He is uncomfortable in today's Moscow. And not only because there is little useless bustle and rough crush all around. He, unlike the capital, has not lost his face, has not become overgrown with tasteless ornaments. The best time to travel in ZIM is early Saturday morning. Then you can stay where little has changed in six decades, and calmly remember how everything was.

This is the first Gazov car with a deer on the emblem and the last one in whose name the surname Molotov was encrypted. The abbreviation ZIM, in contrast to the understandable, albeit not very popular with the “leader of all peoples” name “Victory”, sounded like a nickname. By the way, the surname Molotov is also a party pseudonym. Exactly when ZIM was being prepared for production, Molotov was removed from the post of foreign minister, and his wife was generally sent to the camp. But Molotov still remained on the presidium of the Central Committee, and the plant and the new car did not lose the letter M. Such are the lessons of linguistics.

The model, which in the Soviet automobile hierarchy took a place between Pobeda and the ZIS-110, began to be designed in 1948 under the leadership of chief designer A. Lipgart. It all took less than two and a half years to complete. At the heart of the big sedan were serial units and units of "Victory", and the engine (in-line "six") was not accurate, but still a copy of the Dodge-D5 engine and had been produced in Gorky since 1940. For a light seven-seater car, it was boosted to quite decent 90 hp at that time.

The body became the main problem. According to the canons of that time, a car with a base of 3200 mm was supposed to be frame. It was said that Lipgart was strongly advised by the ministry to simply copy the Buick. But creating a frame structure would lengthen the design and refinement process. And 90 hp. for such a heavy car was clearly not enough. Lipgart and the leading designer of the GAZ-12 Yushmanov risked leaving the supporting structure - and in the end they won. The car weighing only 1840 kg had decent dynamics.

On November 7, 1948, the third prototype left for a festive demonstration in Gorky. And three months later, on February 15, 1949, ZIM was shown to the country's leadership. Serial production began in 1950. Lipgart received the fifth Stalin Prize for the GAZ-12 and was immediately sent into soft exile to the Urals - the chief designer of the truck plant in Miass. The engineer remembered the failure with the early version of "Victory", which, like almost everything at that time, was created in a mad rush. The times were not vegetarian at all.

TO THE MINISTRY - AND HOME

So even a not very experienced driver (they didn’t put such people on ZIMs) didn’t disturb the leader, reflecting on the fate of the country and the people, with jerks. Of course, first of all, the cars fell to the officials, but the GAZ-12 was sold to private traders as well - for the fabulous 40,000 rubles at that time. A school teacher received about 900 rubles, a young researcher who had just graduated from the institute - about 1100.

ZIMs were still bought for personal use - prominent scientists, workers of literature and art with positions and titles, who, nevertheless, were not entitled to a personal car from the state. In one of the interviews, the famous playwright and screenwriter, one of the main authors of the Moscow Sovremennik, Viktor Rozov, commemorated his ZIM. Most often, personal GAZ-12s were driven by hired chauffeurs. The roles of the executive sedan in the Soviet cinema of the 1950s are characteristic. In the film "Different Fates", a professor and a famous composer are taken to ZIM, in "An Ordinary Man" the car is owned by a renowned singer, and a hired chauffeur drives it. In this picture, an elegant lady also sits behind the wheel - the messenger of easy democratization of the second half of the 1950s.

Despite the fact that the driver's sofa does not move, almost any driver will sit comfortably on it, having adjusted it. Perhaps only very high will be cramped. But behind - a small apartment! A huge and soft, like a grandmother's feather bed, a sofa plus a pair of folding strap-on seats. If you remove them, the distance between the sofas is enormous. One of the owners of ZIM said that he drove a stroller in the cabin without disassembling it.

But this came much later. And at first serious men in gray hats or astrakhan "pies" sat in the GAZ-12. They had something to think about, sitting on the spacious sofa. There are no fewer enemies all around, besides, the international situation is traditionally difficult. In August 1949, the USSR tested its first atomic bomb. In response, US President Truman in January 1950 ordered the creation of a hydrogen plant. The leadership of the USSR was seriously planning how to protect at least the capital from nuclear bombing. It seemed to many that the outbreak of a world war was a matter of months. And the one unleashed in Korea is its prologue.

The long wheelbase ZIM travel is extremely soft and soothing. Even if you miss the obstacle, you won't disturb the passenger too much. But brakes without a booster require prudence and attention. The only thing that the designers could please with in this system is a pair of working brake cylinders in front. By the way, for the first time in a Soviet car. But by modern standards, the deceleration of ZIM is sluggish, the car behaves like a marmot, not wanting to get out of hibernation. Overclocking is also far from modern, but such is the price for the fluid coupling smoothing jerks. It is not easy at first to adapt to the turning radius of a machine with a length of more than 5.5 m and, moreover, with a base of more than three meters. It is necessary to try so that from the first time, quietly rumbling with the lower-valve "six", correctly and accurately apply the ZIM to the imposing entrance between the majestic columns. It is near such entrances that the car looks most harmonious. The country, which just five years ago emerged from a devastating war, was proud of new factories, scientific institutes, high-rise buildings - and such a car.

"AND YOU DRIVE IN THE WINTER!"

GAZ-12 was produced in modest quantities - just over two thousand a year. But even ordinary mortals, not endowed with either power or titles, could join the beautiful taxi in ZIM. The price of the trip, however, was one and a half times higher than in the "Pobeda", but as many as six passengers sat in a large car. And if you find a good-natured driver and make room, then more.

Especially a lot of ZIMs appeared in taxis after 1956 (here, by the way, this is the car of this year), when Nikita Sergeevich, who was not the last of our leaders who started the fight against privileges, took ZIMs away from officials.

Luxurious Soviet sedans, created in the era of "anti-popular conspiracies" and preparations for war, survived on the assembly line until the 20th Congress, the World Festival of Youth and Students held in Moscow, the birth of films and performances unprecedented in their audacity, and even the famous American exhibition in Sokolniki. Of course, in 1959, when Soviet people were able to see the achievements of the overseas car industry, ZIM, against the background of overseas "cruisers" with their aerospace design and powerful engines, looked like a grandfather in a unfashionable, smelling of mothballs suit. But the Soviet industry was already producing ZIL-111, and the Chaika GAZ-13 is about to appear ...

