan Kalita, but that car can be called serial with a high degree of conventionality.
In the hope of bringing the car closer to the conveyor, the creators abandoned all the original elements, and 2142 turned into a banal three-volume version of the “forty-first”. The car was still produced in a small edition. Now such cars are real rarities.
Behind last years the territory of the former Union was flooded with cars made not in its expanses. Reliable and strict Germans, creative and sophisticated Japanese, stylish and powerful Americans, cheap French and sickening Chinese ... since foreign cars came, Soviet manufacturers are in the deepest ass! There are an order of magnitude more Cayennes and Escalades on the streets of Kyiv, Moscow, Minsk and those than Muscovites, Volga or Niv.
But what were they, the cars of the USSR? And how would we see them today, without the Internet and digital photography?..
In 1916, the Ryabushinskys concluded an agreement with the tsarist government for the construction of an automobile plant in Moscow and the production of trucks for the needs of the Imperial Army. The Fiat 15 Ter developed in 1912 was chosen as the base model of the car, which proved itself well in off-road conditions in the colonial wars of Italy. The plant was founded and received the name of the Moscow Automobile Society (AMO). Before the revolution, it was possible to assemble about a thousand cars from ready-made kits, but it was not possible to create their own production facilities.
In the early 1920s, the Labor and Defense Council allocated funds for the creation of a truck. The same Fiat was chosen for the sample. There were two reference copies and partially documentation.
Automotive industry The Soviet Union started on November 7, 1924. On that day, Moscow saw the first cars of the country's first automobile plant. They passed through Red Square during the October parade - ten red trucks AMO-F15, which were manufactured at the plant, whose brand is known to everyone today as ZIL. The F-15 was produced with a power of 35 hp. and a volume of 4.4 liters. A year later, the first domestic 3-ton trucks were assembled in Yaroslavl, and in 1928 the first four- and five-ton trucks ... but we will talk about Soviet cars
NAMI-1 (1927-1932), maximum speed 70 km/h, power 20 hp. With. First mass-produced passenger car Soviet Russia, approximately 370 copies were produced. The features of NAMI-1 included a spinal frame - a pipe with a diameter of 135 mm, an engine air cooling, the absence of a differential, which, in combination with ground clearance 225 mm provided good cross-country ability, but affected the increased tire wear. There were no instruments in NAMI-1, and the body had one door for each row of seats.
The Spartak plant, the former crew factory of P. Ilyin, where production was launched, did not have the equipment and experience for a full-fledged automotive production. In particular, therefore, the reliability of NAMI-1 caused a lot of criticism. In 1929, the car was modernized: the engine was boosted, a speedometer and an electric starter were installed. There were plans to transfer the production of NAMI-1 to the Izhora plant in Leningrad. However, this was never done, and in October 1930, the release of NAMI-1 was stopped.
Passenger car GAZ-A It was made according to the drawings of the American company "Ford" (1932-1936). Despite this, it was already somewhat different from the American prototypes: for the Russian version, the clutch housing and steering gear were reinforced. Maximum speed 90 km/h, power 40 hp
Passenger car L-1 (1933-1934), maximum speed 115 km/h, power 105 hp. By 1932, the Krasny Putilovets plant (since 1934, the Kirov Plant) stopped producing obsolete Fordson-Putilovets wheeled tractors, and a group of plant specialists put forward the idea to organize the production of representative cars. The prototype of the car, which received the name "Leningrad-1" (or "L-1") was the American "Buick-32-90" in 1932. It was a very perfect and complex (5450 parts) car.
Passenger car GAZ-M-1 (1936-1940), maximum speed 100 km/h, power 50 hp On the basis of the GAZ-M1, modifications of the "taxi" were produced, as well as the "pickup" GAZ-415 (1939-1941). In total, 62,888 GAZ-M1 vehicles left the assembly line, and several hundred have survived to this day. The chassis of this model is exhibited in the automotive department of the Polytechnic Museum in Moscow.
KIM-10 is the first Soviet mass-produced small car.
1940-41, top speed 90 km/h, power 26 hp
Passenger car ZIS-101. 1936-1941, top speed 120 km/h, power 110 hp
This model was distinguished by many technical solutions that were not previously encountered in practice. domestic automotive industry. Among them: a dual carburetor, a thermostat in the cooling system, a torsional vibration damper on crankshaft engine, synchronizers in the gearbox, body heater and radio.
