GAZ-62 - one index, three cars

2024 Author: Erin Ralphs | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-19 11:42

If you take an interest in the history of Soviet four-wheel drive trucks, you will find out an extremely curious moment: there were three different cars under the GAZ-62 index. The development of each of them was carried out independently and at different times. Moreover, any of these trucks demonstrated excellent off-road performance, and technical solutions that were new for that time were used in their design. None of them were produced on the assembly line. Although they were all made by order of the military.

The first in this list was the GAZ-62 model 1940. By that time, the concept of a 6x4 off-road vehicle had shown its futility. It became finally clear that we needed a car with 4x4 all-wheel drive. The implementation of this idea began after the purchase in the United States of equipment that allows the manufacture of CV joints. In addition to this, a powerful GAZ-11 engine appeared in the range of engines of the Gorky Automobile Plant.

Outwardly, the new car resembled the familiar GAZ-MM, from which he borrowed the cab and many components. It became the first all-wheel drive truck, it had an original four-position transfer case:

- included onlyrear wheel drive;

- both bridges are on (hard);

- neutral position, all off;

- four-wheel drive with demultiplier.

The test results showed excellent dynamics and excellent cross-country ability of this car, but due to the approach of the war and work on the GAZ-67 jeep, this two-ton truck turned out to be unclaimed. Under Lend-Lease, during the Great Patriotic War, we received a lot of foreign cars, including the so-called "Dodge three-quarters". Based on it, the following GAZ-62 trucks of the 1952 model were created.

Outwardly, the car looked like the 69th model, had the same 11th engine, was capable of transporting 12 people with weapons or a load of 1.2 tons. The GAZ automobile plant did not stop work and testing on the new car, new technical solutions were introduced into its design, which significantly improved the operational and driving characteristics of the car. After passing all sorts of checks and showing excellent results, for unknown reasons, the car was never mass-produced.

Instead, a new development of the GAZ-62 model 1959 began. Now it was planned to create a cabover truck with a carrying capacity of one ton, capable of towing anti-tank guns with ammunition, and also adapted for air transportation and landing. The design included many solutions that later became almost mandatory for cars of the next generations (slip differential, centralized pumping, hypoid gears andetc.).

The cab was tilted forward by means of springs to facilitate access to the engine, some nodes were borrowed from the GAZ-63. According to its technical characteristics, this truck was not inferior to its foreign counterpart, which was the German Unimog. The car passed all types of tests and was produced in small series. Later it served as the basis for the development of the GAZ-66.

One index - GAZ-62 - three different cars. And each showed excellent results for its time and type, both on the track and off-road. However, after three failed attempts to develop and master production, there were no more cars with a similar index in the history of the Gorky Plant.