Engineering:GAZ-AA

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The GAZ-AA is a truck produced at the Gorky Auto Plant in the Soviet Union from 1932 to 1938, and was the factory's first truck produced under the GAZ brand. Russian-speakers often refer to it as a polutorka (полуторка) - meaning "one-and-a halfer", with reference to its carrying capacity of 1.5 tonnes (1500 kilograms).

History

On 31 May 1929, the Supreme Soviet of the National Economy of the Soviet Union (Russian: Высший совет народного хозяйства СССР) made an agreement with the Ford Motor Company to produce Ford Model A and Model AA vehicles, and the Soviet Metallostroy organisation[1] (Russian: Металлострой) started constructing an American-designed automotive plant in Nizhny-Novgorod.

GAZ-AA engine

Initially, 10 Ford Model AA trucks were built at the plant,[2][3] under the name NAZ (for Nizhny Novgorod Avtomobilny Zavod). Soviet engineers prepared their own mechanical blueprints for production, specifying a truck to be made with thicker steel and to have an upgraded suspension system. In 1932, the city of Nizhny Novgorod adopted its new name, Gorky - after Maxim Gorky (1868-1936) - and in 1933, the plant was renamed to Gorky Avtomobilny Zavod, and the trucks began to use the model designation GAZ-AA. By 1932, mass-production had started, with around 60 trucks built at the plant daily from knock-down kits sent by Ford.[4]

Soon, assembly started of GAZ-A passenger vehicles,[5] which were based on the Ford Model A and were also built from knock-down kits imported into the Soviet Union. By that time, GAZ-AA trucks comprised the majority of trucks used by the Red Army.[4] Several modifications of the GAZ-AA trucks started getting produced, including dump trucks (410),[6] semi-trucks (MS), fire trucks (PMG-1)[7] and tractors (905).[8]

By 1938, nearly 1 million of these trucks had been produced and sold. By that time a modernized variant of the GAZ-AA trucks, under the GAZ-MM index entered production, with the engine from the GAZ-M1, that boosted the vehicle's power to 50 hp, with the compression ratio increased to 4.6, giving a maximum speed of 80 km / h.[9][10]

Variants

  • GAZ-AAA: three-axle version
  • BA-27: military vehicle using GAZ-AA assemblies
  • GAZ-1: 16-seat bus version
  • GAZ-2: 18-seat bus version
  • GAZ-3 (later GAZ-03-30): 16-seat bus variant; basically a combination of the GAZ-1 and GAZ-2
  • GAZ-03-32: ambulance version of GAZ-03-30
  • GAZ-5: three-axle, 25-seat bus version
  • GAZ-07: short wheelbase version for BA-6, BA-6M and BA-10
  • GAZ-13: 13-seat bus version
    • GAZ-13B: modified GAZ-13
  • GAZ-14: gas generator (wood gas) version with V-5 generator
  • GAZ-40: prototype gas generator version, based on third-party developments of the V-5 and NATI-G11 generators
  • GAZ-41: gas generator (wood gas) version with NATI-G14 generator
  • GAZ-42: improved GAZ-41
    • GAZ-42M: modernized GAZ-42
  • GAZ-43: gas generator (coal gas) version with NATI-G21 gas generator
  • GAZ-44: compressed gas-fueled version
  • GAZ-45: LPG fueled version
  • GAZ-55 (initially GAZ-55-55): ambulance variant
  • GAZ-55B: staff bus version of GAZ-55
  • GAZ-60: half-track version made for the Red Army
  • GAZ-60P: prototype improved version of GAZ-60
  • GAZ-65: halftrack version with removable tracks
  • GAZ-65op: prototype improved version of GAZ-65
  • GAZ-66: prototype halftrack based on the GAZ-AAA
  • GAZ-410 (initially GAZ-S1): dump truck
  • GAZ-905: tractor version
  • GAZ-SH: prototype snowmobile studies
  • PMG-1: fire truck

References

  1. ↑ Austin, Richard Cartwright (2004). Building Utopia: Erecting Russia's First Modern City, 1930. Moral Imagination in Industrial Culture. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press. p. 24. ISBN 9780873387309. https://books.google.com/books?id=WUu7QI1j7icC. Retrieved 26 June 2023. "[...] 'Metallostroy,' the Soviet organization that hired and supervised construction labor [...]" 
  2. ↑ "Zis lorry. "One and a half" GAZ-AA". https://korea1.ru/en/avtotop/zis-polutorka-polutorka-gaz-aa-istoriya-tehnicheskie-harakteristiki/. 
  3. ↑ "First Soviet Ford AA truck leaving Assembly Plant No. 1 "Gudok Oktyabrya" in Nizhni Novgorod". https://www.researchgate.net/figure/First-Soviet-Ford-AA-truck-leaving-Assembly-Plant-No-1-Gudok-Oktyabrya-in-Nizhni_fig12_262098142. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "ОАО "ГАЗ"/Горьковский автомобильный завод (ГАЗ)/ ГАЗ-АА". http://denisovets.ru/gaz/gazpages/gazaa.html. 
  5. ↑ "JSC "GAZ" / Gorky Automobile Plant (GAZ) /GAZ-A". http://denisovets.ru/gaz/gazpages/gaza.html. 
  6. ↑ "Опрокидка малой механизации Самосвал ГАЗ-С1/ -410". http://www.gruzovikpress.ru/article/1187-samosval-gaz-s1-410-oprokidka-maloy-mehanizatsii/. 
  7. ↑ "Пожарный автомобиль ПМГ-1: история, устройство и ТТХ Источник". https://fireman.club/statyi-polzovateley/pozharnyiy-avtomobil-pmg-1-istoriya-ustroystvo-i-tth/. 
  8. ↑ "ОАО "ГАЗ" (Горьковский автомобильный завод) ГАЗ-905". http://denisovets.ru/gaz/gazpages/gaz905.html. 
  9. ↑ "ОАО "ГАЗ"/Горьковский автомобильный завод (ГАЗ)/ ГАЗ-ММ". http://denisovets.ru/gaz/gazpages/gazmm.html. 
  10. ↑ "ГАЗ-ММ: машина жизни". https://www.zr.ru/content/articles/17170-zhivyje_klassiki_gaz-mm_mashina_zhizni/. 

Further reading

  • Andy Thompson: Trucks of the Soviet Union: The Definitive History. Behemont 2017, ISBN 978-0-9928769-5-1.



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