On February 2, 1943, 91,000 Germans who survived after the encirclement of the 6th Wehrmacht Army, led by Field Marshal Paulus, surrendered. The battle of Stalingrad, which broke the back of the Reich's military machine, was over. The outcome of the great war was a foregone conclusion. And the next day, February 3, a meeting was held at the People's Commissariat for Sredmash in Moscow, at which the chief designer of GAZ, Andrei Lipgart, reported on the progress of the development of new cars and outlined in detail all future models, among which was the passenger GAZ-25. Homeland - that was the working name of the car.
After Lipgart returned from Moscow, work on the GAZ-25 unfolded with renewed vigor. The general layout of the machine was instructed to draw a group led by Boris Kirsanov. Aleksandr Kirillov was appointed the leading body designer. Their work was supervised by the first deputy of Lipgart - A. Krieger (for the chassis and engine) and Yuri Sorochkin (for the body). The latter involved a talented graphic artist with a magnificent spatial imagination - Veniamin Samoilov, who later created the final version of the Victory drawing, to create the forms of the machine. According to his sketches, plaster models of the future car were made in a scale of 1: 5 (according to other sources - 1: 4), and according to the most successful model, a life-size mahogany model was made. Veniamin Samoilov rethought the body of the German "Opel Kapitan" and created a streamlined design without protruding fenders with recessed headlights. The rear doors were hung like Opel's on the rear pillars. Alas, the author of the drawings never saw Victory - his life tragically ended shortly after the last sketch was ready. In the summer of 1943, Luftwaffe bombers intensively attacked the Gorky Automobile Plant, which then produced trucks and armored vehicles. In the course of 25 air attacks, about fifty production buildings were destroyed, 9 thousand meters of conveyor lines, 6 thousand units of technological equipment were disabled.
The plant was on the verge of stopping, but the development of a new machine was not interrupted. At this time, the first drawings of a new car appeared. In the USSR then there was no serious bodybuilding school. Not a single university in the country trained specialists in this area. For pre-war models, the bodywork was ordered, as a rule, from the Americans. This time we had to do everything ourselves. For the first time plaza drawings of the body surface were corrected by means of graphoplasty, and for the first time a full-size wooden master model of the mold was made. The name, by the way, was also the first time for a Soviet car; before that, new models received only a serial number or a digital combination. Not everything worked out the first time. Due to the fact that the master models (the tool by which the stamps are controlled) were mainly made of alder, they warped, and they had to retrain on eight large stamps. This delayed the adjustment of the stamps by two months.
A.A. Lipgart and body engineer Kirillov with Victory body models. After the production of the first machines, a rare optical effect was discovered: when looking at the front wing from certain angles, it seemed that the wing was concave. This effect was due to the fact that a large section of the wing had a constant radius curvature. For some reason, this was not noticeable on the models. For the first time faced with such an amazing optical illusion, the designers, for the first time, also used a special technique to eliminate it - surfasography (development of adjacent spatial forms on a plane).
The metallurgists also let down: there was no rolled sheet with a width sufficient for stamping large-sized parts. And the plant workers did not have the technology for stamping complex surfaces. I had to stamp some body elements piece by piece, and then weld the fragments together. Strength was broken, appearance suffered. The seams had to be filled with solder and cleaned. Production became much more complex, and the weight of the machine increased unnecessarily.
But work proceeded at an accelerated pace, and on November 6, 1944, the chief designer himself sat behind the wheel of a prototype and took it to testing. And very soon three prototypes took part in the tests.
Victory design
The seemingly laconic design was actually very rich in terms of form: numerous curved surfaces and brilliantly executed transitions created a harmonious image together. The victory looked very dynamic and modern, and the strong tilt of the glasses only enhanced this effect. However, this type of body (fastback) was not used in the Soviet automotive industry anymore - more practical sedans were built in the USSR.
Wooden demonstration model of the Victory, summer 1944. The front end was distinguished by an abundance of chrome and thoughtful lines, and the tapered hood gave the car a swiftness. Each line felt the painstaking work of designers who sought to create a worthy Soviet car. The exterior of the car turned out to be soulful and deep in essence. When developing the design of Victory, much attention was paid to small, seemingly insignificant details - Victory could be considered for a long time and all the time to discover new and new elements.
The color scheme was also thought out, which consisted of soft pastel shades - a moderate brightness of the color corresponded to the image. On the first editions of Victories, the indentations of the chrome parts - which in itself was an indisputable tribute to the era - were filled with red enamel, which made the car seem even more spectacular.
Homeland Presentation
Technically, the car was full of novelties that made life easier for the driver: now the drivers of Victory did not have to wave their hands, warning of upcoming maneuvers, since the cars had electric direction indicators and brake lights.
As for the engine, for a long time there was no consensus on which engine to put on the car. The choice was between the 6-cylinder GAZ-11, the same analogue of the American Dodge D5, which the plant mastered before the war for the GAZ-11-73, and the 4-cylinder version of this engine. The production of "sixes" during the war was well-tuned - pairs of such engines were installed on light tanks and self-propelled guns. The inline "four" was more compact and lighter, in addition, consumed less fuel. Without coming to a final opinion, they decided to leave the last word with Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. Moreover, it was time to report to the leaders on the work done.
Prototype GAZ M-20 Pobeda 1945. On June 19, 1945, five days before the Victory Day parade, the presentation of the new car took place. Both samples were brought to the Kremlin: with a 62-strong "six", and with a new 4-cylinder engine. Here are some of their technical characteristics:
- 4 cylinder - volume: 2.1 liters (50 hp / 3600 rpm), maximum speed: 105 km / h, weight: 1460 kg
- 6 cylinder - volume: 2.7 liters (62 hp / 3200 rpm), maximum speed: 120 km / h, weight: 1500 kg
Stalin was very skeptical about the car with the "six": it seemed to him that the car was reaching for the upper classes, destroying the accepted type. In addition, the fuel situation in the post-war country was not entirely favorable. After a long study of both cars, Stalin said: "We must take a car with a four, the car is good." Although from everything it was clear that he did not like the car. But the people liked her. Initially, the car was planned to be called "Rodina". "Victory" was a reserve title. They asked Stalin well. "How much is the Motherland worth?" the leader asked, squinting. And the car was named "Victory".
First batches, hand-assembled
So, on August 26, 1945, the State Defense Committee issued a decree "On the restoration and development of the automotive industry", prescribing to start the serial production of Victory from June 28, 1946. But the implementation of this resolution was fraught with great difficulties. Even such seemingly trivial tasks as the production of steel for the wheel rim, side and lock rings, front and rear brake pads and special springs for Victory "Minchermet" took "under special supervision." The Minister of the Rubber Industry of the USSR, Comrade Mitrokhin, reported to Malenkov about the difficult situation with the fulfillment of the task of the party and the government to manufacture the winning machine - the drawings of the parts were delayed for several months. In April 1946, the Ministry of the Electronics Industry got nervous. The secretary of the Gorky regional committee, Rodionov, in a letter addressed to the Ministry of Electroprom of the USSR, set the task of producing, as he put it, "optical elements of the headlight" for Victory. With the same success Rodionov, judging by the panicky letter of the Deputy Minister, Comrade. Zubovich, in the name of Malenkov, he could have ordered the manufacture of the first satellite of the Earth. Zubovich tried to explain to PB member Malenkov that "the process and production of headlamps are patented in the USA." The production of this miracle technology was unknown to the Soviet industry 60 years ago. The ministry "raised a question" with the government about the import of relevant equipment from overseas, but the Ministry of Foreign Trade did not "itch". And there were many such examples ...
Nevertheless, in strict accordance with the decree, on June 28, 1946 (although according to other sources - already on June 21), the Gorky Automobile Plant started producing cars. But the GAZ M-20 Pobedy was made almost by hand using a bypass technology. Not surprisingly, only 23 copies were made by the end of the year.
In addition, the design was constantly improved and modernized. The appearance of the car changed: the three-story radiator lining gave way to a two-story one in the spring of 1947, in which the lower chrome moldings did not go under the side lights. The side lights themselves took on a simplified form, without a round extension in the middle. On the front bumper, a crossbar appeared between the fangs. On the casing under the hood there is a flap for accessing signals. Finally, they introduced new solid rims. An early version of the dashboard with a belt speedometer, modeled on the American Chevrolet, has undergone a restyling - when it was launched into a series, the design was simplified and refined. They decided to install the speedometer in a familiar, round shape - there was a place for a possible installation of a radio receiver. The rims of the headlights were chrome plated, which gave completeness to the design of the front of the car.
On April 28, 1947, the Kremlin leaders were shown not an experimental, but a serial model - they reported about the launch of mass production.
