GAZ-AA, the "poltorka" ("tonne-and-a-half") — the first mass-produced truck of the Gorky Automobile Plant and the most numerous Soviet truck of the pre-war years. The first vehicle rolled off the assembly line on 29 January 1932; together with the upgraded GAZ-MM variant, production continued until 1949 and totaled about a million vehicles.[1][2] The truck got its nickname from its payload capacity — a tonne and a half.[1]
Origin and production
The prototype was the American Ford AA of 1930, the manufacturing rights to which the USSR acquired under a technical assistance agreement with the Ford Motor Company.[2] The plant mastered production quickly: up to sixty vehicles a day came off the assembly line in Gorky.[2]
From 1932 to 1938 the plant and its branches produced 409,985 GAZ-AA vehicles; including the GAZ-MM, 829,808 "poltorkas" had been built by 1949.[2] The last vehicle at the main plant was assembled on 10 October 1949, while the Ulyanovsk branch kept production going until 1951.[1]
Design
The four-cylinder carburetor engine, with a displacement of 3.28 L and a compression ratio of 4.2, developed 42 hp at 2,600 rpm; a torque of 15.5 kgf·m was reached as early as 1,200 rpm. Curb weight was about 1.75 t, top speed was 70 km/h, and highway range was 215 km.[3] On the upgraded GAZ-MM, output was raised to 50 hp.[1]
The war
During the Great Patriotic War the truck was simplified to the utmost to save metal and time: the cab was built from a thin frame with a canvas roof and doors, only one headlight was fitted, and the rear brakes were omitted.[1] The "poltorka" became the principal transport of the frontline rear and the main vehicle of the ice Road of Life.
The contribution of Gorky's automobile workers to supplying the front is commemorated in the city by the "Gorky Residents for the Front" Memorial.
Variants
An entire family of vehicles was built on the "poltorka" chassis: the three-axle, high-mobility GAZ-AAA, the first Soviet dump truck, the GAZ-410, the small-class bus GAZ-03-30, and the ambulance GAZ-55.[1][2] A separate branch was the wood-gas-powered GAZ-42, which ran on wood chips.
Sources
- gaz.sparz2.ru — GAZ TD SPARZ — The first mass-produced GAZ truck: everything about the "poltorka" (archive)
- 5koleso.ru — 5 Koleso — The Gorky Automobile Plant (archive)
- trucksreview.ru — GAZ-AA: technical specifications (archive)