Features of the "Volga" collection from the publishing house DeAgostini

What car can rightfully be called the pearl of the Soviet car industry? Of course, the beautiful Volga! Almost every Soviet motorist dreamed of driving a GAZ-M21. It is no coincidence that this particular car became the heroine of Eldar Ryazanov's legendary comedy "Beware of the Car" and other favorite Soviet films.

Now you, too, can become the full owner of this wonderful car. We are happy to announce that the publishing house "DeAgostini" is launching a new series - "Volga M21".

Why will this collection be special?

You will be able to assemble a static model of the GAZ-M21 car on a scale of 1: 8. Its length will be 597 mm, width 236 mm, height 202 mm. Each issue is a collection of unique historical materials dedicated to the creation and production of the M21 Volga car, biographies of its designers, and rare archival photographs and drawings.

You will also receive a catalog with descriptions and photographs of 100 iconic Soviet passenger cars, which significantly influenced the development of the domestic automotive industry.

The Volga M21 series is a unique opportunity to touch the history of our industry and build with your own hands a large model of the legendary car with working headlights and moving parts.

We did everything to make it interesting for you to assemble the Volga M21 car. This is not a trivial 3D construction set, but a full-fledged model with moving and luminous details.

• An exact copy of the GAZ car - M21 "with a star", produced by the Gorky Automobile Plant in 1957 - 1958.
• Movable wheels and steering wheel, working headlights and taillights, engine, interior and room lighting, sliding windows and vents, sun deflectors, folding seats, realistic suspension and other important car parts.
• Miniature dashboard: imitation of a radio, speedometer, instrument scales. And there is a spare wheel in the trunk!
• The original symbolism is exactly reproduced: a deer, a star, inscriptions and an emblem on the steering wheel.

And if the Victory was the beginning of the golden era of passenger gas cars, then the "twenty-first" became its true zenith. An experimental industrial batch of GAZ-21 Volga was produced in 1956, ten years after the launch of Victory. The very first Volga left the assembly line in Gorky on October 10. Exactly 60 years ago.

The Volga project grew out of the Victory modernization process. The start of the GAZ-20-M in mass production did not come out too smoothly - there were a number of serious complaints about the cars of the "first series". Then the Minister of the Automotive Industry S.A. Akopov personally ordered to finalize the car, and part of this work was transferred to NAMI. As we know, in the end the Gazans coped with the revision of the car “perfectly” on their own, but the Pobeda-NAMI project of 1948, authored by Y. Dolmatovsky and L. Terentyev, turned out to be interesting - in particular, it provided for the transition from a fastback body to a sedan , and such a vision will be very useful for the creators of a new car in the future.

In the photo: "Victory-NAMI" 1948 by Y. Dolmatovsky and L. Terentyev

However, the first own attempt of the Gazans to create the second generation of Victory (this is exactly how the name "Volga" was not yet discussed at that time) turned out to be very cautious - the prototype that appeared in 1951 clearly resembled ZIM (GAZ-12), only slightly reduced in size ... However, we can speak of the conservatism of this approach only now, knowing what the real “replacement” of Victory has turned out to be. It is likely that that prototype could eventually become a successful production model - it was ruined not only and not so much by conservatism.

It was a difficult time. In 1951, due to a denunciation of one of the ordinary employees, the chief designer of GAZ, Andrei Lipgart, was dismissed from his post - a man who had already managed to create Pobeda, ZIM and the GAZ-51 truck. The new team, the backbone of which was the chief designer Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov (the one who, almost twenty years later, will head the engineering staff of VAZ and turn FIAT-124 into) and project engineer Alexander Mikhailovich Nevzorov, will be able to form his vision of the new car only by the second half of 1953 ...

In the photo: GAZ-M21 "Volga" Pre-production "1954–55

The new car was supposed to be better than Victory in all respects: bigger, more powerful, more economical and more comfortable. The salon is more spacious. The engine is newly developed. Transmissions - "automatic" and "mechanics", and as the main option was seen exactly the automatic transmission, "mechanics" was supposed only on "service" and taxi. The suspension is energy-intensive and reliable, adapted to dirt and off-road conditions. The car without fail relied on a heater (as you know, at the Victory, the "stove" did not appear immediately), a radio receiver and progressive pedals - suspended. All this together should, in fact, bring the car into a new class, make it the most status one among those sold in the USSR.