The car had a dependent spring suspension of all wheels, a spar frame, a vacuum brake booster, rod-driven valves located in the cylinder head. After modernization (in 1940), she received the ZIS-101A index.
Passenger car GAZ-11-73. 1940-1948, top speed 120 km/h, power 76 hp
Passenger car GAZ-61 (1941-1948). Maximum speed 100 km / h, power 85 hp.
Passenger car GAZ-M-20 VICTORY (1946-1958). Maximum speed 105 km / h, power 52 hp. Unique car Soviet automobile industry.
The GAZ-M20 prototype appeared in 1944. In terms of the design of the body-front suspension, the car was very close to the Opel-Kapitan, but on the whole it looked fresh and original, but it became especially obvious in the first post-war years, when mass production of “victories” began in Gorky, and leading European firms revived the production of pre-war models. On prototypes of the GAZ M20 Pobeda, there was a b-cylinder engine;
In 1948, due to design flaws (the car was put on the conveyor in a terrible hurry), the assembly was suspended and resumed in the fall of 1949. Since then, the car has been reputed to be strong, reliable, unpretentious. Until 1955, a version with a 50-horsepower engine was built, then the M20 V version was modernized, in particular, with a 2-horsepower boost. motor. In small quantities for special services, the GAZ-M20 G was produced with a 90-horsepower 6-cylinder engine. In 1949-1954. built 14,222 convertibles - now the most rare modification. In total, until May 1958, 235,999 "victories" were made.
"ZIS-110" (1946-1958), maximum speed 140 km/h, power 140 hp
The ZIS-110, a "representative" comfortable limousine, was indeed a design that took into account all the latest achievements of automotive technology at that time. This is the first novelty that our industry mastered in the first peaceful year. The design of the car began in 1943, back in the war years, on September 20, 1944, samples of the car were approved by the government, and a year later, in August 1945, the first batch was already being assembled. In 10 months - an unheard of short time - the plant completed the necessary drawings, developed the technology, prepared the necessary tooling and equipment. Suffice it to recall that when the plant mastered the production of ZIS-101 cars in 1936, the preparation for their production took almost a year and a half. At the same time, it should be taken into account that all the most complex equipment is dies for manufacturing body parts, frame spars, conductors for welding body components - were obtained from the USA. For the ZIS-110, everything was made on their own.
"Moskvich-401" (1954-1956), maximum speed 90 km/h, power 26 hp
Moskvich-401 is actually not even a copy, but in its purest form Opel Kadett K38 of the 1938 model, with the exception of the doors. Some believe that the rear door stamps were lost in transit from Rüsselsheim and were remade. But the K38 was also produced with a 2-door, so it is possible that the stamps of this particular version of the car were taken out. The commander of the American occupation zone did not take the money brought by the Soviet delegation, and ordered to give the Russians everything they needed from the Opel factory. On December 4, 1946, the first Moskvich was assembled.
Indexes 400 and 401 - factory designations of engines. The rest indicate the body model: 420 - sedan, 420A - convertible. In 1954 there appeared more powerful model engine - 401. And the latest Moskvich-401s were equipped with new Moskvich-402 engines.
Passenger car MOSKVICH-402 (1956-1958), maximum speed 105 km/h, power 35 hp.
"GAZ-M-12 ZIM" (1950-1959), maximum speed 120 km/h, power 90 hp Engine. At its core, this is a six-cylinder GAZ-11 engine, the design of which the Gorky residents began in 1937. Its release was launched in 1940, and it was used on GAZ-11-73 and GAZ-61 cars, as well as on light tanks and self-propelled guns of the Great Patriotic War and GAZ-51 trucks.
"GAZ-13 CHAYKA" (1959-1975), maximum speed 160 km/h, power 195 hp. With.
Soviet dream car, made in the image and likeness of the Detroit Baroque.
"Seagull" was equipped with a V-shaped 5.5-liter engine, X frame, automatic transmission (!!! 1959 in the yard), the salon consisted of 7 seats. 195 l. With. Under the hood good acceleration, moderate consumption - what else is needed for complete happiness? But to say all this about "The Seagull" is to say nothing.
