The GAZ-AA truck is a legendary vehicle of the pre-war and military era of the USSR. This truck has been produced since 1932 at the Gorky Automobile Plant. The name GAZ-AA was not chosen by chance, since the car is a copy of the American Ford-AA truck, a batch of which was bought by the Soviet Union. It was on the basis of the "American" that the GAZ-AA truck was built, which was later repeatedly modernized.

The history of the appearance of the first GAZ-AA

In the early 1930s, the Soviet automotive industry was in its infancy, or rather it was practically nonexistent. The country's leadership decided to buy a license in the United States for the production of simple and inexpensive to maintain Ford-AA. At that time, the Gorky Automobile Plant was the largest machine-assembly enterprise, so it was decided to establish the process of assembling a Soviet truck there.

Since the GAZ-AA device was very simple, Soviet design engineers quickly replaced American components with domestic ones, which were developed at the local design bureau. This helped to ramp up production, some parts from the US had to wait several months earlier. The serial production of the Soviet truck began in 1932, and the assembly rate was immediately very high. About 60 new trucks left the assembly line of the plant per day.

The Soviet GAZ-AA differed from its American prototype for a number of reasons:

• It was decided to immediately replace the clutch crankcase with a cast one, since the American tin crankcase seemed too fragile;
• The worm gear has been reinforced;
• The carburetor received air filterthat was not on the American truck;
• The body of the GAZ-AA was developed anew according to domestic drawings.

A few years later, Soviet designers managed to develop a unique dump truck version of the GAZ-AA. Unlike traditional tipper trucks with a lifting body, the tipper lorry had a simpler operation algorithm. Due to the shape of the bottom of the body, the load simply slid through the open tailgate of the car.

Design features of the lorry GAZ-AA

The powerful GAZ-AA frame received leaf spring suspensions in the front and rear. The lack of shock absorbers made this truck very stiff and unstable, although no one even thought about such nuances in those years. Any car was then perceived as a miracle, so no one paid attention to the primitive suspension design. But it broke down quite rarely, which was repeatedly demonstrated during the Great Patriotic War.

GAZ-AA engines have always been distinguished by their simple design, high reliability and maintainability. Their feature was that they worked perfectly on the very bad gasoline and even on kerosene. This is currently used by automobile collectors who have rare GAZ-AA. Low-octane fuel is now impossible to get, but kerosene is sold freely.

The assembly of GAZ-AA completely switched to domestic components in 1933. Although many believe that the GAZ-AA cab was made of wood, it was made of wood only until 1934. Then it became metal with a tarp roof. The main disadvantages of the GAZ-AA were as follows:

• Unreliable starter and battery. The starter burst after 5-6 months, and the battery was also failing by this time, so the car was usually started with a crooked starter;
• The lack of shock absorbers also caused a lot of inconvenience to drivers;
• An acute shortage of tires led to the fact that right at the factory, the rear axle was equipped with only two wheels, instead of four, which negatively affected the carrying capacity and stability.

Despite some design flaws, specifications GAZ-AA were high enough for their time. The truck became the most massive soviet car in the war and pre-war years. On the GAZ-AA chassis, many different installations, tanks, car laboratories and special machines... The famous "Katyusha" was installed on the GAZ-AA chassis.

Modernization of GAZ-AA in 1938

In 1938, the GAZ-AA car was seriously modernized. The main innovation was new engine GAZ-MM. New motor was significantly more powerful, which made it possible to increase maximum speed cars. In addition to the motor, the modernized "lorry" received a more reliable and modern steering gear and a cardan on needle bearings.

Before the war, the machine was widely used in various branches of agriculture. At that time, a carrying capacity of 1.5 tons was considered optimal, since more powerful trucks it simply was not in the Soviet Union. However, in many branches of agriculture they quickly figured out how to increase the carrying capacity of the machine. For this, the dimensions of the body were simply increased by increasing the sides.

