The first serial m 20 victory. "Victory GAZ M20" - the legendary car of the Soviet period

The image of "Victory" in the minds of the layman is made up of stereotypes: they say, it is unique, it is specially for "our life", and in general, "they don't make them like that now." Having driven a restyled car of the 1955 model (GAZ M-20V) through the streets and streets big city, we understood its main essence: trouble-free and durable, but leisurely transport for all occasions.

And carry officials as a "personal car", and ordinary workers as a taxi, and stay in personal use for very wealthy "private" citizens. And all this under a savory sauce of solidity and healthy conservatism, characteristic of products under the brand name "Made in the USSR". But it's us - auto journalists, experts, professionals, and so on, and popular rumor has its own criteria ...

Myth #1. Large and roomy

Certainly not small. With a length of 4,665 mm, which is not the most modest in modern times, Pobeda was officially considered a five-seater (including the driver). However, the width of the body (1,695 mm) and a solid front sofa allowed us to easily accommodate six of us during the test. Of course, the third person pushed the driver under the elbow all the time, but it didn’t interfere with shifting gears with the steering column lever, as well as using the “handbrake” located under the dashboard on the left. There is not enough legroom and headroom for those sitting in the back, but there is plenty of space in front in these directions.

It is important that the "Victory" has a trunk, albeit a small (350 l), but! An innovation in the automotive industry, the luggage compartment is largely occupied by a spare tire, but unlike classmates of previous generations, it has access through a separate hatch, and not through the interior and back of the rear seat.

Myth #2. Spartan and unpretentious

Our 1957 test car has everything that a manufacturer of that time could offer a middle-class car: a heater, sliding windows on all doors plus pivoting windows on all doors, a radio, a self-winding clock, five control devices, three signal lamps, sun visors, electric wipers, ashtrays, cigarette lighter.

In the interior decoration, plastic parts, high-quality artificial leather, high-quality woolen fabrics are widely used, on the ceiling - a lighting cover that automatically turns on when you open the doors (albeit only two), under the hood - a socket and a backlight in case of repair. We especially note that on foreign cars, many of the above positions were offered as an option for an extra charge, and on the M20 all this luxury, without exaggeration, was in the "base" - there was only one package, without options. With the exception of the version of the taxi, devoid of a radio (by the way, quite advanced), but with a taximeter and with seats trimmed with wear-resistant vinyl instead of fabric.

As for unpretentiousness: from the very beginning, the car was designed as the main passenger car for the national economy of a huge country, the post-war economy of which did not have high-quality roads and a service network. The low-powered engine (compression ratio 6.2) was intended for low-grade oil and low-octane A-66 gasoline. To repair the machine units, highly qualified auto mechanics and special equipment are not needed, and all current repairs can be performed by the chauffeurs. In a word: unpretentious - yes, Spartan - no.

Myth number 3. Comfortable

By the standards of its time, definitely yes. The above equipment options are not all that the designers have done to increase the comfort of the car. Much attention was paid to reducing the impact on comfort of road bumps, which distinguished the Soviet roads of the post-war period. Since the roads have not improved radically since then, it was easy for us to check this. The smooth running of the M20 is facilitated by four double-acting hydraulic shock absorbers in the suspension, which effectively absorb shocks on potholes. An independent front suspension with soft springs and a stabilizer contributes to reducing uncomfortable body vibrations. roll stability. The rational layout of the car as a whole also does its job - the habitable part of the cabin is located low and within the wheelbase, in the area least prone to rolling.

Myth number 4. Strong as a tank

Not like a tank, but there is a certain monumentality in the behavior of the car. On bumps, even when we drove them without slowing down, the car does not shudder "with the whole body", but remains completely stable (although smaller sound and vibrations are transmitted to the cabin). This is the merit of the chassis, designed for operation on the most different roads. The margin of safety in the suspension parts is combined with the high rigidity of the load-bearing body, which is due, among other things, to the relatively small area of window and door openings and its shape with many biconvex panels. By the way, no matter what evil tongues say, the car is by no means heavy, “like a tank”, the curb weight is 1,460 kg. Modern ones weigh about the same, if not more.

