The development of the economy of our country in the 30s. provided for a very specific nature of the use of cars - as official vehicles. Taxi service was then just beginning to develop, and private cars were simply rare. From these positions, the automotive industry headed for the production of models, primarily of the middle class, the simplest in design. Since the Ford-AA truck became the object of production in Gorky, it was naturally economically most expedient to simultaneously produce the Ford-A passenger car model unified with it.
Since this machine was manufactured in the USA with various bodies, open and closed, then GAZ had to choose the type of body. After weighing the technological and operational capabilities, our specialists settled on a five-seat four-door chaise-type body. All GAZ-A were equipped with such a body, starting from December 8, 1932, when the first two copies were assembled.
Later, in 1933, GAZ-4 pickups with an all-metal cab and a metal platform for 500 kg of cargo began to roll off the assembly line. An attempt to start manufacturing closed GAZ-6 cars with four-door sedan bodies did not bring success. They required good equipment for body welding. Finally, it is impossible not to mention several GAZ-A samples with a two-seater roadster-type body. Unfortunately, it is not known whether they were assigned an independent index, just like the GAZ-A car with medical bodies. In the rear compartment of these medical vehicles, stretchers were placed, which were installed through a door in the rear wall of the body.
GAZ-A retained the same plumage, windshield frame, instrument panel and front doors as GAZ-A A. The engine, steering gear, and electrical equipment were the same. However, the GAZ-A chassis had a completely different design than the GAZ-AA. The front and rear axles were connected to a lightweight stamped spar-type frame with two transverse springs.
GAZ-A became the first domestic car with hydraulic shock absorbers in the suspension of the wheels - four per car. These devices belonged to the now forgotten rotary type and created resistance to vibrations of the wheels in only one direction - they were unilateral.
Wheels with wire spokes arranged in three rows had high rigidity in the longitudinal and transverse planes. A curious feature - the spokes did not have adjusting nipples, but were fixed in the hub and on the rim.
GAZ-A in a real traffic situation in the Leningrad region. 1935
GA3-A with a phaeton body. 1932
GA3-A on tires "superballoon", which participated in the Karakum test run. 1933
Ambulance car on GAZ-A chassis. 1934
The design of the main (working) brakes GAZ-A did not differ in principle from similar systems on most passenger cars of those years: shoe brakes on all wheels with mechanical drive. The manual (today we will call it parking) brake acted only on the rear wheels and was ... band. It was located in the stepped rear brake drum: the tape was pressed against a cylindrical surface of small diameter, the foot brake pads were pressed against a surface of large diameter.
By itself, the GAZ-A car with high ground clearance, a three-speed gearbox, fuel supply to the carburetor by gravity, simple electrical wiring corresponded to domestic operating conditions and was easily mastered by most drivers.
Equipment bodies GAZ-A created already certain conveniences for the driver. On windshield there was a vacuum wiper, a rear-view mirror. For the convenience of using the accelerator pedal, a fixed foot support was placed next to it.
The windshield could rotate in the wind frame, and its position was fixed with winglets. To protect against wind from the sides of the windshield frame, swivel vents were installed.
Basic data of GAZ-A: number of seats - 5; engine: number of cylinders - 4, working volume - 3285 cm 3, power - 40 liters. With. at 2200 rpm; number of gears - 3; tire size - 5.50-19 "; length - 3790 mm, width - 1710 mm, height - 1788 mm; base - 2630 mm. Curb weight - 1080 kg. Maximum speed - 90 km / h. Acceleration time from a standstill up to 80 km / h - 38 sec. Fuel consumption - 12 - 13 l / 100 km.
Taxi GAZ-A in the parking lot in Sochi. 1934
"GAZ-A-Aremkuz" sedan. 1935
"GAZ-A-Aero" with a streamlined body designed by A. I. Nikitin. 1934
GA3-A No. 100000. April 1935
AZ-A produced 41,917 pieces in six years. One, assembled on April 17, 1935, became the 100,000th vehicle that rolled off the factory assembly line (the 100,000th ZIS was assembled on April 1, 1936). This copy differed from the serial one not only by the inscription "100000" on the radiator core, but by a special emblem on the radiator cap, two-tone coloring, two sound signals and two lights on the body dashboard. To participate in the Karakum test run in 1933, several GAZ-A cars were equipped with "superballon" wide-profile tires instead of serial cars. These cars have demonstrated excellent cross-country ability. But these cars were not the only examples of "variations on the theme" of the GAZ-A.
Since GAZ did not produce cars with closed bodies, and phaetons in winter, especially when used as a taxi, did not provide passengers with comfort, the Aremkuz plant in Moscow since 1935 organized the production of small series of four-door closed bodies on the GAZ-A chassis. They were not all-metal, but had a wooden frame.
The length of the GAZ-A-Aremkuz was 4286 mm. The car stood out both in height (1720 mm) and in weight (about 1350 kg).
The Moscow engineer A. I. Nikitin, having chosen the study of the aerodynamics of a car as the topic of his scientific dissertation, built in 1934 an experimental car on the GAZ-A chassis. The design of her body with a wooden frame and metal cladding included such elements as a V-shaped windshield, rear wheels completely covered with fairings, headlights half recessed into the fenders. The absence of protruding steps, buffers, a spare wheel and other measures made it possible to bring the coefficient drag to a value half that of the serial GAZ-A.
Nikitin's car "GAZ-A-Aero", equipped with a boosted from 40 to 48 hp. With. engine (aluminum cylinder head, compression ratio increased to 5.45), developed a speed of 106 km / h, and acceleration from standstill to 80 km / h took 36 s. Thanks to more advanced aerodynamics, the GAZ-A-Aero at a speed of 70 km/h consumed 20% less fuel than the GAZ-A, and at a speed of 40 km/h - 8.2% less.
The four-seater car differed, of course, in larger dimensions than the GAZ-A: length - 4970 mm, width - 1710 mm; height - 1700 mm. Curb weight - 1270 kg.
In addition to GAZ-A-Aero, various organizations built prototypes of sports cars on the GAZ-A chassis, which will be discussed in a separate section.
Pickup GAZ-4. 1933
As for the GAZ-4 pickup truck, the plant produced 10,648 of these vehicles, which were used to deliver mail when transporting small consignments. In a metal cargo platform 1.6 m long and 1.1 m wide, there were two longitudinal folding benches for six people. A door is provided to enter the rear side of the platform. Since there was no free space for a spare wheel neither on the platform nor under it, it was installed in the niche of the front left fender.
In terms of size and weight, the GAZ-4 was somewhat different from the GAZ-A: length - 4080 mm, width - 1710 mm, height - 1825 mm. Curb weight - 1120 kg.
The technical assistance agreement with Ford also provided for the exchange of technical documentation over a nine-year period. When the production of the Ford-40 model began in 1933, the question was raised about its production at GAZ as well. One of the initiators of the fastest preparation for the production of a new passenger model was A. A. Lipgart, appointed in October 1933 as the chief designer of GAZ. Work on it, which later received the designation GAZ-M1, began in the experimental department of the plant in the fall of 1933. The first three prototypes were assembled in January 1934. They outwardly differed from serial machines in a different radiator lining, hatches on the sides of the hood, wheels with wire spokes.
GAZ-M1 did not completely repeat the design of the Ford-40. So the Gorky designers in the wheel suspensions abandoned two transverse springs in favor of four longitudinal ones, for the first time on their own, using graphic-plastic methods, they developed a curved surface of the front fenders different from that of the Ford-40, switched to disk stamped wheels, and introduced a number of other changes , including a "floating" engine mount.
The main innovation was the body - a closed all-metal. Only one detail remained wooden - the side beam of the roof. In general, the car retained very little in common with the GAZ-A, although the engine, gearbox and rear axle were improved components of the previous model.
The engine received a pressure lubrication system, a circulation (from the pump) cooling system, an automatic ignition timing advancer, an improved carburetor with an economizer and an automatic valve. air damper, crankshaft with counterweights, as well as contact oil air filter.
With the same displacement as that of the GAZ-A, the GAZ-M engine of the new model has become more powerful (50 hp) due to modified valve timing and increased compression ratio to 4.6. This compression ratio corresponded to the then most common grade of motor gasoline in the USSR with an octane rating of 59-65. Since 1938, the GAZ-M engine has also been mounted on modernized GAZ-AA trucks, which received the GAZ-MM index.
The plant also updated the gearbox - it introduced constant mesh gears in the second stage and a sliding gear clutch for engaging the second and third gears. The pushing forces from the rear axle to the frame of the GAZ-M1 were transmitted not by the cardan shaft pipe, as in the GAZ-A, but by the springs. Therefore, the pipe became lighter, received a sliding telescopic joint and perceived only the reactive moment of the rear axle.
A significant increase in the rigidity of the frame was achieved not only by increasing the cross sections of the spars and traverses, but also by introducing an X-shaped cross member. Softer than the GAZ-A, the springs were combined with single-acting hydraulic lever shock absorbers. The changes affected the steering mechanism (a globoidal worm and a double roller instead of a worm and a two-toothed sector on the GAZ-A), as well as brakes.
The GAZ-M1 body was more comfortable for the driver and passengers.
The plant used many things for the first time: a driver's seat adjustable in distance from the pedals, draft-free ventilation with four swivel vents in the side windows, sun shields, cloth seat upholstery, a cigarette lighter, an ashtray. Let's add here three doors locked from the inside and a right door with an individual external lock, a foot switch for high beam headlights, sidelights, and an electric gasoline gauge.
GAZ-MI had the following characteristics: the number of seats - 5; engine: number of cylinders - 4; displacement - 3285 cm "*, power - 50 hp at 2800 rpm; number of gears - 3; tire size - 7.00 - 16"; length - 4625 mm, width - 1770 mm, height - 1780 mm; base - 2845 mm. Curb weight - 1370 kg. The highest speed is 105 km / h, acceleration of the place to 80 km / h - in 24 s. The average operating fuel consumption is 14.5 l / 100 km. From 1936 to 1943, 62888 GAZ-M1 vehicles were manufactured.
GAZ-MI with a four-cylinder engine. 1936
The layout of the GAZ-M1. 1936
All-metal body GAZ-M1. 1936
The design of the GAZ-M1 was developed under the guidance of A. A. Lipgart by engineers L. V. Kostkin, A. M. Krieger, Yu. There they were examined by I. V. Stalin, V. M. Molotov, K. E. Voroshilov, G. K. Ordzhonikidze. So a tradition was established when all new car models passed the highest state acceptance.
Mastering the production of GA 3-M 1 was not easy. In addition to manufacturing defects in the car, there were many design flaws. At a speed close to the maximum, wobble (“shimmy”) of the steered wheels appeared, the drive of the front brakes by cables in shells bent at an angle of 90 ° turned out to be ineffective. These and other "childhood illnesses", of course, soon managed to get rid of, but brought a lot of trouble to both operators and production workers. Year after year, the car was modernized in detail. So, in 1937, the fixation of the water pump impeller was improved. Since 1939, a new radiator lining, a sidewall of the engine hood with reshaped vents, straight, non-curved buffers, and other changes have been introduced. In the future, the GAZ-M1 proved to be the best and enjoyed the well-deserved love of motorists.