Technical characteristics of GAZ-AA

The Soviet rear-wheel drive truck GAZ-AA had a classic front-engine layout and the following technical characteristics:

• Machine length - 5,335 mm;
• Width - 2,030 mm;
• Height - 1870 mm;
• Curb weight - 1 810 kg;
• The engine was installed on cars until 1938. It had a working volume of 3,285 cc / cm and could develop a maximum power of 40 l / s;
• The engine cooling system was running on water;
• The transmission was mechanical;
• The checkpoint is four-speed.

After 1938, GAZ-AA was renamed GAZ-MM. During the Great Patriotic War, it was decided to simplify the GAZ-MM trucks, so the cabins began to be made of wood. The metal was needed to build tanks.

Basic modifications based on GAZ-AA and GAZ-MM

On the GAZ-AA chassis and its improved modification GAZ-MM were produced following models trucks:

• GAZ-AAA - an interesting sample of a truck high cross-country ability... It had three axles and a 6x4 wheel arrangement. This original truck was created on the basis of the American Ford Timken truck. The car was capable of carrying loads up to 2 tons in weight. But due to the complexity of the design, this truck was produced in very small quantities. Three-axle trucks of this modification were produced from 1934 to 1943. In 1937, the car received an engine from GAZ-MM;
• BA-10 - a small batch of armored cars on the GAZ-mm chassis. Since a small batch of armored hulls remained at the Izhora plant in the fall of 1941, it was decided to install them on the GAZ-MM chassis. The finished armored vehicles were assembled by the spring of 1942, and were delivered only to the Leningrad front;
• GAZ-410. Dump truck on the GAZ-AA chassis. Produced from 1934 to 1946. It had a carrying capacity of 1.2 tons. These trucks were in great demand in the construction industry, as they did not need special personnel for unloading;
• GAZ-42. An interesting modification that runs on wood. Produced from 1938 to 1950. The power of this modification was 35 l / s, and the carrying capacity was about a ton. In reality, the carrying capacity was about 800 kg, since a stock of firewood, weighing about 200 kg, was constantly fiddling with;
• GAZ-43 is the same gas generator model as the GAZ-42, only this modification worked on coal. The gas generator was smaller than that of the GAZ-42;
• GAZ-44 - this modification worked on gas;
• NATI-3 is a half-track modification. Not serially produced;
• GAZ-60 - half-track modification;
• GAZ-03-30. The most famous Soviet bus of the 1930-1940s. Notable for the 17-seater body, which was made of wood and sheathed with metal;
• GAZ-55 is a special modification, which is an ambulance.

In addition, from 1932 to 1941, the PMG-1 fire engine was produced.

The Soviet truck GAZ-AA will forever remain in the memory of people, as it constantly flashes in military chronicles. It was these trucks that made their significant contribution to the victory over Nazi Germany.

The history of the "lorry" began about 90 years ago, when the young USSR began to acquire an automobile industry. Half of the cars in the world then, in 1928, were produced by the Ford company (including 3 out of 5 in the USA proper), and despite the fact that diplomatic relations between the USA and the USSR did not exist and were not foreseen, commercial benefits prevailed over politics, and the government of the USSR entered into an agreement with Henry Ford the First on the transfer of production technologies and equipment for the production of trucks and passenger vehicles to the Soviet side, as well as on the training of Soviet specialists at the factories of the Ford corporation (there were also attempts to conclude similar agreements with Chrysler and General Motors, alas - unsuccessful).

As a result, in 1929, construction began on a huge automobile plant at Nizhny Novgorod (renamed to Gorky in 1932, and back to Nizhny Novgorod in 1991). As a consequence, the first "lorries" bore the abbreviation NAZ-AA; the abbreviation GAZ appeared a little later.