Myth number 5. Thick metal

Not true. The iron from which our "Victory" was "forged" is no thicker than that of other classmates, for example, the Volga. When stamping parts of the "Victory", a steel sheet 0.8-2.0 mm thick was used. Of course, today's cars are made from something thinner, but at one time the M-20 did not stand out in this regard. Legends about the high strength of the Pobedovsky body owe their birth to its design, and not to the thickness of the sheet. Well, when you slam the doors or, say, the hood, the sound is impressive - deaf, heavy; probably, this also helped the birth of the legend of thick metal.

Myth number 6. Tinned body

Again not true. Anti-corrosion protection in the form of the Soviet automobile industry was not used. Although there was tin on the bodies, including Pobeda. At the then level of technology, most of the bodies on the conveyor had to be finalized manually. At a special section, the craftsmen straightened out stamping defects, adjusted the joints of body parts, etc.

Since quick-drying putties did not exist then, the factory technology provided for the use of lead-tin solder to level the surface. Modern restorers say that they met layers of solder up to 1.5 cm thick on Pobeda, and the mass of tin used per body can exceed 15 kg! It is interesting that some modern masters master the tinning technique of half a century ago, and our copy was restored in this way. Therefore, we slammed the doors and hoods of the newly restored car without fear, knowing that the putty layer would not fall off due to vibrations.

Myth number 7. For war

Allegedly, "Victory" was created with an eye on participation in a new war, and in the trunk of each instance there are nodes for attaching a machine gun. Of course not. In February 1943, when the Government assignment for a new model of the Gorky Automobile Plant (which was supposed to be Pobeda) was approved, the military already understood that it was more expensive to fight in adapted cars.

The new GAZ was planned exclusively as a civilian passenger car, although not without the opportunity to ride in the cabin of military officials. And we easily found the grounds for such a legend - it was enough to open the trunk and look deeper. Firstly, two long "skis" for placing a spare wheel on the floor seem to hint at the possibility of attaching bipods of a light machine gun to them - for whatever reason, a machine-gun "cart" of a new generation ... And secondly, with the rear sofa dismantled suddenly a free opening with a flat floor opens up between the passenger compartment and the trunk right up to the dashboard - as if specially for Anka the machine gunner! But no, this feature of the body was used only on the sanitary version of Pobeda to put a stretcher with a patient along the body.

Myth No. 8. She was copied by others.

Perhaps, but there is no direct evidence, of course. In any case, in 1944, when the pilot sample of Pobeda was ready, it was the world's first car for the mass consumer with a pontoon body, that is, smooth sidewalls without wings and steps. In addition, the silhouette of the rear part of the fastback type came out characteristic. After the war, several car models appeared that were specifically similar to our Pobeda: the English Standard Vanguard (1948), German Borgward Hansa 2400 (1952) etc.

Getting acquainted with the history of the car, it is difficult to resist the thought that we somehow imagine the events of the Great Patriotic War in a different way. For example, 1941 is used to be considered a devastating year when the very existence of Soviet statehood was called into question. However, this year at the Gorky Automobile Plant. Molotov, a captured Opel Kapitan recaptured from the Wehrmacht was handed over. And although the enterprise was transferred to the production of military equipment, Gorky's engineers studied the car and immediately began work on designing a domestic analogue. Agree that the atmosphere of defeat and panic (at least as it is shown in the films) does not at all fit with the creation of a civilian passenger car “for the future”.

Opel Kapitan pre-war model. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

1943 - the day after the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, the largest land battle in the history of mankind, a meeting was held in Moscow, at the People's Commissariat for Medium Machine Building. However, it was not dedicated to yesterday's battle at all: on it chief designer of the plant. Molotov Andrey Lipgart reported on the progress of work on new car(original name "Motherland"). And again, the businesslike calmness of these people is striking: it seems that none of those present had any doubts about the outcome of the battle.

The initial sketches of the car were made by the artist V. Brodsky: on them, the future GAZ-M-20 is already significantly different from the German "Captain". The protruding fenders and footboards disappeared, the car became more streamlined, although it retained the stream-line style common to Opel - the “futurological” design concept that was fashionable in those years. Under her influence, a rather rare fastback body type was chosen - a stepless roof line and a trunk visually combined with the interior, but isolated in layout. Note that in the future this type of body was not used in the USSR, it was replaced by more utilitarian sedans.