GAZ-11-73 was a GAZ-MI with a six-cylinder engine. 1940
GAZ-11-40 - modification of GAZ-11-73 with a phaeton body. 1940
In the mid 30s. it became clear that the reserves for further improvement of the GAZ-M engine were exhausted. The director of GAZ, Sergey Sergeevich Dyakonov (1898-1938), in a memorandum addressed to the Deputy People's Commissar of Heavy Industry, pointed out the need for the speedy deployment of the production of the new GAZ-11 engine. It was a six-cylinder (3485 cm "!, 76 hp at 3400 rpm) lower valve and was intended for a new generation of GAZ cars, cars and trucks. Prototypes of passenger models were ready in the middle of 1938, and in 1941 the plant planned to start their serial production.They included GAZ-11-73 with a sedan-type body, which was a modernized GAZ-M1 with a GAZ-11 engine, as well as GAZ-40 (a modification of the GAZ-11-73 with a phaeton body ), GAZ-11-41 pickup and GAZ-61 off-road cars.
In addition to the engine, these machines introduced a number of improvements against the GAZ-M1 model: elongated front springs, anti-roll bar, mounting the front end of the front spring on shackles, larger kingpins, more efficient brakes, double-acting hydraulic lever shock absorbers. The gearbox housing was made not at the same time, but separately from the clutch housing, the clutch mechanism itself was semi-centrifugal. In addition, a new instrument panel was provided on the car. Unusual for domestic models of those years were the first used pistol-type lever for a handbrake and turning on the starter not with a pedal, but with a button on the instrument panel.
Phaeton GAZ-11-40, pickup GAZ-11-415, sedan GAZ-11-73. 1940
Pickup truck GAZ-415 on the GAZ-M1 chassis. 1940
The results of the GAZ-MI and GAZ-73 1 km races held in the summer of 1940 with a running start are interesting. GAZ-MI reached an average speed of 123.287 km/h, and GAZ-11-73 reached 140.007 km/h, although their maximum speed was much lower according to technical specifications.
The fact that the above-named new models were can be judged by their brief technical characteristics. Sedan GAZ-11-73; number of seats - 5; engine: number of cylinders - 6, working volume - 3845 cm3; power - 76 l. With. at 3400 rpm; number of gears - 3; tires - 7.00-16 "; length - 4655 mm, width - 1770 mm, height - 1775 mm; base - 2845 mm. Curb weight - 1455 kg. Speed - 110 km / h. Operating fuel consumption - 17 l /100 km GAZ-11-73 in 1941 and 1945-1948 was made in the amount of 1250 copies.
The GAZ-11-40 phaeton, unlike the GAZ-11-73, is equipped not with a flat, but with a V-shaped windshield, doors with front hinges (GAZ-M1 and GAZ-11-73 have rear hinged doors), a large trunk and spare wheels mounted in the front fenders. Differences in size and weight from GAZ-11-73: length - 4625 mm, width - 1800 mm, height - 1730 mm. Curb weight - 1400 kg. Several copies of the GAZ-11-40 were made.
The GAZ-11-41 pickup truck was not mass-produced, but its "double" GAZ-415 (with the GAZ-M engine), which the plant made in series, had the following parameters: load capacity - 400 kg (or 6 people); length - 4580 mm, width - 1770 mm, height - 1750 mm; the length of the loading platform is 1610. The curb weight is 1545 kg. Top speed - 90 km/h
At the end of the 30s. the point of view still prevailed in the country that a car with an open body, especially for the southern regions, is more appropriate. In addition, there was a demand, justified by the experience of operating GAZ-4 vehicles, for pickup-type vehicles. This explains the appearance of modifications GAZ-11-40 and GAZ-11-41. However, the transfer of industry to defense products, which began in 1939, did not allow the production of new machines to be launched. Some of the chassis innovations provided for the GAZ-11-73 were implemented on the GAZ-M1. The plant managed to master the production of a pickup truck, but not the GAZ-11-41, but the GAZ-415 (with the GAZ-M engine), but the GAZ-11-40 remained a prototype, although all the equipment for its serial production (mainly for the body ) was already done.
The GAZ-11 engines, produced in small quantities, were used only on the GAZ-61 and a small batch of GAZ-11-73, manufactured before June 1941.
The designers of GAZ, however, did not waste time and worked on a prototype version of the GAZ-11 engine with overhead valves, began designing a machine that was destined to be subsequently embodied in famous model GAZ-20 "Victory".
Historically, it was the passenger car of the middle class in our country that first got on the conveyor and received continuous further development. It was mainly intended for official use. However, the expansion of the administrative apparatus, as well as the need for representative cars, high-speed and comfortable cars"ambulance" put forward the need for the production of a passenger car of the highest class. True, the question of his modifications of the ambulance and taxi arose when it turned out that the scale of production was planned to be excessively large - the country did not need so many cars upper class.
Then large batches of Rolls-Royces, Lincolns, Packards, Cadillacs and Buicks were operated. The latter, in particular the model "32-90", in terms of the combination of design features, manufacturability and performance indicators, seemed to be the most suitable for our country. Therefore, on June 20, 1932, the manager of the All-Union Automobile and Tractor Association (VATO) - a separate people's commissariat did not yet exist - S.S. Dyakonov at a meeting of directors of autotractor industry plants said that the Putilov plant in Leningrad had a major task - to become the creators of the Soviet Buick.
Today, perhaps, it will seem strange to us that in official documents, and on the pages of newspapers, and on posters and slogans, there were also such expressions: “There is the first Soviet Ford”, “Serial production of Autocars has begun”, “Give Soviet "Buick" This was not dictated by a lack of patriotism. We were proud that our factories not only could produce the most advanced and most complex foreign equipment, but were able to master it very quickly and produce it in quality no worse than foreign firms.
But before S. S. Dyakonov set the task of creating a Soviet Buick, events occurred that predetermined the decision taken in the WATO.
"Krasny Putilovets" (since 1934 "Kirov Plant"), by 1932 curtailed the production of obsolete wheeled tractors"Fordson-Putilovets". And then a group of specialists of the plant, headed by its technical director M. L. Ter-Asaturov, put forward the idea to organize the production of representative cars on the vacated areas of the tractor department. The original plan for those times was grandiose - 20 thousand cars a year. The director of the "Red Way of the Catcher" K. M. Ots supported the initiative and received permission from the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry, to which the plant was then subordinate, to produce an experimental batch of ten such machines by May 1, 1933.
The prototype of the car, which received the name "Leningrad-1" (or L-1), was the American "Buick-32-90" model 1932. It was a very perfect and complex (5450 parts) car. Among its design features are synchronizers of the third and second gears, a crankshaft torsional vibration damper, a vacuum booster in the clutch drive, and a vacuum booster in the brake drive.
The difficulties in solving the technical problems facing the Krasny Putilovets team, and indeed the entire automobile industry of the country, can be judged by the fact that the diaphragm gasoline pump was considered a difficult object to master, like the Spicer type cardan joints. It was also necessary to manufacture very complex twin carburetors with automatic air supply control, a thermostat controlling the radiator shutters, lever hydraulic shock absorbers with remote (from the driver's seat) adjustment of their resistance. Let's add here a lubrication system radiator, an air filter, a crankshaft and an eight-cylinder engine block that are difficult to manufacture.
The execution of the drawings was undertaken by the Leningrad Institute "Lengi pro VATO" by a group of specialists led by Professor L. V. Klimenko. It also included the engineers of Krasny Putilovets. They began design work at the end of October 1932, and already in March 1933, the assembly of machines. All of them were made in the USSR - either at Krasny Putilovets, or at other enterprises.
"Red Putilovets-L1" with a limousine body, 1933
The first chassis, still without a body, was handed over by the assemblers on April 24th. M. L. Ter-Asaturov took him on a test trip. Krasnoputilovtsy sent six L-1 cars with limousine bodies painted black with gray rep upholstery to the May Day demonstration. The same six cars on May 19, 1933 took part in a test run to Moscow and back. In the capital, they were examined by G. K. Ordzhonikidze, who headed the People's Commissariat for Heavy Industry. He set the task for the plant staff - to produce 2,000 cars in 1934.
Later, by order of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry, work on cars at the Red Way Catcher was stopped, and the task of creating a representative passenger car model was given to the Moscow ZIS enterprise. This decision was explained by the fact that Krasny Putilov was faced with a more important national economic task: to quickly master the production of row-crop tractors in such a way that by the end of 1934 they would produce 5,000 of them. In addition, since February 1933, the plant also began the production of T-28 tanks, and there were simply no production opportunities left for the production of cars.
It should be emphasized that in the design of the L-1, for the first time in our automotive industry, such technical innovations, like an eight-cylinder engine, twin carburetor, synchronizers, thermostat in the cooling system. After NAMI-1, it was the second model with gas distribution using overhead valves driven by push rods. If in domestic automobile engines the surface of the combustion chamber remained rough after casting, then on L-1 its surface was completely mechanically processed.
A moderate (4.4) compression ratio made it possible to work on any grade of gasoline. In an eight-cylinder engine with a cast-iron block, the crankshaft was made five-bearing. Dependent suspension of all wheels on semi-elliptical springs, a three-speed gearbox, a massive frame with developed cross members, a single-jointed cardan shaft, which served to transfer pushing forces from the rear axle, reflected the technical trends in the passenger car industry of those years.
The main parameters of the car L-1: the number of seats - 7; number of engine cylinders - 8; working volume - 5641 cm1 "; power - 105 hp at 2900 rpm; number of gears - 3; tire size - 7.50-17"; length - 5300 mm, width - 1890 mm, height - 1860 mm; wheelbase - 3380 mm; wheel track: front-1520 mm, rear - 1500 mm. Curb weight - 2300 kg. The highest speed is 115 km / h.
Further work on the representative car was already carried out by the team of the Moscow ZIS. He retained the general design of the Buick-32-90, but abandoned the components that were difficult to fine-tune: remote control of shock absorbers, automatic clutch control, and some others. Moreover, the ZIS designers, headed by E.I. Vazhinsky, creatively rethought the technical solutions incorporated in the prototype. The result was a model that bears little resemblance to the Buick, but retained constructive continuity with it.
However, the production of such a complex product as a high-class passenger car, our mechanical engineering has not yet been able to provide stamps for body panels and frame spars, welding jigs for the body, special machines and sophisticated equipment. They were ordered in the USA to the Budd bodywork company, having paid almost one and a half million dollars (in the prices of those years).
An experimental batch of six L-1 machines in the yard of the plant. 1933
The first two samples of the new model - it received the name ZIS-101 - were ready in the spring of 1936. On the chassis of one of them - without a body, wings, seats - the director of the plant, I. A. Likhachev, himself a highly qualified driver, made a test trip from Moscow to Podolsk and back, driving 70 km under wet snow and wind. This fact indicates attention to a very responsible task, which was considered to be the production of a machine.
Two cars - one with a black body, the other cherry - on April 29, 1936 were demonstrated in the Kremlin to I. V. Stalin, L. M. Kaganovich, V. I. Mezh-lauk, A. I. Mikoyan, V. M Molotov, G. K. Ordzhonikidze, N. S. Khrushchev, V. Ya. Chubar. Those present compared the ZIS-101 with foreign models of the same class, expressed their wishes. Stalin, in particular, proposed to replace the emblem on the radiator, made other remarks.
