GAZ-AA is a truck from Nizhny Novgorod (1932), and later an automobile plant in the city of Gorky, with a carrying capacity of 1,500 kg. The model is also called "lorry". The debut 5-year plan for improving the economy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1928-1932) made it possible to initiate a magnificent development program.

The plan provided for the construction of more than 1,500 massive objects, including hydroelectric power plants, metallurgical plants, automobile and tractor plants. To carry out all these projects, transport was needed, therefore, there was a difficult strategic task - to organize a full-scale production of trucks. The entire GAZ range.

By the end of the 1920s, only a couple of automobile enterprises were serially producing vehicles of the cargo series in the Union: the First State Automobile Plant in Moscow (formerly AMO), as well as the Third State Automobile Plant in Yaroslavl. But their speeds were not enough, since all two factories were created on the platform of pre-revolutionary capacities.

For example, by the beginning of the first five-year plan there were only 1,500 cars in the whole country. Therefore, no one was surprised that by the mid-1920s, the Soviet government planned to build the first automobile giant in the Union, the capacity of which would allow the production of about 100,000 vehicles per year.

When the necessary experience and technological resources were lacking, it was best to buy production abroad. And the opinions of Russian experts were focused on the overseas country, or rather, Detroit.

This settlement, located in the north of America, was for the builders of socialism an exemplary automobile grand, a city of the future, in which the settlers live and work, obeying a single and general functional concept. It was in a similar format that the Russian automobile giant had dreams of constructing.

They wanted to build living quarters for workers near the workshops and design the entire accompanying infrastructure. Following the negotiations, General Motors decided to abandon its involvement in the project, so Ford was the only variation. This option suited the USSR quite well.

The very name of Henry Ford, along with his automotive empire, has often been associated with technological solutions and rationalism. In addition, this company was quite well known in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, after all, even if not huge, but still stable purchases of "Ford" cars were made since 1909.

On top of that, for the needs of our country, cars of the brand new Ford base, which replaced the previous generation "T" in 1927-1928, were the best suited. The Ford-A passenger car and the Ford-AA lorry were simple, unpretentious, inexpensive and, which is very important, were well unified between themselves in constructive terms.

According to the technical agreement, the USSR signed a contract with Ford on May 31, 1929. It was planned to build a car city not far from Nizhny Novgorod, near the village of Monastyrka, where there was a confluence of navigable rivers (Oka and Volga). The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics signed an agreement for the construction of an enterprise together with a camp for those working on it with the Austin Company in Cleveland.

The USSR began to cooperate with the famous American company Ford. As a result, the light saw the light of the one and a half-ton truck GAZ-AA, which was similar to the American.

In addition to the construction of the automobile giant, the agreement with Ford provided for the operational construction of a pair of car assembly plants, which will be located in Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow. It was planned to use them to assemble Ford cars from ready-made car sets, because under the contract the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was supposed to buy 72,000 car sets.

These assembly shops provided an opportunity to start the production of machines even before the end of the construction of an enterprise in Nizhny Novgorod and were such factories for training production for those who worked there. To build and equip branches, a company from America decided to attract the already popular construction company in Russia Albert Kahn, Inc.

Already at the onset of 1929, it was decided to allocate a share of the area of \u200b\u200bthe enterprise of vehicles for agriculture "Gudok Oktyabrya", which were located in the city of Kanavin, for the construction of the first car assembly plant. Already in the winter of next year (1930), the debut Ford-AA trucks began to be assembled on it from America's car kits.

By the end of the same year, passenger cars, together with cargo "Fords", began to be produced from the primary conveyor of an automobile enterprise in Moscow. But the desires of Nizhny Novgorod about the automobile town began to melt little by little.

In part, this was due to the small project estimate, as well as due to the labor enthusiasm of the manufacturers, which in an interesting way could harmonize with the negligence and lack of agreement in the decisions and work of many management bodies.

The largest automobile enterprise in European countries was built at the right time, but the result was far from the "air" dreams of an industrial town of the future. The new building near Monastyrka was popularly called Sotsgorod, and after 2 years it acquired the official status of the Avtozavodsky district of Nizhny Novgorod.

