AZLK Moskvitch Moskvitch 400 - 420A (diecast 1:43, Deagostini)

This is Moskvitch 400 - 420A. The model is made in China and it is from a magazine collection from DeAgostini with interesting models of soviet cars in scale 1:43. With each model there is also a magazine with interesting pictures and information about the real car. Nothing opens.

The history of the appearance of this car was entangled in
contradictions, speculation and rumors in the form of versions.
However, its appearance took place - and with it the massive Soviet
auto industry took place. On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of
the Muscovite, this is a legendary car.

Before Moskvitch

Even before the war, in the 1930s, the country's leadership understood
that it was time for the auto industry to master the “individual use”
model. The fact that a personal car gave a Soviet citizen too much
freedom was not yet thought of in those years (this "trend" in Soviet
power would arise later), the arguments were different: a personal car
could be a good means of encouraging ordinary citizens, and could also
serve the goals of training drivers for agriculture and the army.
These tasks seemed very important, especially against the backdrop of
the boom in motorization in the West.



At that time, ordinary citizens were almost completely deprived of the
opportunity to buy a car. With rare exceptions: the purchase through a
trade union organization (not otherwise than, again, for serious
merits) or the purchase of a used car through a thrift store. It was
also possible to win a ZIS-101 car in the lottery, but this
possibility was, rather, theoretical. And all of the above are
actually isolated cases. The rest of the cars were "distributed" to
organizations, departments and ministries.



In order to create a "people's" car, the Economic Council under the
Council of People's Commissars of the USSR issued a decree in March
1939, which approved the characteristics of the future model. Already
in the next, 1940, at the plant of the Communist Youth International
(KIM, later renamed ZMA, and then MZMA), small-scale production of the
KIM-10 car began, which was based on the English Ford Perfect.

The four-door story

But the "Ford version" was not destined to reach the series. In 1940,
Stalin was shown foreign "analogues" and the two-door KIM-10-50.
Stalin did not approve of the impractical car and pointed to the Opel
Kadett K38, which had a similar design and proportions, but presented
precisely in a four-door version - they say, this is how a Soviet
runabout should look like.

This fact, by the way, completely refutes the well-known story about
the post-war review of 1945, when Stalin allegedly told the director
of the MZMA the phrase “sit down and you, dear,” offering to sit in
the back seat using the back door.



In 1945, the leader got acquainted with the 4-door sedan KIM-10-52.
What exactly he said there and to whom, we do not know, but the
project was doomed for a completely objective reason. The fact is that
during the evacuation of the KIM plant in October 1941 to the Urals,
most of the documentation and equipment for the production of KIM-10
was lost. They did not think about an alternative for long - they took
a German sedan "approved" by Stalin. The GKO decree of August 26, 1945
was named as follows: "On the launch of the Opel-Cadet K-38 car in its
current form at MZMA."

It was decided to reproduce the most progressive and rather rare
version of the Cadet - with a four-door body and independent front
suspension. But this "clean copying" also had difficulties.

Moskvich near SVAG

After the war, the Opel plant in Rüsselsheim was in the US zone of occupation. However, in accordance with the decision of the Berlin Conference in the summer of 1945, the Soviet Union, as part of the reparations, was entitled to the fourth part of all industrial equipment left in the West of Germany, including from the Opel plant in Rüsselheim. The Opel was given as War reparations to the USSR. The Americans agreed on this.

The fact that the documentation had to be almost completely restored
from oblivion in terms of the miraculously survived equipment, says an
equally authoritative source - Lev Shugurov in the book "Automobiles
of Russia and the USSR". And one more source, A.F. Andronov, the
general designer of the MZMA (AZLK) since 1949, in his memoirs even
claims that the drawings of the Moskvich-400 were created
independently by the Department of the Chief Designer in Moscow, and
all the equipment was made at GAZ and ZIS ... So where is the truth?

Perhaps, the greatest possible clarity in this matter at the moment is
brought by the memoirs of the engineer of the MZMA E.I. Borychev. The
Soviet Union had the right to use part of the industrial equipment of
defeated Germany, including that located at the plant in Rüsselsheim,
but the problem was that there was nothing special to use there -
during the war, the plant did not make cars, but aircraft parts, and
therefore the offensive was indeed bombed to the ground by the British
Air Force. Something, however, was found in the hiding places - the
equipment for the production of the chassis and body of the Cadet
survived, but only in a two-door version, the most popular in pre-war
Germany. No information has survived on the engine either.

So, the lack of equipment (and in the most difficult from the point of
view of technology "door" part), lack of drawings, several "living"
copies of the Cadet ... With such a "legacy", Soviet engineers had to
put the car into production, and with a clear time frame - the first
five Muscovites were supposed to go into production in July 1946. It
was not possible to turn to the Americans from General Motors, which
had owned the Opel brand since 1929, for the missing drawings - the
post-war allied euphoria had already been replaced by the first fad of
the Cold War.