Conveyor assembly of the ZIS-101 began in January 1937. In total, until 1941, 8752 copies of this model and its modifications (ZIS-101 A, ZIS-102) left the factory gates.
In the ZIS-101, as in a production model, a very large number of new ones for our automotive industry were embodied technical solutions. First of all, it is a limousine-type body with a drop-down glass partition behind the front seat. By the way, it was equipped with a heater, which was then called the English word "cunning", an external folding luggage rack, a hatch for access to the trunk, as well as front doors with a front hinge. In addition, some of the machines were equipped with radios.
The overhead valve engine with eight cylinders in a row had a thermostat maintaining the most favorable temperature in the cooling system, a crankshaft with counterweights, a crankshaft vibration damper, a two-chamber Marvel type carburetor with exhaust gas heating. Most of the engines were equipped with cast-iron pistons, at which the compression ratio did not exceed 4.8 units, the smaller one - with aluminum pistons. With a compression ratio of 5.5, they provided 20 horsepower. With. big.
The transmission consisted of a double-disk clutch, a three-speed gearbox (second and third gears with synchronizers) and a rear axle with bevel gears that had helical teeth.
A very rigid spar frame with an X-shaped cross member, combined with a soft dependent wheel suspension on long leaf springs and double-acting hydraulic lever shock absorbers, made the ride calm and comfortable. For a car weighing almost 3 tons, brakes with high efficiency were required. This was achieved by using in the drive vacuum booster, brake pad servo action mechanism, ribbed outer surface of the drums.
The body frame was partly wooden (from beech), and its assembly was a very delicate matter - it was necessary to exclude all sources of squeaks, so frequent in the joints of wooden parts. Comfortable equipment and bodywork corresponded to the class of the car.
ZIS-101 with a limousine body. 1936
Car chassis ZIS-101. 1936
Gearbox ZIS-101 with synchronizers of 2nd and 3rd gears. 1936
Basic technical data of the ZIS-101: number of seats - 7; engine; number of cylinders - 8; displacement - 5766 CM "S, power - 90 hp at 2800 rpm or 110 hp at 3200 rpm; number of gears - 3; tire size - 7.50-17"; length - 5647 mm, width - 1892 mm, height - 1856 mm; base - 3605 mm. Curb weight - 2550 kg. The highest speed is 115 or 120 km /. Operating fuel consumption - 26.5 l / 100 km.
At the end of 1937 ZIS developed two modifications of this model. The first one has a phaeton body with a folding awning and sidewalls fastened with buttons, equipped with celluloid windows. The second one has a convertible body, also with an awning, but with windows that slide out of the doors within the frames, which fit flush into the grooves of the stretched fabric top. Since the second variety was more difficult to manufacture, the first one was accepted for small-scale production, giving it the ZIS-102 index.
It is interesting that at the races held in the summer of 1940, the ZIS-102 with a convertible body, in which the awning was folded, and the open space behind the front seats was covered with a cover, showed a speed of 153 km / h at a distance of 1 km with a start from the move.
Assembly line ZIS-101. 1938
In addition to the modification with an open body, in small series, an ambulance was produced on the basis of the ZIS-101, equipped with stretchers retractable through a hatch in the rear inclined wall of the body, with a modified layout of the rear compartment and a distinctive lamp with a red cross above the windshield
In addition, some of the ZIS-101 was used as a taxi and equipped with a taximeter installed inside the body at the right windshield pillar.
Such a complex machine as the ZIS-101 required a high production culture. Unfortunately, the quality of this car was lame due to design and technological defects. To identify and eliminate them, in June 1940, a government commission worked at the ZIS, headed by Academician E. A. Chudakov. She, in particular, noted that the ZIS-101 is 600-700 kg heavier than foreign analogues, that the engine itself has a significant (470 kg) mass, and pointed out other shortcomings.
The subsequent modernization led to the creation of the ZIS-101 A machine. Its body frame was already all-metal, the radiator lining changed, the engine became more powerful, the design of the synchronizer in the gearbox was simplified and helical gears of the first gear were used and reversing, a single-plate clutch has been developed.
Engine power increased due to the transition to a new MKZ-L2 carburetor (Stromberg type), where the mixture entered the cylinders not in an upward, but in a falling flow, which improved their filling and power. This is the first time that a device with a falling mixture flow (carburetor) was used on a Soviet car. The modified design of the intake manifold and the revised valve timing played their role: the ZIS-101 A, produced only with aluminum pistons, developed a power of 116 hp. with., which allowed to increase its maximum speed to 125 km / h.
As for the mass, it was not possible to reduce it much, but this problem was planned to be solved with further modernization. Prototypes of the ZIS-101B were built with a stepped trunk and a number of improvements in the chassis, as well as the ZIS-103 with independent front wheel suspension. However, it was not possible to realize these plans, as well as the project of a rear-engine car, due to the outbreak of World War II. By this time, the plant had managed to produce about 600 ZIS-101 A vehicles.
The question of the need in our country to produce small cars for individual use was on the agenda six years later than about a representative car! This problem was posed on July 3, 1938 in an article in the Pravda newspaper by G. V. Zimilev, later a doctor of technical sciences.
Suffice it to say that one argument spoke eloquently in favor of cars of this type - the cost of operating a small car was 1.5 times less than a GAZ-M1 car. Naturally, in European countries that focused either on the import of petroleum products or on their supplies from their colonies, the share of small cars in the total production of cars in 1937 was 62% for England, 55% for Germany, 40% for Italy, France - 38%.
Knowing perfectly the trends in the world automotive industry, Zimilev, back in 1932, on the pages of the book "Ways for the Development of Modern Automotive Technology", speaking of small cars, noted that "such a car should be of particular importance for the Union, both from the point of view of production and operation. It saves metal, fuel, lubricants and rubber and is distinguished by high cross-country ability on bad roads. A small car can carry out the slogan -" a car in masses", since it should be cheap, economical and unpretentious in operation". Zimilev continued to persistently promote the idea of a small car.
ZIS-101A with a limousine body. 1940
Two-chamber carburetor MKZ-L2 of the ZIS-101A car. 1940
Body phaeton ZIS-102. 1940
Pickup truck on NATI-2 chassis. 1932
NATI-2 with a phaeton body. 1932
But the fate of these machines was not very simple. Suffice it to recall the negative campaign launched at the time against NAMI-1 vehicles. They were produced in small quantities at the technologically very weak Spartak plant. The quality of performance left a lot to be desired. There were design flaws in it, but the concept, general decisions and purpose of the car in relation to domestic operating conditions were not in doubt. Nevertheless, Ford's technical director C. Sorensen's "raw idea" remark about the NAMI-1 design helped shape the attitude of some of the then leaders of our automotive industry towards it. So M. L. Sorokin, chairman of Avtotrust (an analogue of the Min-Avtoselkhozmash), speaking on November 17, 1929 in the Izvestia newspaper, argued that NAMI-1 is a combination of untested and expensive design innovations that have not yet found recognition even in foreign automotive practice. Not being a technical specialist, Sorokin succumbed to the euphoria that arose after signing an agreement with H. Ford. Passenger cars GAZ-A, as it seemed then, would solve all problems.
Therefore, plans for the production (2 thousand per year) of NAMI-1 at the Izhora plant near Leningrad were set aside, and the production of this model at Spartak was eliminated. True, the public raised the question of building a new small car plant, and the NATI Institute began work on improving the model (design manager K. A. Sharapov).
The new car - it was called NATI-2 - received a well-balanced four-cylinder engine (1211 cm1, 22 hp at 2800 rpm), air-cooled. Moreover, there were both upper-valve and lower-valve (lightened by 20 kg) versions of it. K. A. Sharapov modernized many nodes: he moved the steering column to left side, used wheels and tires from GAZ-A, improved the body. In addition, he abandoned the brakes located at the final drive, and installed them according to the traditional scheme. Sharapov changed the previous front wheel suspension. Instead of two quarter el leaf springs supporting the beam front axle, on the NATI-2 machine, four of the same springs were used - two one above the other at each front wheel. The springs arranged in this way can take up braking reactions, and it is therefore possible to provide brakes to the front wheels as well. Despite these innovations, the car retained its original features: spinal frame, independent suspension rear wheels, final drive without differential.
When the design of NATI-2 was ready, the release of NAMI-1 had already been curtailed. On December 23, 1931, N. Belyaev, a well-known propagandist in our country for widespread motorization, stressed in the pages of the Izvestia newspaper with alarm: NATI employees have been working for two years."
Prototypes of NATI-2 - their construction at Izhstalzavod was financed by Avtodor - were made in five copies: four-seater cars with a phaeton body, a pickup truck with a carrying capacity of 400 kg and a two-seat modification with a roadster body. The first two varieties have a chassis with a base of 2730 mm. The mass of NATI-2 was (depending on the type of body) 730-750 kg, and top speed- 75 km/h.
Tests of machines showed their excellent cross-country ability and unpretentiousness. People's Commissar of Heavy Engineering G.K. Ordzhonikidze strongly supported the idea of organizing the production of a small car, but J.V. Stalin took a negative position towards it. Finally, the question of production base for the production of these cars remained unresolved and NATI-2 was given up as a bad job.
And interest in simple, economical, light car this type was preserved. Proof of this - a number of improvised designs. Let's consider the most curious of them.
One of them is OCTA (Experimental design of a three-wheeled vehicle). This machine was built in 1933 in Novocherkassk by engineer E. V. Kirshevsky. In the front of the car between the wheels is a single-cylinder motorcycle (496 cm3, 4 hp) Rudge engine.It is curious that the suspension of the front wheels is made independent, spring.
The layout of the OCTA is such that two single seats are located in the car in tandem. drive wheel- rear, and the wheels and tires (size 26X3.25 ") are motorcycle. With a very narrow (1000 mm) track and a base of 1650 mm, the car turned out to be very compact (length 2500 mm) and light (only 236 kg). Its maximum speed is - 60 km/h
"Mikhleon" - a three-wheeled subcompact car of the Kuibyshev engineer L. N. Mikhailovich - was made with one front wheel. Built in 1936, this small car was based on a number of units (final gear, rear wheel suspension, etc.) NAMI-1. Engine - V-shaped two-cylinder (696 cm 3 , 12 hp) "Blackburn", interlocked with a three-speed gearbox. Wheels and tires - motorcycle, size 28X4.75 inches. Driving wheels - rear, connected by a cardan shaft to the power unit.
The frame of the Michleon is welded from standard rolled channels, and the double one-door body is made of wood. This predetermined a rather significant curb weight of the car - 375 kg with a short base - 2030 mm and a track of 1240 mm. The car developed a speed of 80 km / h.
The front wheel suspension on the Mikhleon was originally made. This is the front fork of a motorcycle, where the role of springs is played by rubber rings that work in tension - the first suspension in our country with a rubber elastic element. A swivel steering arm is connected to the fork (as on a car), which is connected to the steering gear bipod by means of a longitudinal link.
Mikhailovich's self-made car worked flawlessly until 1946 - at first as a designer's personal car, and since 1939 it served the city military registration and enlistment office.