M-20 "Victory". Three-dimensional model. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Khusnutdinov Nail

The final version of the future "Victory" was drawn by a talented graphic artist V. Samoilov. He also worked on the creation of plasticine and wooden models. Note that there was no own body building school in the country at that time: before the war, it was limited to sketches; the Americans were engaged in the manufacture of production equipment (the USSR collaborated with by Ford). However, the creators of the GAZ-M-20 were given the task of mastering the full cycle of car production. It turned out to be difficult: during the war, in conditions of a shortage of materials, in workshops partially destroyed by air strikes, there was no one to ask for advice - the designers could only learn from their own mistakes.

So, for example, for the first time when creating a car in the USSR, the plaz design method was used: a full-size drawing to create production patterns and templates (ships are usually designed in this way). However, due to the lack of experience, the master molds were made from alder, subject to deformation with fluctuations in temperature and humidity. As a result, everything had to be redone, and the full-size reference model of Pobeda was ready only by the middle of 1944.

M-20 with a radiator lining of the first series, popularly known as a "vest", before the modernization of 1955. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Andrey Sudarikov

In addition to the lack of experience, another negative factor was the rush: Stalin watched the progress of the work, so you can imagine how the creators were rushed. But the car at that time was very "advanced": hydraulic drive brakes, independent suspension front wheels, a thermostatic cooling system and an unprecedented amount of electrics: direction indicators and brake lights, electric wipers and a salon “stove” with a windshield blower function and so on.

Be that as it may, it was impossible to violate the deadlines: in November 1944, the first prototypes were assembled, and Lipgart personally tested them. It was a complete headache: to take at least the fact that, due to the shortage of steel sheet, parts that were integral according to the idea had to be cooked from several parts. As a result, the drawing dimensions were not maintained, gaps appeared at the joints, and the welds had to be masked with kilograms of putty.

It is not surprising that, according to the recollection of the designers, Stalin did not like the car. Inspection of the pre-production model took place on July 19, 1945, 5 days before the Victory Parade. Having critically examined the sample, the leader began to sneer at the working title of the car: “How much will you sell Motherland?”. He was immediately offered a different name - "Victory"; but Stalin waved it off: "It's not a big victory!" However, after thinking, he agreed - let it be "Victory". By the way, this was the first proper name in the Soviet automobile industry; before that, only an index was assigned to cars.

"Victory" also owes Stalin its weak two-liter four-cylinder engine. Initially, a 2.7-liter "six" with a capacity of 62 horsepower. However, the situation with fuel in the warring country was tense, in addition, the "six" was a copy of the American Dodge D5 engine.

GAZ-M-20. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / joost j. baker

It is not known which consideration turned out to be more important here, but Stalin ordered the production of a car with an economical 50-horsepower domestically developed engine. A certain number of "sixes" were assembled by order of the MGB - the future KGB: this will become a characteristic feature of the Soviet automobile industry; powerful engines in the future will be available only to special services.

After the highest approval was received, in August 1945, a GKO decree “On the restoration of the automotive industry” was issued, ordering the production of Pobeda to begin on June 28, 1946.

It is natural that the problems identified during the assembly of prototypes did not disappear at the start of serial production - rather, they were exacerbated by mass character. The cars of the first years of production were no good. Inaccurate dimensions of the body led to the fact that the glass burst on the go; water was leaking into the cabin, it was leaking from the cracks. The engine was detonated, the clutch worked jerkily. A weak motor and incorrectly selected gear ratios in the gearbox did not allow the car to overcome steep climbs; in addition, it accelerated poorly and consumed excessive amounts of gasoline.

In addition to real shortcomings, “Victory” was also made absurd claims: for example, the military leaders were not satisfied with the low ceiling in the rear seats, which is why they had to take off their hats. Officials complained that it was impossible to ride in hats.

In October 1948, by Stalin's personal order, Pobeda was discontinued; the chief designer Lipgart lost his post (but continued to work at the plant). We can say that it was in 1948 that the real story of Pobeda began - a car that a few years later the authoritative British Motor magazine would describe as "an exceptional Russian car: strong, reliable and passable."

GAZ-M-20. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Gwafton

The stoppage of production made it possible to carry out an additional test cycle without fuss. The body was pasted over with tapes and checked by torsion: when the structure deflected, the tapes sagged or, on the contrary, stretched. As a result of improvements, the rigidity increased to 4600 Nm / deg. For comparison, the rigidity of the body of the VAZ-2115, produced from 1997 to 2012, is 5500 Nm / deg.