While the second half of the first month of 1932 was going on, the enterprise, prepared for the start of the design capacity, was able to master the production of the cylinder block, along with the crankshaft, frame side members and other other parts. Due to the failure to achieve the consistency of deliveries of components from subcontractors (more precisely, sheet steel), the “pre-series” cabins began to be assembled using plywood.

On January 29 of the same year, the debut NAZ-AA machines were produced from the assembly line of the enterprise in Nizhny Novgorod. In October (7th) Nizhny Novgorod was renamed to Gorky, therefore the name of the car was changed. At the end of 1932, the production of freight vehicles of the Gorky Automobile Plant was about 60 vehicles every day. The name of the truck became - GAZ-AA.

The GAZ AA car turned out to be reliable and durable, and lost, perhaps, to one real rival in the USSR car market - the Moscow three-ton ZIS-5. However, the automobile enterprise in Gorky had much more production capacity than the ZIS.

Therefore, just, the lorry was supposed to become a "multifunctional soldier" of the national economy, and Gorky specialists designed various "civil" and "military" vehicles and improved the existing standard vehicles.

In order to check the structural weaknesses of the gas AA one and a half truck, at the end of the 32nd year, trucks took part in a test run from Nizhny Novgorod to Moscow and back. Six months later (in 1933) they took part in the summer extreme "Karakum" race.

The lion's share of standard breakdowns was explained by the low quality of components supplied by subcontractors. While 1933 was going on, car factories in Moscow and Gorky fully used the arsenal of vehicle kits from America and migrated to the creation of cars from spare parts of their own production.

After 3 years, the Gorky Automobile Plant was able to master the production of a brand new GAZ-M power unit (50 horsepower), which was a forced version of the GAZ-A engine. One and a half ton trucks began to be equipped with the last engine in 1938.

At the same time, a brand new, synchronized with the "emka" steering device was released, together with reinforced fastening of the rear springs. A similar modification was named GAZ-MM. The Gorky Automobile Plant assembled the last one and a half on October 10, 1949.

The Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant, which had been collecting MM since the 47th, stopped assembling these models only by the 51st year. From the 32nd year, before the start of hostilities, the KIM enterprise, together with the car assembly plant in Rostov-on-Don, produced more than 800,000 1.5-ton AA and MM. During the hostilities, GAZ produced 102,300 cargo vehicles.

Specifications

Power unit

For all its simple qualities, the GAZ-AA was technically quite perfect. As an engine, it had a four-cylinder engine with a working volume of 3.285 liters and which produced about 42 horses. It was the same power unit that was installed on the GAZ-A passenger car.

It was an in-line, water-cooled, four-stroke, carbureted, four-stroke, low-valve. Fuel consumption per 100 km at full load (when driving on the highway) was 18.5 liters. The maximum speed is 70 km / h.

Transmission

The engine transmitted torque to the drive axle through a dry friction single-plate clutch and a four-speed manual gearbox. It is presented as a three-way mechanism and has four gears forward and one reverse. The box was not synchronized. Rear wheel drive.

Suspension

It was represented by dependent mechanisms. The wheels mounted in front were suspended on one transversely mounted semi-elliptical spring, where there were push rods that could transfer the load to the frame.

Rear mounted wheels were mounted on a pair of longitudinal cantilever springs and were devoid of any shock absorbers. As a design feature, there was a rear suspension mechanism together with a transmission, where a propeller shaft was used in the role of longitudinal thrust, which rested against a bronze bushing.

Brake system

The service brake had a mechanical drive. The brakes were foot-operated with shoe mechanisms. All wheels were equipped with drum brakes.

Steering

The steering gear had a worm and a double roller, and the gear ratio was 16.6.

Specifications

Electrical equipment

Six-volt equipment GAZ-AA, with polarity "plus to ground" was typical for that time. Consumers were powered by a 3ST-80 battery with a capacity of 80 Ah, or a GBF-4105 generator with a 13A output and a power of 80 W. The same remained for all GAZ-MM cars.

For comparison, we point out that the GAZ-M1 passenger car, in fact with the same engine, immediately received a GM-71 generator, with a return of 18 A and a power of 100 watts. It would seem that everything is quite clear - the bureaucratic "emka" has four more consumers: the second sound signal, the second, rear right lamp, interior lighting, and even a "cigarette lighter" (cigarette lighter, in the terminology of those years).

But what fundamentally prevented the one and a half from giving a more powerful generator and a larger battery, for more reliable engine starts in cold weather? After all, trucks, as you know, belong to the category of means of production ...

