GAZ Gorky Automobile Plant GAZ A (diecast 1:43, Saratov)

This is GAZ A. The model is made by Saratov in scale 1:43. Only the doors open.

During The Soviet Union some brands soviet and and foreign collaborated which each other. One of those brands was Ford Motor Company and GAZ. After the collaboration stopped inspiration from Ford could still be seen in various cars and trucks made by GAZ.

GAZ - A is a mid-range car with an open 5-seater 4-door body type phaeton. A licensed copy of the Ford-A car, the equipment and documentation for the production of which was purchased by the Soviet government in the United States in 1929 from Ford Motor Company. It is the first Soviet passenger car which was mass produced. Produced from 1932 to 1936 at the Gorky Automobile Plant and from 1933 to 1935 at the Moscow plant KIM. The first two cars were assembled on December 8, 1932. A total of 41,917 cars were produced. GAZ-A in general corresponded to the Ford Model A Standard Phaeton (body code 35B) in the modernized version of 1930-31 model years (closest to the version that was produced after October 1930. Externally from Ford original, it differed primarily in the design of the front: the Soviet car used a simplified form and finish radiator mask without a decorative grille, unified with a cargo Ford AA / GAZ-AA. GAZ-A was the most massive staff car of the Red Army of the 1930s.

On GAZ-A was mounted, in particular, short-wave staff radio station 5-AK. There is a city legend that in Leningrad and Moscow the exploitation of GAZ-A was banned after 1936, and the small car owners were ordered to turn over the GAZ-A to the state and to purchase the new GAZ-M-1 with additional payment, for reasons of obsolete GAZ-A construction by 1936 year and the unseemliness of the appearance of an old car in a large city. By the time the GAZ-A was being produced in the Soviet Union, the western original Ford Model A was already becoming superseded in its western markets, and the politicians and the Red army looked for a way to reduce dependence on imported components and replacement parts. The version of the Ford adapted for Soviet production was an open topped car which was unsuitable for the winter climate encountered in most of the country, and the cars were felt to be unreliable and insufficiently robust for the relatively harsh Russian conditions.

Specifications and design

GAZ-A had, by modern standards, an extremely simple and even unusual design. So, fuel to the engine came by gravity from the tank, which was located behind the instrument panel.


Interesting is the design of the engine lubrication system, which consisted of scoops on the connecting rods, which were dipped into the oil in the crankcase.

This model had a thermosyphon cooling system that did not have a pump and worked due to the temperature difference in the radiator and the engine.

The driver set the ignition timing with a lever.

The car did not even have drum brakes, but shoe brakes.

The frame structure of the car consisted of a frame with two spars connected by transverse beams.

The clutch is dry, single-plate.

The GAZ-A gearbox is three-speed, three speeds forward and one backward.

The rear axle is a pair of bevel gears with spiral teeth, with a final drive ratio of 3.77.

The suspension of the front and rear axles is dependent, on transverse springs, with four single-acting rotary hydraulic shock absorbers (rotary, Houdaille systems).

GAZ-A tires are 5.50-16 inches, the wheels had three-row metal spokes.
Shoe brakes with mechanical drive. The parking brake is a band brake on the rear axle.

Turning radius - 5.5 m

Interesting facts about GAZ-A

Cars took part in 1933, took part in the Moscow-Karakum-Moscow motor rally, while they successfully covered more than 9.5 thousand km. There is an urban legend that in Moscow and Leningrad the operation of a car after 1936 was prohibited, and a few car owners had to hand over their cars to the state and purchase a new GAZ-M-1 with a surcharge, this was due to the outdated design of the GAZ-A by 1936 and the unseemly appearance of the car old construction in a big city.

But the first mass batches of M-1 began to arrive only in the second half of 1937, and their production in 1936 amounted to only about 2.5 thousand cars, which, of course, was too little for the immediate replacement of all cars, even in large cities. The displacement of GAZ-A in departmental garages and the taxi service took years and took place in a completely natural way, due to the current renewal of the vehicle fleet. But by 1940, GAZ-A had really disappeared completely from the streets of Moscow and Leningrad.