"The Seagull" appeared in 1959, at the very height of the Khrushchev thaw. After the gloomy "ZIS" and the gloomy "ZIM", she was distinguished by a surprisingly human, if not feminine, face. True, this face was created in other parts: in terms of design, the GAZ-13 was an unscrupulous copy of the last Packard family - the Patrician and Caribbean models. And far from the first copy, first with Packard they made a ZIL-111 for members of the Politburo, and later they decided to make a simpler limousine to replace the ZIMs.
"GAZ 21R VOLGA" (1965-1970), maximum speed 130 km/h, power 75 hp
"GAZ-24 VOLGA" (1968-1975), maximum speed 145 km/h, power 95 hp
"Volga GAZ-24", which got on the conveyor on July 15, 1970, was created for 6 whole years. Inventing a new car is not an easy task, but the Soviet automakers of the sixties knew the way. And when they received an order to prepare a replacement for the beautiful, but too ancient Volga GAZ-21, they did not suffer from doubts and remorse. They brought three overseas cars - "Ford Falcon", "Plymouth Valiant", "Buick Special" 60-61 years - and, armed with adjustable wrenches, screwdrivers and other tools for analysis, they began to learn from experience.
As a result, "24th" became a real automotive revelation(compared to its predecessor "21R"). Judge for yourself: the dimensions have decreased, and the wheelbase has increased, the width has remained the same, but the interior has become more spacious, and the trunk is completely huge. In general, a typical case of "more inside than outside".
"ZAZ-965A ZAPOROZHETS" (1963-1969), maximum speed 90 km/h, power 27 hp
On November 22, 1960, the first batch of brand new cars, serially named ZAZ-965, went to happy customers. Which soon lined up a huge queue, since the price for the "Zaporozhets" was set very reasonable - about 1200 rubles. Then it was about the annual average salary.
Strange as it may seem now, but then the ZAZ-965 was more popular with the intelligentsia than with workers or collective farmers. The reason for this was in many ways too tiny trunk, which could not be loaded with bags of vegetables. The problem was solved only by the creation of a lattice pallet, fixed on the roof of the car, on which they immediately began to load half a ton of potatoes, then a whole stack of hay, which made the Zaporozhets look like Asian donkeys.
ZAZ-968 Zaporozhets, maximum speed 120 km/h, power 45 hp
ZAZ-968 was produced from 1972 to 1980. He had such features as an improved MeMZ-968 engine with an increase to 1.2 liters. displacement, while its power increased to 31 kW (42 hp).
In recent years, the territory of the former Union was flooded with cars made not in its expanses. And this is not bad at all) Reliable and strict Germans, creative and sophisticated Japanese, stylish and powerful Americans, cheap French and nauseating Chinese ... since foreign cars came, Soviet manufacturers have been in the deepest ass! There are an order of magnitude more Cayennes and Escalades on the streets of Kyiv, Moscow, Minsk and those than Muscovites, Volga or Niv.
But what were they, the cars of the USSR? And how would we see them today, without the Internet and digital photography?..
In 1916, the Ryabushinskys concluded an agreement with the tsarist government for the construction of an automobile plant in Moscow and the production of trucks for the needs of the Imperial Army. The Fiat 15 Ter developed in 1912 was chosen as the base model of the car, which proved itself well in off-road conditions in the colonial wars of Italy. The plant was founded and received the name of the Moscow Automobile Society (AMO). Before the revolution, it was possible to assemble about a thousand cars from ready-made kits, but it was not possible to create their own production facilities.
In the early 1920s, the Labor and Defense Council allocated funds for the creation of a truck. The same Fiat was chosen for the sample. There were two reference copies and partially documentation.
The automobile industry of the Soviet Union started on November 7, 1924. On that day, Moscow saw the first cars of the country's first automobile plant. They passed through Red Square during the October parade - ten red trucks AMO-F15, which were manufactured at the plant, whose brand is known to everyone today as ZIL.
The F-15 was produced with a power of 35 hp. and a volume of 4.4 liters.
A year later, the first domestic 3-ton trucks were assembled in Yaroslavl, and in 1928 the first four- and five-ton trucks ...
but we will talk about Soviet cars
NAMI-1 (1927-1932), maximum speed 70 km/h, power 20 hp. With. The first mass-produced passenger car in Soviet Russia, approximately 370 copies were produced.
The features of NAMI-1 included a spinal frame - a pipe with a diameter of 135 mm, an air-cooled engine, and the absence of a differential, which, in combination with a ground clearance of 225 mm, provided good cross-country ability, but affected increased tire wear. There were no instruments in NAMI-1, and the body had one door for each row of seats.