Structurally, those cars were a complete technical copy of the Ford-AA truck, assembled in the USSR at first using the screwdriver assembly method (in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod) from vehicle kits delivered from the USA. The actual technical documentation and drawings of Ford products in the USSR arrived only in 1932. Soviet engineers looked at them, shook their heads, and immediately began to modernize the car based on local realities. So, changes were made to the design of the clutch housing and steering mechanism, due to which these units were significantly strengthened. The suspension also changed a little, and a little later, the initially wooden cabin was replaced with a metal one - and a truck, outwardly familiar to everyone from Soviet films of that era, turned out.

Finally, the "lorry" matured in 1934, when an engine from a GAZ-M passenger car (the legendary "emka") was installed on it. With this power unit it was produced until the end of production in 1946. The car modernized in this way received the name GAZ-MM, and entered the history of the war as a "lorry".

Tactical and technical data

Wheel formula 4X2
Curb weight, kg 1810
Loading capacity, kg 1500
Maximum speed, km / h 70
Cruising in store, km 215
Dimensions, mm:
length 5335
width 2040
height (in the cabin) 1970
Ground clearance, mm 200
Engine power, hp from. (rpm):
GAZ-AA 42 (2600)
GAZ-MM 50 (2800)

By the way, almost immediately with the outbreak of the war, the car began to undergo serious modernization, aimed primarily at reducing the cost and accelerating production; driver comfort was among the first to be sacrificed. While pre-war cars, elegant and beautiful, were mobilized from the national economy to the army, GAZ urgently made up for the losses of military transport with one and a half trucks, appearance which can hardly be called otherwise than "brutal". So, almost immediately, the right headlight, rearview mirror, bumper, muffler, as well as a horn and front brakes disappeared from the car. Graceful, rounded deep fenders were replaced by angular ones made of roofing iron, the cabin was again made of boards and plywood. At the peak of simplification, the wiper and doors disappeared from the car (they were replaced by tarpaulin rolls), and the cabin was a wooden frame covered with fabric. The driver's seat was made of solid wood without any upholstery, and from the controls in the car there were two pedals (gas brake), a gearshift knob (without a knob), a steering wheel, and a gas meter. Such cars bear the symbol GAZ-MM-V ("V" means "Military"). However, such asceticism can be justified by the fact that these cars did not live for a long time; in the midst of the battle for Moscow - just a few days.

It was also the "lorry" that most often walked along the "road of life" in the first winter of the blockade of Leningrad. Overloaded in excess of the norm, climbing on a hill exclusively in reverse (including due to the lack of a gas pump, the fuel was self-propelled) - the names of this machine delivered food to the city and evacuated sick and weakened Leningraders, mainly old people and children.

And even in the winter of 1941-42, a legend appeared in the besieged city that once the driver of a lorry, stalled on the ice of Lake Ladoga, warmed up its engine with a torn quilted jacket soaked in gasoline and wrapped around his arms, and then left the shelling without having time to throw off the burning rags from his hands ... So I arrived in the city, with my hands burnt to the bone. And everyone who received a blockade ration of 125 grams of bread believed that in this piece of life there was a grain of flour brought by an unnamed hero along the road of life on a lorry overloaded beyond all norms.

An interesting point: despite the fact that most of the "lorries" that walked along the "Road of Life" consisted of pre-war cars, often the drivers themselves deliberately made "light versions" of them. For example, they turned off one headlight, for reasons of blackout. And the second headlight was set to a "plug", an ordinary tin with a narrow horizontal slot in the middle. This was done for reasons of blackout at night. The doors were also removed, one or both; this was done in case the car began to fall through the ice, so that nothing would prevent it from quickly jumping out of the cab. And the heat loss from such tuning was partially compensated by a large amount of clothing on the driver's body (which was almost always given to those who were evacuated in the back), and partially - by a bucket of embers on the floor.

985,000 copies of GAZ-AA, GAZ-MM and their derivatives were produced, including during 1941-45. - 138 600.
Thus, the "lorry" became the most massive Soviet car of the first half of the 20th century. They could be found on the roads of the country until the end of the 60s.