Not the least role in this was assigned to design. The story with the appearance of the "twenty-first" Volga is one of the very first cases in the domestic auto industry, when a competitive approach was applied in the development: two groups worked on the exterior at once - the artist-sculptor Lev Eremeev headed the work in the direction of the "Volga", and the English designer John Williams, who settled in the USSR back in 1936, was engaged in the alternative Star project.

The Englishman got an elegant fastback with a futuristic "plumage" of the rear, typical for the second half of the 1950s, but in the end, the more realistic sedan Eremeeva won - sporting a swift silhouette and fashionable curved front and rear windows (panoramic, as they said at the time) - beautiful Volga.

Here we would like to recall the famous "cheap, reliable and practical" Anatoly Papanov from the movie "The Diamond Arm", in which the Volga will play one of the roles - the practicality of the sedan body was proved at the "Victory-NAMI" stage, and more modest in comparison with the Williams version Volga feed was really easier and cheaper to be introduced into mass production - however, the resulting car certainly could not be blamed for the lack of aesthetics. Indeed, Eremeev used the 1952 Ford Mainline as his main source of inspiration.

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One can endlessly argue about whether Eremeev completely "took the American car as a basis" or whether he interpreted the sum of all progressive stylistic decisions of that time only in a similar way, but the connection between these two cars cannot be denied.

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Yes, the Volga is noticeably taller than Ford (correspondingly, the ground clearance has increased), and also shorter by more than 20 centimeters - and this is because the Soviet car was destined not to "lay" on, but to conquer the washed-out country roads and jump over boulders and hills.

But in general terms, it really clearly resembles a Ford. In other words, if Mainline was born in Russia, it would be exactly the "twenty-first" Volga. In fairness, we note that the Volga looks like several cars of that era at once - it was in trend.

This internal contradiction - to be better than Victory in everything and at the same time to remain a strong Soviet car - led to some compromises in design. The layout of the car was a typical sedan of the mid-1950s, but the project had an advanced all-aluminum overhead valve engine with wet sleeves, a rear axle with a hypoid final drive and semi-balanced axle shafts, but at the same time - conservative pivots in the front suspension and link shock absorbers, which are almost a thing of the past.

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But something had to be abandoned after the start of the serial production of the car. So, the central lubrication system was designed to simplify the work of the service chauffeur - he simply pressed a separate pedal and lubricant was supplied to all critical connections in the front suspension and steering. True, in fact, the oil pipelines often broke down, and in later configurations, the usual grease nipples appeared, and the drivers returned to “injecting”.

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A similar story happened with the "automatic": the Soviet engineers got an excellent unit (structurally based on the Ford-O-Matic all from the same Mainline), but only too demanding on the quality of the oil. As a result, the production of "automatic" Volgas was curtailed, without having released even thousands of copies.

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But also the "mechanical" Volga, with a hydraulic clutch that provided incredible softness at that time, with a gearshift paddle, a semicircular speedometer (another reference to the "Americans") and a solid front sofa in a spacious cabin, with a spacious trunk, spectacular convex strokes on the sidewalls and a shining chrome grille, became a real personification of all the best that was then in the USSR.

Perhaps the appearance of a star on the very same radiator grille of the cars of the "first series" should be considered in some sense fateful. They say that Defense Minister Georgy Zhukov rejected the too "predatory" mouth of the Volga prototype at a state reception in the Kremlin, and Eremeev had to draw a new one literally overnight - he again pushed away from the solution implemented on the Mainline, only inscribed a five-pointed star in the central circle. And the Volga really became a true star of its time.

Although at the initial stage there were enough difficulties. The new 70-strong overhead valve "four" was mastered only by the middle of 1957 - for almost a year, the new Volga went with the old one, boosted to 65 hp. with. lower valve motor of Victory. According to the project, the cylinders of the new engine were supposed to have a hemispherical combustion chamber, and the valves were not arranged in a row, but at an angle. Back in 1955, such a motor was built, tested and ... subjected to a total alteration, because it turned out to be gluttonous and weak at the bottom. As a result, the spherical combustion chamber was replaced with a wedge-shaped one and the gear drive of the camshaft was returned. Thanks to the aluminum block, the engine has become much lighter and more efficient than its predecessor, however, the Volga in the taxi version will be equipped with Pobedov engines right up to 1959.

