The ZIS-112 lineage, born in 1951, holds a quieter chapter that often goes unnoticed. In 1956, a fresh variant appeared under the designation ZIL-112/3, adding another dimension to the saga of Soviet sports cars that merged experimental design with racing ambition. That same year introduced a machine widely called the ZIL-112/2, which emerged as the post–ZIS era took shape in mid-1956. Its construction emphasized lightness: fiberglass outer panels paired with a paper honeycomb core, bonded with BF glue and mounted to a tubular steel frame. The mechanical heart drew from the ZIS-110 family, delivering robust power through a 170 horsepower engine that, while rooted in its predecessor, employed a four-carburetor setup to lift performance. In 1956, Boris Kurbatov earned a bronze medal in the USSR Championship behind the wheel of this vehicle, underscoring its competitive potential. At the same time, the ZIL-112/3 shared many of the same underpinnings, mirroring the interior layout and performance hardware, suggesting a sister variant developed to test alternative configurations. Rumors persisted that the bodywork drew inspiration from American designs, possibly adapting Cadillac silhouettes, though the full story of its external form remains fragmentary in research records.
Meanwhile, this American-flavored ZIL surfaced on race circuits in the mid-1950s, reflecting a period when designers blended Western aesthetics with Soviet engineering. The frontal contour of the fiberglass shell resembled the Moskva prototype that would later influence the ZIL-111, hinting at a shared design language linking a fleet of experimental machines. The car likely served as a mobile laboratory, a rolling test bed for integrating various units in preparation for a future government vehicle. By the 1950s, teams often used such experimental racers to trial components and systems in real-world conditions, gathering data that could inform later production developments. This era of racing cars acted as a crucible for ideas where aerodynamics met power, and every test ride fed into a broader strategy for national engineering pride.
Collectors and historians like Mikhail Kolodochkin have chronicled these curiosities from the annals of technology, turning obscure episodes into teachable moments about innovation. His work invites questions about the purpose behind distinctive headlights on Zhiguli models from the fifth and seventh generations, a detail that shows how even small design choices reflected larger goals of visibility and identity on the road and on the track. The ZIL-112 family connects the dots between experimental racecars and the evolution of a national automotive program, offering a window into the methods engineers used to push performance while shaping a symbolic form of speed for a nation undergoing rapid technological ascent. [Kolodochkin, historical study on Soviet automotive experimentation, cited for design lineage and collector insights].