But the seemingly outdated ZIM was waiting for a new, unusual life. Before becoming an oldtimer, he remained prestigious. Despite the fact that with the beginning of the Zhiguli era it became more and more difficult to drive a GAZ-12, cars on the secondary market were by no means cheap and were still looked upon with respect. And their owners - with different feelings. Characteristic is the role of the GAZ-12 in the popular 1970s series "The Investigation is Conducted by Experts." The leader of the robbery gang scolds the youngest and most impudent accomplice for ostentatious luxury: “And you are driving around in ZIM! Can't you, like everyone else, ride a Zhiguli? " Over the past four decades, ZIMs have become even more prestigious and more expensive. It is not easy to join the dense Moscow stream even on a weekend. True, many drivers patiently pass. Then they overtake, but they look at the unhurried black sedan with reverence, as at a retired but still gallant general or an elderly honored artist ...

ENGINE NOMENCLATURE

The editors would like to thank for the car providedVyacheslav Ruzaev.

ZIM(until 1957), GAZ-12- Soviet six-seater six-window long-wheelbase large sedan, mass-produced at the Gorky Automobile Plant (Molotov Plant) from 1949 to 1959 (some modifications - to 1960.)

ZIM is the first representative model of the Gorky Automobile Plant. The predecessor of the "Chaika" GAZ-13. Basically, it was used as a company car ("personal") intended for the Soviet, party and government nomenklatura - at the level of the minister, secretary of the regional committee and chairman of the regional executive committee and above, in some cases it was sold for personal use.

In total, from 1949 to 1959, 21,527 copies of ZIM / GAZ-12 of all modifications were produced.

Above ZIM ("Molotov Plant") in terms of subordination were only the machines of the Stalin Plant.

However, this did not prevent the Molotovites from Gorky, in their tacit rivalry with the Stalinists from Moscow, to always create bolder and more advanced designs.

In particular, ZIM became the world's first car with three rows of seats in a monocoque body. On it, for the first time in domestic practice, a hydromechanical transmission was used, which ensures smooth acceleration from a standstill and ease of gear control.

Development began in 1948 and was carried out on a tight schedule - it took 29 months. Designer - AA Lipgart, responsible designer - Lev Eremeev (the future author of the appearance of the M-21 "Pobeda-II", "Volga" GAZ-21, ZIL-111 and "Seagulls" GAZ-13).

The tight deadlines given to the GAZ team made it possible to either approximately copy a foreign model (which, in principle, was originally intended - in particular, the factory was strongly recommended to build a Buick model of 1948 - that is, in fact, a minimally updated pre-war model of 1942), or take advantage of the existing developments and design a car that relies as much as possible on the units and technologies already mastered in production. Constructors and designers chose the second path, although the significant influence of American samples of the same class on the choice of stylistic decisions remained.

At the same time, echoing in appearance with a number of American models of the segment fine car(middle-upper class), ZIM was not a copy of any specific foreign car, either in terms of design, or, in particular, in the technical aspect - in the latter, the designers of the plant even managed to some extent "say a new word" within the framework of the world automotive industry.

In October 1950, the first industrial batch of GAZ-12 was assembled. In 1951, state tests of three cars with full load were carried out. The mileage of each car was 21,072 km.

The car was produced from 1949 to 1959 in the version with sedan and sedan-taxi bodies, in the version of the ambulance car with the embuence body (in fact - a hatchback) - until 1960.

A total of 21,527 vehicles were produced.

Until 1957, the model was designated only as ZIM (the abbreviation of the plant's name - "Plant named after Molotov," was written in capital letters), the name GAZ-12 was purely in-plant. The nameplate of the car read: ZIM car (GAZ-12)... But after the defeat of the "anti-party group" of Molotov, Malenkov, Kaganovich and Shepilov, who joined them, the name of Molotov was excluded from the name of the plant. The car began to be named according to the factory designation: GAZ-12. Then the central apparatchiks, wishing to demonstrate their support for the party's course, preferred to replace the ZIM nameplates and emblems with new ones - GAZ. In the private sector and on the periphery of power, political changes in the design of the car were treated indifferently - largely due to this, many cars of early releases have survived to this day with the original emblems of ZIM.

• GAZ-12A- Taxi with artificial leather trim. Due to the high cost - one and a half times more in comparison with the "Pobeda" - was released relatively little. GAZ-12A were used mainly as route taxis, including on intercity lines.
• GAZ-12B- sanitary version, produced from 1951 to 1960. The cars were painted in a light beige color, in addition, they outwardly differed from the usual sedan by the outer hinges of the trunk lid, which opened at a large angle and allowed a stretcher to be rolled into the car's interior.

• GAZ-12 with a "phaeton" body - in 1949, two experimental samples were made, but it was not brought to mass production due to difficulties in ensuring the required rigidity of an open load-bearing body.

The independent spring pivot front suspension was made according to the type of "Victory" suspension (in turn, made according to the type of the Opel Kapitän model of 1938) and did not fundamentally differ from it. The rear suspension differed from the "Victory" also only in details. The shock absorbers were still lever-operated.

The steering linkage has been redesigned while maintaining the overall layout.

Among the new products were also: 15-inch wheel rims, brakes with two leading pads, curved rear glass (the front one remained V-shaped), an oil cooler in the engine lubrication system, flange-type axle shafts, and so on.

In 1956, already in the course of work on the GAZ-13 Seagull, a project for the modernization of ZIM was developed under the designation ZIM-12V. The design changes were supposed to be mostly cosmetic - a one-piece windshield, more graceful headlight rims painted to match the body color, a more generalized checkered radiator grill, other caps, side moldings, a modified tailgate design, and so on. At the same time, it was planned to increase the engine power, improve the braking properties of the car and introduce an automatic transmission from the Volga.

However, it soon became clear that the style of the car was hopelessly outdated, external modernization would not be able to significantly modernize it, and it was considered irrational to spend resources on modernization, when there were only a few years left before the launch of the new model.

The elegant car was used not only by the high-ranking bureaucracy, but also by the establishment - prominent workers in culture, science and art. In addition, ZIM is the only model of this class that has become a consumer product, that is, it went on sale. This was not the case with the subsequent "Chaika" or with the ZISs. True, the price of 40 thousand rubles - two and a half times more expensive than "Pobeda" - made the car less affordable for the consumer. The ZIM modifications "taxi" and "ambulance" could partly satisfy the interest of a common Soviet person in complex technology, and the latter was completely free of charge. Another modification - with an open body "convertible" - was built in 1951 as an experiment, only in two copies. Reconstruction of such a body has also been mastered today by the Molotov-Garage workshop.

REPRESENTATIVE FUNCTIONS

ZIM supplied to the plane's ladder. 1957, Leipzig, East Germany.

