GAZ-12: specifications and photos

The first Soviet car of the representative class GAZ-12 (ZIM) was produced in the shops of the Gorky Automobile Plant in the period from 1949 to 1959. The machine was intended for official use by members of the government, higher party leaders.

Project

The development of the GAZ-12 model was carried out in a short time, there was no time to create domestic external parameters of the new machine, so the American Buick of the 1948 edition was taken as the basis. Copy the exterior did not, they used only the basic contours.

Specifications

The body of GAZ-12 made a bearing, all-metal, structurally separated frame was not. As a separate body element was used only the submodorn module, which was attached to the bottom of the front bolt. It should be noted that the design bureau of the plant took a certain risk by adopting a frameless option as a six-seater with three rows of seats assumed an obligatory margin of rigidity along the length, which can only be provided by a powerful frame structure from the channel.

However, everything was decided in the best way: the necessary margin of rigidity was created by the diagonal welded profiles located throughout the plane of the car's bottom. Thus, it was possible to reduce the overall weight of the body without loss of the coefficient of strength.

But in the process of using cars with the GAZ-M-12 body, serious defects caused by loss of stiffness of load-bearing elements began to appear. The strength of the structure was weakened by the constant vibrational loads, as well as the stress resulting from the rocking of the machine in the longitudinal plane. As a result, the frameless body version had to be abandoned.

Unification

Initially, the GAZ-12 was assembled manually, while the documentation on the serial conveyor process was being prepared. Mass production of the car became possible due to the high degree of unification, which by some indicators reached 50 percent. Many units and units were borrowed from the model "Victory M-20", truck GAZ-51 and later - GAZ-53-12, which at that time was in development.

Power point

The car was equipped with an upgraded GAZ-11 engine with a cylinder capacity of 3,485 cubic meters. Cm, a power of 90 hp, with which up to 120 kilometers per hour developed the speed of GAZ-12.

Engine, powertrain characteristics:

• Type of petrol;
• Number of cylinders - 6;
• Stroke of the piston - 110 mm;
• Diameter of the cylinder - 82 mm;
• Compression ratio - 6,7;
• Food - carburetor K-21;
• Cooling water;
• Consumption of gasoline in a mixed mode - 19 liters per 100 km;
• Recommended fuel - gasoline A70, A72.

Transmission

The GAZ-12 machine was equipped with a gearbox with the following characteristics:

• Type - hydromechanical, synchronized;
• Number of speeds - 3;
• Gears - helical pairs;
• Control - mechanical switching by a lever drive.

Exterior

External data of the car met the requirements of the time, the body contours were rounded, smooth transitions created the impression of integrity of the design. This was the trend that followed all American car manufacturers, was not an exception and ZIM. GAZ-12 was the first multi-seat executive-class car, and, of course, the car was a source of pride for both the creators and the people for whom it was intended.

The car participated in all the festive demonstrations, was exhibited at VDNH, in the pavilion "The automotive industry of the USSR." Despite the then-existing Iron Curtain between the Soviet Union and Western countries, the GAZ-12 was exported abroad for display at the Berlin, Madrid and Paris motor shows.

Interior

The salon of the Soviet limousine was trimmed in accordance with the notions of luxury of that period. All the metal parts in the interior were covered with a decorative pattern, and the decoration for valuable varieties of wood added an impression of luxury. The floors in the car were necessarily carpeted, which contributed to almost complete noise insulation.

By the level of luxury in the interior of the 12th model, it was surpassed only by the government ZIS-110, which was never exploited either as a taxi or as an ambulance, but was considered the highest link in the car industry in the USSR.

Sale of cars in private hands

GAZ-12 became the first and last car of the executive class, which could be purchased in retail. The cost of the car until 1961 was 40,000 rubles. At that time it was a lot of money, considering that the average salary of a Soviet man did not exceed 650 rubles. The prestigious car "Victory M-20" cost 16,000 rubles, and "Moskvich-401" - nine thousand. Thus, the queues for ZIM were not lined up, but the scientists and especially important artists had this machine in their possession.

At the beginning of the seventies there was a massive write-off of GAZ-12 from state institutions. These cars were purchased by private traders who could not buy new "Zhiguli", costing about five thousand rubles.

Today you can meet ZIM in different, sometimes most unexpected places. On some machines there are engines from trucks, absolutely unthinkable transmissions and all sorts of exotic mechanisms. Machines in the factory equipment - a rarity.

The new fashion and the end of production

By the end of the 50s, the GAZ-12 model began to rapidly lose its reputation. The world automobile fashion has sharply changed direction, modernization of the factory equipment for manufacturing bodies of a fundamentally new form has begun everywhere.