But reporting is one thing, and making cars is another. More or less the dies were adjusted, but the metallurgists were unable to supply rolled products of the required sheet width. And the metal that was available was below any criticism. So, in July 1948, the metal from Zaporizhstal for stamping the body parts of Victory came with a defect of up to 62%! They got out of the situation by half measures: at some stage, they even imported metal from Belgium, but more often they simply selected suitable sheets from Zaporozhye rolled products, welded them together, and only after that they were sent for stamping. As has been the custom since pre-production samples, to correct surface defects that arose when using this technology, solder was fused to the seams and dents. And although lead-tin solder took 15–20 kg for one machine, together with the rest of the deviations from the technology, all this gave a weight gain of 200 kg.
The rush to launch the best post-war car produced predictable results. Two years later, in October 1948, after the release of 1,700 (according to other sources - 600) cars, the car was discontinued by Stalin's instructions, and all the already produced Victories (according to some sources) were returned to the plant for revision.
The fact is that most of the cars produced went to Soviet institutions to fairly high-ranking officials who had previously used ZiS-101 cars. This category of employees was supposed to be supplied with ZiS-110 limousines that replaced the "101", but they were produced many times less than required, so a number of "responsible employees" had to be transplanted to Pobedy. They decidedly did not like the novelty: it is cramped, the dynamics are not the same, and then there is also a factory defect. In general, there were complaints, including to the very top. All this boomerang hit the plant and the person in charge of quality - the chief designer. The situation was paradoxical: the only one who opposed the hasty launch of the car into the series was Lipgart, they did not listen to him, and then he had to answer for what he fought so fiercely ...
Completion and improvement of the design
One way or another, but the experience of operating the first batch of cars was taken into account, and the plant began to bring the car to the design parameters.
It was necessary to eliminate a number of shortcomings and defects: engine detonation, weak traction, rear axle noise, unreliable door handles, rattling glass, body leaks, weak springs, paint defects, "gluttony" and other unpleasant moments.
For the low quality of cars Pobeda Loskutov was dismissed from the post of director of GAZ. Punishment awaited Lipgart. But Andrei Alexandrovich that time got off with only a reprimand - he was taken under protection by the Minister of the Automotive Industry Akopov. The fact is that the designers of GAZ began work on a new passenger model GAZ-12, and the first prototypes of the new army jeep GAZ-69 were being manufactured, and Lipgart's experience was urgently needed here.
GAZ M-20 Victory of the 2nd series was produced from 1949 to 1955. All the defects found in the 1st series cars were eliminated. After the body was strengthened at Pobeda, parabolic sheets were introduced for the rear springs, the muffler was improved, the heater and body seals were used, the carburetor was modernized, the transmission was modified, all the "sores" basically disappeared.
As a result of the work carried out, 346 parts were improved or put into production, more than 2000 new tools were introduced. Emphasis was placed on high-performance equipment and tooling, which made it possible to establish in-line mass production of cars. All technological documentation was revised and republished. The dies have been significantly reworked, reducing to a minimum the pairing of stampings during body assembly. And this is a very big job, since in total 199,457 stamps, devices and tools were used to make Victory!
The shutdown of production made it possible to calmly and thoroughly carry out the test cycle and make the necessary adjustments to the design. Particular attention was paid to the bodywork. It was tested at a special stand at NAMI. The fatigue strength was also evaluated. An electric motor with an eccentric mounted on the shaft was attached to the body and subjected to prolonged exposure to vibrations. The victory passed this test too.
Assembly shop GAZ M-20, 1950. Further, NAMI conducted extensive research on the dynamic properties of the machine. They also tested cross-country ability. On tests, the car, which met all the technical conditions, showed very good characteristics.
Another, unplanned by GAZ engineers, a test of the car was carried out at seven in the morning on August 29, 1949, at the Semipalatinsk test site. There, in the remote Kazakh steppes, tests of the first atomic bomb - RDS-1 were carried out. On the experimental field, in a circle with a radius of 10 kilometers, structures were built, equipment was brought in, animals were attracted. It was supposed not only to prove the efficiency of the first Soviet atomic bomb, but also to study the damaging effect of the new weapon. At a distance of 1000 meters from the future epicenter and further, 10 brand new Pobeda cars were installed every 500 meters. On August 30, 1949, the day after the explosion, the test participants returned to the experimental field. A picture of total destruction spreads before their eyes. Among other things, all ten Victories burned down.
Ironically, the government awarded victories to the specialists who distinguished themselves in the creation of the bomb.
Assessing their work, the designers of GAZ stated: "We have managed to create a highly efficient car, the dynamics of which, of course, cannot be considered low, although, of course, it is not a record."
Mass production
As mentioned above, the production of the GAZ M-20 Pobeda was suspended in 1947, but design work continued. The fine-tuning of the car, which had not taken place properly two years earlier due to the all-pervading socialist competition, was now carried out with great care.
Conveyor belt victories. On June 14, 1949, the cars of the Gorky Automobile Plant were again driven to the Kremlin. This time the main goal of the event was approval for the production of the ZiM car. Along with the ZiMs, three Victories were brought to the Kremlin: a serial sample of 1948, a modernized version, which was being prepared for release, and a car with a convertible body. After seeing the Zims, Stalin and his retinue proceeded to Victory. Probably, mindful of the numerous complaints, Stalin sat down in the back seat, shifted on it, checked the comfort and softness of the pillows. He paid special attention to the distance from the head to the ceiling and, making sure that everything was normal, he said with satisfaction: "Now it is good." Approved by the chief and the exterior of the car. Then Akopov was asked if the car was heated and blown in it or not. The minister replied that now a heater is installed on all cars, and there is no blowing in the cabin, since an improved door seal is used. Interested in Stalin and Pobeda with a convertible body. On the whole, Gorky's novelties were approved, and the modernized, or rather, brought to mind version of the Victory went into series.
Later it turned out that for the creation of the Victory of Andrey Lipgart, the new director of the Molotov Gorky Automobile Plant - G.S. Khlamov, and another group of employees were awarded the Stalin Prize of the second degree.
Victory with a convertible body. A total of 14,222 pieces were produced. Car production resumed on November 1, 1949. Not long before that, the former workshop of the aircraft plant No. 466, which had previously manufactured aircraft motors (according to other sources, hydraulic drives), was transferred to GAZ. In this very bright and clean room, the assembly of machines was carried out not on conveyor belts, but on conductor conveyors and was distinguished by a high technological culture. The new production facility was well equipped: 9 conveyors with a total length of 450 meters were installed. For the first time, workers did not have to mince along the conveyor - they moved at the same time.
The new workshop raised the production culture to an unprecedented level. I must say that Gorky residents generally mastered the Victory in the context of large-scale reconstruction and technological re-equipment. In the pre-war period, the plant used American-made body stamps, now they were created on their own and soon began to arrive at the car factories in Minsk and Kutaisi. For the first time, automatic lines were introduced for grinding piston rings, machining a cylinder block and welding wheel rims. The practice includes high-speed processing of metals, hardening by high-frequency currents, contact electric heating installations and electric welding.
Driver's seat GAZ M-20 Pobedy. The process of improving the machine did not stop. In 1950, the gearbox (from the GAZ-12 ZiM) with synchronizers and a shift lever on the steering wheel replaced the previous one - with a floor lever and without synchronizers (from GAZ M1).
In 1952, the power of the 2.1-liter engine was increased from 50 to 52 hp. at 3600 rpm. The increase was achieved mainly due to the expansion of the channels in the gas supply line for the fuel mixture. With this engine, Pobeda accelerated to a maximum of 105 km / h and reached 100 km / h in 46 seconds. The curb weight of the vehicle was 1460 kg. With the improvement of the general production culture, the weight of the machine more or less stabilized in the area of \u200b\u200bthe design value.
Convertibles and taxis
With the opening of a new production facility, Pobeda had modifications: the GAZ M-20A taxi and the GAZ M-20B convertible. Pobeda became the first car to enter the taxi service en masse. Before that, only a small part of the ZiS-110 traveled through the streets of the largest cities. The Pobeda-taxi ride became relatively accessible to every working person. Cars intended for service as taxis were distinguished by two-tone paintwork and equipment.
Also, the plant produced Pobedy with a cabriolet-type body. They differed from the base models with a reinforced body - abandoning the roof, the designers risked weakening the structure. In addition, for safety reasons in case of a rollover of the car, it was decided to leave the sidewalls of the body - only the roof with the rear window was cut off. As a result, the mass did not increase much - only by 30 kg. However, due to the fabric roof, the aerodynamic resistance increased. As a result, the maximum speed dropped by 5 km / h, and the gas mileage increased by 0.5 l / 100 km. Convertibles went on public sale and cost (an unprecedented case in world practice) even less than the base model. Sometimes cabriolets were produced, retrofitted to work in a taxi - these usually went to the southern regions of the country. The convertible modification existed on the assembly line until 1953.