WORK IN TAX PARKS

The first ZIM taxis appeared in Moscow in the summer of 1952 to serve the international economic meeting. They were painted light gray with a white checkered stripe. In 1956, the 1st Moscow taxi fleet received 300 ZIM vehicles. In 1958, there were 328 of them.

They were operated in Moscow until 1960. ZIMs-taxis, as a rule, were black with a belt of white checkers. In the late 1950s, on the doors of ZIMs converted into taxis from personal cars, two stripes of checkers were separated on the doors in a circle with the letter T in the center.

The TA-49 counter was placed on the floor. Since the fare on the ZIM was significantly higher than on the usual "Pobeda", they were mainly driven by the team; subsequently, ZIMs were mainly transferred to a minibus operating on fixed routes, however, insufficient capacity - only 6 people, two of whom sat on inconvenient folding strap-ons - led to their rather quick replacement with RAF-977 minibuses, more compact, roomy and economical (since 1959).

ZIM taxis were also used in other cities. For example, in Minsk they appeared on October 23, 1954.

SALE FOR PERSONAL USE

The ZIM car was the most democratic of all Soviet cars of a large class: unlike the Chaeks that followed it, it was widely used in taxis and ambulance services, and was sold to the population.

Before the 1961 reform, the price of the car was 40,000 rubles, a fortune at the then average salary, despite the fact that the prestigious "Victory" cost 16,000 rubles. (later 25,000 rubles), and "Moskvich-400" - 9,000 rubles. (later 11,000 rubles). So there were simply no queues for ZIMs then, and their main buyers were the Soviet scientific and creative elite from among those who did not directly rely on a personal car. However, such "private" vehicles were often driven by personal drivers, serviced and stored in government garages.

Moreover, at the suggestion of J.V. Stalin, the Order of Lenin, awarded for 25 years of impeccable service, to officers and full foremen (chief ship foremen) was entitled to the payment of severance pay. However, the Ministry of Finance of the USSR could not finally decide on the size of this allowance, and then it was decided, along with the Order of Lenin, to award a ZIM car in a government configuration. It is curious that Nikita Khrushchev, having come to power, immediately canceled this entire reward system for length of service.

Already in the early seventies, after the mass write-off of ZIMs from state institutions and taxis, private traders bought them like ordinary cars. The price of the GAZ-12 did not exceed the cost of the Zhiguli. Owners often used these vehicles to carry heavy objects such as potatoes. It was at this time that most of the surviving ZIMs lost their historical configuration, acquired alien transmission units, engines from trucks, and so on, which makes a complete ZIM in its original factory configuration a very rare car and a rather desirable find for a collector.

EXPORT

ZIM cars were exported mainly to the countries of the socialist camp, as well as to a number of capitalist countries, for example, Finland, Sweden (there is a mention of ZIM on the streets of Stockholm in one of the detectives of the Swedish writer Per Valle).

SPORT

On the basis of ZIM units, racing cars of the Avangard series were built.

Since the 1980s. ZIM on the movie screen embodies nostalgia for the post-war period and becomes a kind of symbol of the late Stalin era (see Winter Evening in Gagra, 1985).

Restored to its original (authentic) state in the Molotov-Garage studio, a copy of ZIM appeared in the TV clip "Clouds" by the group "Ivanushki International". ZIM also appeared in the clip "Moscow Bit" by the "Bravo" group.

Currently, some restored copies of ZIMs are successfully used as wedding limousines, and also actively participate in various shows of vintage cars and the filming of historical films ("Driver for Vera" and many others).

ZIM is mentioned in the work of the Strugatsky brothers "Monday starts on Saturday" ("Here is ZIM on the way, and I will crush them ..." What physical strength lies in these lines! What clarity of feeling! ")

Another GAZ-12 ZIM can be seen in the film "Austin Powers: Goldmember" in the memoirs of Dr. Evil and Austin Powers.

• Even during the period of established production, a maximum of 6 ZIM vehicles were produced per day. In total, over a ten-year period from 1950-1960, about 21,000 units were produced.
• The alligator hood of the GAZ-12, thanks to the special design of the hinges, opened both to the left and to the right; it could even be removed.
• Despite the enormous size of the car, the driver's seat was cramped due to the desire to free up space for an official passenger.
• The car could get under way in any of the available three transmission gears (at the same time, a categorical prohibition to get under way in a direct drive was even separately spelled out in the operating instructions). Over time, a leak opened in the fluid coupling due to wear of the corrugated copper seal with graphite rings. The refurbishment was not easy - the corrugated seal was in a big shortage. The car owner N. Farafonov from Alma-Ata came up with an effective method to eliminate this drawback - instead of turbine oil, 6.5 kilograms of refractory grease (Litol24) is pumped into the fluid coupling with a grease gun - the unit works reliably and durably even with a defective seal. This does not affect the operation of the fluid coupling, except that in winter the smoothness of the ride is somewhat reduced.
• During the development process, so much attention was paid to the design of the GAZ-12 that Andrey Lipgart temporarily moved his workplace to a group of designers; it should be noted that the success of this approach was complete - even today the style of ZIM looks impressive.
• The grille of the GAZ-12 at first glance looks similar to that of the 1948 Cadillacs; in fact, it is only superficially similar (in shape and number of cells), but it has a different design, different proportions, and when compared gives a different impression of the front of the car.
• The red "comb" on the hood of the GAZ-12 had decorative lighting, which was turned on at night.
• The graphic alignment of the body sections on the drawings gave such a surface that gave the correct - smooth and without kinks of the light layers - glare, this effect was additionally improved by experiments on models illuminated by various light sources; to paint a body designed with such a calculation in modern paints - "metallic", which in principle do not give the correct glint, is a technical barbarism; the same applies to almost all cars from the 1940s - 50s, the surface of the body of which was designed for non-metallic paints, and a clear, correct flare is an essential part of the visual perception of the car.
• Smooth body contours were not easy, the mating surfaces on the conveyor were leveled with light-alloy solder (as was the case all over the world on top-class cars in those years). According to some reports, up to 4 kg of tin was consumed for each body. Therefore, during body repair work, it was necessary to substitute a container for draining tin melted by electric welding.
• Some auto repair enterprises (especially in the Baltic States) built pickup trucks based on ZIM in the 60s, presumably their carrying capacity could be up to 750 kg and possibly more. In addition, a hearse was manufactured in Riga in 1971 by converting a ZIM into a pickup truck.

1952 GAZ 12 ZIM
Owners by TCP: 1
Condition: not broken
Mileage: 22278 km

Engine power: 90 HP

Was purchased for restoration. 1952 There is a TCP. Urgently!