The Spartak plant, the former carriage factory of P. Ilyin, where production was launched, did not have the equipment and experience for a full-fledged automobile production. In particular, therefore, the reliability of NAMI-1 caused a lot of criticism. In 1929, the car was modernized: the engine was boosted, a speedometer and an electric starter were installed. There were plans to transfer the production of NAMI-1 to the Izhora plant in Leningrad. However, this was never done, and in October 1930, the release of NAMI-1 was stopped.
The GAZ-A passenger car was manufactured according to the drawings of the American company Ford (1932-1936). Despite this, it was already somewhat different from the American prototypes: for the Russian version, the clutch housing and steering gear were reinforced.
Maximum speed 90 km/h, power 40 hp
Passenger car L-1 (1933-1934), maximum speed 115 km/h, power 105 hp.
By 1932, the Krasny Putilovets plant (since 1934, the Kirov Plant) stopped producing obsolete Fordson-Putilovets wheeled tractors, and a group of plant specialists put forward the idea to organize the production of representative cars.
The prototype of the car, which received the name "Leningrad-1" (or "L-1") was the American "Buick-32-90" 1932.
It was a very perfect and complex (5450 parts) machine.
Passenger car GAZ-M-1 (1936-1940), maximum speed 100 km/h, power 50 hp
On the basis of the GAZ-M1, modifications of the "taxi" were produced, as well as the "pickup" GAZ-415 (1939-1941). In total, 62,888 GAZ-M1 vehicles left the assembly line, and several hundred have survived to this day. The chassis of this model is exhibited in the automotive department of the Polytechnic Museum in Moscow.
KIM-10 is the first Soviet mass-produced small car. 1940-41, top speed 90 km/h, power 26 hp
Passenger car ZIS-101.
1936-1941, top speed 120 km/h, power 110 hp
This model was distinguished by many technical solutions that had not previously been encountered in the practice of the domestic automotive industry. Among them: a dual carburetor, a thermostat in the cooling system, a torsional vibration damper on the engine crankshaft, synchronizers in the gearbox, a body heater and a radio receiver.
The car had a dependent spring suspension of all wheels, a spar frame, a vacuum brake booster, rod-driven valves located in the cylinder head. After modernization (in 1940), she received the ZIS-101A index.
Passenger car GAZ-11-73.
1940-1948, top speed 120 km/h, power 76 hp
Car GAZ-61 (1941-1948)
Maximum speed 100 km / h, power 85 hp.
Passenger car GAZ-M-20 VICTORY (1946-1958)
Maximum speed 105 km / h, power 52 hp.
A unique car of the Soviet automobile industry.
The GAZ-M20 prototype appeared in 1944. In terms of the design of the body-front suspension, the car was very close to the Opel-Kapitan, but on the whole it looked fresh and original, but it became especially obvious in the first post-war years, when mass production of “victories” began in Gorky, and leading European firms revived the production of pre-war models. On prototypes of the GAZ M20 Pobeda, there was a b-cylinder engine;
In 1948, due to design flaws (the car was put on the conveyor in a terrible hurry), the assembly was suspended and resumed in the fall of 1949. Since then, the car has been reputed to be strong, reliable, unpretentious. Until 1955, a version with a 50-horsepower engine was built, then the M20 V version was modernized, in particular, with a 2-horsepower boost. motor. In small quantities for special services, the GAZ-M20 G was produced with a 90-horsepower 6-cylinder engine. In 1949-1954. built 14,222 convertibles - now the rarest modification. In total, until May 1958, 235,999 "victories" were made.
"ZIS-110" (1946-1958), maximum speed 140 km/h, power 140 hp
The ZIS-110, a "representative" comfortable limousine, was indeed a design that took into account all the latest achievements of automotive technology at that time. This is the first novelty that our industry mastered in the first peaceful year. The design of the car began in 1943, back in the war years, on September 20, 1944, samples of the car were approved by the government, and a year later, in August 1945, the first batch was already being assembled. In 10 months - an unheard of short time - the plant completed the necessary drawings, developed the technology, prepared the necessary tooling and equipment. Suffice it to recall that when the plant mastered the production of ZIS-101 cars in 1936, the preparation for their production took almost a year and a half. At the same time, it should be taken into account that all the most complex equipment - dies for the manufacture of body parts, frame spars, conductors for welding body components - were obtained from the USA. For the ZIS-110, everything was made on their own.