And then German specialists were attracted to the restoration of the
lost knowledge - labor collectives, consisting of Germans and headed
by citizens of the USSR, were created under the leadership of the
Soviet military administration in Germany (SVAG) since the summer of
1945.



As a result, the four-door body, including the wooden master model and
die templates, was recreated by the design office in Schwarzenberg,
and the low-valve engine with a cast iron block and babbitt bearings
was "reborn" in Berlin.



True, they still did not have time for the deadline - it took a long
time to "link" the reparation and newly created equipment, as well as
to eliminate delays with subcontractors - and on August 17, 1946, the
originally set deadline was postponed by the Order of the Minister of
the Automotive Industry of the USSR to the 4th quarter of 1946.

In series

Most sources claim that the first production car was released at MZMA
on December 4, 1946 - this day is considered the birthday of Moskvich.
However, it is believed that the first production cars were assembled
on the night of December 8-9. Be that as it may, but preparation for
production, taking into account all the problems, took only a year and
a half, and the new, 1947 year, the plant was clearly on the rise. In
1947, Moskvich even had his own "special edition" - for the 800th
anniversary of Moscow, a jubilee batch of cars with a miniature
heraldic shield on the left side of the hood was released.

The first model of the post-war MZMA, according to its full
designation, was called Moskvich-400-420 (the numbers indicated,
respectively, the engine number and body number), but for a long time
the “four hundredth” was simply called Moskvich, because other
Muscovites simply did not exist.

The car turned out to be successful - technologically advanced,
attractive and reliable. In general, the design, which did not shine
with innovation, nevertheless differed in some interesting solutions -
the post-war public was very progressively perceived by the post-war
public as a supporting body, aluminum engine pistons, hydraulic brakes
and, most importantly, an independent suspension of the Dubonnet type,
embodying true engineering grace. At the same time, the car did not
have direction indicators, but the wiper (which itself was then a
rarity) had a mechanical drive from ... the engine camshaft.

Over time, the car received some updates, acquiring synchronizers in
the third and fourth gears, a more convenient (compared to the floor)
gearshift lever on the steering column and reinforced bearings in the
rear axle. All this, plus a cylinder block with short dry liners, a
new block head, a modified design of the camshaft, both manifolds, a
water pump, a starter and a generator, in 1954 took shape as a
modification of the Moskvich-401, or rather, the Moskvich-401-420.
Engine power increased from 23 to 26 hp. with. at 4,000 rpm. In the
cabin, the “four hundred and first” differed from its predecessor by a
more “expensive” steering wheel with colored plastic of the rim and
the “handbrake” handle that had moved after the gearshift lever to the
steering column.

After the launch of the four-door sedan, the Moskvich-400-422 wooden
vans also appeared in the series, they were produced from 1949 to
1956, that is, almost until the end of the production of the main
model.

In the same 1949, the Moskvich-400-420A cabriolet was also mastered,
which also a lot, taking into account the exotic type of body, lasted
in production - right up to 1952.

Another interesting fact is connected with 1949: the fact is that it
was in this year that the main model, actually the "four hundredth",
passed state acceptance tests - that is, retroactively, being a serial
model a long time ago! that Moskvich has been exported for a year
already - since 1948 it was sent to Finland, and later it was also
exported to Albania, Poland and even China.



If we continue talking about modifications, then we cannot ignore the
special medical version of the Moskvich-400M, which had washable
upholstery, a set of medical equipment and a third headlight above the
windshield. Moreover, the "Moskvichonka" even had a cargo version - in
1954, a variant of a chassis with a cab called the Moskvich-400-420K
appeared, on which the Ministry of Food Industry plant in Moscow
independently installed bodies and vans.

Moskvitch 400 had a price of 8,000 rubles and Moskvitch 401 had a
price of another thousand more. For ordinary people, with the then
average salary in the national economy of 601 rubles (data for 1950),
this was a lot of money, but still quite conceivable, especially
against the background of the price of GAZ-M-20 Pobeda at 16,000
rubles and absolutely mocking 40,000 rubles for ZIM (GAZ-12). It was
really possible to accumulate for Moskvich over time, and if initially
the model did not cause excitement (after the war many were not very
interested in cars), then by the end of the first half of the 1950s,
queues began to line up for Moskvich (as well as for GAZ M20 Pobeda).



For nine years of release, 247,439 Muscovites (modifications 400 and
401) were born, of which 19,809 were exported. Since the second half
of the 1950s, the "four hundredth", due to its reliability, for a long
time became the ruler of the thoughts of those who dreamed of
relatively inexpensively gaining the coveted opportunity to move on
their wheels - in the 1960s and even in the 1970s, second-hand
Muscovites were a kind of embodiment of the spirit of freedom ...



The last Moskvich-401 was assembled on April 20, 1956. Along with
Pobeda and GAZ-51, Moskvich completely changed the automotive world of
the country. This, pardon the banality, was a truly iconic,
epoch-making car. However, no others were made then.