The RAF-977 was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

cabover

van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across th ...

made by

Riga Autobus Factory The Riga Autobus Factory (RAF; ) was a factory in Jelgava, Latvia, making vans and minibuses under the brand name Latvija. History Origins, Riga period During the Soviet period, RAF and UAZ were the only producers of vans and minibuse ...

(RAF) based on components from the GAZ-21 Volga. It was introduced in 1958 and was manufactured in two main styles: a 10-seater

minibus A minibus, microbus, minicoach, or commuter (in Zimbabwe) is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, th ...

and an

ambulance An ambulance is a medically equipped vehicle which transports patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to medi ...

. In 1961, an updated version called the RAF-977D was put into production; this had a one-piece windshield, instead of the split, and Volga steering wheel among its other detail changes. Variants included the 977I ambulance and a special ''

Intourist Intourist (russian: Интурист, a contraction of , "foreign tourist") was a Russian tour operator, headquartered in Moscow. It was founded on April 12, 1929, and served as the primary travel agency for foreign tourists in the Soviet Uni ...

'' model, which had better seats, roof lights, and sunroof. The RAF-983, based on the 977, was a fire department vehicle. The shortened RAF-978, powered by the Moskvitch 407's engine, was not a success, in part because the engine lacked

torque In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational equivalent of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). It represents the capability of a force to produce change in the rotational motion of th ...

, and ride quality suffered due to the shortened

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

. In 1969, it was replaced by the improved RAF-977DM. This had a wider passenger door and fewer but longer side windows (three on driver's side and two on passenger's, rather than five and three before). The ambulance now had the same number of windows, rather than fewer; it was now the 977IM, and the tourist variant was the 977EM. A one-ton cargo panel van, the RAF-977K, was also developed, but due to insufficient assembly capacity (only 3000 units a year) at the RAF plant (which still used trolleys, rather than a modern assembly line), its production started at the

ErAZ ErAZ or Yerevanskiy Avtomobilny Zavod ( hy, ԵրԱԶ or Երևանի ավտոմոբիլային գործարան, russian: ЕрАЗ or Ереванский Автомобильный Завод, , Yerevan Automobile Plant), was an Armenian automo ...

factory in

Yerevan, Armenia Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...

, 1 May 1966 as ErAZ-762. This was nicknamed ''Yeraz'' (Armenian for "dream"). By 1973, ErAZ's production reached 6,500 per year; with the innovation of overhead carriage, capacity almost doubled, to 12,000 a year. The 977 was also produced under licence by ''Lugansk Avto Remontnyi Zavod'' (

LARZ Larz may refer to: * Lärz, a municipality in Germany * Larz, a given name; people with the name include: ** Larz Anderson Larz Anderson (August 15, 1866 – April 13, 1937) was an American diplomat and ''bon vivant''. He served as second ...

). In 1969, an improved ErAZ-762A also appeared. Production of the RAF-977 ceased in 1975, when it was replaced by RAF-2203 Latvia. The 977 was never promoted for export nor made available except to state groups.Thompson, p.198 caption.

References

{{commons category, RAF-977 1950s cars 1960s cars 1970s cars Riga Autobus Factory vehicles Vans Minibuses Ambulances Cab over vehicles Buses of the Soviet Union Motor vehicles manufactured in Latvia