GAZ-M20 Victory in Europe
As soon as Pobeda cars appeared on the roads of Europe, they started talking about it. The English magazine "Motor" wrote in 1952: “This car is exclusively Russian. The strongest side of Pobeda is its ability to work reliably on any roads ... ... on Pobeda, one should not be afraid of fast driving on bad roads, even when the car is fully loaded. "
The victory was successfully exhibited at international exhibitions and fairs: for example, in the spring of 1950 in Poznan (Poland). And since 1951 in Poland at the FSO plant, the production of an exact copy of Victory under the Warszawa brand began.
In the early 1950s, the first Victories were exported, while the export cars did not differ much from those that went to the domestic market (except for the finishing). For example, specially at the request of Chinese comrades, they made cars with blue steering wheels and gray bodies - they say that in China this combination of colors is considered lucky.
Having received recognition in the USSR and the countries of the "Warsaw Pact", GAZ M-20 paved the way for the Soviet auto industry to the world market. The car was willingly bought in the Scandinavian countries, in Belgium, in a number of Western European countries, where the first trade representatives of the Gorky brand appeared.
In 1956, the foreign trade association "Autoexport" was created to represent the Soviet automobile industry on the world market. If before the war export was limited to only a small number of trucks, then Victory made people start talking seriously about the successes and possibilities of the domestic automotive industry. In post-war Europe, there was a shortage of relatively inexpensive, comfortable cars, and Victory quickly found a steady market in many countries. Even Western specialized publications were flattering about Victory, amazed at the endurance of the car and found only two serious shortcomings in it: insufficient dynamics (payment for efficiency and adaptation to poor gasoline) and poor visibility back.
In general, it is safe to say that the Pobeda car was very successful and modern for the 1950s.
Upgraded GAZ M-20V
In 1955, when the third series replaced the Victory of the second series, they managed to produce about 160 thousand cars.
During the modernization, Pobeda received a new radiator grille, more attractive interior upholstery, a new steering wheel with a ring signal button, an A-8 radio receiver and a new emblem on the radiator grille.
The engine power was once again increased - up to 55 hp. As a result of all the upgrades, the car was assigned a new index - M-20V.
GAZ M-20V Victory of the third (last) series was produced in 1955 - 1958. The engines of the 3rd series had an increased power up to 55 hp. The increase in the rate of car production was unthinkable without the technological improvement of the design. At GAZ, which in the same years was the leader in the annual production of cars, the labor intensity of its most massive model, GAZ-51, was reduced by 1957 to 49% of the 1948 level. And according to Victory, the reduction in labor intensity was 45% of the 1948 level!
In addition, in 1955, with the development of virgin lands, they began to produce an all-wheel drive modification of the machine - GAZ M-72.
And from October 1956 a new legend was being prepared for release - the GAZ-21 "Volga". At first, it was even produced with an engine from Pobeda, but with increased power.
In fact, Pobeda became the first mass-produced Soviet car. Own car (or, as it was then carefully expressed, "car for personal use") before the Victory was considered as a government award. At the end of the 30s, a number of celebrities received cars: Leonid Utesov, composer Isaak Dunaevsky, Boris Babochkin, who played Chapaev in the film of the same name, composer Dmitry Pokrass, author of Budyonny's March and the increasingly frequent radio song If tomorrow is war.
So the first Victories were distributed on the direct orders of Molotov, the second person in the country, leader number two. At first, captured German vehicles were popular. In the name of Molotov, statements were poured from heroes and foremost workers, national and honored, prominent and main ... with long and monotonous lists of merits and regalia. Sometimes the requests were granted, more often not.
By the way, tall motorists quickly became disillusioned with the trophy second-hand, not adapted to Soviet conditions. Already in March 1946, the poet Alexander Zharov far-sightedly expresses his desire to have a car of domestic production to Molotov.
Since 1947, few people have asked, as before, for a certain impersonal car. Most of the statements specifically indicate: Victory. They want to buy it: three times Hero of the Soviet Union Kozhedub (Molotov: "We must sell"); once a Hero, polar pilot Mazuruk (denied); the announcer of the All-Union Radio - Levitan (decided positively) and many, many others.
With the beginning of the Khrushchev thaw, the number of people wishing to buy their own car began to grow rapidly. The car from an indispensable attribute of bureaucracy or a sign of belonging to the "top" began to turn into a means of transport. It was the Victory that became the very first car that appeared on the free sale. Since the mid-1950s, GAZ M-20 Pobeda cars have always been in the halls of the Automobiles store on Bakuninskaya Street in Moscow. Well, soon there were already three brands available: Moskvich, Pobeda and ZiM. Moskvich-401 cost 9.000 rubles. (Moskvich convertible - 8.500 rubles), Victory - 16.000 (Victory convertible - 15.500 rubles), ZiM - 40.000 rubles.
The salary of a skilled worker or average engineer was then from five hundred to a thousand rubles a month. The representatives of the technical, creative or managerial elite lived much better at that time.
In total, before production ceased in 1958, 235,999 cars were produced, including 14,222 convertibles and 37,492 taxis.
For our automotive industry, Victory has become an epoch-making machine - thanks to it, the technological level of our factories began to catch up with the world. A school of domestic developers was formed. In addition, the GAZ M-20 became the first truly mass-produced Soviet car. The secret of Victory's success lies in the very principle of designing a car: not repeating mastered models, but creating a car that outstrips the achieved level of technology.
Technical characteristics of GAZ M-20 Pobeda
| Modification | GAZ M-20 (2 series) | GAZ M-20V (3 series) |
| Production years | 1948 — 1955 | 1955 — 1958 |
| Body type | 4-door fastback | 4-door fastback |
| Number of places | 5 | 5 |
| engine's type | petrol | petrol |
| Supply system | carburetor | carburetor |
| Number of cylinders | 4 (in-line) | 4 (in-line) |
| Working volume, l | 2.120 | 2.120 |
| Max. power, h.p. (rpm) | 50 (3600) | 52 (3600) |
| Torque, N * m (rpm) | 123 (1800) | 125 (2000) |
| Drive unit | rear | rear |
| Transmission | 3-st. fur. | 3-st. fur. |
| Front suspension | independent spring | independent spring |
| Rear suspension | dependent spring | dependent spring |
| Length, mm | 4665 | 4665 |
| Width, mm | 1695 | 1695 |
| Height, mm | 1590 | 1640 |
| Wheelbase, mm | 2700 | 2700 |
| Curb weight, kg | 1485 | 1495 |
| Full weight, kg | 1835 | 1845 |
| Max. speed, km / h | 105 | 105 |
There is hardly a Russian who would not know the cars of the "Pobeda" brand and would not be able to recognize them among other cars. And this is not surprising, because it was "Pobeda" that became the first truly domestic car!
The vicissitudes of fate
The road to the popularity of "Victory" was not easy. Not only was the task for its development issued in the midst of the Great Patriotic War, in 1943, but the deadlines were also fantastically tight. Already by the November holidays of 1944, the Gorky Automobile Plant managed to prepare a full-fledged running model of the new car.
The car turned out to be beautiful and original, which in itself was not an ordinary event, since all domestic pre-war cars, in fact, were copies of foreign ones, and many post-war designs had very specific foreign prototypes. The Gorky passenger car, which received the factory name GAZ-M20, was very much out of this row, which almost had a negative impact on its fate. On June 19, 1945, at the demonstration of promising models of domestic automotive equipment in the Kremlin, organized by the People's Commissar of the Automobile and Tractor Industry S.A. Akopov, Comrade Stalin reacted negatively to the novelty, believing that the country did not need a massive powerful six-cylinder passenger car. Only the report of the chief designer of the car, Andrei Alexandrovich Lipgart, saved the day. He assured the leader that one of the presented samples had an economical four-cylinder engine. This message changed the attitude of I. V. Stalin to the new car, and he gave the go-ahead only for a car with a four-cylinder engine. And the Gorky residents' proposal to name the new car "Pobeda" reacted without enthusiasm, although he gave permission to do so. Soon the Resolution of the State Defense Committee "On the restoration and development of the automotive industry" was issued, providing for the start of production of a new car at GAZ in June 1946. The first industrial batch of "Victory" was assembled on time. But soon the rush in designing and putting the machine into production began to affect. The quality of the first "Victories" was unacceptably low, and in August 1948 their production was suspended.
The reasons for this were good: the cars accelerated poorly, moreover, in jerks, dust and water penetrated into the cabin. The low cabin height was due to the unreasonably thick sofa cushions, and the absence of a heater affected the Pobeda's comfort in winter. The resource of the car was limited by the body sagging in half and the springs quickly sinking.
After strengthening the body, installing new springs, changing the gear ratio of the main pair (from 4.7 to 5.125), improving the carburetor and clutch drive, adding a body heater to the design and eliminating many other shortcomings, the troubles ended. On November 1, 1948, the production of "Victories" was resumed, and in a new light workshop with a modern assembly line, which significantly increased the overall production culture.