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GAZ-21 "Volga"- Soviet passenger car with a sedan body. Until 1965, it was called the GAZ-M21 Volga. Serially produced since 1956 ...
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GAZ-12 ZIM

The Gorky Automobile Plant named after Molotov receives the instruction to start developing a representative car at the beginning of 1948. The car was supposed to take an intermediate position between the middle-class car GAZ-M20 Pobeda and the ZiS-110 limousine. Factory indexed car GAZ-12 ZIM, had a very definite status - a car for the second echelon of the country's leadership. In all the main parameters, it should have been one step lower in class than a limousine ZIS-110, which was used by the top authorities. That " ZiM"was doomed to be forever second, no one doubted - it is enough to compare the names assigned to the Moscow and Gorky automobile plants. Initially, a rather difficult task was set - it was necessary to design a body with a characteristic appearance and memorable" licked "forms.

The chief designer of the plant, Andrey Alexandrovich Lipgart, came to the conclusion that an American sedan could serve as a prototype. Cadillac Fleetwood 61 1948 release. And then - for the first time, by the way, in world practice - Lipgart decided to make a passenger car with three rows of seats without a frame, with a monocoque body. Only such a design was able to provide an acceptable mass and more or less "government" dynamics. The first two prototypes of the car, however, did not satisfy Lipgart with their behavior. And only the third, with a front cladding that copied the Cadillac's, and bumpers stylistically similar to Buick's, corresponded to the technical specifications.

The new Gorky car was more advanced than the ZiS. At first, " ZiM"had a load-bearing body, which for a long-wheelbase and heavy machine was in those years a bold, unparalleled solution that made it possible to lighten the structure by 200 kg at once. Secondly, the ZIM was the first to use a hydraulic coupling, which ensured exceptional smoothness. It was located between engine and grip and ensured good adaptability of the engine to road conditions. Two, not connected to each other, cups (rotors) of the fluid coupling form a toroidal cavity filled with oil. The pump rotor is divided by bulkhead blades into 48 compartments, and the turbine rotor is divided into 44. When the fluid coupling rotates in the compartments, oil "bundles" circulate in the compartments, which transmit torque from the pump rotor to the turbine rotor and at the same time allow their relative slippage. And although the hydraulic clutch does not increase the engine torque, as, for example, a torque converter with a hydromechanical transmission, it allows you to get under way in second gear, provides quick and smooth acceleration, and allows you to drive in direct gear on roads with frequent climbs. The first gear is used only at the beginning of movement on a muddy country road, or uphill.
The Gorky Automobile Plant was the first to use the so-called flange axle shafts of the rear axle on a Soviet car. Nowadays, they have received widespread recognition and completely replaced the previous design, where the axle shaft was connected to the brake drum with a tapered journal with a key. Another innovation introduced on the machine GAS-12, steel wheels with 15-inch rims.

Design GAZ-12 ZIM

photo of the interior of GAZ-12 ZIM

The luxurious ZiM pleasantly surprises with its elegant lines and an abundance of chrome in the exterior and interior - in the style of the best American cars of the late 1940s. Much attention was paid to the smallest details of the appearance, which determined the overall perception of the car. With all its appearance, the car evokes genuine respect, while clearly indicating the status of its passengers.
To accommodate three passengers on the rear sofa, the designers pushed the rear wheel recesses, increasing their track to 1560 mm (the front track was 100 mm less). This decision required the extension of the tail section of the body, which was done due to the protruding fenders of the rear wheels. From a design point of view, this allowed breaking the monotony of the long sidewall, making it more interesting and dynamic.
The car was equipped with a three-band radio, a clock with a weekly winding, an electric cigarette lighter, and ashtrays. In addition, there were lamps on the dashboard indicating that the handbrake was tightened and that the temperature in the cooling system increased (over 90 degrees).
Interior GAZ-12 had luxurious, by the standards of those years, elements: heating and ventilation of the rear of the cabin (in addition to the front) with a separate fan, which was controlled from the rear sofa; wide armrests for rear passengers; four ashtrays; soft handrails in the back of the rear sofa and on the sides; additional lighting; a separate cigarette lighter in the passenger compartment and so on.

photo of the GAZ-12 ZIM interior

Hinge doors GAZ- 12 was made in such a way that the front ones opened to the front of the car, and the rear ones, on the contrary, to the back (like the gate leaves). This can be seen from the location of the door handles. Swivel vents were only on the front door. The rear windshield was curved. ZiM was the first Soviet car to use curved glass.
The body housed three rows of seats. Medium (the so-called "strapontenes") - could be folded and stowed in the back of the front seat (the distance between the backs of the front and rear sofas was about 1.5 m). The front seat was not adjustable.

It is worth remembering also about the hood of the GAZ-12: a one-piece stamped hood could open to either side - to the left or to the right, and when both locks were opened, the hood could be removed from the car altogether. An interesting design element was attached to the bonnet - a red comb, which had decorative lighting. And finally, it was on the hood of ZiM that the emblem with deer- the symbol of Nizhny Novgorod.
The body was painted at the plant with the highest quality nitro enamels in 7 layers with manual polishing of each. Cars were painted mainly in black, less often in white and dark green. Taxis were usually gray and ambulances were ivory. Cherry, green and gray cars, as well as two-tone combinations were offered for export. For China, a batch of cars was made in the popular blue color, which traditionally symbolizes good luck and success.

GAZ-12 ZIM engine

Basically it is six-cylinder engine GAZ-11, the design of which the Gorky residents began in 1937. Its release was launched in 1940, and it was used on GAZ-11-73 and GAZ-61 passenger cars, as well as on light tanks and self-propelled guns of the Great Patriotic War and GAZ-51 trucks.
76 hp, which this engine developed in the "light" version, and even more so 70 hp. the cargo version (GAZ-51) was not enough for the GAZ-12. Therefore, the engine was boosted, raising the power to 90 hp. at 3600 rpm. For this, the compression ratio was increased to 6.7 units (fuel - gasoline with an octane rating of at least 70). Generally, "ZiM" was designed for 72nd gasoline, but the car can drive 66th, and 76th is an ideal option for it.

