Gold Of The Lot: The Brightest, Most Interesting And Rare Modifications Of The GAZ-M1

2023 Author: Natalie MacDonald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-26 13:59

This spring, the 85th birthday is celebrated by one of the first mass passenger cars of the USSR - GAZ-M1. The first copies of the model were assembled in March 1936, and serial production started in May of the same year. For the anniversary of the legendary Soviet car, I would like to recall the most beautiful and rare versions of the "emka", which you may not even have heard of.

GAZ-M2

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According to a cooperation agreement between Ford and the government of the USSR, which was signed in the late 1920s, the Americans pledged to supply technical documentation for new models within 9 years. Therefore, after the first "Russian Ford" - the licensed model GAZ-A - followed by a more advanced model - Ford B, also known as the 1932 Ford Model 40 model year. It was she who became "emka".

The Soviet side was offered cars with both four and eight-cylinder engines. For M1, GAZ chose a simpler option. But on the experimental M2 coupe (quite a suitable name for a fast car, isn't it?) It was the American V8 flathead engine that was installed.

"Um-second" was almost an exact copy of the so-called "three-window" (two side and one rear window) coupe Ford Model 40 - with the exception of stamped wheels (the Americans had spokes) and as many as three reserves, although the "Fords" somehow dispensed with one.

Alas, a beautiful and, it must be, fast car - American clones with V8 accelerated to a hundred in 17 seconds, which was an excellent result for that time - was built in a single copy. Therefore, only a few managed to check its speed.

GAZ-61

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But the unique off-road sedan GAZ-61 became serial - in fact, the world's first comfortable SUV. And there is nothing American left in it!

The breakthrough "sixty-first" was authored by Vitaly Grachev, the legendary automobile and tank designer. The powerful, by the standards of the time, six-cylinder GAZ-11 engine (85 horses versus 50 in the stock "emka"), as well as the plug-in four-wheel drive turned the civilian sedan into a brilliant rogue.

On the basis of the 61st, they also produced a version with a "pickup" body - a light artillery tractor GAZ-61-416.

With the beginning of the war, the GAZ-61 was very much needed on the front, but at the same time rather complicated and expensive in the production of GAZ-61. Moreover, mass deliveries of "Jeep" and "Dodge" have solved, if not all, then many of the needs of the Red Army in automotive technology. Therefore, the off-road sedan never became a serial.

GAZ-11-415

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However, "emo" pickups were made not only for military needs. A prototype of a real Soviet utah - GAZ-41 - was presented back in 1937.

It was a two-seater, rear-wheel drive vehicle with a separate cargo platform and a payload of half a ton. The serial production of the stylish and practical 415 was set up only two years later, and by 1941 they managed to assemble about eight thousand pickups.

The rarest and most fiery version of a light truck was called the GAZ-11-415 - all the advantages of an ordinary GAZ ute, multiplied by an 85-horsepower six-cylinder engine. It is a pity that the batch of such machines was limited to only two copies!

GAZ-21

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This car has nothing to do with the popular Volga. It's just that they didn't work very carefully with digital indices in Soviet times. The pre-war GAZ-21 is a 6x4 pickup truck with two rear axles leading.

"Twenty-first" is more correctly called a search option on the way to the same brilliant GAZ-61. Initially, the already mentioned Vitaly Grachev considered the option of increasing the vehicle's cross-country ability by adding another drive axle. However, in practice, it turned out to be difficult and ineffective.

And also, if you look closely, you will notice that a cab from a GAZ-AA truck is installed on the GAZ-21. In general, a real Frankenstein, which never made it into the series.

GAZ-25

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An advanced and even rarer version of the GAZ-21. This time with a closed body from the "emka", but with the same stunted 50-horsepower four-cylinder engine and two driving axles in the back.

Although, if not for the modest power, the GAZ-25 could well be called the Soviet analogue of the famous Mercedes-Benz G4 - the car of the high command of the Third Reich.

They say that only two copies of the GAZ-25 were assembled, one of which was put up for sale a couple of years ago for 30 million rubles. It seems even inexpensive for a very limited edition model.

BA-20

In the 1930s, when the thought of the designers of armored vehicles was marking time at a crossroads, light armored vehicles seemed to be quite a promising direction. This is how the BA-20 appeared, in the contours of which the “emka” marking the anniversary is unmistakably guessed.

However, only bulletproof armor and a single DT machine gun in the commander's cupola made the "twenty" not so much a formidable weapon as an easy target.

The weaknesses of the machine came out literally after the first combat use in the battle on Khalkhin Gol, and with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the production of BA-20 was stopped altogether. There was simply no point in wasting precious time and energy on this model.

GAZ-GL1

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I would like to end the list of unusual "emoks" on a peaceful and inspiring note. And for this, the racing GL1 is perfect. If you believe the urban legends, then the reason for the appearance of the first factory racing car in the USSR was … Cord 812. Allegedly, the pilot Mikhail Gromov was able to accelerate to 141 km / h on a donated American roadster. And in order to support the honor of the domestic car industry, GAZ decided to build its own answer to Chamberlain, that is, "Korda".

All this sounds, of course, funny, but not too convincing. For the whole plant to strain, trying to wipe its nose of the production American model ?! Although…

One thing can be said with certainty: GL1 (the car index is an abbreviation of "Racing Lipgart", declassifying the personality of the designer) turned out to be beautiful and interesting. You will not recognize the strict "emka" in this impetuous handsome man.

Thanks to aerodynamic body contours and boosted up to 65 hp. The GL1 four-cylinder engine managed to heat up almost to 162 km / h! The all-Union speed record was set by the pilot Arkady Nikolaev in September 1940.