The GAZ-53 is a medium-duty truck made by the Gorky Automobile Plant, produced from 1961 to 1993. It was the most widely produced truck in the territory of the former USSR: total output of the family exceeded four million vehicles.[1]
Generations
The first GAZ-53F rolled off the assembly line on 14 October 1961 — a symbolic gift to the 22nd Congress of the CPSU; mass production was established by 1962.[1]
The model went through three production generations: the GAZ-53F (1961-1967), the GAZ-53A (1965-1983), and the GAZ-53-12 (1983-1993).[1] Over more than thirty years the truck became the standard workhorse of collective farms, motor depots, trade organizations, and utility services — its chassis was used to build vans, dump trucks, tankers, mobile shops, and fire engines.
Place in the family
The GAZ-53 replaced the postwar "gazon" and formed the third generation of Gorky medium-duty trucks. Alongside it the plant also produced the "hybrid" GAZ-52, and in 1989 the line was continued by the GAZ-3307.
Sources
- autohs.ru — GAZ-53: the main truck of the USSR (archive)
- gruzovikpress.ru — Gruzovik Press — The new truck family of the Gorky Automobile Plant — the GAZ-53, workhorse of the Stagnation era (archive)