Brake system GAZ-12 ZIM

To improve the efficiency of the brakes, the factory turned to a dual-drive pad design. Each block of the front wheels was equipped with an independent working cylinder. The GAZ-12 became the first Soviet car with brakes to have two drive pads. An interesting design, also used for the first time in our automotive industry, was the engine hood. It could be fully opened to the left, right, and even removed altogether. The locking handles were under the dashboard. No, of course, in the "ZIM" power steering - then they didn't even stutter about it. And the diameter of the steering wheel is chosen so well that it is quite easy to drive. This car does not like abrupt steering movements at all, it obediently obeys, if in its management you combine confidence, tenderness and a sense of space.

Modification of GAZ-12B ZIM "Ambulance"
(1951-1960)

photo gaz-12B ZIM Ambulance

Since 1951, on the basis of "ZiM" they began to produce an ambulance carriage - GAZ- 12 B... The ambulance had a glass partition behind the front seats, two reclining chairs and a retractable stretcher in the rear compartment. Sanitary version, produced from 1951 to 1960. The cars were painted in ivory. In addition, the cars were equipped with an upper lamp with a red cross and a searchlight on the driver's side. The front two seats were separated from the rest of the cabin by a glass partition.
The body remained 4-door - loaded and unloaded stretcher through the trunk lid. GAZ-12B had an identification light on the roof and a searchlight on the left front fender. Such machines remained in the "armament" of the Ministry of Health until the beginning of the 80s and finished their days in provincial cities. In the same 1951, 3 copies were made with a 4-door open body phaeton - GAZ-12A. The car did not go into series production - the reinforcement of the body, associated with the "removal" of the roof, resulted in an excessive weight of the car for a 95-horsepower engine, and its dynamic performance was unsatisfactory.

photo gaz-12B Salon Ambulance

Modification of GAZ-12 ZIM "Taxi" (1955-1959)

The simplest modification is a taxi car. The changes affected only the upholstery of the seats, they put leatherette instead of velor. The scale of production of "ZiMs" (up to 2,000 vehicles per year) soon made it possible to provide all the nomenclature auto fleets. Due to the high cost - one and a half times more in comparison with the "Pobeda" - was released relatively little. GAZ-12A were used mainly as route taxis, including on intercity lines.

Modification GAZ-12A ZIM phaeton and the hearse (1951)

In 1951, three prototypes were made with a four-door phaeton body. The car did not go into the series - the reinforcement of the body, associated with the removal of the roof, led to an excessive weight of the car and its dynamic performance was unsatisfactory.

ZIM(until 1957), GAZ-12- Soviet six-seater six-window long-wheelbase large sedan, mass-produced at the Gorky Automobile Plant (Molotov Plant) from 1949 to 1959 (some modifications - to 1960.)

ZIM is the first representative model of the Gorky Automobile Plant. The predecessor of the "Chaika" GAZ-13. Basically, it was used as a company car ("personal") intended for the Soviet, party and government nomenklatura - at the level of the minister, secretary of the regional committee and chairman of the regional executive committee and above, in some cases it was sold for personal use.

In total, from 1949 to 1959, 21,527 copies of ZIM / GAZ-12 of all modifications were produced.

DEVELOPMENT

Above ZIM ("Molotov Plant") in terms of subordination were only the machines of the Stalin Plant.

However, this did not prevent the Molotovites from Gorky, in their tacit rivalry with the Stalinists from Moscow, to always create bolder and more advanced designs.

In particular, ZIM became the world's first car with three rows of seats in a monocoque body. On it, for the first time in domestic practice, a hydromechanical transmission was used, which ensures smooth acceleration from a standstill and ease of gear control.

INITIAL PERIOD

Development began in 1948 and was carried out on a tight schedule - it took 29 months. Designer - AA Lipgart, responsible designer - Lev Eremeev (the future author of the appearance of the M-21 "Pobeda-II", "Volga" GAZ-21, ZIL-111 and "Seagulls" GAZ-13).

COMPARISON WITH FOREIGN ANALOGUES

The tight deadlines given to the GAZ team made it possible to either approximately copy a foreign model (which, in principle, was originally intended - in particular, the factory was strongly recommended to build a Buick model of 1948 - that is, in fact, a minimally updated pre-war model of 1942), or take advantage of the existing developments and design a car that relies as much as possible on the units and technologies already mastered in production. Constructors and designers chose the second path, although the significant influence of American samples of the same class on the choice of stylistic decisions remained.

At the same time, echoing in appearance with a number of American models of the segment fine car(middle-upper class), ZIM was not a copy of any specific foreign car, either in terms of design, or, in particular, in the technical aspect - in the latter, the designers of the plant even managed to some extent "say a new word" within the framework of the world automotive industry.

STARTED IN PRODUCTION

In October 1950, the first industrial batch of GAZ-12 was assembled. In 1951, state tests of three cars with full load were carried out. The mileage of each car was 21,072 km.

The car was produced from 1949 to 1959 in the version with sedan and sedan-taxi bodies, in the version of the ambulance car with the embuence body (in fact - a hatchback) - until 1960.

A total of 21,527 vehicles were produced.

CAR NAME

Until 1957, the model was designated only as ZIM (the abbreviation of the plant's name - "Plant named after Molotov," was written in capital letters), the name GAZ-12 was purely in-plant. The nameplate of the car read: ZIM car (GAZ-12)... But after the defeat of the "anti-party group" of Molotov, Malenkov, Kaganovich and Shepilov, who joined them, the name of Molotov was excluded from the name of the plant. The car began to be named according to the factory designation: GAZ-12. Then the central apparatchiks, wishing to demonstrate their support for the party's course, preferred to replace the ZIM nameplates and emblems with new ones - GAZ. In the private sector and on the periphery of power, political changes in the design of the car were treated indifferently - largely due to this, many cars of early releases have survived to this day with the original emblems of ZIM.

SERIAL

• GAZ-12A- Taxi with artificial leather trim. Due to the high cost - one and a half times more in comparison with the "Pobeda" - was released relatively little. GAZ-12A were used mainly as route taxis, including on intercity lines.
• GAZ-12B- sanitary version, produced from 1951 to 1960. The cars were painted in a light beige color, in addition, they outwardly differed from the usual sedan by the outer hinges of the trunk lid, which opened at a large angle and allowed a stretcher to be rolled into the car's interior.

EXPERIENCED AND NON-SERIAL

• GAZ-12 with a "phaeton" body - in 1949, two experimental samples were made, but it was not brought to mass production due to difficulties in ensuring the required rigidity of an open load-bearing body.

CHASSIS

The independent spring pivot front suspension was made according to the type of "Victory" suspension (in turn, made according to the type of the Opel Kapitän model of 1938) and did not fundamentally differ from it. The rear suspension differed from the "Victory" also only in details. The shock absorbers were still lever-operated.

