GAZ-24 "Volga" car of high style.

The development of the theme of "Requiem for a" Volga "

At all times the car with a label "Volga" was the Soviet Union more than a vehicle. They always point to the status of the owner, his social status, class society and the presence of a certain amount of cash. After discontinuation of ZIM, Volga was the most luxurious car that the Soviet people could buy for personal use. These machines are always placed on the market in very limited quantities. So it was with "twenty-first", so was with the "twenty-fourth" after the development of its mass production in 1970. The Volga all generations makes very high demands and confronts them with the broad objectives: vehicles must have been beautiful, modern for a long time, comfortable and yet passable, maintainable, hardy. Volga served in public institutions of all security agencies, including the KGB, was the basic unit of taxis and wagons working ambulances. On the basis of the Volga in the Baltics we collected Rafa, create a "catch-up" for the KGB and luxury convertibles for military parades ... Today, our story will focus on the second generation of the Volga and the fifth generation of cars GAZ - Volga GAZ-24, and went down in history with the nickname "the new "...

Model 1960





In 1961, it begins an active search for shapes fundamentally-new car. Attempts to create such a rapidly aging instead of "twenty-first" GAZ launched almost immediately after the start of its production. The car has survived three restyling, despite the fact that they are as efficient as possible, based on the available resources of designers, the end of the seventies was already deeply outdated.

American design, which was guided to create their models GAZ, in the sixties moved forward by leaps and bounds. The three-year car looked already obsolete model series The company has dozens of models and hundreds of versions. Against this background, the abundance of "twenty-first" look "poor relation" - rounded shape and large Aerostil out of fashion with the fins, and the plant workers had to prepare an adequate response. Image search was long and painful. Designers (or, as it was then called, artists, designers), the new machines were young professionals Tsikolenko LI and NI Kireev.

"New & quot; Volga come a long way from the first sketches and models before the final prototype
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02. Sketch 1961



03. Model 1961



04. Sketches 1963



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06. Like many other designers and engineers, GAZ experts were impressed by the place in Moscow in 1959, the American industrial exhibition with its chrome, gloss and two-meter automotive tail keels. The first model of the future of the Volga really reminiscent of the "average American" of those years. However, stylists soon became clear that such a modern exterior looks very short time, to a new "revolution" in the design. Needed were simple, canonical forms, proven solutions, the lack of vivid, immediate details. Gradually, a sketch of the sketch, the layout of the layout, nurtured from clay, clay and wood image of the future of the car. During the creation of the machine was built six full-size mock-ups against the two for "Twenty-First Volga". Still, the car tended to American school avtostilya.

According to overseas standards, it was a mid-size sedan is quite classic design. "Whalebone" grille and side lights hinted at some kind of continuity of generations, the small vertical taillights were designed to emphasize the width of the car and were a common design element in the American cars of those years ... There were original discoveries, "mirrored" bend Hoffmeister under the front door, Interesting chrome "Klychkov" near the license plate (later were eliminated), parking lights in the vent on the rear of the rack, a strict and stylish grille. Due to falling sideline car has a rapid, dynamic image. The designers had to solve a difficult problem - to give dynamic representation sedan large size and they handled this task as "excellent»

Designing initially conducted under the four types of engines - 2, 5-liter aluminum "quartet" on the basis of the engine GAZ-21 (apparently, initially to work in a taxi), V-shaped six-cylinder 3 liter (base), V-shaped eight of 5, 53 liters (special version for law enforcement agencies), four-cylinder diesel engine (for Europe, where diesel "Volga" respected taxi drivers - the experience of export sales of GAZ-21 was supposed to import).

It was originally planned as the base V6 (2, 99 liters, 136 hp) models 24-14 (iron block), and 24-18 (aluminum) to the beginning of serial production of the experimental stage and has not left his master plan to the second stage work on the car already in parallel with the serial production.
But in the early seventies, oil prices rose sharply, in such circumstances, the three-liter engine car of the middle class is obviously considered unnecessary. Other variants of the power unit were to some extent realized.

