Volga (car)
| GAZ 31105 'Volga' | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | GAZ |
| Production | 1956–2010 |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Executive car (E-segment) |
| Layout | Front engine, rear-wheel drive |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | GAZ-M20 Pobeda |
| GAZ-21 Volga | |
|---|---|
_%22Volga%22_in_Beroun_(as_DOD_probotrans_expon%C3%A1t).jpg) |
|
| Overview | |
| Production | 1956-1958 (first series) 1958-1962 (second series) 1962-1970 (third series) |
| Assembly | Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod), RSFSR |
| Designer | Lev Yeremeev |
| Body and chassis | |
| Body style | 4-door saloon/sedan 5-door estate/wagon (GAZ-22) |
| Related | GAZ-22, GAZ-23, |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | ZMZ-21A 2.445 L I4 Small series contained a 5.52 L V8 |
| GAZ-24 Volga | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Overview | |
| Production | 1970–1977 (first series) 1977–1985 (second series) |
| Assembly | Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod), RSFSR |
| Designer | Leonid Tsikolenko, Nikolay Kireev |
| Body and chassis | |
| Body style | 4-door saloon/sedan 5-door estate |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine |
ZMZ 24 (later ZMZ-2401) 2,445 cc (149.2 cu in) I4 ZMZ-2424 5.53 L V8 (GAZ-24-24) |
Volga (Russian: Волга) is an automobile brand that originated in the Soviet Union to replace the venerated GAZ Pobeda in 1956. Their role in serving the Soviet nomenklatura made them a contemporary cultural icon. Several generations of the car have been produced.
Despite the continuous modernisations, GAZ found it increasingly difficult to keep the ageing car in an increasingly competitive consumer market economy, which had matured in Russia by the mid-2000s. GAZ CEO Bo Andersson decided to discontinue the Volga range in 2010.
The first Volga model was originally developed as a replacement for the very successful GAZ-M20 Pobeda mid-size car which was produced since 1946. Despite its very progressive fastback design with Ponton body styling, the rapid evolution of postwar automotive design and powertrain meant that already in 1951 a brief was issued for its eventual replacement. In 1952 this matured into two projects: Zvezda ("Star"), an evolution of Pobeda's fastback contour with panoramic windows and large tailfins, and the Volga with its conventional styling, which was more realistically suited for the production realities of the 1950s.
By the spring of 1954 the Volga prototypes were being actively tested. The new car introduced a range of additions and advantages over the Pobeda. In addition to being bigger, it had single panoramic forward and rear windscreens, a larger four-cylinder overhead-valve engine, central lubrication system of the main chassis elements, hypoid rear axle and an automatic hydromechanical gearbox. The car's external design was made by Lev Yeremeev and though influenced by North American vehicles of the same period, the 1954 Ford Mainline in particular, the project was mostly independent, with an exception for the automatic transmission that was derived from the 3-speed Ford-O-Matic. After thorough testing of the car, which lasted for a further two years, a go-ahead was finally given by the state, and the first pre-production batch left GAZ on 10 October 1956.
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Wikipedia