Chassis NATI-2 with independent rear wheel suspension and spinal frame. 1932
Suspension of the rear wheels NATI-2, made according to the scheme of "swinging" axle shafts. 1932
Homemade car OKTA. 1933
Chassis KIM-10 with dependent wheel suspension on transverse springs. 1940
If Mikhailovich pursued a purely utilitarian goal - to build a car for practical needs, nothing more, then a group of enthusiasts from Zaporozhye, led by L. D. Kovalev, went the other way. Their design of the small car LDK was more of an exploratory, research character. The machine was not created around the nodes at hand, but, on the contrary, the nodes were created for a machine of a certain concept. And this circumstance allows us to distinguish the LDK from other "home-made" and consider this design along with the experimental work of the factories.
The main feature of the LDK is the independent hydropneumatic suspension of all wheels, and for the front wheels it had a candle design, very similar to the McPherson scheme known today. The power unit was formed by twin motorcycle engines "Red October L-300". They were located in the tail section of the car and, through a three-speed gearbox and a chain drive placed in a sealed casing, rotated two closely spaced rear wheels (like a BMW-Izet-ta microcar of the 50s). The transmission to them did not have a differential, since their track was 260 mm. Other features of the LDK include seat headrests, a gear lever located on the steering column, electrical equipment with a generator alternating current and cuprox rectifiers.
Information about how this car showed itself in operation, which contained many technical solutions that were revolutionary for its time, has not been preserved.
Also noteworthy is the unrealized project of a front-wheel drive compact car PDP, named after the first letters of the names of its designers: A. I. Peltzer, Yu. A. Dolmatovsky, B, N. Popov. They worked on this machine at the Podolsk Mechanical Plant, which, along with sewing machines, produced heavy motorcycles PMZ-A750. Naturally, the double PDP was equipped with a motorcycle two-cylinder (750 cm 3, 15 hp) air-cooled PMZ engine. But things did not progress further than design work and the construction of a life-size wooden model, and at the beginning of 1937 its construction was stopped.
After Zimilev's speech in the Pravda newspaper, the attitude towards small cars began to change. So, in January 1939, the Glavavtoprom, which was then part of the People's Commissariat for Medium Machine Building, decided to withdraw the KIM car assembly plant in Moscow from GAZ (where it was a branch) and specialize it in the production of small cars. The object of production of the new, now automobile plant named after KIM, was to be the small car KIM-10, and the assembly of GAZ-MM trucks was transferred to the Rostov Automobile Assembly Plant.
Abroad, by that time, small cars were widely used. A considerable number of samples arrived in the USSR. Their analysis showed that there is no stereotypical approach to the design of such machines. On the contrary, there is a pronounced diversity: "Opel-Kadett" - with load-bearing body and FIAT-508C - with a frame, "Adler-trumpf-junior" - with front drive wheels, "Renault-juvacatre" - with rear wheels, DKV-F7 - with two-stroke engine, "Os-tin-Seven" - with a four-stroke, "Skoda-Popular" - with an independent suspension of all wheels, "Ford Prefect" - with a dependent one. Almost all of these design schemes were known, but no one in the country had experience in operating such machines, and even more so in production, and under these conditions, the desire to focus on the well-known Ford concept worked.
The English "Ford Prefect" was similar in design to the "Ford-A", only smaller. frame, body, dependent suspension wheels on springs, a lower valve engine, a three-speed gearbox - everything is familiar, tested, no doubt. This made the choice. But the Ford Prefect, outwardly, even for 1938, looked out of date. Therefore, it was immediately decided to design their own body. The design of the body was entrusted to GAZ specialists, who by that time had sufficient experience. On the basis of competitive selection, the project of the artist V. Ya. Brodsky from the bodywork group of the design and experimental department of the plant was recognized as the best.
The layout proposed by Brodsky looked modern, but if you look closely, it resembled, as it were, an American Buick Roadmaster "compressed" in length. A V-shaped windshield, semaphore-type direction indicators, and an alligator (that is, in the form of an opening mouth of a crocodile) engine hood were used on it. And, which was completely unusual, a two-door body.
According to the model made in the USSR, tooling for the production of a body was ordered in the USA; in addition, equipment was manufactured there, on which parts of the power unit, transmission, and chassis were to be processed.
All design work on the engine and chassis was carried out by the NATI design team, headed by A. N. Ostrovtsov. In April 1939, part of the NATI and GAZ specialists moved to the KIM plant, forming a design department there under the leadership of Ostrovtsov.
A prototype KIM-10 with separately mounted headlights. April 1940
Serial KIM-10-50 sedan. 1941
For the production of small cars KIM-10, all large stampings and castings had to be supplied by GAZ, forgings, as well as springs and frames - ZIS, components - 42 allied enterprises, the rest was to be done by the KIM plant. In accordance with the plan, in 1941 he was to reach the design capacity - 50 thousand cars per year. Thus, a real step was outlined in the development of mass production of passenger cars for individual use. And this is three years after the decision to organize their release!
The first prototypes of the KIM-10 were assembled on April 25, 1940. Three cars of the new model passed through Red Square in Moscow during the May Day demonstration. However, dramatic events unfolded in the fall.
Installation and adjustment of equipment were in full swing at the plant, when on October 1, 1940, a correspondent of the Izvestia newspaper visited there. Having made hasty conclusions, the next day he gave joyful information about the beginning of the regular production of small cars, posted a picture of KIM-10. The article not only did not reflect the real state of affairs, but was not even agreed upon either with the director of the plant, A. V. Kuznetsov, or with the recently appointed People's Commissar of Medium Machine Building (automotive industry plants were subordinate to him) I. A. Likhachev.
Serial KIM-10-51 with a phaeton body. 1941
Having learned about this event from the newspaper, Stalin demanded that the first car that rolled off the assembly line be brought to the Kremlin and shown to him. In accordance with the established tradition, the show took place before the start of mass production, and not after. This unfortunate circumstance, as well as the delay in sending the car to the Kremlin due to technical problems, caused Stalin serious dissatisfaction. He found a number of shortcomings in the design, raised the question of the wrong choice of the type of machine. As a result, Likhachev was removed from the post of people's commissar and returned as director to the ZIS, and Kuznetsov was put on trial "for misleading the Soviet public."
The main object of criticism was the two-door body, which, although it was simpler and cheaper than the four-door, created inconvenience for passengers to enter the second row of seats and exit the car, caused criticism and old-fashioned headlights mounted on the front fenders, as well as other shortcomings.
There was nothing to do, and a group of GAZ designers promptly began designing a completely new, already four-door body with a modified appearance for the KIM-10. Before the start of the war, it was possible to produce two prototypes of such a machine (KIM-10-52). And from 500 sets of stampings received as an adjustment batch, the KIM plant assembled two-door bodies and mounted them on the chassis they made. Now the headlights were already inscribed in the fairings, which smoothly flowed into the sides of the engine hood. Most of the cars (they were called KIM-10-50) had closed two-door bodies, and a small number of cars were open (KIM-10-51).
It should be noted that on the KIM-10 engine, the crankshaft bearings were not yet replaceable, as in latest motors. The valve mechanism did not have a device for adjusting the gaps, and the cooling system worked according to the thermosyphon principle, without a water pump. True, the pistons were cast from aluminum, the candles - for the first time in domestic practice - received a 14-mm thread, and the ignition distributor was equipped with a centrifugal automatic device for adjusting the start of the outbreak.
The third and second steps in the gearbox were switched on using synchronizers, but the gear lever was not located on the steering column, as in the latest models, but in the floor. Brakes with a mechanical drive and dependent suspension of the front and rear axles (on one transverse spring each) looked like an anachronism for 1941.
The main parameters of the car KIM-10-50: the number of seats - 4; engine: number of cylinders - 4, working volume - 1172 cm3, power - 30 hp. With. at 4000 rpm; number of gears - 3; tire size - 5.00-16 "; length - 3943 mm, width - 1430 mm, height - 1600 mm; base - 2386. Curb weight - 840 kg. Maximum speed - 90 km / h. Fuel consumption - about 7 liters per 100 km.
Thus, by 1941, our automotive industry produced three basic passenger models: GAZ-M1, ZIS-101A and KIM-10. The most massive was the GAZ-M1, whose share in the total production of passenger cars (the maximum was reached in 1938 - 27 thousand units) was almost 95%.
GAZ-M1 cars were used not only as company cars but also as a taxi. In this case, the only difference from the base model was the taximeter. One of the capital's automobile farms for the needs of the People's Commissariat (in modern terms - the Ministry) of Internal Affairs re-equipped a batch of GAZ-M1 cars with eight-cylinder Ford engines (3611 cm 3, 90 hp). It turned out to be a car with a high power-to-weight ratio, but its braking qualities were already lagging behind those of high-speed ones.
Among the cars in our fleet were many American models: Ford, Lincoln, Cadillac, Packard, Pontiac, Plymouth, Chrysler, Dodge, Buick, Chevrolet ", "Hudson", "Nash", "Kord", a relatively small number of German ("Mercedes-Benz", "Opel"). Compared to the latest foreign models, domestic ones lagged behind not only in terms of the most important indicators (power, economic, weight), but also in terms of comfort and technical solutions implemented in them.
Since an insignificant number of cars were then in individual use, the network of service stations did not exist at all, and gas stations even in major cities were few. Repair and maintenance were carried out in the conditions of motor transport enterprises and garages, often at a very low technical level.
Organized demonstrations of automotive technology to the general public were few in the pre-war period. Among them - a big run through the streets of the capital on November 14, 1939, dedicated to the release of the millionth Soviet car. In the column of four dozen cars, there were not only production models, including those of previous years, but also prototypes of the GAZ-11-40, GAZ-61, ZIS-101A and other cars, which aroused great interest among passers-by.
Another exposition was a show in 1939-1941. new cars in the mechanization pavilion at the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition (VSHV), later reorganized into VDNKh. International exhibitions, where cars were demonstrated, would not be held as part of the exposition, in our country.
Ford-A and Ford-AA models were chosen as prototypes for production.
Already January 1, 1932 Nizhny Novgorod car factory(NAZ) entered service and in the same year the first 1.5-ton NAZ-AA truck rolled off its assembly line.
Later it gets the name GAZ-AA.
In December of the same year, the assembly of a GAZ-A passenger car with an open 5-seater phaeton body began.
The first cars were made according to the drawings of the American Ford. However, they were initially somewhat different from the American prototypes. So on GAZ cars, the clutch housings and steering gears were strengthened, the shape of the radiators was changed, the inch thread was replaced with a metric one. Combining Ford patents with the development of their own solutions, GAZ designers created an extensive family of original serial models and modifications based on the GAZ-AA lorry. So in 1933, the 17-seater bus GAZ-03-30, produced at the car assembly plant No. 1, saw the light of day. Later, this enterprise was renamed the Gorky Bus Plant.
In 1934, a 2-ton three-axle GAZ-AAA truck with a 6X4 wheel arrangement appeared.
And a 1.2-ton dump truck GAZ-410.
In 1938, a 50-horsepower GAZ-MM truck was modernized and a gas-generating 1-ton GAZ-42 truck was launched into series.
As well as the half-track truck GAZ-60
Found in the production program and place ambulance GAZ-55.
In 1933, on the basis of the GAZ-A car, the GAZ-4 pickup truck was created with an all-metal cab from a lorry and a metal platform that allows you to carry cargo weighing up to 500 kg. The model was produced at the Gorky Automobile Assembly Plant.