But inertial type starters, MAF-4006 models, power. 0.9 h.p. on all pre-war GAZ cars were still the same.

As mentioned above, the 4-cylinder pre-war engines of GAZ cars had three types of ignition distributors, and of course, they were completely interchangeable when installed on engines.

On the GAZ-AA, the IGTs-4003 unit was used, with a lamellar (using contact buses) distribution of high voltage pulses through the candles. He had only a manual remote control of the ignition timing.

Almost the same outwardly device IM-91, which received a centrifugal ignition timing machine, was installed on the engines of passenger cars "emoks"

And finally, the GAZ-64 and GAZ-67 jeeps received the R-15 and R-30 units, not only with ignition timing machines, but, in contrast to the “emoks”, with easily removable valve covers and plug-in connections familiar today, "Soft" high-voltage wires.

Let the reader not be surprised or puzzled by completely unsystematic, not dependent on reality, alphanumeric designations of units and devices of pre-war automotive electrical equipment .. Perhaps, by the standards of that time, not the first letters of the functional purpose of the products were encrypted in them, but the names and surnames of the designers specific products. In any case, we, alas, cannot give an intelligible explanation for such "nonsense" ...

And what did the lorries have, at least the GAZ-MM of the post-war assembly? And still the same "Option No. 1" as GAZ-AA, of the early 30s ... Summing up all the above that the "lawns" at the plant were completed according to the "residual principle", it seems that they are in the production program GAZ were, in fact, rogue cars. Although this, automatically, could be attributed to their chauffeurs. And the priority was "personal" for officials, and promising models.

As the reader understood, classic battery ignition systems were used on the one and a half, although in the 30s there were also ignition systems from magneto - autonomous high voltage pulse generators. The domestic industry produced magneto types SS-4 and SS-6, respectively, for 4- and 6-cylinder engines. But none of the sources of information at our disposal of those years confirms that magneto was also used on the motors of ordinary onboard one and a half.

The head lighting systems of the pre-war Gorky trucks were more advanced than those of their peers - the Moscow three-ton trucks. They already had "low" and "high" light, (for ZIS cars - the only mode), and a separate switch only for lighting, (for Moscow cars - a general switch for all circuits). For one and a half, the dipped beam had a lamp power of 21 candles, (21 watts), and the far one had 32 candles. The aforementioned "cargo" generators did not allow more then.

Unified with other trucks, the only round tail light had two sections. The side light section was covered with the usual red glass, and the stop-signal section was covered with yellow. However, according to the standards of that time, the power of the stop signal lamps was 15 sv.

On the electrical diagram, the reader can see the gasoline level indicator. But this pointer was mechanical, connected to a float in the tank. Located behind the "torpedo" Simply the location of the pointer scale was chosen taking into account the window for it in the general instrument cluster. This combination also included an ammeter and a reel speedometer. The speedometer coil, with the marked speed numbers, turned relative to the stationary mark on the glass of the device.

Appearance

Since the fall of the 40th, a powerful towing device began to be installed on it, along with accessories for securing a spare wheel of a different mechanism. The material of the car was changed as soon as the Great Patriotic War began. If we talk about metal, then they began to save it, therefore, over time, the front part also lost all parts that were not considered in dire need.

The wings, which were angular, were bent from roofing iron, and the roof, along with the doors, was made using tarpaulin. The headlight, together with the wiper, was decided to be installed only on the driver's side, and the front brakes, along with the muffler and the bumper, were not installed at all.

Beginning in 1943, the tarpaulin flaps of the cab side parts were replaced by wide wooden doors. A simplified modification of the GAZ-MM continued to be produced even after the end of hostilities, but the cars received full metal doors, mufflers, front brakes, a bumper and a pair of headlights.

The tarpaulin of the rear wall of the cab had a rectangular window. This is clearly visible in the photo. GAZ-AA was a fairly simple, but successful and technologically advanced truck that was not picky and could not run on the highest quality fuel.

The front of the Lawn was pretty simple. There was a simple bumper, a pair of headlights, and a large rectangular grille. Two front lights were attached to the wheel fenders and the front hood. An audible signal was installed under one of the lamps.