The steering linkage has been redesigned while maintaining the overall layout.

OTHER

Among the new products were also: 15-inch wheel rims, brakes with two leading pads, curved rear glass (the front one remained V-shaped), an oil cooler in the engine lubrication system, flange-type axle shafts, and so on.

MODERNIZATION PROJECTS

In 1956, already in the course of work on the GAZ-13 Seagull, a project for the modernization of ZIM was developed under the designation ZIM-12V. The design changes were supposed to be mostly cosmetic - a one-piece windshield, more graceful headlight rims painted to match the body color, a more generalized checkered radiator grill, other caps, side moldings, a modified tailgate design, and so on. At the same time, it was planned to increase the engine power, improve the braking properties of the car and introduce an automatic transmission from the Volga.

However, it soon became clear that the style of the car was hopelessly outdated, external modernization would not be able to significantly modernize it, and it was considered irrational to spend resources on modernization, when there were only a few years left before the launch of the new model.

EXPLOITATION

The elegant car was used not only by the high-ranking bureaucracy, but also by the establishment - prominent workers in culture, science and art. In addition, ZIM is the only model of this class that has become a consumer product, that is, it went on sale. This was not the case with the subsequent "Chaika" or with the ZISs. True, the price of 40 thousand rubles - two and a half times more expensive than "Pobeda" - made the car less affordable for the consumer. The ZIM modifications "taxi" and "ambulance" could partly satisfy the interest of a common Soviet person in complex technology, and the latter was completely free of charge. Another modification - with an open body "convertible" - was built in 1951 as an experiment, only in two copies. Reconstruction of such a body has also been mastered today by the Molotov-Garage workshop.

REPRESENTATIVE FUNCTIONS

ZIM supplied to the plane's ladder. 1957, Leipzig, East Germany.

WORK IN TAX PARKS

The first ZIM taxis appeared in Moscow in the summer of 1952 to serve the international economic meeting. They were painted light gray with a white checkered stripe. In 1956, the 1st Moscow taxi fleet received 300 ZIM vehicles. In 1958, there were 328 of them.

They were operated in Moscow until 1960. ZIMs-taxis, as a rule, were black with a belt of white checkers. In the late 1950s, on the doors of ZIMs converted into taxis from personal cars, two stripes of checkers were separated on the doors in a circle with the letter T in the center.

The TA-49 counter was placed on the floor. Since the fare on the ZIM was significantly higher than on the usual "Pobeda", they were mainly driven by the team; subsequently, ZIMs were mainly transferred to a minibus operating on fixed routes, however, insufficient capacity - only 6 people, two of whom sat on inconvenient folding strap-ons - led to their rather quick replacement with RAF-977 minibuses, more compact, roomy and economical (since 1959).

ZIM taxis were also used in other cities. For example, in Minsk they appeared on October 23, 1954.

SALE FOR PERSONAL USE

The ZIM car was the most democratic of all Soviet cars of a large class: unlike the Chaeks that followed it, it was widely used in taxis and ambulance services, and was sold to the population.

Before the 1961 reform, the price of the car was 40,000 rubles, a fortune at the then average salary, despite the fact that the prestigious "Victory" cost 16,000 rubles. (later 25,000 rubles), and "Moskvich-400" - 9,000 rubles. (later 11,000 rubles). So there were simply no queues for ZIMs then, and their main buyers were the Soviet scientific and creative elite from among those who did not directly rely on a personal car. However, such "private" vehicles were often driven by personal drivers, serviced and stored in government garages.

Moreover, at the suggestion of J.V. Stalin, the Order of Lenin, awarded for 25 years of impeccable service, to officers and full foremen (chief ship foremen) was entitled to the payment of severance pay. However, the Ministry of Finance of the USSR could not finally decide on the size of this allowance, and then it was decided, along with the Order of Lenin, to award a ZIM car in a government configuration. It is curious that Nikita Khrushchev, having come to power, immediately canceled this entire reward system for length of service.

Already in the early seventies, after the mass write-off of ZIMs from state institutions and taxis, private traders bought them like ordinary cars. The price of the GAZ-12 did not exceed the cost of the Zhiguli. Owners often used these vehicles to carry heavy objects such as potatoes. It was at this time that most of the surviving ZIMs lost their historical configuration, acquired alien transmission units, engines from trucks, and so on, which makes a complete ZIM in its original factory configuration a very rare car and a rather desirable find for a collector.

EXPORT

ZIM cars were exported mainly to the countries of the socialist camp, as well as to a number of capitalist countries, for example, Finland, Sweden (there is a mention of ZIM on the streets of Stockholm in one of the detectives of the Swedish writer Per Valle).

SPORT

On the basis of ZIM units, racing cars of the Avangard series were built.

CULTURAL ASPECTS

Sometimes in Soviet cinema, ZIM was used as an indirect characterization of a character. So, in the comedy by Eldar Ryazanov "Give a Book of Complaints" (1964), the negative hero-bureaucrat drives a morally outdated and archaic-looking ZIM by that time, and a progressive official drives the much more modern "Seagull" GAZ-13.ZIM as one of the flagships Soviet automobile industry regularly appeared in the 1950s and 60s both in documentary filmmaking and in a number of feature films, for example, the fantastic detective story "The Secret of Two Oceans" and the comedy "Seven Old Men and One Girl", as well as on various advertising posters dedicated to resorts , road safety and so on. The car is even mentioned in the novel by Vladimir Nabokov "Pnin" (1957), written and published in the United States.

ZIM appears in Samuil Marshak's fable "Measures of Weight" (1954), where it symbolizes the wealth and high status of the Soviet writer: Victory "..." In Sergei Mikhalkov's poem "Change" (1952), ZIM also symbolizes the status of a passenger: "In ZIM - a gray-haired lieutenant general, // Next to the driver is his adjutant ..." politically irrelevant "ZIM was replaced by" The Seagull ":" In the "Seagull" - the gray-haired Lieutenant General ... ")

Already in the early 1970s, the car, the production of which was completed only ten years ago, was perceived as hopelessly outdated, a kind of symbol of the departed (cf. Yuri Trifonov's Preliminary Results, 1970: “I drove to Tokhir in an old, rattling a loosened bicycle, antediluvian ZIM. It was written off somewhere for antediluvian and dilapidated "). On the other hand, in the tenth episode of the television series "The Investigation Are Lead by Knowledge", released in 1975, the leader of a gang of plunderers of non-ferrous metals reproaches a young waste collector for driving a ZIM (probably restored) in a desire to stand out from others, attracting unnecessary attention of law enforcement agencies : “… And here you are, a little goat, driving around in ZIMs so that everyone would point their fingers at you! You can't, like everyone else, ride a Zhiguli! "

Since the 1980s. ZIM on the movie screen embodies nostalgia for the post-war period and becomes a kind of symbol of the late Stalin era (see Winter Evening in Gagra, 1985).