On April 17, 1935, GAZ became the first automobile manufacturer in the country to produce 100,000 vehicles. The 100,000th car rolled off the production line. They became the passenger GAZ-A. In accordance with the agreement, GAZ continued to receive technical support from Ford motor Company for another 5 years after the start-up of the plant. It is thanks to this cooperation that the plant received documentation for the model Ford Model B, MY 1933.
The model was adopted for production at GAZ, but with rather serious modifications to meet the requirements of operation in the USSR. Among the features of the M-1 compared to previous model, GAZ-A, Emka had an almost completely metal body, a more rigid spar frame with an X-shaped cross member, a more perfect and, importantly, more tenacious suspension on longitudinal springs, automatic ignition advance, a better trimmed and equipped interior. So, in particular, a forward-backward adjustable front seat, an electric fuel gauge, sun visors, body ventilation with four rotary “windows” in the side windows. In May 1936, serial production of the 4-door 5-seater GAZ-M-1 sedan began, known as the Emka. The letter "M" in the model index did not appear by chance. The fact is that at that time the plant began to bear the name of the then head of the government of the USSR, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov, and "1" - the serial number of the model. The letter "M" remained in the designations of the plant's products until the late fifties - early sixties. In 1937-38. the car received the ominous nickname "Black Raven" due to the fact that it was used by the NKVD to arrest "enemies of the people". which came at the peak of Stalin's repressions.
This car became the most massive pre-war Soviet passenger car model. On the basis of Emka, a number of serial modifications were created, including the world's first comfortable SUV with closed body GAZ-61-73.
Later, the off-road theme was continued by the army commander's four-wheel drive vehicle GAZ-64. The first car was produced in August 1941.
In the initial period of the war, the plant mastered the production of an off-road light army vehicle GAZ-64. In October 1941, the production of the T-60 light tank began, the design of which was improved by the factory workers in order to improve its performance. Also in the same spring, the BA-64 light armored car based on the GAZ-64 was put into production.
In 1943, the BA-64B armored car and the light army off-road vehicle GAZ-67 unified with it on the chassis were mastered. The GAZ tank design bureau during the second half of 1942 worked on strengthening the chassis of the T-70,
To eliminate its most important drawback - a single tower. The result of this work was the adopted T-80 light tank with a two-man turret.
In the same period, a modernized GAZ-67B off-road light army vehicle was mastered, which was also produced in the post-war period.
In addition, GAZ massively produced engines, mortars and other military products. The leading role in the design of Soviet off-road vehicles was played by the designer Vitaly Andreevich Grachev, who was awarded the Stalin Prize for 1942 for the creation of the BA-64 armored car. At the end of the Great Patriotic War, work was carried out at the plant to replace the entire pre-war model range, the development of which had begun partially before the war and was actively resumed in 1943-1945. Already in 1946, the Pobeda GAZ-M-20 went into production. "Victory" became famous primarily due to the original body shape, which created a very small aerodynamic drag, only 0.34.
GAZ-M-20 became the first Soviet car with a monocoque body and the world's first mass-produced car with a body without wings. The car was distinguished independent suspension front wheels, hydraulic drive brakes, hinged doors on the front hinges. In a comfortable cabin with a heater, 5 people were freely accommodated. It is worth noting that all "Victory" were equipped with radios.
In the same year, the 2.5-ton GAZ-51 truck saw the light, the design work of which began back in 1943.
In 1947, the production of the GAZ-MM lorry was transferred to Ulyanovsk. At the same time, the production of the tracked snow and swamp vehicle GAZ-47 was mastered.
In 1948, the all-wheel drive truck GAZ-63 was mastered,
And in 1949, a prototype GAZ-69 was created.
In 1950, the executive sedan of the large class GAZ-12 ZIM, and its modifications, began to roll off the assembly line.
In the same year, mass production of the armored personnel carrier BTR-40 (GAZ-40) began.
In 1953-1954, the production of GAZ-69 and GAZ-69A was mastered, later transferred to the Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant, as well as the first comfortable SUV with a load-bearing body GAZ-M-72 Pobeda on GAZ-69 units.
In 1956, the Pobeda was replaced by the Volga GAZ-21 middle-class sedan, which underwent a number of upgrades on the way to mass production.
For many people, "twenty-first" has become a symbol of an entire era. Advanced for its time, it still has a huge number of fans. Recently, there has been an increase in interest in this model from collectors. No less fashionable are the "hot rods" based on the "twenty-first", and the conveyor original cars still catch the eye. The latter once again confirms that the Volga GAZ-21 is one of the iconic cars.
And in 1959, ZIM was replaced by the GAZ-13 Chaika, which lasted in production for over twenty years. In technical terms, the Chaika design was of undoubted interest due to a number of innovations. The car was equipped with a 195 hp V-shaped eight-cylinder engine, a four-chamber carburetor, power steering, and a hydromechanical gearbox. Gearshift control was push-button, and the radio antenna extended automatically.
Body equipment included: power windows, windshield washer, auto-tuning radio, fog lights and more. Along with basic model, which had a sedan body, GAZ-13A limousines and GAZ-13B convertibles were produced in small batches
In 1958, the team of designers and designers GAZ-21 "Volga", GAZ-13 "Seagull" and the GAZ-52 truck at the World Exhibition in Brussels was awarded the highest award - the Grand Prix. However, in reality, the development of the production of GAZ-52 and GAZ-53 trucks was delayed.
In the same year for the needs Soviet army A landing 1.2-ton GAZ-62 truck with a cab over the engine was mastered.
In the 1960s, the renewal of the truck line was completed. GAZ-52, GAZ-53 and GAZ-66, which got on the conveyor, formed the third generation of GAZ trucks. On the GAZ-53 and GAZ-66, they began to install new power units with a powerful V-shaped eight. four wheel drive truck dual purpose
GAZ-66 was the first among the cars of the USSR awarded state sign quality. The car could easily carry two tons of cargo and tow a trailer total weight two tons. By changing the tire pressure and including one of eight gears, the driver easily coped with off-road. On dry hard ground, the GAZ-66 overcame slopes up to 37 degrees, and on loose sandy - 22 degrees. The car had a number of innovations, such as: hypoid main gear, all-metal cargo platform, reclining cab, power steering, windshield washer, etc. Due to its outstanding performance, GAZ-66 quickly won recognition from both military and civilian drivers. The only criticism was the location of the backstage of the gearbox. In connection with the original layout, the lever was actually located behind the driver, and even a strongly curved rocker did not give proper ergonomic comfort when shifting gears.
At the same time, the plant launched serial production of the BTR-60, which, and subsequently, which was subsequently modernized more than once and actively supplied and exported, in total, as of today, the BTR-80 is already in service with approximately 26 states. By the way, the prototype, from the first serial BTR-60, differed in the propulsion system. It was a GAZ-40P carburetor engine with a power of 90 liters. s., which was clearly not enough for a 10-ton machine. An attempt to replace it with a YaAZ-206B diesel engine with a capacity of 205 liters. With. was also unsuccessful - the engine turned out to be too heavy and created a serious overweight of the car to the stern, which was unacceptable for an amphibian. In the absence of other suitable power plants, it was decided to install a pair of two GAZ-40Ps with their own transmissions on the armored personnel carrier, each of which worked on two bridges and, in the event of a failure of one of the power units, allowed the combat vehicle to remain on the move.
In 1970, mass production of the GAZ-24 began, replacing the GAZ-21. The car was awarded with gold medals for International exhibitions in 1969 in Plovdiv (Bulgaria) and in 1970 in Leipzig (GDR). "Twenty-fourth" was distinguished by the severity of forms, simplicity, grandeur and has always been the embodiment of dignity and prestige. The high strength of the body and chassis of the GAZ-24 made this car indispensable for working as a "taxi". With a 98-horsepower engine, the GAZ-24 reached speeds of up to 140 km / h, and accelerated to 100 km / h in 23 seconds, against 34 seconds for the GAZ-21. The production of the GAZ-21 was completely curtailed in July 1970.
In 1977, the production of the GAZ-14 "Chaika" began - a representative of the third generation of large-class passenger cars. This car was famous, at that time, for its high technical level and comfort.
Also in the 1970s, a reorganization of production was carried out: on August 24, 1971, on the basis of the branch plants and production facilities of the head enterprise, Production Association"Autogas". In 1973, it was renamed into PO GAZ, which included 11 plants. At the same time, the development of a new generation of GAZ trucks with diesel engines began. Along the way, a significant modernization of the Volga is planned.
In the 1980s, guided by the planned plan, GAZ began work on a fourth-generation truck and a diesel engine for it. In 1984, a GAZ-4301 truck with an air-cooled diesel engine was assembled.
The transition to diesel fuel in the 1980s became a priority for the development of the enterprise. The reconstruction carried out in connection with this program turned out to be the most significant in the entire history of the plant. However, against the background of this reconstruction, there has been a certain stagnation in the production of passenger cars. Alas, the Volga GAZ-3102, which appeared in 1981, did not become a fundamental novelty, but only a deep restyling of the 24th.
In addition, its production volumes were limited to a few thousand a year. At the same time, the modernized "twenty-fourth", which received the GAZ-24-10 index, continues to arrive at taxi companies and be sold to private owners in limited quantities.
And only in the late 1980s did the development of a fundamentally new family of passenger cars with front and all-wheel drive. The design of the GAZ-3105 executive sedan was the first to begin, which was subsequently produced in a limited series.
The GAZ-3103 (front-wheel drive) and GAZ-3104 (all-wheel drive) sedans intended for mass production did not become serial due to the crisis in the 1990s. At the end of the "eighties", in the wake of perestroika, work began on the creation of a light truck at the plant. gross weight up to 3.5 tons for the needs of the small business that was then just emerging. Thanks to the CAD design system and the accelerated testing procedure, the future Gazelle family got on the conveyor in record time - back in the first half of the 1990s. The design capacity and production of cars by the plant by the end of the Soviet period exceeded 200 thousand per year, about half of which were cars.
After the collapse of the USSR, GAZ became one of the first large enterprises in the country that tried to adapt to new market conditions. In November 1992, the Gorky Automobile Plant was transformed into Joint-Stock Company open type (OJSC). The huge demand for passenger cars since the times of the USSR allowed GAZ to increase the production of the Volga by 1.8 times, simultaneously carrying out its constant modernization.
So, in 1992, the GAZ-31029 sedan appeared, which differed from the previous GAZ-24-10 model in an exceptionally modernized design of the front and rear parts of the body.
At the same time, on the basis of the Volga, the GAZ-2304 Burlak pickup truck was created, which never went into production due to a sharp increase in the production of a passenger model.
The business-class sedan GAZ-3105, which was planned to take the place of the Seagull, did not find its mass consumer either. The high cost, which was primarily due to the lack of domestic production technologies, modern components and accessories, as well as ever-increasing competition from prestigious foreign cars, actually killed the project.
But the small-tonnage Gazelle truck, which appeared in July 1994, with a gross weight of 3.5 tons, on the contrary, became the most popular small-tonnage series in the nascent LCV class, extremely popular with small and medium-sized businesses, thus becoming the savior of the enterprise and providing it with sufficiently stable development prospects. The minibus GAZ-32213 of the Gazelle family has become no less in demand. Mastered in the spring of 1996, it has become the main type of public transport in large cities, namely a fixed-route taxi.