The bonnet covers opened like gull fenders, providing convenient space for powertrain repairs. Nearby was a 40-liter fuel tank. The spare wheel was located under the frame at the rear of the chassis. The side part was occupied by a door with smooth wheel fenders and a comfortable step.

Also, the wooden body smoothly passed from the side to the stern. The side and rear sides were hinged. Also on the back of the vehicle, on the left side, the rear lighting could be found.

Pros and cons

Pros of the car

• High quality and reliable body metal;
• Good ground clearance;
• Excellent cross-country ability of the vehicle;
• Small dimensions of the truck;
• There is a windshield wiper (on the driver's side);
• Unpretentiousness in fuel;
• Clear service;
• Ford's American roots;
• The windshield is extended;
• Trailers can be transported.

Cons of the car

• There are no hydraulic power steering and braking systems of the machine;
• No steering wheel and sofa adjustments;
• Ascetic view of the interior;
• Weak power unit;
• Simple and cold cab;
• Dependent suspension;
• High fuel consumption;
• Low transported weight;
• Lack of any comfort.

End of issue

The production of Gaz-AA at the Gorky Automobile Plant ended in 1949, but the car continued to be produced at UlZis until 1950, and according to some reports, until 1956. The "Polutorka" was replaced by the Gaz-51 truck.

The last assembled car Gaz-51 in the GAZ Museum.

VT-10-17-FO

1929 Ford Model AA Stakeside

((reviewsOverall)) / 5 Users ( 0 Evaluations)

Reliability

Convenience and comfort

Maintainability

The GAZ-AA car is a popular Soviet car of the pre-war and war period, which has been manufactured at the Gorky Automobile Plant since 1932. The prototype for the legendary "lorry" was an American truck of no less legendary company of that era - "Ford". It was the car "Ford AA" produced in 1930, which at that time was purchased by the Soviet Union, according to the license agreement, and was the prototype.

This is how the renowned "lorry" GAZ-AA was born, which subsequently underwent modernization several times. The design of the car was simple and reliable. In those days, the Soviet auto industry was in an embryonic state, and the relatively inexpensive acquisition of a license to produce its own, domestic truck was just timely.

Why Nizhny Novgorod itself

The choice fell on Nizhny Novgorod as a construction site for the newest for that time, gigantic in scale automobile plant. Moscow, Leningrad and Yaroslavl and others were offered as alternative cities. Each of them had certain advantages. However, the full range of them all was concentrated only in Nizhny Novgorod.

He possessed a developed metalworking industry and qualified personnel, forest and water resources. In addition, both semi-finished products and finished products were transported there relatively cheaply. Even then, Nizhny Novgorod itself had the status of a large railway junction located at the confluence of the Oka and Volga, which were two navigable rivers.

The Gorky plant itself did not lag behind, which then possessed a high technical potential, as a result of which it was decided to launch production facilities at GAZ. It is interesting that the car, produced under an American license, was soon transferred to domestic components. It is clear that it would be more elementary to develop some units at your enterprise than to write them out overseas, and then wait for delivery for more than one month. Consequently, they began to collect the "lorry" on their own and with their own materials.

Modernization process of GAZ-AA "Polutorka"

GAZ-AA "Polutorka" reached the level of mass production in 1932, then in the assembly workshops of the car plant immediately began to demonstrate high speed in the production of trucks. Sixty cars rolled off the new assembly line every day, but there was still potential for capacity expansion.

The Soviet version differed from the American one in a number of characteristics. So the tin clutch housing was replaced with a cast one, the worm gear steering was strengthened, and the carburetor was equipped with an air filter.

The design of the body had to be done anew, the onboard version was made, comparing the domestic GAZ-AA drawings. Later, Soviet designers developed a unique tipper version of the "lorry", which differed in that the body did not need to be turned over. The loads themselves slid under their own weight along the bottom of the body, which was specially calculated. All that was needed was the opening of the tailgate.

Undercarriage GAZ-AA

Structurally, the rear suspension of the "lorry" was peculiar and unusual. For example, its semi-elliptical springs were treated in a special way. They were positioned in front of the rear axle beams in such a way that their damping takes on the lever characteristics. As a result, the rear suspension design has become more compressed, which is reflected in its greater manufacturability relative to full elliptical springs. However, this design had one flaw. So in the process of braking by the spring blocks, the entire load was taken upon itself, which led to frequent failures. There was a loosening of the ladders, and shifts of the spring sheets relative to the longitudinal axis began to occur.