Restored to its original (authentic) state in the Molotov-Garage studio, a copy of ZIM appeared in the TV clip "Clouds" by the group "Ivanushki International". ZIM also appeared in the clip "Moscow Bit" by the "Bravo" group.

Currently, some restored copies of ZIMs are successfully used as wedding limousines, and also actively participate in various shows of vintage cars and the filming of historical films ("Driver for Vera" and many others).

ZIM is mentioned in the work of the Strugatsky brothers "Monday starts on Saturday" ("Here is ZIM on the way, and I will crush them ..." What physical strength lies in these lines! What clarity of feeling! ")

Another GAZ-12 ZIM can be seen in the film "Austin Powers: Goldmember" in the memoirs of Dr. Evil and Austin Powers.

• Even during the period of established production, a maximum of 6 ZIM vehicles were produced per day. In total, over a ten-year period from 1950-1960, about 21,000 units were produced.
• The alligator hood of the GAZ-12, thanks to the special design of the hinges, opened both to the left and to the right; it could even be removed.
• Despite the enormous size of the car, the driver's seat was cramped due to the desire to free up space for an official passenger.
• The car could get under way in any of the available three transmission gears (at the same time, a categorical prohibition to get under way in a direct drive was even separately spelled out in the operating instructions). Over time, a leak opened in the fluid coupling due to wear of the corrugated copper seal with graphite rings. The refurbishment was not easy - the corrugated seal was in a big shortage. The car owner N. Farafonov from Alma-Ata came up with an effective method to eliminate this drawback - instead of turbine oil, 6.5 kilograms of refractory grease (Litol24) is pumped into the fluid coupling with a grease gun - the unit works reliably and durably even with a defective seal. This does not affect the operation of the fluid coupling, except that in winter the smoothness of the ride is somewhat reduced.
• During the development process, so much attention was paid to the design of the GAZ-12 that Andrey Lipgart temporarily moved his workplace to a group of designers; it should be noted that the success of this approach was complete - even today the style of ZIM looks impressive.
• The grille of the GAZ-12 at first glance looks similar to that of the 1948 Cadillacs; in fact, it is only superficially similar (in shape and number of cells), but it has a different design, different proportions, and when compared gives a different impression of the front of the car.
• The red "comb" on the hood of the GAZ-12 had decorative lighting, which was turned on at night.
• The graphic alignment of the body sections on the drawings gave such a surface that gave the correct - smooth and without kinks of the light layers - glare, this effect was additionally improved by experiments on models illuminated by various light sources; to paint a body designed with such a calculation in modern paints - "metallic", which in principle do not give the correct glint, is a technical barbarism; the same applies to almost all cars from the 1940s - 50s, the surface of the body of which was designed for non-metallic paints, and a clear, correct flare is an essential part of the visual perception of the car.
• Smooth body contours were not easy, the mating surfaces on the conveyor were leveled with light-alloy solder (as was the case all over the world on top-class cars in those years). According to some reports, up to 4 kg of tin was consumed for each body. Therefore, during body repair work, it was necessary to substitute a container for draining tin melted by electric welding.
• Some auto repair enterprises (especially in the Baltic States) built pickup trucks based on ZIM in the 60s, presumably their carrying capacity could be up to 750 kg and possibly more. In addition, a hearse was manufactured in Riga in 1971 by converting a ZIM into a pickup truck.

Here it is - in front of me, stretched out low and imposing over the gray concrete. It is immediately evident: the car is not so-so, you can't put anyone in it. And at the same time, it is not as strict and monumental as its senior "nomenclature colleague" the ZIS-110 limousine. In terms of appearance, ZIM with its rounded shapes and soft lines of windows is much more democratic. Actually, and in fact, he came out like this - and this is his first "highlight". Created as a personal car for high-ranking officials (from the secretary of the regional committee to the minister), this 5.5-meter sedan with three rows of seats also worked as a taxi and was even sold relatively freely to private individuals! For half an hour I will introduce myself as one of these "private traders" - after all, I want to get behind the wheel, and ministers and party functionaries went to ZIM exclusively on the back sofa.

Squeeze

To be precise, privately owned ZIMs were also usually driven by hired drivers. Still, the buyers of this model were wealthy people - famous artists, scientists, writers, military officials and other representatives of the Soviet elite. After all, the price tag that adorned a car in a Moscow auto shop could impress anyone: 40 thousand rubles! Well, consider me a fashionable metropolitan journalist of, say, 1950.

Photo by Andrey Vladimirov

I pull on the handle extending from the body, and after it a heavy door falls on me. I grab it with my hand and dive inside. To get into the salon, you don't have to bend down too much - it was not for nothing that the car was designed for responsible comrades, whose dress code included an invariable hat.

But what nonsense - there are no more places ahead than in Victory! The sofa, which is deadly built into the body, is, of course, great in itself - both wide and soft, and the upholstery is what you need, but you actually have to press against the steering wheel.

"Bagel" is huge, if you take it "at nine and three o'clock", it seems that you are trying to hug a huge globe. This is good - it means that it will not be particularly difficult to spin around in parking lots. The clutch and brake pedals are just like on Pobeda - tight, insensitive, and you also have to strain your back to squeeze them out. The floor-mounted accelerator is a pleasant thing as usual, and the big move here is rather a plus.

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On the left, from under the dashboard, a powerful handbrake lever protrudes downward, also a copy of Pobedovsky's. The thing is doubly necessary, since we have a transmission fluid coupling at ZIM, which, like the early "automatic machines", does not allow the car to be braked in a parking lot with a gear. Under the steering wheel on the right flaunts a thin gearshift lever - how easy and soft it walks! Why, for example, on the "400th" Moskvich was it not to set it up like that? True, the lever stroke from top to bottom is huge, and it's fortunate that you need to switch infrequently - but we'll talk about the second "highlight" of ZIM later.

Cuddle

The rear doors open in an unusual way even in the 1950s - against the move. The sofa sits far behind the doorway, and I didn't think it was comfortable. But inside, in the rear of the cabin, there is definitely a real kingdom of comfort and coziness. Fabric upholstery is everywhere (I ask you not to confuse my "private" car with a leatherette-upholstered taxi set!), A deep soft sofa with armrests, small windows and wide "partitions" between them create a downright homely atmosphere. It is better not to recline a couple of additional strap-on seats - they take up a lot of space, plus their metal frame introduces an element of some kind of bureaucracy.