In 1997, another modernized Volga was released. The car received the GAZ-3110 index.
In the same year, GAZ acquired a license from the Austrian company Steyr for the production of small diesel engines for cars, minibuses and light trucks. Along the way, in 1997, GAZ entered into an agreement with the Italian concern Fiat on the creation of a joint venture called Nizhegorod-Motors to assemble Fiat cars. In the second half of 1998, the second family of light trucks and minibuses GAZ Sobol with a gross weight of up to 2.8 tons was put into production.
In 1999, the legendary "Shishiga" GAZ-66, produced in almost a million copies, was replaced by a more modern GAZ-3308 "Sadko", also adopted by the Russian army.
In 1998, on the rear-wheel drive platform "Volga", a "transitional" sedan GAZ-3111 was developed, designed to strengthen the position of GAZ in the business class. However, after 1998, the cost of the GAZ-3111 model turned out to be too high for the market. In total, about 500 cars were produced. However, there were also pre-production samples (until 2000), which were assembled before the car went into series. Various tests were carried out on them at UKER GAZ. In this connection, the exact number of cars produced is not known.
The default of 1998, alas, did not allow such cars as the GAZ-2308 "Ataman", GAZ-23081 "Ataman Yermak" and GAZ-3106 "Ataman-2" to become mass-produced.
In November 2000, a controlling stake in OAO GAZ was acquired by Oleg Deripaska's Basic Element. In 2001, GAZ OJSC became part of the RusPromAvto automotive holding, which, as a result of a radical restructuring in 2005, was transformed into the GAZ Group holding, where GAZ OJSC was assigned the role of the parent company.
In 2005, the enterprise was able to master the serial production of a new family of low-frame medium-duty trucks GAZ-3310 Valdai, and the general economic recovery increased the demand for traditional medium-duty trucks GAZ-3307, 3309 and GAZ-3308 Sadko.
In 2006, the LCV division was increased due to the acquisition by the GAZ Group of the English company LDV Group, which specializes in the production of lightweight front-wheel drive vans Maxus with a gross weight of up to 3.5 tons. In May 2008, GAZ began assembling vans and minibuses in Nizhny Novgorod Maxus from English kits. With localization and transition to SKD technology, Maxus' production volume was supposed to be 50 thousand per year, but due to the crisis and bankruptcy of LDV, the project never reached this stage and was curtailed in mid-2009.
Due to the conflict over prices for engines with ZMZ in 2006-2008, part of the production of Volg, Sobol and GAZelle was equipped with imported engines Chrysler 2.4L In June 2007, the Volga salon GAZ 31105 and 3102 was restyled, but the fall in demand for the obsolete model range and the crisis forced GAZ to curtail the production of these models at the end of 2008. In 2006, GAZ Group bought the Sterling Hills assembly plant from the DaimlerChrysler concern, which produced Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Stratus mid-size sedans, to develop the passenger model range. On the equipment exported from America, since July 2008, the production of its own model of the E segment was organized, Volga Siber. The volume of production of Volga Siber was supposed to be 65 thousand per year, but the model turned out to be unpopular, and after the release of 8.7 thousand cars, the assembly was curtailed at the end of 2010.
To maintain sales of light commercial vehicles, GAZ has developed a version of the Gazelle cheaper to $6,000 with an UMZ-4216 engine and a lightweight cab. However, the model was not in demand - only a limited batch of about 700 cars was produced.
In February 2010, GAZ Group began serial production of modernized families of light commercial vehicles Gazelle-Business and Sobol-Business. And in July, GAZ Group began serial production of a diesel modification of the Gazelle-Business car.
In October of the same year, GAZ announced the start of production of a 4-ton version of the GAZ-33106 with a Cummins engine.
In early February 2011, GAZ Group and the American concern GM signed an agreement on contract assembly of a new generation of the Chevrolet Aveo model at GAZ facilities. At the moment, the car is available in sedan and hatchback.
In mid-June 2011, Volkswagen Group Rus and the GAZ Group signed an eight-year agreement on the contract assembly of 110,000 cars per year at GAZ facilities. The agreement was signed as part of Volkswagen's transition to a new mode of industrial assembly of cars in Russia. The VW Jetta, Škoda Yeti and Škoda Octavia models are assembled on the basis of the Volga Siber line.
Production of passenger models own design gas in soon not planning yet. On April 9, 2013, the mass production of the Gazelle Next car, which is the second generation Gazelle, was launched. Initially, this car was designed for export to other countries. It is planned to start exporting these cars from Turkey, Poland and Germany. Release " Gazelle Next will run in parallel, along with the release of Gazelle Business.
History of creation
GAZ-A
The production of a GAZ-A passenger car with a phaeton body, which was a licensed copy, was supposed to be mastered by the Gorky Automobile Plant in the second half of 1932, but Ambi Budd delayed the delivery of stamps, and the necessary presses were not available at the plant itself double action. Despite unification with truck, the phaeton had about 850 new parts, including complex body stampings.
In August-September 1932, only four test copies of the GAZ-A were assembled, which consisted mostly of American parts. Only on December 2 of the same year did the assembly of an industrial batch of phaetons begin at the Gorky Automobile Plant. At 5 o'clock in the morning on December 3, a motor, radiator and other units were installed on the frame, and on December 6 at 4 o'clock in the afternoon the first serial GAZ-A rolled off the assembly line.
On December 30, 1932, the assembly of an industrial batch of 25 GAZ-A phaetons and 25 GAZ-AA trucks was completed, which, after a solemn rally in Gorky, went to Moscow. The path was quite difficult: there was no asphalt highway between Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow, and the hills of the Vladimir region turned into ice slides, while in some places the road was covered snowdrifts or impenetrable dirt. During the run, the commission recorded 162 stops of the column due to technical faults. All GAZ-A cars reached Moscow on their own, and most of the breakdowns were caused by the low quality of parts supplied by subcontractors.
On April 17, 1935, at three o'clock in the afternoon, the 100,000th anniversary car came off, which was the GAZ-A phaeton. The light pink passenger car was equipped with additional headlights, two horns and a radiator grill with a chrome inscription "100,000 Sergo Ordzhonikidze from the Molotov team 17.IV.1935". On May 3, the car was solemnly handed over to the people's commissar.
"One hundred thousand car! Great deal! There is something to congratulate you, there is something to congratulate our country!”
G. K. Ordzhonikidze
The GAZ-A passenger car was produced from 1932 to 1936, until it was replaced by a technically more modern one. During this period, 41,726 phaetons were manufactured: 1932 - 35 pcs. (August - 2 pieces, September - 2 pieces, December - 35 pieces), 1933 - 10252 pieces, 1934 - 15254 pieces, 1935 - 16126 pieces, 1936 - 59 pieces. Also, GAZ-A from car kits from the Gorky Automobile Plant from 1933 to 1935 was assembled on.
GAZ-A passenger cars were widely used in the USSR. A large number of cars entered the army, where they were used as command and staff vehicles, as vehicles for the rapid delivery of reports, as well as for the installation of light weapons. Quite a lot of phaetons took part in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War in 1941-1942.
Many cars entered the taxi companies of large cities of the country, but their shortcomings were quickly revealed during operation: GAZ-A with an open body without heating and without a trunk was not well suited for working in a taxi.
GAZ-A also relied on party functionaries as a company car, who were dissatisfied with its shaking and wind-blown. Officially, the car was not sold for personal use, but there were exceptions: well-known people of the country - writers, artists, polar pilots - could be given permission to purchase a passenger car. Also, the state could award a GAZ-A car for special merits: Stakhanov's work, overfulfillment of production standards at the workplace, etc.
column GAZ-A
After the mass production of GAZ-M1 cars began, an order was issued without fail in Moscow and Leningrad to exchange the existing public institutions and from private owners of the GAZ-A phaeton and Ford-A Standart Phaeton for the new Emki. Driving through these cities on phaetons was followed by severe punishment, up to the confiscation of the car. After the exchange, GAZ-A cars were sent to the periphery, where they served the new owners for many years.
In the summer of 1933, six GAZ-A lag cars, along with GAZ-AA trucks took part in the All-Union test rally on the sands of the Kara-Kum and Kyzyl-Kum deserts with a length of more than 9000 km, which was called. The results of the run showed that the Soviet specialists were not mistaken when choosing a prototype for the first domestic mass-produced passenger car.
Vehicle design and overview
A 3-speed gearbox (three speeds forward and one speed back) and a gasoline, in-line, four-cylinder, lower-valve engine with a cast-iron cylinder block with a volume of 3.28 liters and power 40 HP at 2200 rpm. cast iron block cylinders was cast together with the upper half of the crankcase, and the lower half was steel, stamped. The head of the block was also made of cast iron. A water-cooled radiator was mounted in front of the engine. To transmit torque, a single-disk, dry clutch served. The tank was located above the knees of the driver and passenger behind the dashboard, and gasoline from it flowed by gravity into the carburetor. Electrical equipment was 6 volts.
Front axle and rear axle of the car GAZ-A suspended from the frame on transverse semi-elliptical springs, and for a smooth ride, lever-type hydraulic shock absorbers served. The rear axle had a bevel gear and was connected to the gearbox using a cardan shaft, which was enclosed in a pipe and rigidly attached to the final drive housing. Spoke wheels with rubber tires in size 5.50-19 were attached to the axles of the car. The mechanical service brake acted through cable drive on all four wheels, and the band hand brake blocked only the rear wheels.
A chaise-type body made of stamped parts was installed on the chassis. To facilitate access to the engine compartment, opening sidewalls were provided on each side of the body. Four doors were hung on the front hinges, and there was no trunk at all on the car. The whole windshield rotated in the frame and was fixed with winglets. To protect against wind, swivel vents were installed on the sides of the windshield frame. A single wiper was attached to the upper frame of the windshield in front of the driver's face to facilitate visibility in bad weather. The wiper had a vacuum drive, the hose of which was connected to the carburetor inlet manifold. The ingenuous interior had two solid sofas, which allowed the driver and three passengers to sit relatively comfortably. A canvas top with sidewalls and celluloid windows served as protection from the weather. To protect the body from minor damage, bumpers made of two elastic steel strips served, while the rear bumper consisted of two halves, since a spare wheel. At night, the road was illuminated by two electric headlights mounted on a cross member between the front fenders, to which a sound signal was also attached. Attached to the left rear fender was a single rear marker lamp with stop sign. Steps were placed between the front and rear fenders to make it easier to get into the car.
GAZ-A with canvas top
In the passenger compartment of the GAZ-A car, on the dashboard there was a shield with three sensors: on the left - the ignition switch, at the top in the center - an optical fuel gauge, on the right - an ammeter and at the bottom - a speedometer, in which the numbers printed on the drum replaced each other in the fixed window of the device, informing the driver about the speed. The steering mechanism of the "globoid worm" type had a gear ratio of 13. The steering wheel was four-spoke, in the center of which was a light switch. Behind the steering wheel hub were two levers: the left one was designed to manually adjust the ignition timing, and the right one to fix the position throttle valve carburetor. The starter was actuated by a trigger located above the gas pedal, and a support for the driver's right foot was mounted just below and to the right of the gas pedal itself. The car could reach a maximum speed of up to 95 km / h, while fuel consumption was 12 liters per 100 kilometers.
