The cars of the past never cease to amaze – they have many features that the modern car enthusiast can’t help but love.
One of these cars is the pre-war ZIS-16 bus, which was created from the little that the designers had at hand. But at the same time the car turned out to be elegant and in many respects meets the requirements of that time.
The expert of Za Rulem, the oldest and most popular automotive publication in Russia, Sergey Kanunnikov talked about the most interesting features of the ZIS-16 bus.
1. The ZIS-16 engine went from the ZIS-5 to the bus, but was upgraded to increase power. The compression ratio has been increased from 4.7 to 5.7, which looks funny today. As a result, the 5.6 liter 6-cylinder engine began to produce not 73 hp, but 85 hp.
2. The fuel consumption of a bus today is difficult to imagine – 37 liters per 100 kilometers in the city and 30 liters – on the highway. Acceleration time to 100 km/h basically did not exist, as the maximum speed of the bus was only 60 km/h.
3. The box accompanying the ZIS-16 had 4 gears – it was put on the bus without changes from the ZIS-8 and ZIS-5, and the fourth gear had a ratio of 1: 1.
4. The body of the ZIS-16 did not differ in design from the bodies of buses of manufacturers from other countries. It was a wooden frame encased in steel plates. Buses with all-metal bodies appeared after World War II.
Read about other interesting decisions of the ZIS-16 and its history in the March issue of the magazine “Behind the wheel” – already on sale.
The latest issues of the magazine are always available on the marketplaces:
- New government employee Hyundai – the first photos appeared. The car combines the bold design features of Sonata and Elantra, as well as compact dimensions.
- “Behind the wheel” can now be read in Telegram.
The material was prepared on the basis of Sergey Kanunnikov’s article “Route Sixteen”, published in the magazine “Za Rulem” No. 3/2023.