In the photo: GAZ 21A "Volga" (II) "1958-1962

In the main modification, from the beginning of 1958, all GAZ-21s will come with their own engine. It was forced several times, and there were both conventional and export modifications: on the early models, the power was, respectively, 70 and 80 liters. with., at later - 75 and 85 liters. with. And the car itself has gone through a kind of three stages of modernization - the cars of the first, second and third series are known. Technically, the car did not change much, albeit "on business", but the most noticeable changes were associated with a slight correction of the exterior and interior. It is worth noting that the engine was boosted without a clear reference to the production of these series.

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The first series, cars that had that very star on the radiator grille, were produced from 1957 to 1959, and at the moment are of the greatest collection value. From 1959 to 1962, the second series was produced - it is easy to distinguish it by the radiator grille, nicknamed "shark's mouth" because of the 16 vertical slots, which serve as an indirect reference to the version once rejected by Zhukov. Finally, the third series was produced from 1962 to 1970 - it lost the graceful figurine of a deer on the hood (it was traumatic in an accident with a pedestrian, threw too much water on the windshield in the rain, and besides, it enjoyed increased interest among thieves) and acquired a radiator lattice with frequent slots, nicknamed for this by the people "whalebone". The third is the most massive series of GAZ-21, it was released in the amount of about 470,000 copies. In total, almost 640,000 GAZ-21 Volga vehicles were produced in 14 years.

However, this car has never been "popular". In the first year of production, it was possible to buy the Volga for 17,400 rubles (at prices before the monetary reform of 1961), and in subsequent years the price varied from 5,100 for the usual Volga of the first series to 6,455 rubles for the export version of the 1965 model. Not everyone could afford such a purchase. Moreover, the amount collected did not guarantee the possession of a car at all - it was necessary either to stand in a huge queue, or to have a pull.

In a word, the Volga, as planned, from the very beginning has become a very status car. Over time, a bohemian, elite image was completely entrenched for her - although she was in the class lower than the representative "Seagulls", Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Vysotsky rolled out on the "twenty-first", and the role in the film "Beware of the Car" (as well as less a noticeable, but very romantic role in "Three Poplars on Plyushchikha") even more romanticized the Volga, making it almost an object of cult. However, this "romanticization" took on a special scope much later, in the post-Soviet era of nostalgia for the USSR. At one time, the GAZ-21 Volga was simply a car that I really wanted to own.

Problems remained, gasoline consumption, in principle, too. Although the latter is not that big. In front of the engine there is such a necessary thing in winter as a blind. Before warming up, you close them, start them up and wait for the engine to warm up. The main thing is to open them later, otherwise it is not far from boiling - the car was originally on the water.

Everything under the hood is original - a native fuel pump, a filter with a sump, and an oil filter.
Paired with this engine is a manual transmission with steering wheel shift. A feature, in addition to the control method, is also the fact that there is no synchronizer for forward and reverse gears, so such a thing as double squeezing of the clutch is not uncommon for this car. The algorithm of work is as follows: the first transfer - towards yourself and down, the second - from yourself and up, the third - from yourself and down. Reverse gear - towards yourself and up.

According to variations, nothing but these engines stood here. Unless only in the first series, a small part of the cars was equipped with a low-valve engine from "Pobeda". The gearbox has always been mechanical, but about 700 cars of the first series with automatic transmissions were produced. But they did not take root due to a lack of service culture and a lack of the necessary hypoid oil.
They were exported with imported diesel engines "Peugeot-Indenor", "Perkins" and "Rover" with the same mechanical boxes. Or there were native gasoline ones, but with a capacity of 80-85 horsepower.