Unlike the American prototype, the Soviet car had a simplified shape and finish of the radiator mask without a decorative grille, which was unified with the GAZ-AA truck. Also by Soviet engineers, taking into account the accumulated experience operating Ford-A on a domestic car, the clutch housing, steering gear were strengthened and an additional air filter was installed.
Overall dimensions and weight of the car were:
- length - 3875 mm;
- width - 1710 mm;
- height - 1780 mm;
- wheelbase - 2630 mm;
- curb weight - 1080 kg;
- capacity - 4-5 people.
Had GAZ-A row disadvantages: insufficient rigidity of the frame led to a rapid loosening of the body and the doors stopped closing, the steering, cardan joints often broke down and the wheel suspension springs failed. There were pluses: the car was unpretentious in terms of fuel quality, it could be repaired in any conditions, and the phaeton was relatively inexpensive.
The GAZ-A passenger car served as the basis for the creation of a number of modifications and special vehicles:
- - half-track passenger car (1933);
- - a car with tires of increased diameter (1933);
- - an experimental car with a streamlined body (1934);
- - a three-axle car with a dynamo gun (1934-1936);
- - experimental three-axle armored car (1935);
- - three-axle passenger car (1935);
GAZ-A- a passenger car of the middle class with an open 5-seater 4-door chaise-type body. A licensed copy of the Ford-A car, equipment and documentation for the production of which were purchased by the Soviet government in the United States in 1929 from the Ford Motor Company.
The first Soviet passenger car of mass conveyor assembly. Produced from 1932 to 1936 at the Gorky Automobile Plant and from 1933 to 1935 at the Moscow KIM plant. The first two cars were assembled on December 8, 1932. A total of 41,917 cars were produced.
History of GAZ-A
On December 6, 1932, the first domestic passenger car of mass conveyor assembly rolled off the assembly line of the Gorky Automobile Plant (GAZ). GAZ-A.
GAZ-A is a passenger car of the middle class with an open five-seat four-door chaise-type body. In case of bad weather, it was possible to raise a canvas awning and fasten canvas sidewalls over the doors. The prototype of the GAZ-A was the model of the American Ford plant - Ford A. The GAZ-A car was produced under a license purchased by the Soviet government in the USA in 1929 from Henry Ford. Some changes were made to the design of the machine in accordance with the difficult road conditions THE USSR. The GAZ-A passenger car retained the same plumage, windshield frame, instrument panel and front doors as the first car of the Gorky Automobile Plant, the GAZ-AA truck. The engine, steering gear and electrical equipment were the same, but the passenger car chassis had a completely different design. The front and rear axles were connected to a lightweight stamped spar-type frame with two transverse springs. The nickel-plated radiator was decorated with the first emblem of the Gorky Automobile Plant - a black oval with the letters "GAS".
The speedometer did not have the usual arrow: in the window of the device, the numbers printed on the drum moved, indicating the speed. The three-layer windshield was made of two layers of glass with an interleaved transparent elastic film. Upon impact, the triplex was covered with a thick layer of cracks, but did not crumble, as invented later. strained glass. For the convenience of the driver, there was a vacuum wiper and a rear-view mirror on the windshield.
GAZ-A was equipped with a 4-cylinder engine with a capacity of 40 liters. with., allowing to develop 90 km / h, which in itself is not enough. Cars GAZ-A were used both as a taxi (GAZ-A became the most massive taxi model of the first half of the 1930s), and as official cars. GAZ-A was actively supplied to the Red Army. On the basis of GAZ-A, several types of ambulances with an original body design were made. The GAZ-A car was produced from 1932 to 1936 at the Gorky Automobile Plant and from 1933 to 1935 at the Moscow KIM plant. A total of 41917 cars were produced.
Six GAZ-A cars participated in the famous Moscow-Karakum-Moscow rally (1933). Having overcome more than 9.5 thousand km, of which 6000 were country and dirt roads and 1000 loose sands, they all made it to the finish line without breaking.
Characteristic GAZ-A
The design of the car is frame, the frame is made of two spars connected by transverse beams.
Clutch - single disc, dry.
Gearbox - three-speed, three speeds forward and one - back.
The main gear on the rear axle is a pair of bevel gears with spiral teeth. The final gear ratio is 3.77.
The suspension of both the front and rear axles is dependent, on transverse springs, with 4 single-acting hydraulic shock absorbers.
Tires - 5.50-16 inches, wheels with three-row metal spokes.
Shoe brakes, with a mechanical drive. Parking brake - band, on the rear axle.
Specifications
Years of production: 8 XII 1932 - 1936
Issued: 41917 pieces.
4x2, 5-seater 4-door phaeton, rarely other body styles.
Engine: 40hp/2200rpm, 4-cyl 4-stroke, 3285cc
Bore/Stroke: 98.43/107.95mm
Length: 3875mm, width: 1710mm, height: 1780mm
Base: 2630mm, ground clearance: 205mm
Front wheel track: 1405mm
Rear wheel track: 1420mm
Turning radius: 5.5 m
Gearbox: 3 speeds + one reverse
Final drive type: a pair of bevel gears with spiral teeth
Final drive ratio: 3.78
Foot brake: mechanical, shoe on all wheels
Weight without load: 1080kg
Max speed with a full load on an asphalt highway: 90 km / h
Tire size: 5.50-19 inches
Fuel tank capacity: 40 l
The base or skeleton of the car is frame 7, consisting of two longitudinal beams connected to each other by several riveted crossbars. The spars and traverses had a box section, pressed from sheet steel and connected with rivets. To reduce shocks from road irregularities, the frame is connected to the axles by means of two transverse springs.
The design of the main brakes GAZ-A according to the principle of operation, it did not differ from similar systems on most passenger cars of those years: drum-type shoe brakes on all wheels with a mechanical drive. The hand brake acted only on the rear wheels and was a band brake.
Body equipment GAZ-A created already certain conveniences for the driver. On the windshield were a vacuum wiper, a rear-view mirror. For the convenience of using the accelerator pedal, a fixed foot support was placed next to it. The windshield could rotate in the wind frame, and its position was fixed with winglets. To protect against wind from the sides of the windshield frame, swivel vents were installed.
In the wheel suspension there are single-acting hydraulic shock absorbers of the rotary type, four per machine. Wheels with wire spokes arranged in three rows had high rigidity in the longitudinal and transverse planes. The spokes did not have adjusting nipples and were fixed by welding motionlessly in the hub and on the rim.
Modifications and special vehicles based on GAZ-A
On the base GAZ-A modifications were built and special vehicles: GAZ-3 And GAZ-6- modifications with a closed 4-door sedan body. GAZ-6 was produced in small batches in 1934-1936. This is the first domestic serial passenger car with a closed body. The main problem in production was the welding of thin metal sheets. GAZ-4 - a modification with a cargo-passenger body pickup truck with a carrying capacity of 500 kg.
An experimental car was also released GAZ-A-Aero with an aerodynamically clean streamlined body on the GAZ-A chassis. Created in 1934 by engineer A. O. Nikitin.
GAZ-A-Aremkuz- a special modification for working in a taxi, produced in Moscow in 1933-1935. The taxi car was equipped with a closed body with an internal partition separating the driver from the passenger compartment, manufactured by the Aremkuz Moscow Automobile Repair and Body Plant. Unlike GAZ-3 and GAZ-6, the body was not all-metal, but on a wooden frame with metal panels. Released about 500 pieces.
On the basis of GAZ-A, several types of ambulances were made with an original body design, including the front lining.
Light armored vehicles D-8 and D-12 were built on the GAZ-A chassis.
In 1933-1934. on the basis of GAZ-A, three-axle (GAZ-TK, GAZ-AAAA) and half-tracked (GAZ-A-Kegress) vehicles were developed.
In 1935, a fire engine based on GAZ-A, developed by NATI, with a water pump and boxes for storing fire hoses, was tested in parts of the Red Army Air Force.
GAZ-A-Girel (1937).
Designer A. Girel. Racing car based on units of serial models GAZ-A and GAZ-M1. By car, the all-Union absolute speed record was improved twice. Year of construction - 1937; designer - A. Girel; number of seats - 2; compression ratio - about 5.5, number of carburetors - 2, valve mechanism - SV, power - about 55 hp. With. at 2800 rpm; tire size - 28-4.75; base - 3010 mm; cylinders - 4, engine displacement - 3285 cu. see, power - 55 liters. With. at 2800 rpm, number of gears - 3, length - 3.9 m, curb weight - 950 kg, speed - 130 kilometers per hour.
In the 30s, many athletes independently built on the chassis of mass-produced passenger models racing cars. Leningrad racer A. Girel twice improved the All-Union speed record on a car of his own design. In July 1937, he walked a kilometer from the average speed 127.4 km/h. This car was built by him on the basis of the engine, transmission, suspension and other units of GAZ-A and GAZ-M1 passenger cars.
Pickup GAZ-4
From 1933 to 1937, the GAZ-4 pickup truck was produced at the Gorky Automobile Plant on the chassis of a GAZ-A passenger car.
From 1933 to 1937, a pickup truck was produced at the Gorky Automobile Plant on the chassis of a GAZ-A passenger car. GAZ-4 for transportation of mail, small consignments with a total weight of up to 400 kg. The four-cylinder carburetor engine installed on the car with a working volume of 3280 cm3, a compression ratio of 4.2, a power of 30.9 kW at a crankshaft speed of 2200 min "1 quite easily allowed the car to reach speeds of up to 90 km / h. Fuel consumption was 12 liters per 100 km The GAZ-M-415 replaced the GAZ-4 in 1939.
GAZ A Aero
The work began with the manufacture of mock-ups on a scale of 1:10 and their blowing in wind tunnel in the laboratory named after Professor Zhukovsky of the Moscow Aviation Institute. Nikitin understood that perfect shape from the point of view of streamlining - the shape of a drop of liquid, and the models were made based on these considerations. The GAZ-A car, which had been produced since 1932 and was the most popular car in the country at that time, was chosen as a donor. The disadvantage was that the GAZ-A chassis was high-frame, and the minimum possible height of the prototype was estimated at 1700 mm.
After many experiments, the optimal shape of the car was determined. Experiments showed that the ideal streamlining was a car with an incredibly long tail, which in practice seemed very difficult to build, and completely impossible to operate.
GAZ-A was dismantled almost completely, leaving only the chassis and engine. The new body had a wooden frame sheathed with steel sheets, a V-shaped windshield tilted back at an angle of 45 degrees, rear wheels completely covered with fairings, recessed into the headlight fenders. Even the hood locks were moved inside, and the steps were located inside the car, behind the doors. The width of the car remained the same - 1710 mm, but the interior became wider due to narrower wings. The body length was 4970 mm, with a wheelbase of 2620 mm. Weight - 1270 kg. To top it off, the 3285 cc engine. equipped with an aluminum cylinder head, and increased the compression ratio from 4.15 to 5.45 units, increasing power to 48 hp. at 2600 rpm.
The successes of the young designer did not go unnoticed at the top. By a decree of the Presidium of the Central Council of the Union of Societies Avtodor of the USSR dated March 13, 1935, 2000 rubles were allocated for further work on the study of the streamlining of cars, and the engineer himself - A.O. Nikitin was awarded a Ford car.