Emblem
When the Pobeda car was being created, domestic car factories did not yet have established emblems, so literally every model had their own original nameplates. On the pedestal of "Victory" was the letter "M", in which at the same time it was possible to see a hint of a pronged wall of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin and a soaring seagull - the symbol of the Volga. The letter itself indicated the name "Molotovets" (from the beginning of the 30s to the end of the 50s, the plant bore the name of the People's Commissar V.M. Molotov), \u200b\u200band the numbers 20 indicated the model, because the official name of the car was written as GAZ-M20 - "Molotovets , twentieth model ". The fill of the emblem, of course, was red - the color of the USSR banner.
Strokes for the portrait
Soon after the production of "Victory" in 1946, they started talking about its design flaws. On the instructions of the Ministry of Automotive Industry, the head research institute of the industry (NAMI) had to create an improved version of "Victory", leaving the mechanical part (engine, chassis) unchanged, but with a more comfortable and aesthetically perfect body, with improved visibility back. As a result, in 1948, NAMI built two improved Pobeda cars with a sedan body, differing in exterior trim. Experienced cars really looked "in a new way", although many technologically complex elements of the body (supporting frame, doors) remained the same.
Distant "relatives"
Motorsport
In 1951, GAZ under the leadership of A. A. Smolin, on the basis of Pobeda bodies and units, built three Pobeda-Sport (GAZ-20-SG1) sports and racing cars for ring competitions. Their body height was reduced by 160 mm, and the front and rear of the duralumin were made of duralumin, as a result of which each car weighed 260 kg lighter than the standard one. But most importantly, engines with a rotary supercharger and a power of 105 hp were installed on two of them. The maximum speed of such vehicles increased to 167 km / h. Due to technical malfunctions, the machines did not manage to show brilliant results in 1951, and already in 1952 the use of superchargers was banned. A restriction on the use of fairings was also introduced, which did not last long, and in 1954 Pobeda-Sport cars again went to the start, albeit without superchargers. But the riders did not manage to rise above the second place.
In order to reduce the weight and frontal area of \u200b\u200bthe sports "Victory", in 1955 they built new GAZ-20-SG1M cars with an open two-seater body, as a result of which their speed increased to 180 km / h. And already at the USSR championship in 1955, M. Metelev took first place in Pobeda-Sport cars, and V. Mosolov took second. The following year, the success was repeated.
"Pobeda-Sport" model 1954 with an engine without a rotary supercharger. The racer M. Metelev took part in it.
Open car "Pobeda-Sport" at the USSR championship in Minsk, 1956.
Form and content
The abundance of chrome is a distinctive feature of passenger cars of the 50s - 60s.
In front of the windshield there is an air intake for interior ventilation.
On the front and rear side windows - pivoting vents and sliding windows
"Branded" chrome caps with the inscription "GAZ"
The hood of the "alligator" type - a novelty of that time on the Gorky cars
The spare wheel niche "ate" most of the trunk
The fuel filler cap did not swing to the side, but opened up
The door handles at "Victory" practically did not protrude outward - now such a design would be called injury-safe
The radio antenna above the windshield is a distinctive feature of the modernized Pobeda GAZ-M20V
The "drawing" of the dashboard was dominated by light colors and strict lines
The gear lever of the "Victory" has been located on the steering column since 1950, and earlier it was located below, on the motor tunnel
All pedals of the machine are floor mounted. On the left we see the red lever of the hand brake, and on the right, under the dashboard, there is the foot button for turning on the starter
A three-band tube radio - an unimaginable standard equipment for a middle class passenger car at that time
Modifications of the GAZ-M20V "Victory"
The modernized passenger car GAZ-M20V "Pobeda" was mass-produced in 1955-1958 instead of the previous model GAZ-M20 "Pobeda" (1946-1955). A total of "Pobeda" two series produced 241,497 (according to other sources - 236,820) copies. GAZ-M20V "Victory at the Gorky Automobile Plant was produced with only one closed body type" sedan ", in contrast to the earlier version, which was also made with an open body convertible. In addition to the base model, the plant produced various modifications of it. The most famous are taxis and all-wheel drive (4x4) all-terrain vehicles, as well as small-scale production, mainly for service in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the KGB, GAZ-M20D cars with forced engines and even GAZ-M20G - with a six-cylinder GAZ-12 engine.
GAZ-M20 sanitary
Factory versions of Pobeda ambulances did not exist - their alteration was usually arranged at the places of operation, for which special documentation was sent to various workshops and repair bases. But the alteration was not massive - the tight body of the "Victory" was of little use for accommodating a retractable stretcher.
GAZ-M20V
A van with an all-metal body. These cars were converted in small numbers in auto repair plants from ordinary sedan cars that had served their time in a taxi or as a company car. Nobody demanded beauty from these cars, the main thing is that they could transport small consignments of cargo in their weatherproof body. They also did not differ in durability, so the age of Pobeda vans turned out to be extremely short-lived.
GAZ-M72 (1955-1958)
On the recommendation of NS Khrushchev, a four-wheel drive version of the "Victory" was created especially for the chairmen of collective farms and responsible workers in agriculture. Before him, nowhere in the world had an all-wheel drive car with a closed comfortable monocoque body been created.
GAZ-M20V pickup
At GAZ, GAZ-M20 trucks with a pickup body were not mass-produced, and the transformation of a sedan into a truck with a pick-up body usually took place during the repair of a passenger car. The car was equipped with a homemade covered top made of boards and dermantine.
GAZ-M20V cargo-passenger van
This unusual car was built at one of the motor depots of the USSR Ministry of Health for official needs, making the rear part of the body from wood. In the back, they made a flat floor and a large swing door at the back. And in place of the rear passenger sofa, there are seats that fold into the floor, which, if necessary, could accommodate two people.
All my story has come to an end!) Thank you all for your attention and patience!)
Next time I will tell you about GAZ-21 "Volga" See you))
Material from the Encyclopedia of the magazine "Behind the wheel"
| GAZ-M20 | |
| Specifications: | |
| body | fastback (4-door sedan) and 4-door convertible |
| Number of doors | 4 |
| number of seats | 5 |
| length | 4665 mm |
| width | 1695 mm |
| height | 1590/1640 mm |
| wheelbase | 2700 mm |
| front track | 1364 mm |
| back track | 1362 mm |
| ground clearance | 200 mm |
| trunk volume | l |
| engine location | front longitudinally |
| engine's type | petrol |
| engine capacity | 2112 cm 3 |
| Power | 52/3600 HP at rpm |
| Torque | 125 N * m at rpm |
| Valves per cylinder | 2 |
| KP | 3-speed with synchronizer for 2nd and 3rd gear |
| Front suspension | independent, lever-spring |
| Rear suspension | spring |
| Shock absorbers | hydraulic double-acting. |
| Front brakes | drum |
| Rear brakes | drum |
| Fuel consumption | 13.5 l / 100 km |
| maximum speed | 105 km / h |
| years of production | 1946-1958 |
| type of drive | rear |
| Curb weight | 1350 kg |
| acceleration 0-100 km / h | 45 sec |
GAZ M-20 "Pobeda" is a serial Soviet-made passenger car produced at the Gorky Automobile Plant (GAZ) from 1946 to 1958. One of the world's first mass production cars with a monocoque 4-door pontoon body that did not have separate fenders, steps and headlights. Produced in various modifications, including an open body of the "convertible" type.
History of creation
The government assignment for the design and preparation for the production of a new model of a passenger car, which would correspond to modern trends in the global automotive industry and have improved performance characteristics than the GAZ-M1 car produced at that time, was received by the management of the Gorky Automobile Plant in December 1941. However, the plant was fully occupied with the production of military equipment, and the implementation of the project was temporarily postponed.
At the same time, at the very end of 1941, the Gorky plant received a captured German car Opel Kapitan of 1938. This car was chosen as a prototype, since this car best suited the requirements of the technical specifications and the ideas of Soviet designers about what a modern passenger car should be like.
Photo Lipgart and Kirillov, 1944
The practical development of the GAZ-25 Rodina car began in early February 1943 with a sketch project by the artist V. Brodsky. On February 3, 1943, a meeting was held at the People's Commissariat for Sredmash in Moscow, at which A.A. Lipgart, chief designer of GAZ, made a presentation in which he outlined in detail the new car models that are being prepared for release, including the GAZ-25 Rodina, despite the fact that this project existed only in the form of general outline sketches. Upon returning to Gorky, a group of designers was organized at the plant, whose task was to create a new medium-class passenger car. It included B. Kirsanov (head of the design group), A. Kirillov (leading body designer) and other engineers. The work was supervised by the deputy chief designer A. Krieger (he was responsible for the chassis and engine) and Y. Sorochkin (he supervised the progress of the body design). At Sorochkin's initiative, the artist V. Samoilov was involved in the work, who created the unique look of the car. Samoilov's version was accepted for development. Unlike the final version of Pobeda, the rear doors of Samoilov's car were hung on the rear pillar of the body and opened, like in the Opel Kapitan, back against the course of the car.