The same few versions of the "catch-up" GAZ 23 were - these "Volgas" under the hood comfortably housed a V-shaped 8-cylinder engine, five and a half liters from the "Chaika" with a three-speed automatic transmission. For camouflage, the controls were also on the steering wheel, but there was also a small plate with the speed position. Many now twist 21 Volgas, installing 4.2-liter turf engines in it, coupled with a four-speed mechanics from a 24-ki. By the way - stories about the stove in the trunk. These "catch-ups" had special listening equipment there. Plates and boxes with sand went on other models of these special vehicles.

"Volga" is one of those cars in which you can easily take a photo of the bottom and suspension parts without any difficulty.

At the front, there is an independent spring suspension, archaic kingpin and the absence of an amplifier have long been used in the steering. Until 1960, a centralized suspension lubrication system was used, but it was extremely complex and left stains on the asphalt. It is necessary to lubricate and quite often. Especially the 21 points, the pendulum, is something. It's nice that there is such a thing in the front as an anti-roll bar. It was in the third series that telescopic shock absorbers appeared on the car, instead of archaic lever ones. Behind - a split axle on longitudinal springs with telescopic shock absorbers. The disadvantage of this bridge is that after disconnecting the stockings, the assembly is rather difficult, especially to expose the contact patch. The brakes are drummed in a circle, without an amplifier on the pedal. The parking brake on the transmission, like in the "Victory", GAZ 69 and all previous cars. This means that the cardan transmission is blocked. But here, too, there is a minus - if the car with one wheel on a regular surface, and the other on a wet or slippery and uphill, it can roll.

1964 GAZ 21 Volga - One owner

GAZ-21 "Volga"- Soviet middle-class car, mass-produced at the Gorky Automobile Plant from 1956 (1957) to 1970. Model factory index - initially GAZ-M-21, later (since 1965) - GAZ-21... A total of 639,478 copies of all modifications were produced.

BACKGROUND

Since 1946, GAZ has been producing the GAZ-M-20 Pobeda passenger car. At the time of the start of production, "Pobeda" was distinguished by a fairly modern design and advanced design.

However, by the beginning of the next decade, its appearance gradually began to become obsolete, the aggregate part also lagged behind the level of world leaders. There was a need to replace it with a more modern, technically and visually perfect model.

"VICTORY-US"

The first attempt to develop a promising model to replace the existing GAZ-M-20 dates back to 1948, when NAMI specialists, commissioned by the Ministry of the Automotive Industry, developed their own version of the restyling of the serial Pobeda, which in history remained under the designation Pobeda-NAMI. There were two options - the authors of the first, Y. Dolmatovsky and L. Terent'ev, and the second, Y. Dolmatovsky and V. Aryamov.

SECOND GENERATION VICTORY PROJECT

Since 1951, the development of a new-generation middle-class car under the designation GAZ-M-21 "Pobeda-II" began directly at GAZ (General Designer - AA Lipgart, later - V. Solovyov; designer - L. Eremeev). The sample was brought to a plaster model, which outwardly to a large extent resembled the serial GAZ-M-12 "ZIM", the designer of which was the same Lev Eremeev.

However, ZIM itself had already become obsolete by this time, so the second generation Pobeda project was not accepted for production. And soon the plant began work on other, much more promising models, one of which was subsequently chosen for mass production as the successor to the "Victory".