GAZ-AA cabin made of wood

The GAZ-AA "lorry" lorry began to be fully equipped with Soviet parts in 1933. The cabins in the first cars were made of wood, and from 1934 the car was equipped with a metal module with a canvas roof. The GAZ-AA frame had leaf spring suspensions. The missing shock absorbers added instability and rigidity to the car's ride. At the same time, the car successfully transported goods and broke down infrequently. The GAZ-AA motors were unpretentious and highly maintainable. The lowest-grade petroleum products, low-octane gasoline and even kerosene were poured into the gas tanks during the hot season.

Weaknesses of the Lorry

The weakest points of the "lorry" were the starter with the battery. Their service life barely reached half a year, after which the units failed, and the batteries were repaired. Most of the cars were started with crooked starters.

In addition, there was one significant problem in the operation of the GAZ-AA truck, an acute shortage of tires. It even happened that the rear axles of cars were completed with the help of not four wheels, as established by the passport, but only two, because of which the carrying capacity of the car suffered.

Whatever it was, but "lorries" were the most massive Soviet cars of the pre-war and war period. In addition, their chassis has been used for various modifications. They were ambulances, various tanks, light and acoustic installations, repair mobile "flyers", anti-chemical, hygienic and sanitary laboratories, radio stations and early warning radio systems, charging and lighting stations and aircraft launching units.

Some updates "one and a half"

In 1938, the "lorries" received new GAZ-MM engines with a capacity of up to 50 liters. with., which were previously installed on "Molotovts-1". In addition to the modernized motors, "lorries" were equipped with improved steering mechanisms and propeller shafts with needle bearings. The chassis was made spring-loaded, but there were no shock absorbers.

Since "lorries" are technologically advanced cars, and their production was established in the shortest possible time, the car has become indispensable in all sectors of the Soviet economy. In those days, a carrying capacity of up to 1.5 tons was quite enough. So, during the harvesting period, a lot of cars left the fields, which soon took out the harvest for processing, and then they returned to the car farms. "Lorries" were considered universal vehicles, being trouble-free and unpretentious.

Technical characteristics of GAZ-AA "Polutorka"

Vehicle layout: front-engine, rear-wheel drive. The cars had:

• Length - 5335 mm;
• Height - 1870 mm;
• Width - 2030 mm;
• Ground clearance - 200 mm;
• Wheelbase - 3340 mm;
• The curb weight is 1750 mm.

Transmission - mechanical, four-speed gearbox. The maximum speed of the "lorry" developed up to 70 km per hour.

"Lorries" - versatile cars of their era

In addition to ordinary flatbed trucks, the Gorky Automobile Plant produced a dump modification of the GAZ-C1. This car worked according to a rather unusual principle. Loads in the bodies were originally arranged in such a way that their masses pressed on the rear walls, which were locked with an ordinary stopper. Loaders or drivers opened the locks, and under the weight of their own masses, loads, for example, building materials, fell out. After that, the empty bodies were locked again.

Combat path of GAZ-AA. "The road of life"

The role of GAZ-AA - "one and a half" cars in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 has been written many times and a huge number of books have been written. However, the most important historical route along which the legendary car drove was called the “road of life”, laid on the winter ice of Lake Ladoga. This was the only road connecting besieged Leningrad and the outside world.

Only light "lorries" could pass on the ice then. Military GAZ-AA with the help of darkened headlights with caution walked the entire distance. Moreover, they were constantly exposed to fire, which was conducted by German artillery, but still delivered provisions to the besieged northern capital. A lot of cars went under water, but still the city was saved.

Since the beginning of the war, the Gorky Automobile Plant produced military trucks according to a simplified version, all due to the shortage of cold-rolled metals and many other components for cars. The military "lorry" had no doors. They were replaced by installed tarpaulin screens. The two front fenders were replaced with regular roofing iron. They only braked with rear wheels, road lighting was done with one headlight. The side walls of the bodies were not hinged.

Completion of production

Only in 1944 did the complete set of cars acquire a normal format. Everything that was missing appeared: wooden doors, brakes on the front wheels, a second headlight and hinged side walls. After the war, "lorries" were still produced in large batches until 1956, while the state needed trucks. These cars met until 1960, when the obsolete "lorry" was not replaced by GAZ-51.