Photo Kirillov shows a model by a model designer, 1944
The artist himself did not see his project in metal. Soon after finishing work on the sketches, Veniamin Samoilov died tragically. The first prototype of the car was ready on November 6, 1944, Andrey Aleksandrovich Lipgart personally took him outside the factory gates to the test site. Soon, two more cars entered the tests. Unlike the production model "Pobeda", these three cars were equipped with 6-cylinder engines from the GAZ 11-73 car (a modernized version of the GAZ-M1, produced during the war years). This motor was manufactured under license from the American company Dodge. The line of future "Victories" provided for the production of cars with both a 6-cylinder modernized Dodge D5 engine and a 4-cylinder engine. Moreover, the first modification was the main one, and the second was intended for recruiting taxi companies. But later, they decided to abandon the idea of \u200b\u200bequipping a new car with a 6-cylinder engine in favor of a 4-cylinder one for reasons of fuel economy (which was not enough in the post-war years in the country) and to simplify the design of the car. The 4-cylinder engine was unified in detail with a more powerful version and was the same "six" truncated by a third, which was later used in ZIM cars and trucks of the Gorky Automobile Plant (in particular, GAZ-51).
John Williams (in sleeveless jacket) and head of the body design bureau Yuri Sorochkin discussing plaster models. 1949 g.
On June 19, 1945, both modifications, with 6 and 4-cylinder engines, were presented to Joseph Stalin. The head of state was skeptical about the car with a 6-cylinder engine, believing that it was out of the government's classification of passenger cars and closer to a higher class of cars. Soon the name of the car was also changed - Stalin, hearing the name of the project, said: "How much will you sell your homeland?" when the second name was announced - "Victory" - Stalin chuckled and said: "A small victory, but it will do."
Life-size wooden model
On August 26, 1945, a decree of the State Defense Committee "On the restoration and development of the automotive industry" was issued, according to which the production of the GAZ-M20 was scheduled for June 28, 1946. Serial production of the new car began ahead of schedule - June 21, 1946 (but this fact is not convincingly confirmed). Cars were manufactured using a bypass technology, mostly by hand. Until the end of 1946, only 23 cars were produced. Mass production of the GAZ-M20 was launched on April 28, 1947. In this case, the original version of the car has undergone modernization. The design of the front of the car was changed, the speedometer was replaced (from a tape to a pointer), a place for a radio receiver was provided.
Name
GAZ-M20 became the first Soviet passenger car, which, in addition to the factory index, had a name - "Victory". The letter "M" in the index of the car means the word "Molotovets" - from 1935 to 1957 the plant bore the name of the People's Commissar V. Molotov. The number "20" means that the car belongs to a new model range with a reduced engine displacement (up to "two liters"). Models of the senior line were designated as "1x" - GAZ-12 "ZIM", GAZ-13 "Chaika". In subsequent years, this indexation was preserved - GAZ-21 "Volga", GAZ-24 "Volga".
Design
For the mid 40s of the last century, GAZ-M20 "Pobeda" was completely revolutionary. Borrowing from the 1938 Opel Kapitan the structure of the monocoque body (internal panels and load-bearing elements), the designers of the Gorky Automobile Plant completely rethought the appearance of the car and adopted a number of innovations that became widespread in the West only a few years later.
The body of "Victory" belongs to the type of "fastback", which is rare today. It is an aerodynamic "two-volume" with a sloping roof, a narrowed rear end, a strongly sloped rear window, and a dedicated trunk of small capacity. The Opel Kapitan prototype had four doors, the front doors opened in the direction of the car, the rear doors opened against. On "Pobeda" all four doors open in the direction of the car - the traditional way today. The modern (at that time) appearance of the "Victory" received thanks to the appearance of a belt line, the combination of the front and rear fenders with the body, the absence of decorative footboards, an alligator-type hood, headlights mounted in the front part of the body and other characteristic details that were unusual in the mid-forties ...
The working volume of the 4-cylinder engine was 2.112 liters, the power was 50 horsepower. The maximum torque was reached at 3600 rpm. The motor has earned a reputation for being reliable, durable and high-torque. But the Pobeda engine clearly lacked power. Up to a speed of 50 kilometers per hour, the car accelerated quite briskly, but then there was a failure in acceleration. "Pobeda" reached speeds of 100 kilometers per hour in 45 seconds. The maximum speed was 105 kilometers per hour.
The M-20 engine was used on many poppies of passenger cars and not only at the Gorky plant. They were equipped with a Soviet "jeep" GAZ-69 "Truzhenik", the production of which was transferred to the Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant, they were equipped with "Warsaw" - the Polish version of "Victory", Polish minibuses "Nysa" and other cars. The low-valve engine had a low compression ratio and the ability to run on low-octane fuel (A-66 gasoline). For its time, "Pobeda" was an economical car, although by modern standards, fuel consumption for such a working volume is too high. According to technical data, the car consumed 11 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers, operating consumption - 13.5 liters, real - from 13 to 15 liters per 100 kilometers.
Of the other components of the car, the attention is drawn to effective lever shock absorbers - the car was distinguished by a smooth ride. Hydraulic drum brakes with common all-wheel drive - this solution was used for the first time on a Soviet-made car. The brake mechanism was very simple - the pads were spread by one hydraulic cylinder in each of the four brake drums.
Further - in the original version of "Pobeda", which was mass-produced from 1946 to 1948, there was a three-stage non-synchronized gearbox from the GAZ-M1 car with an "easy on" clutch (instead of a synchronizer). In 1950, Pobeda received a 3-speed gearbox with synchronized 2nd and 3rd gears from the GAZ-12 ZIM car (this gearbox was later transferred to the GAZ-21 Volga). The gear lever has been moved from the floor to the steering column. As a result, according to technical data, a five-seat car could accommodate six people - another passenger could sit in the front seat next to the driver.
The car had a practical finish. For the first time in the automotive history of the USSR, a heater was built into "Pobeda", which blown the front glass. Then the warm air naturally spread through the cabin, there were no special outlets for the flow of warm air in the cabin, so in winter the Pobeda was a rather cold car. It is worth noting the ventilation system - to improve air circulation inside the cabin, the rear door windows of the car had pivoting vents, the same ones that were installed in the front door windows (only "backwards", not in the front part of the window, but in the rear).
Photo - sailor and later famous writer Yuz Aleshkovsky (right). 1949 year
The car enjoyed great love among motorists, although there was no rush in demand during the years of production. It should be remembered that with the price of "Victory" at 16 thousand rubles, the average wage in the USSR was 600 rubles. The car was simply not available to anyone. For comparison - "ZIM" was sold for 40 thousand rubles and was on sale. Cars "Moskvich" 400 and 401 cost 8 and 9 thousand rubles (but they were not in great demand either).
Modifications to "Victory"
1946-1948 - GAZ-M20 of the "first" series.
1948-1954 - GAZ-M20 "second" series. The springs, the thermostat were modernized, since 1950 the clock, the car received a heater and a ventilation system (blowing the windshield). Since 1950, a new gearbox and a water pump (both mechanisms from the ZIM car) have been installed on Pobeda. The total production volume since the beginning of production is about 160 thousand copies.
1955-1958 - GAZ-20V. A modernized 52 horsepower engine was installed on the car. The car received a new radiator grille and radio. The volume of issue is 24,285 copies. The total production volume of 184,285 copies with the first modifications and the GAZ-M20V.
1949-1958 - GAZ-M20A. Modification of "Victory" to work as a taxi. Compared to the base version, this one had a different interior and exterior design. The total volume of release is 37492 copies.
1949-1953 - GAZ-M20 "Pobeda-cabriolet". A car with an opening fabric top and non-removable sidewalls that function as roll bars. The total volume of issue is 14222 copies.
1955-1958 - GAZ-M72. The world's first jeep with a comfortable monocoque body. The car was a hybrid of "Victory", from which the body was borrowed, and an all-terrain vehicle GAZ-69 "Truzhenik". The car never bore the name "Victory" and was produced in the amount of 4677 pieces.
The total number of cars "Pobeda" produced over the years of production, including small-scale models (pickup, van, ceremonial military convertible) was 241,497 copies.
Fan site "Victory"
From the collection "Driving" 1976 №8
From the collection "Behind the wheel" 1978 №5
From the collection "Behind the wheel" 1982 №5
From the collection "Driving" 1982 №7
From the collection "Driving" 1987 №1
Victory Day №9-2003
Photo Bonus
Due to stamping defects, 15–20 kg of lead-tin solder had to be applied to each machine. That is why the legend was born among the people that the entire body of the "Victory" was tinned so as not to rust
If you make up some Top-5 cars of the Soviet era, then Victory will be in it in any case, because in many ways this car has become a key one for the automotive industry of our country. Let's remember what the history of the Victory was.
According to official history, the start of the project of a new car was given by a government decree, which the Gorky Automobile Plant received at the very height of the war - in February 1943.
