Moskvich 402 - Soviet small car of the fifties

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

Five years have passed since the end of the war, the country's leadership declared a continuous and progressive increase in the welfare of the population, and what kind of prosperity without a personal car…

Stalin's Politburo decided to launch the production of lekovushki - beautiful, modern, comfortable and very high quality, affordable, instead of the obsolete 400s Muscovites copied from the Opel of the 30s.

The minimum period for the development of technical documentation was released. The country was working hard to rebuild its war-torn economy, so everything had to be done quickly. And for the untimely execution… It's even scary to think what awaited those who were late.

By the summer of 1951, Moskvich 402-425 rolled out of the assembly line of the Moscow small car plant. The first three digits are the engine model number, the next ones meant a completely new body index for our car industry - a sedan, similar to the Ford Consul, produced at the plant of the British branch of an American company.

Soviet engineers this time could not be reproachedin direct copying - the car turned out to be its own, domestic, it was simply made using the experience accumulated by the world industry, however, taking into account the harsh realities of a very modest budget. So, the engine was left the same, with a lower valve arrangement. Then it did not matter, the USSR was in international isolation, no one thought about the export potential of the new Moskvich 402 car. The rear axle and gearbox are also inherited from the 400 series.

Tests and refinements were carried out for almost four years, in 1955 VDNKh was decorated with a new passenger car, mass production began a year later. Stalin's idea of a people's car found support from N. S. Khrushchev.

Moskvich 402, the photo confirms this, it looked quite serious at that time, it sparkled with chrome lining, it was roomy (a driver and a passenger in front, three more in the back), the glass was curved and solid.

Inside, too, everything was on the level - a stove, adjustable seats, blown windows, a radio, automatically turned off turn signals, in general, comfort unprecedented for a Soviet car. The doors were equipped with push-button locks, and the trunk and gas tank could be opened while sitting in the driver's seat.

The chassis was equipped with telescopic hydraulic shock absorbers, drum brakes with floating pads. In general, Moskvich 402 complied with the standards adopted at that time for small cars. The power supply has been made 12V rather than 6V as in previous models.

Specifications were also pleasing. The speed that the Moskvich 402 could develop reached 110 kilometers per hour, and it consumed only 9 liters of fuel per 100 km. However, gasoline was then cheap, it cost less than sparkling water.

This car was produced until 1958, before the appearance of the 407th model, outwardly almost the same, but with an overhead valve engine.

Nowadays, there are amateurs who restore Moskvich 402. Tuning, as a rule, requires deep tuning, sometimes, except for the body, almost everything has to be changed. However, there are also fans who find it possible to build such a car entirely from authentic parts.