The production of trucks in Nizhny Novgorod (then Gorky) was not an accident, as was his mastery of the production of the legendary GAZ AA. None of the other industrially developed cities had all the advantages of the Volga industrial center. There was already a strong industry with a large number of experienced workers. The Volga provided abundant water and energy resources, made it possible to transport goods in the cheapest way. There was also a powerful freight railway station here.

It looks like a GAZ AA truck

Turning to the services of the Ford concern when organizing the plant and developing the first trucks was quite natural. Its own automobile industry had not yet had the experience of such large-scale work, and no foreign company could compare with the Detroit Automobile Plant. GAZ-A was copied from the American prototype. For its time, this machine was very powerful and high quality.

The engine on the truck and on the passenger version was unified, it was controlled using a four-speed manual transmission.

Some difference from the passenger car was only enhanced grip. GAZ-AA had a very small fuel compression ratio. This allowed the use of widespread low-grade fuel (naphtha, low-octane gasoline, lighting kerosene). The release of truly high-quality petroleum products was still ahead.


The equipped truck had a structure weight of just over 1.8 tons, in normal mode it could take a load of up to 1500 kg (this is where the famous expression "one and a half truck" appeared). Nevertheless, an acute shortage of a cargo vehicle fleet forced the use of vehicles as intensively as possible, often 3 tons of cargo were transported in the GAZ-AA body at the same time.

The production of a full cycle of components in the USSR began in 1933, at the same time GAZ spare parts began to be made exclusively within the country. From the next year, the truck was equipped with a metal cab (earlier versions were made of wood and cardboard). Modernization in 1938 led to the appearance of the GAZ-MM version. This car is outwardly indistinguishable from an ordinary "lorry", but it had a 50-horsepower engine.

It is not difficult to distinguish the engine on the AA and MM modifications; it is enough just to check the flange shape. In the first case, it was rectangular, and in the second, it was triangular (accordingly, the number of anchoring points also differed).

Truck design Gas MM

However, the modernization work did not stop there. Opportunities to improve the truck and its engine part were constantly sought. For those who understand engineering, it will not be difficult to distinguish between the lorries of 1938 and 1941.

After the USSR entered the war, thin steel was in demand in incredible quantities, there was no longer any left for it. The enterprise was forced to start assembling the GAZ-MMV. The differences of this car are very significant: instead of doors - side partitions (in some cases folding doors made of tarpaulin); the wings were made of roofing sheet iron. The front wheels were not equipped with brakes. They left only one headlight and made the sides non-reclining.
Only in 1944 was it possible to return to the traditional solution - a wooden-metal body.


In 1947, UAZ mastered the release of the MM modification, which finished producing this car, judging by information from some sources, only in 1956. If the calculations are correct, then the total number of gAZ-A carsAnd together with all the modifications and versions, it is approaching a million units.

Just at the time of war, the lorry revealed its potential to the fullest. Of course, in comparison with the cars of foreign armies, it was not very perfect, inconvenient to operate, and the possibilities of transporting goods were limited. But all these shortcomings are justified by one circumstance, namely, the fact that foreign trucks were not suitable for use in harsh climatic conditions.

Undercarriage drawing Gas MM

In addition, the low cross-country ability, complicated repairs and the need to use spare parts in a huge range made the practical use of foreign trucks very difficult, especially in conditions of relatively low qualifications of drivers and mechanics. GAZ AA was devoid of these shortcomings.

4-stroke gas engine the machine belonged to the lower valve type and had 4 working cylinders.Drive - rear, front suspension - dependent, - unsynchronized. The motor develops 2200 rpm. The top speed is 70 km / h, the fuel consumption is about 20 liters per 100 km, and the tank capacity is enough for about 200 km without refueling.

Modifications of the GAZ-AA truck

From 1934 to 1943, the GAZ-AAA was produced, the prototype of which was the 1931 Ford-Timken. As a result of the modernization of 1937, a 50-horsepower engine appeared on the truck, and some other components were also updated. The wheel arrangement is 6x4, the body can accommodate 2 tons of cargo. This car served as the basis for the GAZ-05-193, for several modifications of the BA armored car, among which were both serially produced and experimental floating ones. In addition, on the basis of GAZ-AAA, they created a chemical armored vehicle and an ambulance armored personnel carrier.