Changes were made to the gearbox, the rear springs began to be made from parabolic sheets, the carburetor was modernized, and a seal appeared on the doors. Of course, they did not forget about the military hats: the rear seats were “cut” by 5 centimeters in height.

In June 1949, the upgraded car was brought to the Kremlin; this time the inspection went smoothly - after sitting on back seat, Stalin remarked: "Now it's good!". Lipgart and new director of the automobile plant G. Khlamov were even awarded the Stalin Prize of the second degree. In November 1949, the first modernized Pobeda rolled off the assembly line. It is curious that all previously produced machines (according to various sources, from 600 to 1700 pieces) were recalled by the factory for free revision.

Participants in the rally "Victory - One for All" on rare GAZ M-20s in honor of the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War near the historical and memorial complex "To the Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad" on Mamaev Kurgan in Volgograd. Photo: RIA Novosti / Kirill Braga

Despite the fact that the production age of the Pobeda turned out to be not so long (it was removed from the assembly line in 1958 due to obsolescence), the car still managed to earn the title of a truly popular one.

It was the first Soviet car intended for sale to private individuals, and since the shortage of personal transport in the USSR was not overcome, cars changed owners endlessly. The words from Alla Pugacheva's song "Dad bought a car" - "With a cracked headlight, with old doors, a century of the past style ..." - refer specifically to "Victory". Simple and maintainable, they traveled to the roads of Russia until the collapse Soviet Union and the start of the car boom in the 1990s.

If you make up some Top 5 cars of the Soviet era, then Pobeda will be in it in any case, because in many respects this car has become a key car 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 new car project was given by a government decree that 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 GAZ had already formed a vision of the entire post-war model range, because it was obvious that the pre-war GAZ-M1 needed a replacement. So the government's instruction, apparently, was only a "go-ahead" that gave the project official status.

Well, it's time to introduce the main characters.

The design of the car was led by the chief designer of GAZ A. A. Lipgart. June 16 marked 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 production models. In particular, he designed the Emka GAZ-M1, Pobeda, and also 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 NAMI, making a serious design contribution in each of the places. On his tombstone at the Vvedensky cemetery in Moscow, the silhouette of Victory is carved.

In the photo: Andrey Aleksandrovich Lipgart and GAZ M-20 Pobeda

As the chief designer, Lipgart relied on two people: the development of the chassis of the new car was led by A. M. Krieger, and the design of the body was for A. N. Kirillov. As for design, the first exploratory sketches, already reflecting the concept of a revolutionary "pontoon" body, were completed by Valentin Brodsky in 1943, but the final look of the Victory was born under the pencil of designer Veniamin Samoilov. A tragic and even ominous story is connected with the figure of Samoilov: in May 1945, immediately after the end of the war and literally a month before the presentation of the pre-production Victory to Stalin, Samoilov committed suicide, the circumstances of which are completely unclear to date.

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 delivery of the last sketch. It is believed that Samoilov was based on the appearance 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 an early stage of design: firstly, the captured Kapitan really turned out to be at the disposal of the design staff, secondly, there was American equipment received by the USSR under Lend-Lease, and thirdly, at GAZ itself in the years war, in addition to the production of their own jeeps, trucks and armored vehicles, the Ford G8T and Chevrolet G7107 trucks were assembled.

Thus, the Gazans had a large set 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 were 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.


	In the photo: GAZ M-20 Pobeda Pre-production

Own and someone else's in the design

The base of the body of the GAZ-20-M is indeed very similar to the Opel Kapitan: the under-engine frame, bottom, spars, floor reinforcements, front independent suspension were made according to the German "patterns" ... The rear suspension was made according to the standard version that had become by that time with longitudinal springs and rigid beam of the bridge.

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. On the middle and upper power belts of the body 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 analogues (about 1,600 mm), and, accordingly, a lowered window sill line and a floor line. This, in turn, made it possible to lower the height of the seat cushions, abandon the steps and make it easier to get into the car. Due to the presence of an independent front suspension, the engine has shifted forward and down, so the hood line has also become lower.

In the photo: GAZ M-20 Pobeda 1946 - 1948.

All these measures led to a noticeable decrease in the center of gravity of the car and had 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 auto industry!) A normal trunk and more spacious interior with smaller than the "Emka", the width and height of the body.