However, some sources claim that many style and design solutions for the future car were laid down even before the war, and by 1943, a vision of the entire post-war model range had already been formed at GAZ, because it was obvious that the pre-war GAZ-M1 needed replacement. So the government's order, apparently, was just a "go-ahead" that gave the project the official status.
Well, it's time to introduce the main characters.
The design of the car was supervised by the chief designer of GAZ A.A. Lipgart. June 16 marks the 118th anniversary of the birth of Andrei Alexandrovich. This is a man with a difficult fate, a talented Soviet designer, who developed 67 experimental designs (cars, trucks, armored cars, tanks), 27 of which later became serial models. In particular, he designed the "Emka" GAZ-M1, Pobeda, as well as a six-seater (after 1957 it was called GAZ-12). Lipgart died in 1980, due to not the most pleasant life circumstances, having managed to work at GAZ, UralZIS and in NAMI, having made a serious design contribution in each of the places. The silhouette of Victory is carved on his tombstone at the Vvedenskoye cemetery in Moscow.
In the photo: Andrey Alexandrovich Lipgart and GAZ M-20 Pobeda
As chief designer, Lipgart relied on two people: A. M. Krieger supervised the development of the chassis of the new car, and A. N. Kirillov was responsible for the design of the body. As for the design, the first search sketches, already reflecting the concept of the revolutionary "pontoon" body, were made by Valentin Brodsky in 1943, but the final appearance of Victory was born under the pencil of the designer Veniamin Samoilov. A tragic and even ominous story is associated with the figure of Samoilov: in May 1945, immediately after the end of the war and just a month before the presentation of the pre-series Victory to Stalin, Samoilov committed suicide, the circumstances of which are completely unclear at the moment.
Yes, the author of this magnificent design, even by today's standards, did not see his creation in the series, having passed away shortly after the last sketch was submitted. It is believed that Samoilov started from the look of the 1938 Opel Kapitan, creatively rethinking it - in particular, getting rid of individual protruding wings and combining them with a single stamping, as a result of which the very "pontoon" was obtained. But this is true only in the sense that the Victory as a whole absorbed many of the advanced developments of that time.
GAZ had good prerequisites for this at the early design stage: firstly, the design staff did indeed have a captured Kapitan, secondly, there was American equipment obtained by the USSR under Lend-Lease, and thirdly, at GAZ itself in the years During the war, in addition to the production of our own jeeps, trucks and armored vehicles, the Ford G8T and Chevrolet G7107 trucks were assembled.
Thus, the Gazans had a wide range of interesting solutions and tried to adapt them to Russian realities and to the concept of a new passenger car. The Luftwaffe was still massively bombing the Gorky Automobile Plant (apparently, not knowing that the legendary T-34s are being assembled at the neighboring Krasny Sormovo), but the plant continued to produce equipment, and somewhere in the depths of the design bureau, Victory was born.
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| In the photo: GAZ M-20 Pobeda Pre-production |
Ours and others in the design
The base of the GAZ-20-M body is indeed very similar to the Opel Kapitan: the sub-engine frame, bottom, spars, floor amplifiers, front independent suspension are made according to German "patterns" ... The rear suspension was made according to the standard version that had become by that time with longitudinal springs and rigid bridge beam.
In the photo: GAZ M-20 Pobeda Pre-production At the same time, the front suspension struts, the pivot assembly and the floor sills at Pobeda are completely original. In the middle and upper power belts, the body of the Soviet car also did not resemble any analogue known at that time. That is, as you can see, there were enough original solutions.
The body had a lower height than its counterparts (about 1,600 mm), and, accordingly, a lower window sill line and a floor line. This, in turn, has reduced the height of the seat cushions, eliminated footrests and made it easier to get into the car. Due to the independent front suspension, the engine has shifted forward and downward, so the bonnet line is also lower.
In the photo: GAZ M-20 Pobeda 1946 - 1948 All of these measures have led to a noticeable decrease in the vehicle's center of gravity and have a positive effect on handling and stability. As a result, the car received an almost perfect weight distribution (51% rear axle, 49% front), acquired (for the first time for the domestic car industry!) A normal trunk and a more spacious interior with smaller than that of Emka, the width and height of the body.
The lower-valve engine for Victory, based on the recently mastered GAZ-11 unit, was originally a six-cylinder (the factory GAZ-25 index was laid for such a modification of the car), but on the initiative of Lipgart, a four-cylinder sample was created, and it is such a variant of the car as more economical and, therefore, "People's", with the factory index GAZ-20 (the letter "M" in the common name of the model means "Molotovets") was approved in the series at the review of the top party leadership in 1945.
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| In the photo: GAZ M-20A Pobeda "1948–58 |
Later, the six-cylinder Pobeda was still produced in small series under the M-20G / M-26 index, but it was already a completely different engine, 90-horsepower from ZIM (GAZ-12). The main, now known "four" of the Victory had a volume of 2.1 liters and a return of 50 liters. from. The same amount was given by the engine of its predecessor, "Emka", but its engine had a volume of 3.5 liters and a much less modest appetite: Victory consumed 10-11 liters per 100 kilometers, while the GAZ-M1 - all 13.
However, the very Victory as we know it was still far away in the mid-1940s. The development was carried out in the shortest possible time, with constant scolding "from above", in conditions of military and post-war devastation, lack of good body metal and the impossibility of quick and, most importantly, high-quality development and implementation of a number of units.
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Needless to say, the laboratory for external and internal decoration appeared at GAZ only in the first quarter of 1945, and until that moment the prototypes and running models of Victory were completed with instruments and interior parts from "analogues" obtained under Lend-Lease. Not the best conditions for design and implementation in production, as well as an unrealistic "deadline" subsequently played a cruel joke with the car.
Victory and Stalin
In the summer of 1945, the car, after comparative tests with several foreign cars, was presented to the party elite and Stalin. In addition to the fact that the six-cylinder version was "cut off" at the review, a bike is widely known in relation to this event, according to which the generalissimo, allegedly having heard the variant of the car's name - "Rodina" -.
However, as we noted earlier, this story really should be considered nothing more than a tale: many sources indicate that the name "Rodina" was never proposed for the GAZ-20-M, it figured as a working version of the naming of the next possible model, but was never sounded outside the factory. However, by the time the next model was developed, there were other options - "Zvezda" and "Volga", of which, as we know, the second was chosen.
In the photo: GAZ M-20 Pobeda Experienced "1951 But nevertheless, the designer AA Lipgart received a portion of the negative from the "leader of the peoples" in connection with the Victory. True, this happened not at the preview of the pre-series Victory, but much later, when Stalin was shown the next brainchild of Lipgart - ZIM (GAZ-12). The fact is that the early production copies of Pobeda suffered from a whole bunch of "childhood illnesses" that almost ruined the reputation of the car in the bud. And at the ZIM review, learning that it was designed by the same person who made the Victory, Stalin reacted with the phrase "Why not punished?" But then everything worked out: ZIM turned out to be a successful car and Lipgart even received a Stalin Prize for it. That, however, did not save him from the subsequent persecutions to which Lipgart was subjected to a denunciation by a colleague.
So what was wrong with the first serial wins?
Due to the tight schedule, the car turned out to be "raw". The body was not rigid enough and gave cracks - moreover, on the first Victories even windshields burst. The paint quickly faded and peeled off the body. The door panes rattled, the power windows were unreliable, and the door handles broke off. Rear suspension springs “sat down”, the engine was prone to detonation and poorly accelerated the car.
In the photo: GAZ M-20V Pobeda "1955 - 1958 Driving off smoothly was a problem due to imperfect grip. The rear axle with spiral bevel gears and loaded axle shafts, designed specifically for Victory, made a lot of noise in motion. A muffler and a parking brake were found to be ineffective. Due to the lack of blowing the glass and the heater, the windows fogged up and became covered with frost in cold weather (the plant recommended that drivers have a bag of salt with them and rub the glass with it), and the nomenklatura bosses who received the first Victories as "service" did not like the low roof, interfering with sitting in a hat or fur cap.
In 1946, production was launched, but in many ways it was a formality necessary in order to "meet" the deadline. In fact, by the end of the year, only 23 cars were assembled using a bypass technology. The cars of the so-called "first series", which had the above-described shortcomings, were assembled until August 1948, 1,700 of them were produced, after which production was stopped, the director of GAZ Ivan Kuzmich Loskutov lost his position, and Lipgart, taken under the protection of the Minister of the Automotive Industry S.A. ... Akopov, was reprimanded.
The design began to be hastily finalized, and in November of the same 1948 in Gorky they began to slowly collect the "second series" of Victory, although not all improvements appeared on it at once.
Working on bugs
But today the "second series" is known as the main one - it was on it that they used a reinforced body, new parabolic springs, a gearbox from ZIM (instead of the outdated GAZ-M1 that did not have synchronizers) with a steering column switch instead of a floor switch, an upgraded carburetor, increased from 4, 7 to 5.125 final drive ratio, new thermostat and water pump, heater and windshield blower, more reliable watches in the cabin. And the seat cushions were simply made thinner by 5 centimeters, so that people in high headdresses would be guaranteed to fit into the cabin ...