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GAZ-3308 cars

For 12 years, until 1946, the GAZ-410 dump truck was produced, in which the chassis was used first from the GAZ-AA, and then from the GAZ-MM. He was able to carry up to 1200 kg of cargo. In 1938, due to an acute shortage of mineral fuel, a gas generator version of the car had to be put into production.

Gas generator unit for GAZ MM

According to the technical documentation, she could take on board up to a ton of cargo, but she certainly had to carry 150-200 kg of wood with her. GAZ-42 was made until 1950. From 1938 to the beginning of the war, a coal-gas-generating version of the GAZ-43 was produced, and in 1939 a limited batch of GAZ-44 was produced, running on compressed natural gas.

The original GAZ-AA, by the way, was also transferred to more economical fuel than hydrocarbons. This was done on a proactive basis by many enterprises that produced gas generating plants for serial "one and a half".

Increasing the autonomy and saving at the same time were bought at a high price ... The motor power fell, ratio had to be increased by 0.9, and fuel system - radically change. All the necessary design work was performed by a team headed by S.F. Orlov.


However, the design idea was not satisfied with all this! There were half-tracked versions and off-road vehicles, buses, ambulances, and PMG-1 firefighters.

legendary lorry

If you have ever been to the intersection of Panfilov Street and Raiymbek Avenue, you could not help but notice the one standing on the pedestal vintage car... This is the very "lorry" that many have read about in books about the war and which everyone has seen in historical films. This year marks 75 years since the start of production in Nizhny Novgorod "lorry" - the most massive Soviet car of the mid-twentieth century. The choice of Nizhny Novgorod as the site for the construction of a new automobile plant, gigantic at the time, was not made by chance. Moscow, Leningrad, Yaroslavl and some other cities were named as an alternative. Each of these sites had distinct advantages. But in the complex they were concentrated only in Nizhny Novgorod: there was a sufficiently developed metalworking industry and qualified personnel, forest and water resources; it was also possible to provide cheap transportation of semi-finished and finished products. In addition, Nizhny Novgorod was already a large railway junction at that time, which was also at the confluence of two navigable rivers - the Volga and Oka.
Gipromez and the Metallstroy trust were commissioned to carry out the initial draft design of the automobile plant. However, Soviet specialists did not yet have experience in the automotive industry, especially large-scale ones. Therefore, it was decided to turn to private companies in the United States, where the government commission left on May 31, 1929.
The choice fell on the Ford company. He was not accidental either. While in automotive world there was no more famous figure than Henry Ford, whose factories produced every second car on the planet in 1922.
As basic models for production at the new plant, a Ford-A passenger car and a one and a half-ton Ford-AA truck were identified, by that time already widely known in different countries and well-proven. They did not wait for the main plant to go into operation. Ten kilometers from Nizhny, in Kanavino, an assembly line was installed at the Gudok Oktyabrya plant. Under an agreement with Ford, units and parts were sent there from the United States through Murmansk. On February 1, 1930, the first 10 Ford-AA trucks were assembled in the car assembly shop, and at the end of 1931 the production of Ford-Timken three-axles was launched. But then came the solemn day on January 29, 1932. The first truck of the Nizhny Novgorod automobile plant NAZ-AA rolled off the assembly line to the sound of the factory siren. By the end of the year, the plant produced 60 trucks a day and mastered the production of GAZ-A cars. Yes, yes, already GAZ, not NAZ, since in October 1932 Nizhny Novgorod was renamed Gorky. Changed the name and car factory.
For all its simplicity, the car was technically quite perfect. It was equipped with a four-cylinder engine with a working volume of 3285 cc. cm, which at 2600 rpm developed a power of 42 liters. from. It was the same engine that was installed on the passenger "Gas-A". He transferred his power to the drive axle through a single-plate dry friction clutch and a four-speed gearbox.

