The GAZ-AA is a truck produced at the Gorky Auto Plant in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

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'' () - 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 Supreme Soviet of the National Economy, Superior Soviet of the People's Economy, (Высший совет народного хозяйства, ВСНХ, ''Vysshiy sovet narodnogo khozyaystva'', VSNKh) was the superior state institution for mana ...

of the Soviet Union () made an agreement with the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

to produce Ford Model A and Model AA vehicles, and the Soviet ''Metallostroy'' organisation () started constructing an American-designed automotive plant in Nizhny-Novgorod. Initially, 10

Ford Model AA Ford Model AA is a truck from Ford. As the Model T and TT became obsolete and needed to be replaced, Henry Ford began initial designs on the Model A and Model AA in 1926. Basic chassis layout was done rapidly and mechanical development wa ...

trucks were built at the plant,>> 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 Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...

(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 Mass production, also known as mass production, series production, series manufacture, or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. ...

had started, with around 60 trucks built at the plant daily from

knock-down kits A knock-down kit (also knockdown kit, knocked-down kit, or simply knockdown or KD) is a collection of parts required to assemble a product. The parts are typically manufactured in one country or region, and then exported to another country or r ...

sent by Ford.> Soon, assembly started of

GAZ-A The GAZ-A is a passenger car that was mass-produced by GAZ from 1932 until 1936. It was the first passenger car to be produced in the Soviet Union and is a near-exact copy of the Ford Model A (1927-1931), Ford Model A from 1930. To the local popula ...

passenger vehicles,> which were based on the Ford Model A and were also built from knock-down kits imported into the

. By that time, GAZ-AA trucks comprised the majority of trucks used by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

./> Several modifications of the GAZ-AA trucks started getting produced, including

dump trucks A dump truck, known also as a dumping truck, dump lorry or dumper lorry or a dumper for short, is used for transporting materials (such as dirt, gravel, or demolition waste) for construction as well as coal. A typical dump truck is equipped wi ...

(''410''),5> semi-trucks (''MS''),

fire trucks A fire engine or fire truck (also spelled firetruck) is a vehicle, usually a specially designed or modified truck, that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to ...

(''PMG-1'')1> and

tractors A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...

(''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 The GAZ-MM is a Soviet light truck produced at the Gorki Auto Plant from 1938 to 1947, and then at the Ulyanovsky Auto Plant up to 1956. The truck was a modernized and improved variant of the GAZ-AA that used the more powerful engine from the GA ...

'' index entered production, with the engine from the

GAZ-M1 The GAZ M1 (“Эмка“/”Emka”) was a passenger car produced by the Automotive industry in the Soviet Union, Soviet automaker GAZ between 1936 and 1943, at their plant in Nizhny Novgorod, Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod, Russia). Systematic p ...

, 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>8>

Variants

GAZ-AAA The GAZ-AAA was a Soviet truck produced by GAZ. From 1936 to 1943, 37,373 units were built. Like the GAZ-AA and GAZ-MM, it was largely based on the Ford Model AA truck. The Red Army commonly used these trucks as anti-aircraft units, mounting ...

: three-axle version *

BA-27 The BA-27 was a Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until ...

: 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 A half-track is a civilian or military vehicle with wheels at the front for steering and continuous tracks at the back to propel the vehicle and carry most of the load. A half-track combines the soft-ground traction of a tank with the Car handl ...

version made for the

* 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 A dump truck, known also as a dumping truck, dump lorry or dumper lorry or a dumper for short, is used for transporting materials (such as dirt, gravel, or demolition waste) for construction as well as coal. A typical dump truck is equipped ...

* GAZ-905: tractor version * GAZ-SH: prototype snowmobile studies * PMG-1:

fire truck A fire engine or fire truck (also spelled firetruck) is a vehicle, usually a specially designed or modified truck, that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water t ...

References

External links

* {{Commons category-inline GAZ Group trucks 1930s cars

History

Variants

References

Further reading

External links