My brother and his wife recently fulfilled a life desire and are now working with a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Eastern Europe called Georgia CDR (Community Development and Relief). They enjoy walking around the local area, and he’s shared photos of a number of vehicles with me. We’ll start with the oldest, which is visible in the lead photo.
This flashy Moscovitch 400-420 was manufactured sometime between 1947 and 1956, and its design is essentially a copy of the pre-war Opel Kadett K38 made in Rüsselsheim, Germany.
The Opel plant ended up in the American occupation zone after the war, and the Soviet Union requested the K38 tooling as part of war reparations to compensate for loss of the KIM-10 small car production facility during the siege of Moscow. The Soviets also considered acquiring the tooling and designs for the KdF-Wagen (VW Beetle) or Auto Union DKW F8, but neither were similar-enough to the KIM-10 for their liking.
As the Opel plant had been bombed repeatedly, there was little usable tooling and engineering data remaining, so eleven captured K38s were reverse-engineered to create the 400-420. Power came from a 23 HP inline four-cylinder engine that could return around 30 MPG.
The subject car seems to be a “work in progress,” as it’s been stationary for some time.
Automobile Numbering System in the Soviet Union and Russia
| Range | Factory | Sample Models |
|---|---|---|
| 1-99 | GAZ | GAZ-13, GAZ-14 |
| 100 - 199 | ZIL | ZIL-130 |
| 200-299 | YaAZ, KrAZ | YaAZ-200, KrAZ-255 |
| 300-399 | UralAZ | Ural-375 |
| 400-449 | MZMA (AZLK), IZh-Avto | Moskvitch 412 |
| 450-499 | UAZ | UAZ-452, UAZ-469 |
| 500-599 | MAZ, BelAZ | MAZ-500, BelAZ-540 |
| 600-649 | KAZ | KAZ-608 |
| 650-699 | Buses - PAZ, LiAZ, LAZ | PAZ-652, LiAZ-677, LAZ-695 |
| 700-999 | ErAZ, LuAZ, ZAZ, RAF, trailers | ErAZ-762, LuAZ-967, ZAZ-968, RAF-977 |
Before we go any farther, I’ll share a table that shows the automobile numbering system used in the Soviet Union and Russia from 1945 through the mid-1970s, when an updated numbering scheme finally gained traction after having been introduced in 1966.
Up next is a GAZ-69 light truck, manufactured between 1953 and 1972. GAZ stands for Gorkovsky Avtomobilnyi Zavod, or Gorky Automobile Factory. Manufacturing was shifted to UAZ (Ulyanovsky Avtomobilny Zavod, or Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant) in 1954, but all of these trucks are known as the GAZ-69, regardless of the source.
The GAZ-69 replaced GAZ-67s and Willys Jeeps as the military’s light off-road vehicle, and advertising claimed the ability to scale very steep slopes. From a period print ad: “Here in the picture you can see how the car climbs the slope of 30 degrees. Maybe it’s an artist fantasy? No, the image is made from a photograph!” Comfort was not ignored, either: “Elastic suspension and soft seats provide peace for passengers when driving on rough terrain. GAZ-69 – a new victory of the Soviet automotive industry!”
Here’s another product of the Gorky Automobile Factory, this time a GAZ-24 “Volga.” Produced from 1970–92, they were considered an ‘executive’ car and carried a certain amount of status – a special permit was required for a member of the general public to purchase one.
The simulated woodgrain dash insert combined with the ignition switch mounted at knee-level below the dash pegs this car as a 1973 model – the switch was relocated to the steering column the next year to prevent knee injuries in road accidents.
Power came from a 95 HP inline four backed by a four-speed manual transmission. Reinforced unibody construction ensured the car would hold up well on bad roads – the lack of a power steering option earned the Volga the nickname, “barzha” (barge).
A variant of the Volga was the GAZ-24-03 ambulance, here being used in its later life as more of a contractor or street vendor conveyance. Note the orange-lens spotlight on the cowl?
Well, there’s what it originally looked like.
The mural on the side depicts scenes from the 1964 Georgian WWII film, Father of a Soldier, that won a Best Actor award for Sergo Zaqariadze at the 4th Moscow International Film Festival.
The GAZ-24-03 was built with a heavy-duty suspension and could seat 7-8 passengers or haul up to 880lb. of cargo with the seats folded flat – earning the Estate variant the nickname, “The Shed.”
The GAZ-24 is famous for its durability, with some examples having traveled well past 1 million km.
And now for something completely different! The LuAZ-969M was manufactured from 1971-92 by the Lutsk Automobile Factory – earlier versions were made by ZAZ (Zaporizhia Automobile Building Plant) and were the first Soviet vehicles with front wheel drive, mainly because the rear axle supplier was unable to meet demand. Later units such as our subject car (manufactured by LuAZ) came with 4WD standard.
