By order of the Secretary-General
In the mid-1950s, Nikita Khrushchev, at one of the meetings with the leadership of the auto industry, called on the factories: “Make a car for the collective farmer!” The call was, of course, taken as a guide to action. And the idea of a cheap SUV for private owners found a warm response from the engineers.
After all, a simple, unpretentious, durable GAZ-69 was the only mass-produced car of this class in the USSR. But Gazik’s were not sold to private traders – they were supplied to the military and the national economy. In addition, the “goat” for ordinary citizens was bulky and too voracious.
Interesting comfortable sedans – the four-wheel drive Pobeda GAZ-M72 and Moskvich-410, which were produced for a short time and in small quantities, were rightly considered too expensive by the villagers. Yes, and not very suitable for the village: you can not load several bags of potatoes or a cadaver in the parlor, and it is difficult to clean it from dirt.
And, of course, a village car needs a different geometric off-road capability than modifications to regular sedans and station wagons: a short base, minimal overhangs.
The first copy of Moskvich-415 is a replica of Willys MB.
Soviet Willys
Already in 1957, Moscow began to create Moskvich-415. According to the main components and assemblies (bridges, gearbox and razdatka), the car was united with the four-wheel drive Moskvich-410. But they were guided by the 45-horsepower engine for Moskvich-407, which was being prepared for production. The front axle was suspended on six-blade springs, the rear axle on nine-leaf springs. Frame and body were original.
A car with very small overhangs and a short (only 2030 mm) base was distinguished by excellent geometric cross-country capabilities. Ground clearance was 220 mm.
Outwardly, the first samples were very similar to the American Willys MV, which turned out to be excellent during the Great Patriotic War. In the post-war years, few people escaped the influence of this car. This is how the Italian Fiat Campagnola looked like an “American”. And even the early Land Rovers weren’t made without foreign influence.
The project of off-road vehicles was taken seriously in Moscow – ten prototypes were immediately captured. But to save time, they built prototypes with virtually no drawings.
Hope for the future
The first tests in the Moscow region were carried out in the spring of 1959. The second test phase of already modified machines is in the summer and early autumn. Improved samples covered approximately 5,000 km on asphalt, the same number on cobblestones, over 7,000 km on country roads and just over 2,000 km in the city. This ratio, as conceived by the designers, roughly corresponded to the reality in which the cars had to live and work.
The cars showed decent cross-country capabilities and at the same time enviable (by the standards of those years) economy: on a flat road at speeds of 50-70 km / h Moskvich-415 consumed 10.4-11 l / 100 km, in the city - 14.8 l, on country roads – up to 19 liters.
On the highway, the SUV developed 101-106 km/h. The Muscovite overcame a slope of 31 degrees and a ford 600 mm deep. In such conditions, the 45 hp engine and clutch operated at maximum load. The testers criticized the shock absorbers for the inefficiency of which the springs broke.
But many of the prototype failures were explained not so much by the loads as by the poor quality of the components.
The body and frame also had to be reinforced. But overall the machines worked fine. It was clear to the designers how to finish the car. Information about the 415s was leaked to the press and aroused great interest in both rural and urban areas. At MZMA, they continued to refine the machines and were already preparing drawings for production. More than fifteen years remained before the birth of Niva.
Neither in the village nor in the army
But the fate of the car was already decided in 1960. MZMA brought the state a good income, including the currency of the successful export of Moskvich-407, and for the new model it was necessary to expand production. The four-wheel drive sedan Moskvich-410 and the station wagon Moskvich-411 were soon discontinued. And with production cars Moskvich-415 was poorly united.
It became clear to the management of the MZMA that the car would not fit on the conveyor belt. But the designers, as if they didn’t want to believe it, slowly continued to improve the car.
A good incentive for this was the 75 hp Moskvich-412 engine, production of which started in 1967. At that time, it had the highest specific power among the light serial engines of the Soviet Union. Driving with him in a four-wheel drive car is of course more fun.
True, the shortcomings of a weak (from the 410th) transmission became more noticeable. However, it could be modernized, if there was money and the will of the leadership.
There was also a more comfortable version with an all-metal case Moskvich-416 – conceptually even closer to the Niva.
A copy of the Moskvich was handed over to the army at NIIII-21 in Bronnitsy. There they initially showed interest in the car. But the military was not satisfied with the compact SUV in terms of space and margin of safety.
Meanwhile, similar cars IZH-5, and then IZH-14 were built in Izhevsk. And soon Togliatti responded to another government cry and laid down the VAZ-2121.
unequal struggle
At several stages of testing, the future Niva was compared with foreign cars, UAZ-469 and even with IZH-14. But Muscovites (now under the indices 2148 – with a canvas roof and 2150 – all-metal) were not tested. To directly compare a machine designed two decades ago with the product of the most modern, well-equipped and incomparably greater capacities and resources of the Volga plant was meaningless.
And the centralized socialist industry would not produce two cars of the same class. The Niva was more comfortable, more dynamic, had a load-bearing body and permanent four-wheel drive.
But a simpler, more durable and cheaper Moskvich would certainly also arouse the interest of buyers.
The latest wave of interest in off-road vehicles in Moscow has already occurred in modern times. Senior ministry officials arrived at the factory and suddenly became interested in a long-forgotten car. They meticulously examined the remaining prototypes, causing a stir in the documentation in the archives.
In those years, it seemed to many that it was not difficult to organize the production of cars. But soon even the hottest heads realized that there are other, far less troublesome and more profitable ways to make money than manufacturing cars.
In the long list of Soviet prototypes that never became serial models, off-road Muscovites are one of the most interesting and probably one of the most viable projects.
- “Behind the wheel” can also be read in Yandex.Zen.
This SUV was tested in the early 60s. And it was designed in Moscow, at the MZMA plant.
