The GAZ-16 is an experimental air-cushion vehicle built at the Gorky Automobile Plant in 1962. The most unusual vehicle in the plant's history: a car that was meant to travel above the ground.[1][2]
Concept
The idea was to combine an ordinary automobile with an air cushion: on hard road surfaces the vehicle would ride on its wheels, while off-road and on water it would rise above the surface. The engine was a carburetor V8 with a displacement of 5.5 liters and 190 horsepower — the same engine fitted to the GAZ-13 Chaika.[1][2] Various versions of the vehicle also used propellers from the Mi-2 helicopter engine.[2]
End of the project
Tests in 1962–1963 revealed numerous shortcomings in air-cushion mode. By the end of 1962 it had become clear the vehicle had no practical prospects: the project was shut down, and the sole prototype was destroyed.[1][2]
The GAZ-16 remained an episode, but a characteristic one: in the 1960s the Gorky plant experimented with extremely bold designs — from an air-cushion vehicle to all-wheel-drive passenger cars.
Sources
- autohs.ru — GAZ-16: the most unusual vehicle of the Gorky Automobile Plant (archived)
- bibimot.ru — Bibimot — GAZ-16, a unique Soviet air-cushion all-terrain vehicle (archived)