Myself GAZ A Aero was transferred Automobile Council CA to study. Here are the traces unique car are lost.
Creator GAZ A Aero continued to work on the study of aerodynamics until 1941, from 1941 to 1974 A.O. Nikitin worked on the chassis of tanks, wrote about fifty works on tracked vehicles and defended several copyright patents.
GAZ-A-Aremkuz
GAZ-A-Aremkuz- a special modification for working in a taxi, produced in Moscow in 1933-1935. The taxi car was equipped with a closed body with an internal partition separating the driver from the passenger compartment, manufactured by the Aremkuz Moscow Automobile Repair and Body Plant. The factory made new fenders, footboards and buffers, and only the engine hood and radiator were left from the plumage elements. The bodies for these machines had a wooden frame with steel sheet cladding and two moldings along the waistline as exterior trim.
Specifications GAZ-A-Aremkuz
Year of construction 1935
Wheel formula 4×2
Number of seats 5
Number of cylinders 4
Displacement 3285 cc
Power 42 hp at 2200 rpm
Number of gears 3
The curb weight is about 1300 kg.
Tire size 5.50 - 19
Maximum speed 90 km/h.
Length 3950 mm.
Width 1750 mm.
Height 1800 mm.
Application of GAZ-A
- GAZ-A- the most massive Soviet passenger model the first half of the 1930s, was supplied mainly to government agencies and the Red Army.
- GAZ-A was the most massive staff car of the Red Army in the 1930s. On GAZ-A, a short-wave headquarters radio station 5-AK was mounted.
- GAZ-A was the most popular taxi model in the first half of the 1930s. Equipped with an external taximeter mechanical type with the "free-busy" flag. The decommissioning of these machines began to be carried out after the appearance of the GAZ-M-1. But in Leningrad, for example, GAZ-A was operated in a taxi until March 1, 1938, and only after the order of the Presidium of the Leningrad Council were sent from the city to the periphery.
GAZ-A gaming and souvenir industry
scale model car in Russia is produced at the Saratov plant "Tantal", now "Mossar", with a sharp deterioration in quality compared to the start of production in the USSR. Model GAZ-A 1:43 was also attached to the magazine "Autolegendy USSR" No. 38, published by the DeAgostini publishing house. In 2011, the company "DIP Models" released a model of the GAZ-A car "Aremkuz" in a limited edition.
Cars GAZ-A participated in the rally Moscow-Karakumy-Moscow (1933) and successfully covered more than 9.5 thousand km.
- In Leningrad and Moscow operation GAZ-A was banned after 1936, and small car owners were ordered to hand over GAZ-A to the state and purchase a new GAZ-M-1 with a surcharge, this was done due to the outdated design of GAZ-A by 1936 and the unseemly appearance of the car old design in a big city.
Almost all cars created in the USSR were copies foreign models. It all started with the first samples produced under license from Ford. As time went on, copying became a habit. The USSR Automotive Research Institute bought samples in the West for study and after a while produced a Soviet analogue. True, by the time of release, the original was no longer produced.
GAZ A (1932)
GAZ A - is the first mass passenger car of the USSR, is a licensed copy of the American Ford-A. The USSR bought equipment and documents for production from an American company in 1929, two years later the production of Ford-A was discontinued. A year later, in 1932, the first GAZ-A cars were produced. 
After 1936 the obsolete GAZ-A was banned. Car owners were ordered to hand over the car to the state and purchase a new GAZ-M1 with a surcharge.
GAZ-M-1 "Emka" (1936-1943)
GAZ-M1 was also a copy of one of the Ford models - Model B (Model 40A) of 1934.
When adapted to domestic operating conditions, the car was thoroughly redesigned by Soviet specialists. The model surpassed later Ford products in some positions.
L1 "Red Putilovets" (1933) and ZIS-101 (1936-1941)
The L1 was an experimental passenger car, an almost exact copy of the Buick-32-90, which by Western standards belonged to the upper-middle class.
Initially, the Krasny Putilovets plant produced Fordson tractors. As an experiment, 6 copies of the L1 were released in 1933. Most of the cars could not reach Moscow on their own and without breakdowns. Refinement L1 was transferred to the Moscow "ZiS".
Due to the fact that the Buick body no longer corresponded to the fashion of the mid-30s, it was redesigned at ZiS. The American body shop Budd Company, based on Soviet sketches, prepared a modern body sketch for those years. The work cost the country half a million dollars and took months.
KIM-10 (1940-1941)
The first Soviet small car, the Ford Prefect was taken as the basis for development.
Stamps were made in the USA and body drawings were developed according to the models of a Soviet designer. In 1940, the production of this model began. It was thought that the KIM-10 would become the first "people's" car of the USSR, but the Great Patriotic War prevented the plans of the USSR leadership.
"Moskvich" 400.401 (1946-1956)
It is unlikely that the American company liked such a creative development of its ideas in the design of the Soviet car, but there were no complaints from it in those years, especially since the production of “large” Packards was not resumed after the war.
GAZ-12 (GAZ-M-12, ZIM, ZIM-12) 1950-1959
A six-seven-seater passenger car of a large class with a "six-window long-wheelbase sedan" body was developed on the basis of the Buick Super, and was mass-produced at the Gorky Automobile Plant (Molotov Plant) from 1950 to 1959 (some modifications - until 1960.)
The plant was strongly recommended to completely copy the Buick of the 1948 model, but the engineers, based on the proposed model, designed a car that relies as much as possible on the units and technologies already mastered in production. "ZiM" was not a copy of any particular foreign car, neither in terms of design, nor, in particular, in technical aspect- in the latter, the plant's designers even managed to some extent "say a new word" within the global automotive industry
"Volga" GAZ-21 (1956-1972)
The passenger car of the middle class was technically created by domestic engineers and designers from scratch, but outwardly copied mainly American models of the early 1950s. During development, designs were studied foreign cars: Ford Mainline (1954), Chevrolet 210 (1953), Plymouth Savoy (1953), Henry J (Kaiser-Frazer) (1952), Standard Vanguard (1952) and Opel Kapitän (1951).
GAZ-21 was mass-produced at the Gorky Automobile Plant from 1956 to 1970. The factory model index is originally GAZ-M-21, later (since 1965) - GAZ-21.
By the time mass production began, by world standards, the design of the Volga had already become at least ordinary, and it no longer stood out against the background of serial foreign cars of those years. Already by 1960, the Volga was a car with a hopelessly outdated design.
"Volga" GAZ-24 (1969-1992)
The middle class passenger car became a hybrid of the North American Ford Falcon (1962) and Plymouth Valiant (1962).
Serially produced at the Gorky Automobile Plant from 1969 to 1992. The appearance and design of the car were quite standard for this direction, the technical characteristics were also approximately average. Most of the "Volga" was not intended for sale for personal use and operated in taxi companies and other government organizations).
"Seagull" GAZ-13 (1959-1981)
Executive passenger car of a large class, created under the clear influence of the latest models of the American company Packard, which in those years were just being studied at US (Packard Caribbean convertible and Packard Patrician sedan, both 1956 model years).
"The Seagull" was created with a clear focus on the trends of American style, like all GAZ products of those years, but was not a 100% "stylistic copy" or Packard's modernization.
The car was produced in a small series at the Gorky Automobile Plant from 1959 to 1981. A total of 3,189 cars of this model were manufactured.
"Seagulls" were used as a personal transport of the highest nomenclature (mainly ministers, first secretaries of regional committees), which was issued as part of the prescribed "package" of privileges.
Both sedans and convertibles "Chaika" were used in parades, served at meetings of foreign leaders, prominent figures and heroes, were used as escort vehicles. Also, "Seagulls" came to "Intourist", where, in turn, everyone could order them for use as wedding limousines.
ZIL-111 (1959-1967)
Copying the American design at various Soviet factories led to the fact that the appearance of the ZIL-111 car was created according to the same patterns as the Chaika. As a result, outwardly similar cars were simultaneously produced in the country. ZIL-111 is often mistaken for the more common "Seagull".
The luxury passenger car was stylistically a compilation of various elements american cars middle and upper class of the first half of the 1950s - mostly reminiscent of Cadillac, Packard and Buick. The basis external design ZIL-111, like the "Seagulls", lay down the design of the models of the American company "Packard" in 1955-56. But compared to the Packard models, ZIL was larger in all dimensions, looked much stricter and “square”, with straightened lines, had a more complex and detailed decor.
From 1959 to 1967, only 112 copies of this car were assembled.
ZIL-114 (1967-1978)
A small-scale executive passenger car of the highest class with a limousine body. Despite the desire to move away from American automotive fashion, the ZIL-114, made from scratch, still partially copied the American Lincoln Lehmann-Peterson Limousine.
In total, 113 copies of the government limousine were assembled.
ZIL-115 (ZIL 4104) (1978-1983)
In 1978, the ZIL-114 was replaced by new car under the factory index "115", which later received the official name ZIL-4104. The initiator of the development of the model was Leonid Brezhnev, who loved quality cars and tired of the ten-year operation of the ZIL-114.
For creative rethinking, our designers were provided with a Cadillac Fleetwood 75, and the British from Carso helped domestic automakers in their work. As a result of the joint work of British and Soviet designers, ZIL 115 was born in 1978. According to the new GOSTs, it was classified as ZIL 4104.
The interior was created taking into account the intended use of cars - for high-ranking statesmen.
The end of the 70s is the height of the Cold War, which could not but affect the car transporting the first persons of the country. ZIL - 115 could become a shelter in case of a nuclear war. Of course, he would not have survived a direct hit, but there was protection on the car from a strong radiation background. In addition, it was possible to install hinged armor.
ZAZ-965 (1960-1969)
The main prototype of the minicar was the Fiat 600.
The car was designed by MZMA ("Moskvich") together with the NAMI Automobile Institute. The first samples received the designation "Moskvich-444", and already differed significantly from the Italian prototype. Later, the designation was changed to "Moskvich-560".
Already at the very early stage of design, the car differed from the Italian model by a completely different front suspension - as on the first Porsche sports cars and the Volkswagen Beetle.
ZAZ-966 (1966-1974)
The passenger car of an especially small class demonstrates a considerable similarity in design with the German subcompact NSU Prinz IV (Germany, 1961), which, in its own way, repeats the often copied American Chevrolet Corvair, introduced at the end of 1959.
VAZ-2101 (1970-1988)
VAZ-2101 "Zhiguli" - a rear-wheel drive passenger car with a sedan body is an analogue of the Fiat 124 model, which received the title "Car of the Year" in 1967.
By agreement between the Soviet Foreign Trade and Fiat, the Italians created the Volga Automobile Plant in Togliatti with a full production cycle. The concern was entrusted with the technological equipment of the plant, training of specialists.
VAZ-2101 has been subjected to major changes. In total, over 800 changes were made to the design of the Fiat 124, after which it received the name Fiat 124R. "Russification" of the Fiat 124 turned out to be extremely useful for the FIAT company itself, which has accumulated unique information about the reliability of its cars in extreme operating conditions.
VAZ-2103 (1972-1984)
Rear-wheel drive passenger car with a body type sedan. Was developed in collaboration with by an Italian company Fiat based Fiat models 124 and Fiat 125.
Later, on the basis of the VAZ-2103, the "project 21031" was developed, later renamed the VAZ-2106.
