Let us start with some sad news. Objectively, the automobile industry in modern Russia is way behind the rest of the world, with a 10 to 15 year progress gap.  Lagging behind in technology, low and inconsistent quality of parts and assembling are the actual problems of all car plants in Russia. But was it all the same back in the Soviet times? Today we are going to try and answer this question.

Lada 1300/1.2 or VAZ 2101

Back in remote 1945, the year of the Victory in Second World War, just one day before the Triumph Parade in Moscow the team of Soviet engineers introduced new model M-20 “Pobeda” (eng.: Victory) to Stalin. Stalin was dissatisfied. “That is definitely not our best victory”, — he said with a frown. Nevertheless in the fall of 1945 the car mass production commenced.

Soon, in 1947, “Pobeda” was awarded the medal of the World Car Exhibition in Brussels and shortly afterwards these cars were exported to Western Europe.  “This car is a real Russian tank. It does not care about bad roads, … its cabin is warm and convenient…” – was written in one Belgian car review article.

Pobeda cabriolet

“Pobeda”, designed during the Second World War,  became the world trend setter. Its most distinguishing feature was the absence of the wheel arch skirts. Later this innovation was widely used in the design of many cars made in the USA and Europe. This can be easily proved by comparing “Pobeda” to 50-s Volvo: the fronts look very similar.

Volvo replica of Soviet Pobeda

“Pobeda” was produced in the USSR from 1946 till 1958 in two modifications of the cabin – sedan and cabriolet; a 4WD option was available. Even after the phase-out, the manufacturing rights were purchased by a Polish manufacturer “Warsaw”, which carried it on  till 1974 (sic!).

Willis

Soviet off-road vehicles of that time were introduced by the model GAZ-67. The brisk military jeep looked quite similar to American “Willis” but from the technical point of view, it was an analogue of GAZ-61 designed in 1941, and thus, was an exclusive Soviet development. This car was in the military inventory of the USSR and friendly nations of Eastern Europe. In the winter of 1967 under –50 degrees Celsius two-car race of GAZ-61 started from Russian Yakutsk through to themost Northern point of the USSR Cape Dezhnev. This result was repeated only in 1998 when later models were specially developed and equipped.

GAZ 61–417

In 1956 the new Soviet car “Volga” GAZ-21, also awarded by the Brussels Exhibition, was introduced. The first modification of “Volga” GAZ-21G had an engine from “Pobeda” and a three-speed gear box. In 1957, this car was modified  — now to an automatic transmission (sic!). It was a great success for the USSR automobile industry at the time. It was a fine car with a figurine of a deer on the bonnet and five-pointed star on the radiator, with a roomy comfortable cabin, powerful engine and automatic transmission (never introduced in USSR before).  Unfortunately, the level of car maintenance of that time was not high enough to service and repair automatic transmissions, and as a result, the production was cut down after only 300 cars were produced.

Volga GAZ-21

To replace GAZ-21, the Soviet engineers introduced GAZ-21P where the only difference was the absence of automatic transmission. By 1959 the five-pointed star on the radiator was replaced by vertical slots in the grid. Three years later the figurine of a deer also vanished distressing the potential buyers. Instead the car was modified with a new engine with 75 horse powers (an even more on export modifications).

Volga GAZ 21

The actual price of this masterpiece of the Soviet automobile industry was about 10,000 rubles. Interesting to mention, an average salary of a Russian worker was 120 rubles per month.  According to the statistical data of 1970 only 2 households out of 100 owned a automobile. Dig it.

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Related posts:

1. Soviet Automobile Industry — Part 2 of 2
2. Soviet Cars: History of the Copy-and-Paste Industry — Part 3 of 3
3. Soviet Cars: History of the Copy-and-Paste Industry — Part 2 of 3