BASIC MODIFICATIONS OF THE BASE SEDAN

• GAZ-M-21- sedan model 1957 with automatic transmission;
• GAZ-M-21A- 1957-1958, taxi model 1957;
• GAZ-M-21AYU- 1959-1958, tropical version of the 1957 model taxi;
• GAZ-M-21A- 1959-1962, taxi model 1959;
• GAZ-M-21AYU- 1959-1962, tropical version of the 1959 model taxi;
• GAZ-M-21B- 1957, taxi model 1957 with a lower valve engine;
• GAZ-M-21V 1957-1958, 1957 base sedan
• GAZ-M-21VYu- 1957-1958, tropical version of the 1957 model;
• GAZ-M-21G- 1956-1957, 1957 base sedan with a low-valve engine;
• GAZ-M-21GYu- 1956-1957, tropical version of the 1957 model with a low-valve engine;
• GAZ-M-21D- 1957-1958, export version of the 1957 model;
• GAZ-M-21DU- 1957-1958, tropical export version of the 1957 model;
• GAZ-M-21E- export version of the 1957 model with automatic transmission;
• GAZ-M-21EE- tropical export version of the 1957 model with automatic transmission;
• GAZ-M-21I 1958-1962, 1958 base sedan
• GAZ-M-21K- 1959-1962, export version of the 1958 model;
• GAZ-M-21KB- 1960-1962, car kit for Belgium, model 1958;
• GAZ-M-21KYU- 1959-1962, tropical export version of the 1958 model;
• GAZ-M-21L- 1962-1964, base sedan model 1962;
• GAZ-M-21M- 1962-1964, export version of the 1962 model;
• GAZ-M-21MYu- 1962-1964, tropical export version of the 1962 model;
• GAZ-21N- 1964 - export version of the 1962 model with right-hand drive;
• GAZ-21NYU- 1964 - Tropical export version of the 1962 model with right-hand drive;
• GAZ-21P- export version of the 1965 model with right-hand drive;
• GAZ-21PE- export version of the 1965 model with right-hand drive and automatic transmission;
• GAZ-21R- 1965-1970, base sedan model of 1965;
• GAZ-21S- 1965-1970, export version of the 1965 model;
• GAZ-21T- 1962-1964, taxi model 1962;
• GAZ-21TS- 1965-1970, taxi model 1965;
• GAZ-21U- 1959 (roughly) -1964, modification with improved design of 1959 and 1962 models;
• GAZ-21US- 1965-1970, modification with improved design of the 1965 model;
• GAZ-21F- experienced with a pre-chamber engine;
• GAZ-21E- 1965-1970, sedan model of 1965 with shielded electrical equipment;

"Volga" was produced for a long time - an entire era in the history of the country and the world, thanks to which it became an integral part of the urban landscape of socialist countries of the sixties - seventies.

01/01/1967 Soviet pilot-cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov washes a car with his daughter Irina.

"Volga" can be seen in almost all Soviet films since 1956. The most famous film, in which the GAZ-21 acts practically as a hero, is "Beware of the car". And in the fantastic film "Black Lightning" directed by Alexander Voitinsky, this car is able to fly.

Volga GAZ-21 starred in the videos for the songs "Kill The King" by Megadeth, "Du Hast" by Rammstein and "Moonlight Shadow" by Groove Coverage.

Also, due to the combination of appearance, in many ways similar to classic American cars, and widespread distribution, GAZ-21 became the basis for the creativity of hot rodding and customizing fans.

GAZ-21 is considered a classic oldtimer car, and early and rare modifications are prized as collectible cars. At the same time, a relatively large number of cars are still in daily use, and the considerable total number of cars produced by this brand makes the collection value of most versions of the Volga rather doubtful.

In Russia and in many foreign countries, there are GAZ-21 amateur clubs. Abroad, this car is perceived as one of the symbols of the Russian (Soviet) car industry.

VLADIMIR PUTIN'S CAR

According to the available information, Russian President Vladimir Putin owns a GAZ-21 (M-21) of the "second series" (in appearance) of the "ivory" color, rebuilt on modern units. As a donor of aggregates, in particular, the Bentley brand is called. Despite the many times repeated information that it was released in 1956, this fact cannot correspond to reality - in fact, experimental cars of this year have not reached our time. According to the traffic police database in Moscow and the region (as of 2007), two Volgas were registered for Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich - M-21 1960 and GAZ-21R 1965. The car shown to the press is very similar to the model from 1959-1962. On it, Putin rolled US President George W. Bush. According to available sources, the car has now been transferred to the exhibition at the AvtoVille Museum in Moscow.

As you may have guessed, we will talk about the most elegant, attractive and prestigious car model that has been available to Soviet citizens since 1956. This car was produced in various variations of the engine, body and interior design and was used as a passenger car, a police car, the KGB of the USSR and, of course, a taxi (remember the plot of “taxi to Dubrovka”). This car had a sedan body and was mass-produced at the Gorky Automobile Plant. Guess his name?