A Soviet citizen could not find such a spaciousness and such a home environment in a passenger car anywhere else. But I, of course, having got used to the role of the picky Soviet "major", I will say that in the "member" ZIS-110 there is even more space - both in width and in height. In any case, once, with a malfunctioning strapon, I had to sit in the "one hundred and tenth" cabin in an ordinary Viennese chair, which the driver grabbed for me right in the lobby of a provincial regional committee ...

Officially, the car was announced as a six-seater. I don’t know how they counted at GAZ in the 1950s, but I would not take the driver into account: three of us can easily sit in the back, plus a couple of people - on the folding ones, and one more - next to the driver. A partition separating the driver from the "VIP compartment" is clearly asked for behind the seat of the first row, but it is not there, despite the fact that all other parameters make it possible to consider the ZIM as a limousine. Behind - the aforementioned armrests, three ashtrays, and even a hint of its own climate control in the rear zone, in the form of a personal supply of warm air from the "stove". And in case of heat - sliding door windows and rotating vents, including the rear.

Understanding

However, from the plush comfort of the aft compartment, I return to the cramped driver's post. I studied the instructions for handling the hydraulic coupling the day before, so ... I immediately start looking for the starter button! Yes, yes, these are the 1950s, comrades, and the fashion to start the engine by turning the ignition key had not yet come. On my early example, the start button is located near the accelerator, and I push it down with my foot.

The engine starts up a little like a cargo, the starter turns hard, which is not surprising - after all, the inline 90-horsepower "six", albeit with modifications, was borrowed just from. Its idle operation is interesting - the massive body conceals all vibrations, only an almost imperceptible smooth hum can be heard from the front. Pressing on the accelerator is accompanied by a soft jolt of the body and an increase in sound.

So, the clutch is on the floor, with a long, confident movement I turn on the gear (by the way, the second one, as the instructions recommend) and, not caring too much about accuracy, I release the clutch to the end. I press the accelerator once, another - a little deeper, and ... Nothing happens. Yeah, as soon as I press the gas pedal properly, I make the car slowly move forward. I sink the pedal literally to the floor, the revs increase, the acceleration too. I release the accelerator abruptly, press again - no jerks in the transmission. “It’s been possible for a long time,” the owner prompts.

Let's swim!

I switch to the highest third gear and again notice that the way I handle the clutch is not reflected in the movement and the car as a whole (and from the habit of coordinating the work of large pedals, it is not very delicate). The engine is still barely audible and hums softly somewhere in front, from below - no jolts, no dynamic jerks. This is another feature of ZIM, due to the presence of a fluid coupling between the engine and the clutch.

But the smoothness of the transmission is just a side effect of this unusual device. For the sake of this alone, no one would fence a garden with the introduction of such an innovative and unusual unit as a hydraulic coupling into the design. Its main advantage, or, if you like, its purpose is to minimize the need for gear changes as much as possible. And this goal has been achieved - sometimes it seems that in one gear - the second or third - you can drive even the whole day. The second is more for the city, although the third allows you to move at city speeds without jerking, jerking and other signs of "gasping" from low engine speeds. The first gear is used extremely rarely, it is like a kind of "lowering" necessary for starting with full load in the lift.

It is significant that the hydraulic coupling quite successfully replaces the automatic transmission in the "plug" mode. When you need to slow down for a short time and immediately go again, you do not have to turn off the second gear, but only release the gas and slow down to a full stop, and then release the brake pedal and, increasing the speed, go again. Interestingly, the acoustic comfort in the cabin is almost always at the same level: a low-speed engine (maximum power at 3,600 rpm), thanks to the fluid coupling, does not experience significant loads during transient modes, and therefore works mostly "without straining".

This flexibility and smoothness of the transmission is in harmony with the smoothness of the overall ride. ZIM's suspension was the most common at that time: independent spring in front, dependent spring in rear. And here, and there - shock absorbers, still lever, but already double-acting. There is an additional anti-roll bar in front, but in fast corners the car still rolls impressively. Yes, about the turns. The steering wheel is not heavy at all, and the steering precision is surprisingly good.

Above the irregularities, the car just floats. The salon is so "abstracted" from the road that you do not always understand whether the wheel has hit the hole or you have successfully "missed". Here, of course, not only the softness of the springs and springs in combination with long levers plays a role, but also the long base (3,200 mm), and the advantageous ratio of sprung to unsprung masses due to the large body (curb weight 1,940 kg).

Remembering

Another feature of ZIM as a nomenclature car is, if I may say so, its democratic nature. Not only could a car be bought in a store, but it also served in an ambulance, in a taxi and even worked as a minibus! Thanks to this, a lot of ZIMs have survived to this day, because cars written off from taxi companies and ambulance stations were sold to ordinary citizens at the residual price. The luckiest of them fell into the hands of restorers in time, who gave us the opportunity to admire these technically perfect and externally expressive cars even today.

Ban on name

Why does the car have two names, and both are abbreviations? From the very beginning, the GAZ-12 index was purely service, internal plant. After launching into production, the car received the trade name "ZIM" - that is. "Plant named after Molotov", as GAZ was called at that time. But in 1957, the party and statesman Vyacheslav Molotov fell into disgrace, and the plant was deprived of his name. The car began to be called according to the factory index GAZ-12, the letters "ZIM" on the nameplates were replaced by "GAZ". Moreover, they say that some especially zealous "users" of the sedan have changed them even on their old, previously released cars ...

Hastily

Oddly enough, this completely successful and even striking car was designed, one might say, in a hurry. For some reason, the need for a domestic car for high-ranking party and government officials arose unexpectedly, models of this size (between 5.5 and 6 meters in length) and capacity (six passengers and three rows of seats) were not even in the shortly before this approved type of model a number of the Soviet car industry.

When the Molotov Plant received a government order for the production of a car of the "middle" (by then standards) class, less than 2.5 years were left before the scheduled date of its putting on the assembly line. The chief designer of the plant, Andrey Lipgart, found himself in a difficult situation. Then he had not yet "answered" for the "childhood illnesses" that led to the forced halt of its production for a year, but here it is another impossible task. The management from the Ministry of Automotive Industry, who understood the problem, recommended to quickly copy one of the Buick models, which was also available. But it was framed, and this meant additional wasted time for fine-tuning and launching into production.