The lower-valve engine for Pobeda, based on the recently mastered GAZ-11 unit, was originally a six-cylinder (for such a modification of the car, the GAZ-25 factory index was laid down), but on the initiative of Lipgart, a four-cylinder model was created, and it was this version of the car that was more economical and, therefore, "People's", with the factory index GAZ-20 (the letter "M" in the common name of the model means "Molotov") was approved for production at a review of the top party leadership in 1945.


	In the photo: GAZ M-20A Pobeda "1948–58

Later, the six-cylinder Pobeda was nevertheless produced in a 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 engine of its predecessor, Emka, produced the same amount, but its engine had a volume of 3.5 liters and a much less modest appetite: Pobeda consumed 10-11 liters per 100 kilometers, while 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 the conditions of military and post-war devastation, the lack of good body metal and the impossibility of quick and, most importantly, high-quality development and introduction into production of a number of units.

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Needless to say, the laboratory for exterior and interior decoration appeared at GAZ only in the first quarter of 1945, and until that moment, the prototypes and running mockups of Pobeda were completed with instruments and interior parts from “analogues” received under Lend-Lease. Not the best conditions for design and implementation in production, as well as an unrealistic "deadline" subsequently played a cruel joke on 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 hearing a variant of the name of the car - “Motherland” -.

However, as we noted earlier, this story really should be considered nothing more than a bike: many sources indicate that the name "Rodina" was never proposed for the GAZ-20-M, it appeared as a working variant of the name of the next possible model, but never voiced outside the walls of the plant. However, by the time the next model was developed, the options were different - Zvezda and Volga, of which, as we know, the second one was chosen.

In the photo: GAZ M-20 Pobeda Experienced "1951

But still, the designer A. A. Lipgart received a portion of negativity from the “leader of the peoples” in connection with the Victory. True, this did not happen at the review 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 serial copies of the Victory suffered from a whole bunch of "childhood diseases" that almost ruined the car's reputation in the bud. And at the review of ZIM, having learned 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 the Stalin Prize for it. That, however, did not save him from subsequent persecution, to which Lipgart was subjected to the denunciation of a colleague.

So what was wrong with the first serial Victories?

Due to the tight deadlines, the car turned out to be “raw”. The body was not rigid enough and gave cracks - moreover, at the first Victories even the windshields burst. The paint quickly faded and flaked off the body. Door windows rattled, power windows were unreliable, and door handles broke off. The rear suspension springs “sat down”, the engine was prone to detonation and weakly accelerated the car.

In the photo: GAZ M-20V Pobeda "1955 - 1958

Starting smoothly was a problem due to the imperfection of the clutch. rear axle with spiral bevel gears and loaded axle shafts, designed specifically for Pobeda, it was very noisy in motion. Silencer and parking brake found low efficiency. Due to the lack of glass blowing and a heater, the windows fogged up and covered with hoarfrost in cold weather (the factory recommended drivers to have a bag of salt with them and rub the glass with it), and the nomenklatura chiefs who received the first Victories as “servants” did not like the low roof, interfered with sitting in a hat or papakha.

In 1946, production was launched, but in many ways it was a formality necessary in order to "meet" the deadlines. In fact, by the end of the year, only 23 cars were assembled using bypass technology. The cars of the so-called “first series”, which had the above shortcomings, were assembled until August 1948, 1,700 of them were produced, after which production was stopped, GAZ director Ivan Kuzmich Loskutov lost his post, and Lipgart, taken under the protection of the Minister of the Automotive Industry S.A. . Akopov, received a reprimand.

The design began to be hastily finalized, and in November of the same 1948 in Gorky they began to slowly assemble the "second series" of Victory, although not all improvements appeared on it immediately.

Work 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 one from the GAZ-M1, which did not have synchronizers) with a steering column switch instead of a floor switch, a modernized carburetor, increased from 4, 7 to 5.125 ratio final drive, new thermostat and water pump, heater and windshield blower, more reliable clock in the cabin. And the seat cushions were simply made thinner by 5 centimeters, so that people in high hats were guaranteed to fit into the cabin ...

It was thanks to the appearance of the "second series" that Pobeda went down in history as an ultra-reliable, completely "indestructible" and almost standard Soviet car.

However, Lipgart always believed in his offspring. In 1948, when Pobeda was still in full swing collecting all sorts of “bumps” due to its imperfection, he wrote: “In my firm opinion, the M20 car with the“ four ”is fully consistent with its main purpose - to replace the M1 car in the national economy. Moreover, I take the liberty of saying that in terms of economy, the quality of the spring suspension, road holding and the performance of the engine itself, this car is outstanding.