While very crude-looking, the LuAZ-969M was actually a very capable vehicle and had more ground clearance than a Jeep Wrangler.
Speaking of ZAZ, the ZAZ-968M was a horse of an entirely different color. Where the ZAZ-969M above had the engine up front driving the front axle, the ZAZ-968M had an air-cooled engine driving the rear. These were considered super-minicars (they only made 40HP!) and the last of the series represented by our subject car was produced from 1979 through 1994. You can view one spinning out on the Nürburgring here.
While far slower than a 40 HP minicar, this ZIL-130, manufactured by the Public Joint-Stock Company – Likhachov Plant (Zavod imeni Likhachyova), was produced in far greater numbers – over three million from 1964 through 1994, in fact. Power came from a 6.0L V8 backed by a five-speed manual transmission.
Here’s a shape and name that’s likely more familiar to a western audience – the venerable Citroën 2CV, manufactured sometime between 1965 and 1975. This particular car was photographed on Santorini (an island off the coast of Greece) while my brother and his wife were celebrating their anniversary. Note the “rock chock” behind the rear wheel.
While traveling through Amsterdam, they snapped this Citroën DS, looking for all the world like a retro-futuristic spaceship.
Quad, directional headlights peg this as a Series 3, manufactured sometime between 1968 and 1975.
While in Germany for the wedding of their youngest son (serving in the US Air Force), my brother caught this Mercedes Unimog 421, which is a medium-sized truck that’s somewhat of a hybrid between the smaller Unimog 411 and somewhat larger Unimog 406. The air intake is the giveaway, as the 421 has it’s schnorchel mounted on the right side of the cab.
Our final vehicle is another very capable off-roader, the 4th generation Mitsubishi Space Gear (the Delica name was not used on vehicles sold in Europe). Manufactured between 1994 and 2007, it could be powered by a number of different engine options and it looks like this one is being used as intended.
As almost all of these are vehicles with which I have little familiarity; I had to rely on often-scant online information, so feel free to expand on or correct the descriptions in the comments.
There’s something here for everyone – what would be your pick?
All photos by David Stembridge.
Related Reading:
Curbside Classic: 1974 AZLK Moskvich 412 – Cod War Icon (by Tatra87)
Junkyard Outtake: Mikhail Krasinsets’ Auto USSR – Museum or Junkyard? (by Yuri Goliak)
I’m dying to know what those 2 guys are hauling on top of that Suzuki in photo #5. Looks like the contents of an entire apartment. I can’t imagine they could move at any more than a snail’s pace with that heap of stuff up top.
My question as well! Sometimes a trailer is the correct answer. Hopefully there aren’t any bridges or overhanging trees along the way.
They were hauling our new sofa @MTN! Pretty common here.
Nice pictures!
Great selection. I find myself with more and more appreciation for the GAZ-24 “Volga” especially after seeing them in the flesh in Cuba. Quite a nice size and seemingly logical design.
That Volga was probably the nicest cars I’ve seen here. This is one that is driven, but clearly treasured.
Like David above, I really like the GAZ-24’s design. To me, it seems like something Toyota could have made.
Also, I’d never heard the story before about the Soviets reverse-engineering the Kadett K38.
I’m impressed at how much you were able to piece together here considering your unfamiliarity with Eastern Bloc cars. One of my long-term goals here is to go through photographs I have of the Soviet Union in the early 1970s and write up some of the cars… but it’s somewhat daunting considering I don’t know much about the subject. But some day, I’ll give that a try.
Why not just put one photo up at a time and title the post”What is This”. Let us readers try to figure it out.
That’s a good idea — I will try sometime this year to go through all the photos I have, and pick out the best ones and offer it up to the readership to fill in the blanks.
I’m on board with the Volgas as well, they remind me of older Volvos. Practical size and shape and so un-stylish as to actually BE stylish, both inside and out. Great pics!
I have to admit I’m getting as much of a kick out of the Suzuki “furniture truck” as anything.
I know a lot of times it’s a matter of necessity but the Europeans (and others) work their vehicles in ways that would make your average North American faint at the thought of “abusing” their vehicles like this.
I love the big pickups and SUVs as much as anyone but pictures like this show the truth… We want our big trucks a lot more than we need big trucks.
Heck fire Uncle Jesse, we took a wrong turn at Atlanta and you wouldn’t believe what it’s like up there! I don’t think we’ll be goin back. What’s for supper? Hot dang! Possum and Rice A Roni. It sure is good to be back home.
the “flashy Moscovitch 400-420” wasn’t just a copy of the design. As far as I know it has been built on production facilities the Russians had been dismantled in Germany as reparation for the 2nd WW. So in fact it IS a pre war Kadett or maybe a facelift of the Kadett.