It is thanks to the appearance of the "second series" that the Victory went down in history as an extremely reliable, completely "indestructible" and practically a reference Soviet car.
However, Lipgart always believed in his brainchild. In 1948, when Pobeda was still gathering all sorts of "bumps" with might and main due to its imperfection, he wrote: "In my firm belief, the M20 car with the" four "fully corresponds to its main purpose - to replace the M1 car in the national economy. Moreover, I take the liberty of declaring that this car is outstanding in terms of economy, quality of leaf spring suspension, road stability and indications of the engine itself. "
Special versions and upgrades
Until 1958, just over 184,000 GAZ-M-20 Pobeda cars were produced, including the "third series" (GAZ-M-20V), which received a 52 hp engine in 1955. with., a radio in the cabin and a new design of the radiator grille. In addition, about 37,500 copies of Pobeda in the version for a taxi (GAZ-M-20A) and about 14,200 sedan-cabriolets (with rigid safety arcs along the upper part of the body) on the base of Pobeda rolled off the assembly line in Gorky. And also more than 4,600 four-wheel drive cars with a Pobeda body and a GAZ-69 chassis and two Pobeda-NAMI racing cars were built. Small batches were going to Pobeda with more powerful engines - forced up to 62 hp. from. M-20D and the above-mentioned police "catch-up" M-20G / M-26 with a 90-horsepower engine from ZIM.
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| In the photo: GAZ M-20 "Pobeda" Aerosani "North" |
Already at the end of the 1940s, the first vision of the modernization of Victory appeared - it was proposed by an automobile artist, journalist, writer and designer, now a legendary person, and then just an employee of NAMI Yuri Aronovich Dolmatovsky (co-authored with L. Terentyev). The attempt to change the rear end to get rid of the main shortcoming of the fastback sedan body - the small boot capacity - was reviewed at GAZ and was well-received. However, the idea of \u200b\u200btransition to a "pure" sedan did not receive development then.
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At the same time, the Polish FSO Warszawa, which was a licensed copy of Victory, the shape of the trunk and rear window, as well as the lowered side line, is very reminiscent of the Dolmatovsky-Terentyev project. Well, at the Gorky Automobile Plant, Dolmatovsky's ideas were used in the design of the next model - the GAZ-21 Volga. But that, as they say, is a completely different story.
How did you remember the Victory
The victory became one of the world's first mass-produced cars with a pontoon body - unbelievable, but true: the majority of American design studios, which were trendsetters in the mid-1940s, will come to this decision only two or three years after the appearance of the Soviet car. Victory in general turned out to be a rather progressive machine - for example, it had 12-volt electrical equipment, which was rare at that time.
And for the automotive industry of the Soviet Union, this car became a breakthrough, because this is the first Soviet car with a name (yes, before that there were only alphanumeric indices), a load-bearing body, a trunk (I will note this again!), A hydraulic brake system, as well as a much-needed interior heater in Russia.
Its creators believed that a truly modern domestic car is possible, and in the very near future. They believed in such a future. And they brought him closer as they could.
4.5 / 5 ( 2 voices)
GAZ-M20 Pobeda is a serial passenger car produced by the Soviet state. The production was carried out by the Gorky Automobile Plant from 1946 to 1958. The model was one of the world's debut mass production cars, where there was a 4-door pontoon body, and which did not have separate fenders, steps and headlights. It was produced in various modifications, which include an open body of the "convertible" type. All.
Car history
The passenger car was called Victory for a reason - as in fact it was a victory in all respects. The Soviet army was able to win the Great Patriotic War, opportunities began to appear for raising the country's industry to a high level. Therefore, the new model could become a symbol of those times.
The design of the new vehicle showed that there is great potential in the USSR industry, and it is capable of producing products that would not be inferior in their technical characteristics to popular foreign manufacturers.
To this we can add the fact that almost immediately, after the end of hostilities, the production of the GAZ-M20 was started, which is a considerable achievement. In the days of the Soviet Union, all the most important things were done according to the instructions of the party.
Therefore, as soon as the war came to an end, the design bureau in 1945 received a task from the government - to design a machine for civilian purposes. Many enterprises of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, together with the entire industry as a whole, focused on the production of military vehicles, and in the party leadership were already looking into the future.
In the past difficult years, it was hard to imagine the scale of the work to fulfill orders. The task was to build a passenger car that would be affordable, reliable, which a well-to-do citizen of the Soviet Union could buy for himself.
As a result, the GAZ-M20 Pobeda was the vehicle of the creative intelligentsia, military officials and other honored persons of the USSR. The famous designer Andrey Aleksandrovich Lipgart was engaged in the design of the new vehicle. In his years, he completed an internship at the Detroit enterprise.
However, the car had nothing to do with his "American plan" experience. This was a completely unique car designed by Andrey Lipgart. Following the end of hostilities, construction of a new automobile plant "GAZ" began in Gorky.
The designer himself also took part in its construction, and after that he was able to head his design bureau for the design of machines. The car he designed was actually unique. It was the first car with a "pontoon-type" body, which was produced in the USSR.
If you look at the model from the side of aerodynamic performance, then Andrey Aleksandrovich thought out the body so that even today he can earn high marks. The first convoy of several GAZ M 20 Pobeda cars from the Gorky Automobile Plant was sent to Moscow to view the state commission.
However, the very first acquaintance allowed the commission to reject the car. The party leadership and generals did not like the fact that a hat flew off the head of the military during boarding the car. In general, they considered the model still "damp", so they provided another year for improvement.
In one year, the plant was able to make a whole list of improvements. For example, the sofa installed at the back was lowered extremely low. Some improvements in the design plan could even be called advanced - after all, it was in the GAZ-M20 Pobeda that the presence of a stove appeared, which allowed customers to move around without thick clothes and warm shoes.
In addition, a radio receiver was installed on the model. Even judging by the body shape itself - it was a real breakthrough for those times. The body turned out to be streamlined, graceful and even a little feminine, which corresponded to the trends of automotive fashion.
Under the leadership of Andrey Alexandrovich Lipgart, they managed to design a truly amazing, original and modern car that stood out from the crowd.
From the very beginning, they wanted to give the car the name "Motherland", which, in theory, was suitable for the commission. However, Stalin asked: - And how much are we going to sell "Rodina"? This puzzled many, so they decided to choose the name "Victory", which symbolized the victory of Soviet soldiers over Nazi Germany.
In total, they were able to produce about 236,000 cars, and many of them were able to survive even to this day, due to the fact that Andrei Aleksandrovich managed to make the structure, on the one hand, reliable and durable, and on the other, simple and maintainable.
The units, together with the Pobeda units, were perfectly synchronized with other spare parts of the machines, so it was not in vain that they said that in order to repair it, Russian ingenuity, "a hammer and chisel" and "a few hot words" were needed.
There were cases when the car turned over several times, then got on the wheels, and, as if nothing had happened, continued to drive. All this eloquently testified to the good body strength.
Over the years of its life, the GAZ-M20 changed its appearance several times, underwent, as they call it today, "restyling", which corresponded to those trends in automotive fashion. Moreover, the car had various modifications.
So, in addition to the standard sedan, there was a convertible version (which was an unheard of luxury for the inhabitants of the Soviet Union), which was intended for a comfortable stay. There were orders for cars based on the GAZ-M20 Pobeda, which were intended for villages, so specialists from the Gorky Automobile Plant were even able to make an all-wheel drive version of the sedan.
GAZ-M20 with a retractable roof This allowed the chairmen of large collective and state farms to go round their own fields with dignity and without fear of getting stuck somewhere in the field. They even tried to design an ambulance from the model, but nothing came of it, since the body was too short. But the model received its popularity in the Moscow taxi.
Also, it will not be superfluous to say that it was on the GAZ-M20 Pobeda that the famous green light in the upper corner of the glass lit for the first time, which indicated that the taxi was free. A well-thought-out suspension allowed the GAZ-M20 Pobeda to have a smooth ride while driving, which other cars could not boast of.
Not every citizen could buy a Gorky car, however, despite this, the first store for the implementation of Victories was located in Moscow, in the Baumanskaya area. To acquire it, they began to line up, despite the, to put it mildly, not very democratic cost.
All cars were in short supply, so they decided to make Pobeda, in a sense, a bargaining chip. Therefore, it could be issued for incentives and awards for famous people, which could include artists, professors, academicians and military pilots. Today the car has become a retro model that is quite affordable.
For quite a small amount there is an opportunity to buy a fairly good car with a decent technical condition. In addition, it has excellent maintainability, so a large number of parts from other machines are suitable for it. For example, the power unit will feel quite comfortable in Victory.
The very first exhibition of the Soviet Union, at which the country presented its own car, made it possible to cause a general sensation. The grandson of the famous Henry Ford, from whom Lipgart studied, when he examined the car, he was able to frankly admit that in this case the student surpassed the teacher - for he really liked it.