Special versions and upgrades

Until 1958, a little more than 184,000 GAZ-M-20 Pobeda cars were produced, including the "third series" (GAZ-M-20V), which received an engine of 52 hp in 1955. with., a radio in the cabin and a new design of the grille. In addition, about 37,500 copies of Pobeda in the taxi variant (GAZ-M-20A) and about 14,200 cabriolet sedans (with rigid safety arches on the upper body) based on Pobeda rolled off the assembly line in Gorky. Also, more than 4,600 all-wheel drive vehicles with a Pobeda body and a GAZ-69 chassis and two Pobeda-NAMI racing cars were built. In small batches, Victories were collected with more powerful engines - boosted to 62 hp. from. M-20D and the above-mentioned police catch-ups M-20G / M-26 with a 90-horsepower engine from ZIM.


	In the photo: GAZ M-20 "Victory" Snowmobile "Sever"

Already in the late 1940s, the first vision of the modernization of Pobeda 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 (in collaboration with L. Terentyev). An attempt to change the rear of the body to get rid of the main drawback of the fastback sedan body - the small capacity of the trunk - was considered at GAZ and fully approved. However, the idea of transitioning to a “clean” sedan was not developed at that time.

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At the same time, the Polish FSO Warszawa, which was a licensed copy of Pobeda, the shape of the trunk and rear window, as well as an underestimated 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.

What do you remember about the victory?

The victory became one of the world's first mass-produced cars with a pontoon-type body - unbelievable, but true: most American design studios, which were trendsetters in the mid-1940s, would come to this decision only two or three years after the appearance of the Soviet car. In general, the victory turned out to be a rather progressive machine - for example, it had a 12-volt electrical equipment that was rare at that time.

And for the automobile industry of the Soviet Union, this car became a breakthrough at all, because this is the first Soviet car with a name (yes, before that there were only alphanumeric indices), load-bearing body, trunk (I will note this again!), hydraulic braking system, as well as a cabin heater that is so necessary in Russia.

Its creators believed that a truly modern domestic car possible, and in the very near future. They believed in such a future. And they brought it as close as they could.

It was not in vain that the GAZ M20 passenger car was called “Victory” - it really was a victory in all respects. The Great Patriotic War was won, it became possible to raise the country's industry to a high level. AND new car became a symbol of that era.

This is how one of the first models of the GAZ-20 Pobeda car looks like

The creation of a new car model proved that there is a huge potential in the industry of the Soviet Union and the country can produce products that are not inferior in their characteristics to the goods of well-known Western manufacturers. Considering that the production of GAZ M 20 began almost immediately after the end of the war, then for our fatherland such an event can be considered a great achievement.

A new model of the GAZ passenger car began to be developed in the pre-war years. Then there were a lot of design ideas - at the same time, a new project was being conceived, the development of a 6-cylinder GAZ 11 engine was in full swing. But the designers began to design a middle-class passenger car in 1943.

The first modification of the Victory

It was at this time that the basic components and assemblies were determined, the forms of the future body were indicated. The model had its own characteristic differences from the previous brand:

Lower floor level compared to its predecessor;
Location of the engine above the front suspension beam;
The presence of a hydraulic drive in the brake system;
Improved independent front suspension;
Engine with higher efficiency;
Streamlined body with "licked" wings;
Improved interior design.

at first new model was considered in two versions depending on the engine, each of them was assigned its own index:

With a 6-cylinder engine - M-25;
With a 4-cylinder engine - M-20.

It looks like the M-20 engine in the context

Almost immediately after the end of the war, Pobeda underwent lengthy tests, and after their successful completion, it was submitted to the highest party government for consideration.

The project was approved, and it was decided to launch a more economical version, the M-20 brand, into mass production. In the future, this name was assigned to the car.

During the development phase of the car, the name "Motherland" was also considered. But Stalin did not approve of this option. When it came to selling a car, it turned out that they were selling the Motherland. The production of the GAZ Pobeda machine began at the end of June 1946. Despite successful tests, many different design flaws and shortcomings were revealed in the car. Therefore, over the next six months, only 23 cars rolled off the assembly line, and mass assembly at the Gorky Automobile Plant began only in the spring of 1947.