The wheel suspension was dependent. The front wheels were suspended on one transverse semi-elliptical spring with push rods that transferred the load to the frame. The rear ones were held on two longitudinal cantilever springs without any shock absorbers at all. A design feature was the rear suspension and transmission device, where it was used as a longitudinal thrust cardan shaftresting against a bronze bushing.
The service brake had a mechanical drive. Due to the extremely low compression ratio of only 4.25, low-octane gasoline was used as fuel, which was very important in those years. The fact is that the Soviet industry did not produce high-octane fuel, and even planes flew on gasoline with an octane rating of 70 units. The "lorry" could drive both tractor naphtha and kerosene lamp. The gasoline tank was installed in front of the front wall of the cab. Fuel from it entered the carburetor by gravity. The fuel range was 215 km. The carrying capacity of the car with its own curb weight of 1810 kg was equal to one and a half tons. Hence his nickname "lorry" comes from. Despite this, "lorries" almost always operated with significant overload and often transported up to three tons. A scarce starter with a battery was distinguished by a low resource - rarely on which car they served for more than six months. Therefore, in real operation, the car was started with a "crooked starter", that is, with a crank.


GAZ-AA has been assembled completely from Soviet components since 1933. Until 1934, it was equipped with a wooden and pressed cardboard cabin. Since 1934, he received a metal cabin with a leatherette roof. In 1938, the truck was modernized and received a 50-horsepower GAZ-MM engine - exactly the same that was put on a passenger car. However, there were no external differences between GAZ-AA and GAZ-MM. After the start of World War II, due to the lack of thin cold-rolled steel and a number of components supplied by third-party enterprises, GAZ was forced to switch to the production of a simplified military truck GAZ-MMV, whose doors were replaced by triangular side fences and roll-up canvas doors, the wings were made of roofing iron by a simple bending method, there were no brakes on the front wheels, only one headlight and non-folding side walls were left. Tires with low mileage were especially scarce, therefore, during the war, one and a half lorries often left the assembly line with only two rear wheels, that is, with a single rear axle tire, which, accordingly, reduced the carrying capacity.
It was during the Patriotic War that the brightest page of the biography of the "lorry" falls. Many now scold this car, considering it technically backward compared to the cars used in the German army. However, all the shortcomings of the "lorry" with the beginning of the war turned into its merits. The fact is that the cars used by the Nazis made in Germany, France, Italy, Czechoslovakia and Austria were not adapted to work in winter conditions, had insufficient maneuverability, were very difficult to repair and maintain, and a wide variety of their models significantly hampered the supply of spare parts, training of personnel and repairs. The cars of the Red Army were devoid of these shortcomings. In addition, their simple design and high reliability greatly simplified their operation and maintenance.

This truck played a prominent role in the history of the Soviet Union for several reasons. Firstly, it was with GAZ-AA that the production of cars at the Gorky Automobile Plant began. Secondly, GAZ-AA is one of the first domestic cars produced on a conveyor belt by the flow method in quantities that significantly exceeded the production volumes of all previous car factories of Tsarskoy and Soviet Russia... And, finally, thirdly, GAZ-AA and its later modification GAZ-MM turned into the most massive truck of the Industrialization period, and during the Great Patriotic War, these vehicles became one of the main vehicles of the Red Army, one of the most important weapons and symbols of our Victory.