"Moskvich-401" (1954-1956), maximum speed 90 km/h, power 26 hp
Moskvich-401 is actually not even a copy, but in its purest form Opel Kadett K38 of the 1938 model, with the exception of the doors.
Some believe that the rear door stamps were lost in transit from Rüsselsheim and were remade. But the K38 was also produced with a 2-door, so it is possible that the stamps of this particular version of the car were taken out. The commander of the American occupation zone did not take the money brought by the Soviet delegation, and ordered to give the Russians everything they needed from the Opel factory. On December 4, 1946, the first Moskvich was assembled.
Indexes 400 and 401 - factory designations of engines. The rest indicate the body model: 420 - sedan, 420A - convertible. In 1954, a more powerful engine model appeared - 401. And the latest Moskvich-401s were equipped with new Moskvich-402 engines.
Passenger car MOSKVICH-402 (1956-1958), maximum speed 105 km/h, power 35 hp.
"GAZ-M-12 ZIM" (1950-1959), maximum speed 120 km/h, power 90 hp Engine. At its core, this is a six-cylinder GAZ-11 engine, the design of which the Gorky residents began in 1937. Its release was launched in 1940, and it was used on GAZ-11-73 and GAZ-61 cars, as well as on light tanks and self-propelled guns of the Great Patriotic War and GAZ-51 trucks.
"GAZ-13 CHAYKA" (1959-1975), maximum speed 160 km/h, power 195 hp. With.
Soviet dream car, made in the image and likeness of the Detroit baroque.
"Seagull" was equipped with a V-shaped 5.5-liter engine, X-shaped frame, automatic transmission (!!! 1959 in the yard), the salon consisted of 7 seats. 195 l. With. Under the hood, good acceleration, moderate consumption - what else is needed for complete happiness? But to say all this about "The Seagull" is to say nothing.
"The Seagull" appeared in 1959, at the very height of the Khrushchev thaw. After the gloomy "ZIS" and the gloomy "ZIM", she was distinguished by a surprisingly human, if not feminine, face. True, this face was created in other parts: in terms of design, the GAZ-13 was an unscrupulous copy of the last Packard family - the Patrician and Caribbean models. And far from the first copy, first with Packard they made a ZIL-111 for members of the Politburo, and later they decided to make a simpler limousine to replace the ZIMs.
"GAZ 21R VOLGA" (1965-1970), maximum speed 130 km/h, power 75 hp
"GAZ-24 VOLGA" (1968-1975), maximum speed 145 km/h, power 95 hp
"Volga GAZ-24", which got on the conveyor on July 15, 1970, was created for 6 whole years. Inventing a new car is not an easy task, but the Soviet automakers of the sixties knew the way. And when they received an order to prepare a replacement for the beautiful, but too ancient Volga GAZ-21, they did not suffer from doubts and remorse. Have you brought three overseas cars? "Ford Falcon", "Plymouth Valiant", "Buick Special" 60-61? and, armed with adjustable wrenches, screwdrivers and other tools for analysis, they began to learn from experience.
As a result, "24th" has become a real automotive revelation (compared to its predecessor "21R"). Judge for yourself: the dimensions have decreased, and the wheelbase has increased, the width has remained the same, but the interior has become more spacious, and the trunk is completely huge. In general, a typical case of "more inside than outside".
"ZAZ-965A ZAPOROZHETS" (1963-1969), maximum speed 90 km/h, power 27 hp
On November 22, 1960, the first batch of brand new cars, serially named ZAZ-965, went to happy customers. Which soon lined up a huge queue, since the price for the "Zaporozhets" was set very reasonable - about 1200 rubles. Then it was about the annual average salary.
Strange as it may seem now, but then the ZAZ-965 was more popular with the intelligentsia than with workers or collective farmers. The reason for this was in many ways too tiny trunk, which could not be loaded with bags of vegetables. The problem was solved only by the creation of a lattice pallet, fixed on the roof of the car, on which they immediately began to load half a ton of potatoes, then a whole stack of hay, which made the Zaporozhets look like Asian donkeys.
ZAZ-968 Zaporozhets, maximum speed 120 km/h, power 45 hp
ZAZ-968 was produced from 1972 to 1980. He had such features as an improved MeMZ-968 engine with an increase to 1.2 liters. displacement, while its power increased to 31 kW (42 hp).