The interior of the car "Victory" GAZ 20

Already in February 1948, GAZ assembled 1,000 units of the new model, and by the beginning of autumn, another 700 Pobeda vehicles appeared.

Design features of the "Victory"

The prototype of the GAZ M 20 is to some extent the Opel Kapitan, at least many design decisions were taken from this car. But their own design solutions made Pobeda unique:

The front and rear wings practically merged with the body, which was an innovation in those days;
The hinges of all four doors were attached in front of the pillars and the doors opened in the direction of the car;
There were no decorative steps.

Lipgart A.A. was the chief designer of the GAZ Pobeda project. The design team included engineers: Krieger, Kirsanov and Kirillov. The first of these was the deputy chief designer, the second led the group. Kirsanov was engaged in the development of the body. The unique appearance of the car was created thanks to the artist Samoilov, but Samoilov never saw his project in the form of a real car - the artist died tragically in 1944. The first sketches were created by the artist Brodsky in 1943.

For Pobeda, the body and body elements for the first time became parts of their own, domestic production. Prior to this, other car brands received parts from foreign firms, in particular, they ordered production from American manufacturers.

Engine

Since the 6-cylinder GAZ 11 engine did not go into series, the 4-cylinder GAZ 20 became the main engine on the GAZ M20. From the GAZ 11 engine, a new power unit had the following differences:

The compression ratio in the cylinders was only 5.6, but such a low figure made it possible to work on low-octane 66th gasoline. In the post-war years, there were problems with fuel in the country, and the use of such a brand of gasoline made it possible to somehow get out of the situation. But the thrust of the engine was weak, and the engine could hardly cope with its duties even in a passenger car.

Gearbox and rear axle

The gearbox had three forward speeds and a gear reversing. It did not have synchronizers, the gearshift lever had a floor arrangement. This box was borrowed from the GAZ M1 model. In the early 50s of the last century, the gearbox lever was moved to steering column, and the checkpoint was taken from the ZIM car. It already provided synchronizers in second and third gear.

The rear axle was not borrowed from other car models; it was designed specifically for the GAZ M 20 brand.

It looks like a gearbox for Pobeda gas 20

The main gear had a pair of spiral-conical type. The inconvenience of the design is that in order to dismantle the axle shafts, it was necessary to completely disassemble the final drive housing.

Body and interior features

At times in the post-war years, the bodywork was considered to be of a high level, which was repeatedly noted by foreign experts in the automotive business. The body had a thick layer of metal (from 1 to 2 mm). Thicker was the metal on the side members and in places where the body was reinforced. The body type was classified as a "cabriolet".

The salon had a modern layout for its time, it was attended by:

There were others useful little things, such as luggage compartment lighting and engine compartment, or cigarette lighter in the interior console. In later versions of Pobeda, heating was provided for in the heating system windshield, and even later the car began to be equipped with a regular radio.

Separate seats, which are in modern cars, on the "Victory" was not. In total, two sofas were installed in the car: front and rear. At that time, velor was not used, “seats” were sheathed with high-quality woolen fabric. front seat had adjustments and could move back and forth. In cars designed for taxis, sofas were covered with leatherette.

Front and rear suspension, brake system

The schematic diagram of the front suspension was subsequently used on all Volga models. It was of the pivot type, independent, provided for the presence of threaded bushings. Some details were borrowed from Opel models Kapitan (shock absorbers, threaded bushings), but the pivot device had own development. The hydraulic shock absorbers were of the lever type, that is, they simultaneously served as upper suspension arms. Exactly the same design was present in rear suspension, the rear axle was mounted on springs.

The GAZ M 20 brake system was considered the most advanced in the middle of the twentieth century, for the first time it became hydraulic for the entire time of the Soviet automotive industry.

But there was only one circuit in the system, there was no question of any separation. That is, if any of the 4 working cylinders began to leak, the brakes disappeared altogether. In all Volga models with drum brakes, two working cylinders per wheel were installed.

Scheme of the design of drum brakes Pobeda

On Pobeda, both suspensions had one cylinder each, each cylinder bred two pads at the same time.

Electrical part

The electrical equipment of the Pobeda was also distinguished by its modernity, it used the most advanced technologies of the post-war years. Of the features of the electrical part can be noted:

The instrument cluster in the cabin had the entire necessary set sensors that informed the driver about the state of the car and the speed of movement:

Speedometer;
Fuel level sensor;
Oil pressure sensor;
Water temperature gauge;
Ammeter;
Clock.