Yes and no. It is essentially a pre-war Kadett. But they had to reverse engineer it, as the Opel facilities were destroyed in the war. It’s exactly as it was written up in the post. if you want a more detailed description here’s the one from wikipedia:
After the Second World War the Soviet Union requested the tooling from the Opel Rüsselsheim car plant in the American occupation zone as part of the war reparations agreed by the victorious powers, to compensate for the loss of the production lines for the domestic KIM-10-52 in the siege of Moscow. Faced with a wide range of German “small litrage” models to choose from, Soviet planners wanted a car which closely followed the general type of the KIM – a 4-door sedan with all-metal body and 4-stroke engine. They therefore rejected both the rear-engined, two-door KdF-Wagen (future VW Beetle) and the two-stroke powered, front-wheel-drive, wooden-bodied DKW F8, built by the Auto Union Chemnitz plant in the Soviet occupation zone. The closest analog of the KIM to be found was the 4-door Kadett K38.[7]
On 26 August 1945, the State Defense Committee published Order No. 9905, which prescribed the start of production of the 4-door Kadett on the Moscow small car plant “without any changes to the design”. But implementation of the plan was far from smooth. The Rüsselsheim plant had been deeply involved in the Nazi war effort, producing aircraft engines for the Luftwaffe, and consequently has been heavily damaged by the Allied air raids. Very little was left to be salvaged – mostly incoherent drawings and plans, with several stamping dies for the 2-door version of the Kadett to add.[7]
Still, a number of Kadetts had been captured as trophies by the Red Army and were available for study and reverse-engineering. This project was conducted by design bureaus formed as Soviet-German joint ventures under the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD). There were 11 of them in total. One in Berlin reverse-engineered the engine and transmission. Another in Schwarzenberg worked on the steel body. The wooden-bodied station wagon was developed in Chemnitz. The vast majority of the personnel of these design bureaus were German specialists and craftsmen hired by the Military Administration. These design bureaus not only prepared the necessary blueprints and documentation, but also provided the wooden master model for the body. They even developed the new trim pieces which distinguished the Moskvitch from its Opel prototype, including hood emblems and hubcaps with a large “M” (for “Moskvitch”). However, the stamping dies and most of the tooling had to be produced in the USSR.[7]
The Soviets were able to reverse-engineer the B-29 bomber into the Tu-4 so a small car was probably a piece of cake in comparison.
So the Russians have been the Chinese of the cold war ;).
The German wikipedia tells a slightly different story …
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opelwerk_Brandenburg
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel_Kadett_(1936)
After all a combination of both might be closest to the truth.
I’m seeing the GAZ-24 wagon as a Russian Peugeot 404 wagon, with its three forward facing row of seats and very high utility factor.
Is that a home-made scoop on the back of that little Zaz? Not enough cooling air getting in? I’m assuming the factory didn’t build them like that…..
It is. My grandfather had the same Zaporozhets sans scoop. If was given to him for free by the government, as he had trouble walking due to the injuries sustained in a WW2. There were different variations of said vehicle for the vets. His lacked the accelerator pedal and instead had a hand controls on a steering wheel as well as a brake duplicated to be operated by both foot and hand. He didn’t like hand operated throttle control and being a very mechanically gifted, he designed and installed a proper foot operated accelerator pedal.
The car you call a ZAZ-968M was known as the Zaporozhets, made in Ukraine. The car spinning out at the Nurbergring is an NSU Prinz which looks similar but is a completely different car that was produced concurrently with the Zaporozhets.
Ah! Thanks for the clarification!
Much desirably undesirable goodness here. (As in, utterly fascinating, and entirely better left where found).
I always thought the Volga was a bit grim-faced-glorious-worker-for-the-motherland-socialist-realist-poster in appearance (lacking only grease-stained hands and a scarf tied to the top), and still think it a bit serious, but time has done a bit of softening. It now strikes as if a wider, heavierset Volvo 140, which is only a notch above a large grim-featured and boiler-suited glorious Mother admittedly, but a notch nonetheless.
And I must confess that the ’73 interior photographed here is downright nice. Especially if it was fitted to a bang-up-to-date ’63 model wherein it belongs, but then, communism was never in a rush to do new things, and sensible customers didn’t tend to complain much. (Or, at least, complain a second time).
Oh, and I forgot to add, Ed, I’m glad you included the Soviet numbering system, even if the presence of many numbers in a chart did bring immediate trauma flashbacks to maths classes in the first grade – not to mention all years of such classes thereafter – for I’m sure it was helpful to readers not quite as challenged as myself in this area of learning, however, I cannot help but observe that the result does have the algebraic effect that every Soviet-era vehicle appears to be named after some part of the Enigma code (though I s’pose that when your number plate might easily be confused with your car name by those secretly policing you, this was no bad thing).