The contract of the All-Union Council of National Economy with the Ford motor company provided for the purchase of a license for the production of a unified family of cars and trucks. Indeed, the engine, some steering units, a radiator, a hood, an engine shield (dashboard) of the body, front fenders, a gas tank and all electrical equipment for a GAZ-AA truck are the same with passenger car GAZ-A... On the one hand, this reduced the cost of production and simplified the supply of spare parts. On the other hand, the "light" aggregate base determined the small carrying capacity of the truck of 1.5 tons. From modern positions, GAZ-AA and GAZ-MM are definitely considered low-tonnage trucks, but remember that the most common Soviet truck AMO-F15 in the early 30s was designed for the same 1.5 tons. It was for this indicator that the first GAZ trucks received the nickname "lorry", under which they went down in history. Ford cars release before 1932 model year They were distinguished by a very simple, sometimes primitive design, designed for large production volumes, maintenance available even to a novice mechanic, and primitive fuels and lubricants. In the United States after the Great Depression, such budget cars ceased to be in demand, gave way to more advanced and expensive models. And in the just beginning of the Industrialization of the USSR, it was just the simplest, simple to repair, capable of running on gasoline and oil of the lowest grades of cars that were needed.

The first cars left the assembly line of an automobile plant in Nizhny Novgorod on January 29, 1932. Until October, the plant was called Nizhny Novgorod, and, accordingly, all this time, one and a half lorries wore the NAZ-AA brand. The cars produced in the first year differed from the later ones with a wooden angular cabin. Only in 1933, when new production sites for stamping body panels began to work, GAZ-AA received a "classic" steel cab with a leatherette roof, similar to the cab of a 1930 Ford-A pickup.

In the 30s, GAZ produced not only ready-made "lorries", but also car kits for assembly at the KIM plant in Moscow and the car assembly plant in Rostov-on-Don. Moreover, in Moscow, the production of GAZ-AA was quite massive, and continued until 1938, when KIM was redesigned for the production of light cars.

The truck differed from GAZ cars by a more powerful clutch and a 4-speed gearbox. The Ford-AA has a suspension scheme that was not used on later models. soviet trucks... In front, instead of two longitudinal ones, there was one transverse spring. Rear axle it was suspended on canteliver springs - their front end was attached to the frame, and the rear end to the axle housing. The classic leaf spring suspension both ends of the springs are connected to the frame, and the bridge is suspended in the middle. Also, the GAZ-AA propeller shaft was enclosed in a pipe. Wheels with strong stamped rims received the classic Soviet cargo landing diameter of tires - 20 inches, but the width and height of the tire profile of the "lorry" is noticeably smaller than that of ZIS trucks and later GAZ models.

The four-cylinder engine produced only 40 hp. But, thanks to the maximum torque at low revs, he had almost "tractor" traction, which allowed him to slowly get through the off-road or load the body much more than the passport carrying capacity. In 1938, the engine was modernized, using parts from the American Ford-B engine, its power increased to 50 hp, and the "lorry" changed its name to GAZ-MM. Externally, the engines of the old and the new model are easily distinguished by the shape of the flange of the water pump (pump) attachment to the cylinder head. The GAZ-AA has a rectangular flange, the pump is connected to the head by four pins, and on the GAZ-MM there is a triangular flange, respectively, on three pins. In both engine modifications, gasoline was fed by gravity from the gas tank located in the "torpedo" cabin to the carburetor installed below the intake manifold with a typical upward flow of the mixture typical of the 30s. With this scheme, there was no need for a gas pump. It was the power system that the GAZ-MM engine differed from the engine passenger car GAZ-M1, which had a gas pump and a more complex carburetor. In principle, the modernization of the "lorry" was carried out constantly, especially in the late 30s, and the cars produced, for example, in 1938 and early 1941, differed from each other in a number of details.

The standard onboard platform GAZ-AA / GAZ-MM is considered an original Soviet design. On the basis of the "lorry" various factories built various special cars civil and military use. Vans, dump trucks, cisterns, buses, ambulances, firemen, cleaning, repair shops.

During the war, the "lorry" became legendary car... Gorky trucks, being the most massive vehicles in the country, made up more than half of the Red Army's vehicle fleet. On June 21, 1941, there were approximately 151,100 "lorries" in the army. With the beginning of the war, the Transport Registration Departments of the military registration and enlistment offices called for tens of thousands of vehicles that worked in the national economy - in motor depots and in small garages in cities, in agriculture. This vehicle was widely used to supply the troops of the Red Army and to ensure the work of logistic enterprises.