That's right, it's a machine GAZ 21 "Volga"... The entire history of the production of this car can be conditionally divided into three periods or three production series. The original name of the car was GAZ-M21(the plant was named after Molotov), ​​then the letter “M” disappeared. Who remembers the signature deer on the hood? By the way, the deer also finally disappeared in the series of the “third issue” (1965-1970), this remarkable design element shining in the sun was gone for safety reasons. Although he looked very stylish.

The main modifications of the car GAZ 21 "Volga".

In the period from 1956 to 1965, a lot of car modifications were produced, and they differed quite strongly. The cars of the first releases until 1957 were equipped with a modified engine from the car " Victory"(Power 65 hp), a total of 1100 such machines were manufactured. GAZ-M21G car in addition to the engine from “ Victory", Received a rear axle with shortened axle shafts from the car" ZIM”. The “trick” of all cars of the first series is the connection of the positive power supply wire to the car body. A model was produced for a taxi GAZ-M21B where cheaper trim was used. Since 1957, the Volga has been equipped with the ZMZ-21 engine, which was specially developed for GAZ 21 vehicles.

The ZMZ-21 engine was distinguished by a number of progressive solutions, it provided power of 70 hp, was an overhead valve and was almost entirely made of aluminum. Thus, already with the ZMZ-21 engine, the production car was named GAZ-M21V, the taxi car was named GAZ-M21A, and the export modification was named GAZ-M21D. In the export version of the GAZ-M21D, a manual transmission (KP) and a forced engine developing thrust up to 80 hp were installed. The export version of the GAZ-M21E differed in the installed automatic gearbox and also had an 80 hp engine.

The period of production of the “second series” of GAZ 21 cars is considered the time from 1959 to 1962, and during this time about 160 thousand cars have already been produced. The manufacturer gradually made changes to the design and they mainly concerned the design of the body, the increase in the wheel arches of the front fenders, the change in the polarity of the wiring. Since 1960, the car body in cars has already been connected to the common wire (minus) of the power supply. This made it possible to reduce metal corrosion and reduce current losses due to the design. The base model became known as the GAZ-M21I and new modifications appeared, such as the GAZ-M21U with leather interior trim (luxury modification) and the GAZ-M21K export version, sometimes in a two-tone body version and with additional decorative chrome body elements.

The power of the GAZ-M21U engine was 75-80 hp.

From 1962 to 1970, cars of the “third series” were produced. In total, about 470 thousand cars were manufactured. Cars of the "third series" had a radiator grill of 37 chrome-plated vertical plates. The figurine of a deer has finally disappeared from the hood, the total number of chrome-plated decorative elements has been reduced. In the production model, a 75 hp engine was used, the shock absorbers became telescopic, and the body lines were slightly changed. They have become more harmonious.

The main models of the third series are:

• "Volga" GAZ-M21L - 4-door sedan, mass serial.
• "Volga" GAZ-M21U - modification of "luxury", improved interior trim and moldings on the fenders.
• "Volga" GAZ-M21T - a car for a taxi, the front seats are separated. The passenger front seat to the right of the driver is foldable, and in its place you can place additional luggage.

Brief description of the car GAZ 21.

• The number of seats (together with the driver) - 5;
• Dimensions (length * width * height) in meters - 4.77 * 1.80 * 1.62;
• The "third series" of vehicles had a length of 4.83 meters. The height is determined without load.
• Base (distance between axles) - 2.7 meters;
• Front wheel track - 1.41 meters;
• Rear wheel track - 1.42 meters;
• Clearance - 190 mm;
• Fuel type - AI-72 gasoline;
• Fuel consumption per 100 km - from 9 to 13.5 liters;
• Tri-band tube radio with scale illumination in the passenger compartment.

Of course, now the owners cars GAZ 21 they are rarely used for everyday driving. Although there are such people in small settlements. Today it is already a collectible and quite expensive car. Cars with genuine factory parts and interior elements are especially dear to collectors.

The designers of the Gorky Automobile Plant managed to create a dream car for many Soviet people. Even today, 45 years after the last cars GAZ 21, the flawless design of this machine is eye-catching and eye-catching. It is a pity, of course, that for the majority of Soviet people this car has remained a dream forever.

Publication date: 23-12-2015, 21:41

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