After the GAZ-M20 was able to win the success of the international plan, they began to copy it, even England could not resist such a temptation. It began to be produced in Great Britain under the name "Longard Standard". It was very similar to Pobeda, and all its technical solutions were there.
After the model in the Soviet Union was withdrawn from serial production at the enterprise in Gorky, they decided to sell the rights to its production to Poland, which for 20 years did not stop producing this car under the Warsaw label.
But everyone understands that the years go by and the world system of the automotive industry has begun to take big steps towards improvements, so the GAZ-M20 very soon began to become obsolete in moral terms. The inactivity of the Russian automotive industry did not allow this car to be further improved.
Serial production replaced Pobeda by, so GAZ-M20 went into a secondary plan. The design staff had promising developments, ideas, innovations, but all this was dissolved in the offices of politicians. Were it not for these obstacles, today we would have had a fundamentally new car industry, which would have had a higher level.
But, despite all this, all over the world, and in the Russian Federation, there are a large number of connoisseurs of such a legendary car. There are even specialized clubs in Germany, in Eastern Europe, where fans of a similar brand are gathered. The Russian Federation has GAZ-M20 amateur clubs, which often go on annual routes on April 12 and May 9.
Exterior
Until the mid 40s of the twentieth century, Victory was a revolutionary machine. The design of the monocoque body, which was borrowed from the Opel Kapitan 1938, allowed the design staff of GAZ to fully rethink the appearance of the car and accept a whole list of innovations that were common in the West only after several years.
If we talk about the body of the GAZ-M20, then it can be attributed to a rare type of "fastback" today. It is an aerodynamic "two-volume" with a sloping roof, a tapered rear, a heavily sloped rear window and a dedicated luggage compartment with small capacity.
The Opel prototype had 4 doors, where the doors installed in front opened in the direction of the car, and the rear doors opened against. The appearance of the Victory was pleasant in part due to the appearance of the waist line, the combination of the front and rear fenders with the body, the absence of decorative steps, an alligator-type hood, headlights integrated into the nose and other characteristic elements that were unusual in those years.
Interior
There was plenty of room inside the Soviet sedan, and the car had good roominess. The driver sat and got the maximum (at that time) convenience and comfort. Maybe the sofa installed in front was influenced by the fashion of the Americans, which the designer witnessed with his own eyes, but there was an opportunity to stretch comfortably along the entire length in order to relax during the break, and maybe even stay overnight if necessary.
The steering wheel, today, is not very comfortable, rather thin and has a huge size - although, all this used to be in line with the fashion of those times. It is also very interesting that the gearbox on Pobeda was installed in the same place as in the American models - there was a control lever that was located under the steering wheel.
Even the workers of the Gorky Automobile Plant installed the presence of wipers and a pair of switches for them (depending on the strength of the rain). The front panel has more informative instruments, you can also observe the setting of the clock, which does not interfere with the overall interior.
All gauges on the dashboard were arranged in a symmetrical order, which also, at least indirectly, indicates the fashion of that time. The interior was finished with plastic, which imitated wood stains, and the chairs were sheathed with leatherette, in rare cases, velor was used.
The gear lever was located under the steering wheel If we talk about visibility, then it suffered a lot, but do not forget that in those years there were not so many cars, based on this, there was no need to install a rear visibility mirror. The vehicle doors have vents, and the windows could be raised and lowered manually, they were enclosed in tight frames in order to avoid rattling.
As mentioned above, the sedan was successfully used for taxis, so the sofa installed in the back was quite spacious for passengers of any size. For those who like to smoke, there is an integrated ashtray in the back of the front sofa. To ensure good ventilation of the cabin, the rear doors also received vents.
The luggage compartment of the GAZ-M20 Pobeda did not stand out for its roomy qualities, because the lion's share was allocated for a spare wheel and a toolbox. But nevertheless, it was possible to put some suitcases in the trunk. Savvy drivers sometimes attached a luggage compartment on the roof to the body, on which they managed to carry gardening tools and other things to the country.
Specifications
Power unit
The power unit with a lower valve arrangement from the very beginning was supposed to be a 6-cylinder, but Andrey Alexandrovich decided to take the initiative to create a four-cylinder sample.
Just such an engine was more economical and, most importantly, it was "popular" with the factory index GAZ-20 (the letter "M" spoke of the common name "Molotovets").
The motor was approved for serial production at the review of the highest party leadership in 1945. A little later, the 6-cylinder car, nevertheless, began to be produced in small series under the name M-20G / M-26, but there was a fundamentally different power unit. It was an engine from ZIM (), which produced 90 horsepower.
The main engine is the well-known four-cylinder 2.1-liter engine, which produces about 50 horses. The same power was in the predecessor engine, "Emka", but its power unit had 3.5 liters of volume and received a much modest fuel consumption.
GAZ-M20 consumes about 10-11 liters per hundred kilometers, but GAZ-M1 - already about 13 liters. The sedan gained the first hundred kilometers in a long 45 seconds, and the top speed reaches 105 kilometers per hour.
Transmission
The initial version of the GAZ-M20, which was serially produced from the 46th to the 48th years, had a three-stage non-synchronized mechanical gearbox from the GAZ-M1 car, where there was a "easy engagement" clutch (instead of a synchronizer).
Already from the beginning of the 1950s, the GAZ-M20 had a 3-speed gearbox with synchronized 2nd and 3rd gears from the GAZ-12 ZIM car. A little later, this box was transferred to the 21st Volga. The gearshift lever was moved from the floor to the steering column.
Suspension
In front there was an independent suspension of the lever-spring type. Everything was much simpler behind, there were springs. The shock absorbers were hydraulic double-acting. They allowed the car to run smoothly. The concept of the front suspension was later used on all Volga models.
She had a pivot type and threaded bushings. Some of the parts were borrowed from Opel, but the pivot device itself had its own design. The hydraulic shock absorbers had a linkage method of operation, which allowed them to be, at the same time, the upper suspension arms.
Brake system
It was considered the most perfect in the middle of the twentieth century. After all, it was at Pobeda that it was hydraulic, previously this type of brake system was not used in the secular automotive industry. However, the contour was one, there were no divisions. It turns out that if one of the 4 cylinders leaked, the brakes all disappeared.
All Volga models, which had drum brakes, had a pair of working cylinders per wheel on the front suspension. Victory, on the other hand, had one cylinder on two suspensions, and each of them bred a couple of blocks at the same time.
| Body | fastback (4-door sedan) and 4-door convertible |
| Number of doors | 4 |
| Number of seats | 5 |
| Length | 4665 mm |
| Width | 1695 mm |
| Height | 1590/1640 mm |
| Wheelbase | 2700 mm |
| Front track | 1364 mm |
| Back track | 1362 mm |
| Ground clearance | 200 mm |
| Engine location | front longitudinally |
| engine's type | petrol |
| Engine capacity | 2112 cm 3 |
| Power | 52/3600 l. from. at rpm |
| Torque | 125 N * m at rpm |
| Valves per cylinder | 2 |
| Transmission | 3-speed with synchroniser for 2nd and 3rd gear |
| Front suspension | independent, lever-spring |
| Rear suspension | spring |
| Shock absorbers | hydraulic double-acting |
| Front / rear brakes | drum |
| Fuel consumption | 13.5 l / 100 km |
| Maximum speed | 105 km / h |
| type of drive | rear |
| Curb weight | 1350 kg |
| Acceleration 0-100 km / h | 45 sec |
Modifications
Generally speaking, the Victory did not have so many modifications. Over the twenty-year period of production, it was only two times subject to upgrades, and all machines received a conditional division into 3 series:
- GAZ M20. It was the standard series 1 and 2. The first (from 1946 to 1948) was produced in small quantities, and in the serial plan it had many defects and defects. For some period, even, the production of the car was suspended, however, starting from the 49th year, the second production of the GAZ M20 started, which ended only in 1954;
- GAZ М20В. The 3rd series of cars, which started in 1955 and was completed at the same time as the end of production of GAZ Pobeda in general. The car had a changed radiator grille and a radio receiver;
- GAZ М20А. The vehicle was intended to work under a taxi. The car was produced since 1949 (from the 2nd series). The total number of cars produced is over 37,000 units;
- GAZ M20 "Cabriolet". A car with an open top (no metal roof). Its production was established from 1949 to 1953. A total of about 14,000 copies were produced.
Small batches of Victory for the security services were also produced. Designed a super convertible for military parades. Even sports modifications were, however, they were produced in a small edition.
Pros and cons
Pros of the car
- High-quality body;
- Hydraulic brake system;
- Low cost and ease of interchangeability of elements and parts;
- Nice appearance;
- High ground clearance (200 mm);
- Spacious and comfortable interior;
- The presence of soft sofas in front and behind;
- Radio;
- Soft suspension that allows the sedan to move smoothly;
- Rich story;
- Convenient steering gear shifting.
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