If you have any questions - leave them in the comments below the article. We or our visitors will be happy to answer them

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 cars 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 in Nizhny Novgorod (renamed 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 gear, 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 beginning 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 into the army, GAZ urgently made up for the losses of military transport with lorries, the appearance of which can hardly be called "brutal". So, almost immediately, the right headlight, rear-view 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 the 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.

Also, it was 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 gasoline pump, the fuel was self-propelled) - the names of this car 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 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 subsequently repeatedly modernized.

The history of the appearance of the first GAZ-AA

In the early 1930s, the Soviet automobile industry was in its infancy, or rather, it practically did not exist. The country's leadership decided to buy a license in the United States for the production of simple and inexpensive to maintain Ford-AA. The Gorky Automobile Plant at that time 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 steering gear has been reinforced;
• The carburetor got an air filter that 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 lifting body dump trucks, 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 rigid 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 peculiarity was that they worked perfectly on the worst 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, the technical characteristics of the GAZ-AA were high enough for their time. The truck became the most massive Soviet vehicle in the war and pre-war years. Many different installations, tanks, auto laboratories and special machines were installed on the GAZ-AA chassis. 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 the new GAZ-MM engine. The new motor was significantly more powerful, which increased the maximum speed of the car. 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 there were simply no more powerful trucks 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

The following truck models were produced on the GAZ-AA chassis and its improved modification GAZ-MM:

• GAZ-AAA is an interesting example of an all-terrain truck. 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 unit 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.

GAZ-AA: FROM DUMP TRUCK TO BUS. The family of cars GAZ-AA - GAZ-MM. The need for a massive one and a half ton car arose in the Soviet Union at the end of the 1920s - new factories, canals, roads and power plants were being built in the country, and it was simply unthinkable to do this without simple, reliable and maintainable vehicles. Nizhny Novgorod was chosen as the site for the construction of the giant automobile plant, which had qualified personnel, a developed transport network, and a powerful metal-working industry.

The draft design of the enterprise was ordered by the American firm Ford Motor Company, where the Soviet government commission went on May 31, 1929. Soon an agreement was signed with the Americans, according to which the administration of the Ford Motor Company pledged to provide the Soviet Union with technical assistance in the construction of an automobile plant, the organization of the production of trucks and cars, as well as in training Soviet specialists and trainees at American automobile plants in the amount of up to 50 people annually.

The prototypes of cars for their release at the new car plant were American cars - the Ford-AA truck and the Ford-A passenger car.

Serial production of one and a half-ton trucks NAZ-AA began at the Nizhny Novgorod Automobile Plant on January 29, 1932. True, at the end of the same year, both the city and the automobile plant and the cars produced on it were renamed - the city was named Gorky, the enterprise - the Gorky Automobile Plant, and cars and trucks - GAZ-A and GAZ-AA. The first lorries were made according to Ford's drawings, however, taking into account Russian realities, the overseas car had to be equipped with a reinforced clutch housing, a new steering device, an air filter, and a wooden side body designed at GAZ.

At first, the trucks were assembled using Ford components, and since 1933, all GAZ-AAs began to leave the factory gates, fully equipped with domestic parts, mechanisms and units.

1 ignition lock; 2 - fuel level indicator; 3 ammeter; 4 - button for adjusting the composition of the fuel mixture; 5 - speedometer; 6 - steering column bracket

It should be noted that for the early 1930s, the truck had a fairly perfect design. The basis of the truck was a powerful spar frame, on which the cab and body were fixed. The power unit was a 42-horsepower gasoline engine with a working volume of 3.285 liters. The main advantage of this engine was its "omnivorousness" - it worked well not only on cheap low-octane gasoline, which we hardly heard of - A-52, but also on naphtha or kerosene.

By the way, the 40-liter fuel tank on the GAZ-AA was located above the carburetor, so that gasoline entered it without a pump, by gravity.

The car's transmission included a single-plate dry clutch and a four-speed gearbox.

The suspension of the lorry is dependent, with the front axle resting on a transverse semi-elliptical spring with push rods, and the rear axle on a pair of longitudinal cantilever springs without shock absorbers. The rear suspension of the car had an original design with a so-called push tube, inside which a propeller shaft was located. The pipe rested against a bronze bushing, which required frequent repairs due to increased wear.