The panel also had two turn signal lamps. The instrument panel itself was made of steel and painted to match the body color, plastic lining decorated it and gave it elegance.

located in serial production from 1946 to 1958. A total of 236,000 cars were produced.

New car project

The Gorky Automobile Plant received a directive for the creation of a new passenger car at the beginning of 1943. The main design work was carried out in the department of the chief designer A.A. Lipgart. At that time, there was a practice of manufacturing tooling for the production cycle abroad, mainly in American firms. However, at some point, the chief designer took the initiative and instructed the design bureau to make their own, domestic development.

So there was a project to create a Soviet passenger car, which received the name "Victory GAZ M20". In a short time, the chassis was calculated, the mass and center of gravity were distributed. The engine was carried far forward, it was above the front suspension beam. Due to this, the cabin became more spacious, it became possible to rationally distribute passenger seats.

As a result, the weight distribution reached an almost ideal ratio, with 49% on the front axle and 51% on the rear. The design continued, and after some time it turned out that the M20 Pobeda "has exceptional aerodynamic performance due to the shape of the body. The front end smoothly entered the flow of oncoming air, and the rear of the car seemed to not even participate in aerodynamic tests, the resistance of the body to air masses was so low in area from the windshield to rear bumper. Special sensors noted the number of units from 0.05 to 0.00.

Presentation

Several samples of cars with different characteristics were presented in the Kremlin to the top leadership of the country in the summer of 1945. For serial production, a four-cylinder version of the Pobeda GAZ M20 was chosen. The first cars left the assembly line in June 1946, but many shortcomings were noted. Mass production of "Victory" began in the spring of 1947.

The machine has been continuously improved during the production process. Finally, a fairly efficient heater was installed, combined with a windshield blower, in October 1948 the car received new parabolic springs and a thermostat. In 1950, Pobeda was equipped with mechanical box gears from ZIM with a shift lever on the steering wheel.

Modernization

The car went through a number of restylings. The result of the latter in 1955 was the unification of Pobeda with the army GAZ-69. The ultimate goal of this strange project was to create a Soviet all-terrain vehicle with a high level of comfort. The idea turned out to be unviable, because the result was depressing. Except for the clumsy freak with huge wheels nothing could be obtained.

Then, in 1955, there appeared new modification the third series with a 52 hp engine, a multi-finned radiator grille and a radio receiver. The model was produced until 1958.

There were attempts to create an elegant convertible under the index "M-20B", more than 140 copies of such cars were produced. Mass production could not be established due to difficulties with the kinematics of the automatic extension of the canvas roof. For some reason, one side of the frame lagged behind the other, the roof structure did not open. Production had to be suspended.

At the end of the 50s, a small series of "M-20D" was launched at the Molotov Automobile Plant with an uprated engine with a capacity of 62 hp. These cars were intended for the KGB garage. At the same time, the assembly of the Pobeda began with a 90-horsepower six-cylinder engine from ZIM for the MGB / KGB. Why these departments needed high-speed cars is still unclear, but nevertheless they got them.

Engine

type - gasoline, carburetor;
brand - M20;
cylinder capacity - 2110 cu. cm;
configuration - four-cylinder, in-line;
maximum torque - 2000-2200 rpm;
power - 52 hp at 3600 rpm;
cylinder diameter - 82 mm;
compression ratio - 6.2;
food - carburetor K-22E;
cooling - liquid, forced circulation;
gas distribution - camshaft;
- gray cast iron;
cylinder head material - aluminum;
number of cycles - 4;
maximum speed - 106 km / h;
gasoline consumption - 11 liters;
volume fuel tank- 55 liters.

Tuning "GAZ M20 Pobeda"

Since the "M20" is a machine from the distant past and more than 60 years have passed since its production, the model is today an interesting object for transformation. Tuning "GAZ M20 Pobeda" promises to be an exciting creative process.

"Victory" in miniature

Currently, the Pobeda GAZ M20 magazine is being published, which offers an interesting edition. From issue to issue, the publication provides materials for assembling an exact copy of the legendary passenger car. The project is called "GAZ M20 Pobeda 1:8". Everyone can take advantage of the offer and assemble an exact copy of the car in 1:8 scale. The model will turn out to be large in comparison with ordinary miniatures, but the identity with the original is almost one hundred percent. The headlights of the model glow due to built-in diodes.

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