During the war, special bodies, like those of modern army trucks, were not yet available. For the transport of soldiers, conventional cargo platforms were equipped with removable transverse benches. When cargoes took the place of people, they were placed on the bottom of the body. GAZ-AA was equipped with four benches, which accommodated 16 people. In bad weather, the body could be covered with an awning. If a heavy machine gun was transported by car, then the number of seats was reduced by two, and when transporting it in a combat position - by four. If necessary, the truck could also carry a gun: a regimental gun with a crew was placed in the back of the GAZ-AA.

The advantages of the "lorry" during the siege of Leningrad were especially evident. When the Germans cut off all land roads to the Northern capital, on November 22, 1941, the first column entered the ice. trucks GAZ-AA and GAZ-MM. The ice road was officially called the Military Highway No. 101 (VAD-101), unofficially - "Dear Life". Trucks and even buses of various brands worked on the ice, of course, but the "lorries" had key advantage in front of the ZIS-5 and the cars on its chassis - they were much lighter, and therefore their drivers were less likely to fall through the ice.

On the ice of the lake, it was required to drive from the railway station on the western shore of the lake to another railway station on the eastern shore, and then return back. Despite frosts and snowstorms, the movement of freight transport did not stop practically for a single day during the whole winter due to enemy artillery fire and air strikes. Sections of the road with relatively hard ice were marked, traffic controllers worked on the track, but cases when cars fell into holes and cracks and then fell through and sank, occurred quite often. Just in case, the drivers did not close, and sometimes they completely removed the cab doors, so that in a critical situation they could have time to jump out and not drown with the car.

In the spring, the road worked until the last opportunity. In mid-April, the air temperature began to rise to + 12-15 ° C and the ice cover of Lake Ladoga began to melt. On the surface of the ice accumulated a large number of water. It became completely impossible to drive heavy ZISs, less than a ton was loaded into GAZs. During the week - from 15 to 21 April - the cars went through continuous water, in places up to 45 cm deep. On the last voyages, the cars did not reach the shore and people carried the cargo to the shore manually. Further movement on the ice became almost impossible, and on April 21, the ice track was officially closed. In fact, it operated until April 24, as some drivers, despite the order to close the highway, continued their flights. In total, during the winter of 1941-1942, 361,109 tons of various cargoes were delivered to Leningrad along the ice route, including 262,419 tons of food. On the way back, residents were evacuated from the city, primarily minors.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the appearance of the "one and a half" rolled off the assembly line has noticeably changed. Thin cold-rolled steel, as well as many components, turned into an acute shortage. GAZ got out of the situation by mastering the production of a simplified truck. The cab doors were replaced with side fences and roll-up tarpaulin canopies, the wings were simply bent from roofing iron, which gave them their characteristic angular shape. The side boards of the platform no longer folded back, the brakes had to be removed from the front wheels, only one headlight was left - the left one.

In 1944, the plant managed to partially restore the pre-war equipment: front brakes, folding side walls and a second headlight appeared. The cockpit was again closed, but not the same as before the war. If the cars of the 1930s had steel doors, then the "one and a half" produced at the end of the war and after it had wooden doors.

After the war, GAZ-MM rolled off the assembly line in Gorky until October 1949. And from 1946 to 1950, such cars were produced by the Ulyanovsk automobile plant UAZ, which went down in history as the last manufacturer of a "lorry".

Technical specifications

Lifting capacity	1500 kg
dimensions	5335x2040x1970 mm
Wheelbase	3340 mm
Engine	gasoline, carburetor, four-cylinder, low-valve GAZ-A
Working volume	3285 cm 3
Power	40 h.p.
Curb weight	1810 kg
Full mass	3400 kg
Maximum speed	70 km / h
Fuel consumption	20.5 l / 100 km