The main brake was mechanically driven, but due to its low efficiency, drivers preferred engine braking.

Until 1934, the truck cab was made of wood and pressed cardboard, and later a metal cab with a leatherette roof was installed on the car. In 1938, GAZ-AA was modernized - it was equipped with a 50-horsepower engine, a reinforced suspension, an improved steering mechanism, a more reliable cardan shaft and, accordingly, was given a new name - GAZ-MM. True, outwardly, the old and new lorries practically did not differ from one another.

The electric GAZ-AA was notable for its low reliability - the battery and the starter had a particularly low resource, so that drivers often had to start the car only with the starting handle. Tires also did not differ in reliability - with a standard mileage of 20 thousand km, they wore out after 8-9 thousand km. The shortage of tires led to the fact that, during the war, lorries with single-sided rear wheels sometimes rolled off the factory conveyor.

In 1934, serial production of the GAZ-AAA, a three-axle version of the lorry, was launched. This machine was created under the guidance of the leading designer of the plant V.A. Gracheva. In total, 37,373 three-axle vehicles were produced at GAZ.

The lorry served as a good base for creating a wide variety of modifications. So, at the GAZ branch, the Gorky Bus Plant, in the period from 1933 to 1950, 17-seater GAZ-03-30 buses were assembled, which were the most common in the USSR before the war. The body of this bus had a wooden frame and metal cladding. In addition to "civilian clothes", on the basis of GAZ-AA they produced a staff bus for the needs of the Red Army, and on the basis of the three-axle one and a half truck GAZ-AAA - an army ambulance bus.

In 1936, the production of a GAZ-410 dump truck with a carrying capacity of 1.2 tons was organized at the Gorky Automobile Plant. The body tipping mechanism had an original, a kind of "gravitational" drive, in which the gravity of the load worked. The body was equipped with a locking device, the handle of which was located at the left side of the dump truck. To unload the car, the driver shifted the handle, the body tilted and the load was poured back. The empty body, under the influence of gravity, returned to its original position and was again fixed with a locking device.

At the end of the 1930s, a gas-generating vehicle GAZ-42, a gas-cylinder GAZ-44, and a half-track vehicle GAZ-60 were created at GAZ. On the basis of GAZ-AA and GAZ-MM, petrol tankers, vans, as well as AS-2 auto starters, designed to start aircraft engines, were produced.

Many cars of the Gorky Automobile Plant were called up to serve in the Red Army - one and a half made up more than half of the army's vehicle fleet. Most of them were intended for the transport of troops, for which they used vehicles with an onboard body equipped with removable benches, which housed 16 fighters.

During the war, the GAZ-MM chassis was used for the production of GAZ-55 army ambulances, GAZ-05-193 staff buses, radar stations, searchlight installations, sound detectors and field workshops, and 3850 GAZ-AA and GAZ-MM trucks were equipped with anti-aircraft guns and quad anti-aircraft machine guns.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the cars of the Gorky Automobile Plant had to be significantly simplified, due to the lack of metal and the desire to shorten the production cycle of cars. So, lorries were equipped only with rear brakes, they lost the front bumper and the right headlight, and instead of rounded stamped front fenders, L-shaped fenders bent from roofing iron appeared on the GAZ-AA. In addition, only the tailgate was opened at the body, and in 1942, instead of a steel cabin, a simplified one began to be made, with a canvas top and canopies instead of doors. In 1943, the vehicles were equipped with closed wooden cabins with tarpaulin roofs.

On the basis of two-axle and three-axle one and a half, the designers of the plant have developed a lot of armored vehicles. So, from 1936 to 1938, GAZ produced 394 BA-6 armored vehicles, in the period from 1938 to 1941 - 3331 armored vehicles of the BA-10A and BA-10M types, and at the end of the 1930s, armored hulls were installed on the shortened GAZ-AAA chassis armored vehicles previously produced and used up. In addition, the designers created prototypes of the BA-9 armored car, as well as the PB-4 and PB-7 amphibious armored vehicles.

During the war years, GAZ produced 102,300 vehicles of various types and modifications. And in December 1945, the plant launched mass production of new trucks - GAZ-51 and GAZ-6Z. The assembly of the last one and a half GAZ-MM was completed at GAZ in October 1949, and a year later at the Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant.