Gaz (Gorkovski Avtomobilny Zavod) is a Russian brand created in the city of Gorki, which today is called Nijni Novgorod again as it was before the Soviet era.
Specialized since the middle of the 20th century in the manufacture of trucks and buses, it currently holds the first position in terms of sales in the Russian market in this segment of heavy vehicles.
But it also has a production side of passenger cars, intended mainly for the domestic market, where it is the second manufacturer behind AutoVaz, known in Europe for its models marketed under the Lada brand.
The manufacture of passenger cars has long been in Gaz. One of the most famous models for its “revolutionary” aesthetic and for having represented the Soviet regime and its leaders in innumerable graphic testimonies was the 1955 Volga.
Focused on the military industry, Gaz wanted to make a vehicle worthy of the highest officials of the Communist Party in the mid-50s. It was also about replacing the veteran Poveda, whose aesthetic of the 40s had already become completely obsolete in the capitalist world.
In those days the prevailing style was that of the spectacular and large American cars, where the Volga found inspiration for its bodywork. Specifically in the Ford Customline that populated the roads of the United States at that time.
In production for 55 years
The Volga soon won the admiration of the Soviet leadership, who saw themselves more evenly matched with their Cold War enemies when it came to racing show cars. For the highest positions, special versions with a V8 engine and 195 horsepower were prepared. Even the feared KGB commissioned a special version for its sordid law enforcement and counterintelligence services, with a twin-piston rotary Lada engine.
The standard version was content with a 75-horsepower ZMZ four-cylinder which, although with a maximum speed of 135 kilometers per hour represented great progress compared to the Poveda, it was clearly insufficient to move the heavy Volga with some ease with its 4 .83 meters long. This was a serious inconvenience when GAZ decided to export the Volga to the other side of the iron curtain and forced the brand to “tighten” the mechanics to 80 horsepower.
For the same purpose, a three-speed hydraulic torque converter automatic gearbox was developed, although due to its complexity and reliability it did not have continuity in the model.
With the arrival of the 60s, the Volga became “westernized” even more in its design, becoming more elegant and changing its grille while maintaining the brand’s characteristic deer logo. The family version was also launched to compete in the then growing break segment, and was baptized with the suggestive and bourgeois name of Week-end.
The arrival in the European market led some importers, such as Belgium, to repower the Volga and convert it to diesel to reduce consumption, first with a 48-horsepower 1.6 Perkins engine. But the power was clearly insufficient and later they would resort to a 65-horsepower Rover that already allowed it to reach a top speed of 125 kilometers per hour. During the 80s, it would still receive a new turbodiesel engine, this time transplanted from the Peugeot 505.
Despite its limitations and its veteran conception, the Volga remained in production until 2010, completing a commercial cycle of more than half a century and during which almost one and a half million units were produced, adding up all versions.
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