In 1966, there were two running prototype of the new Volga. One of them had an unusual chetyrehfarnuyu lighting system from which abandoned in favor of a more conventional dvuhfarnoy. The main theme in the design of the entire car was a stylized shield. His form was performed emblem on the grille, vyshtampovka on the hood and front end total solution.



07. In 1967 Autoexport reported the launch of a new model under the famous brand name and does, thus, a serious strategic error. Sales of "twenty-first" fall sharply, and "twenty" fourth at this point is not released even experienced circulation.



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09. The March issue of the magazine "At the wheel" for 1968 is dedicated to the Volga GAZ-24. Beautiful cherry machine on the cover of most literate publicity stunt than reality. Cherry blossom will never be the most common, of the white ledges tires forgotten after an experimental batch (in the USSR These wheels generally not commercially produced), and low "American" landing very quickly have to give up because of the quality of roads



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11. In advertising for foreign customers foreign trade department focuses on the large size of the car, a spacious interior and ease of design. In all the brochures near the Volga completely beautiful young girls, night city lights or bright scenery. Volga "the West" - is ennobled salons, receivers with FM-band and even sometimes painted metallic. For the fastidious European consumer austere beauty "twenty-fourth" Volga deliberately simple-minded, given the size of the car.



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15. In 1972, the production program joins wagon GAZ 24-02 with a sound system, the transformation of the body and the three rows of seats. Convenient seven-seater becomes extremely departmental. His destiny - taxi and coach "ambulance." "A dream summer resident" falls into private hands in the deep personal ties after the write-off of the fleet, or on the personal orders of those in power. In particular, the way his car was Yuri Nikulin. His need for versatile explains the need to transport the circus equipment.

In general, the wagons in the USSR for a long time considered to be "harmful" to the population. After all, the wagon is easier to translate their products with beds and sell in the market. And this is - is pure speculation commerce ...



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18. "Behind the wheel" of 1973 tells us about the appearance of the new model



19. There was on the basis of the "new" Volga and modification for special services. GAZ 24-24, or "double", as they called it in the KGB, was a real Soviet oil-car: elegant body in combination with a 195-horsepower engine and transmission from Gull gave tents dynamic performance when handling the tank. Officially, this car does not exist, so it is the drivers were actually ghosts - managed to steer the thing does not exist in nature.

GAZ-24 a lot and often filmed in the movie. Most of his "famous roles" was an episode in the film "Petrovka, 38" and, of course, "Office Romance».

"Petrovka" was a classic police detective at the time and could not do without the spectacular chase. In this film, on the Volga and go and catch up. Exciting prosecution with broken windows, mangled cars and jumping style "Detective Bullitt" then looked fresh and very "on -West»



20. The episode is in "office romances" fully reflects the Soviet reality of those years, and the relation to the car high class in society. Compares with small apartments, dull - gray "twenty-four" seems someone Novoseltseva automotive dream on wheels, and even with the "stereo Philips player." Meanwhile, at the Oleg Basilashvili, brilliantly played his role, there was at that time not that car, but even a driver's license ...



21. In 1982, the "twenty-four" thoroughly modernized and transformed into a GAZ-3102. Aggressive sedan with a modernized appearance is not sold on the market, but only distributed among party workers.

In 1985 he published a series of GAZ-24-10 with plastic grille, door handles other, scary plastic wheel trims and a new interior.

GAZ 24-11, 1987



22. The base body "twenty-fourth" of the Volga was modernized several times.
In 1992 there was a GAZ-31029
1996 - GAZ-3110,
2004 - GAZ-31105, in this production of original gazovskih car was stopped.

In 2010, it was announced the closure of the project in view of the Volga Siber last unprofitability. Saber was apparently the last passenger car brand Volga.

One of the early projects restyling GAZ-24. It is in the spirit of the time



23. Another "hodgepodge." Doors from the 24th, 3102 the experimental front
Subsequently, on the sloping hood went to the canonical angularity



24. Volga worked in a taxi.



25. ambulance.



26..militsii ...



27. Police and



28. Leonid Ilyich drove hunting ...



29 .. and won prizes at the Rally



30. The history of the once most prestigious automotive brands of the Soviet Union came to a close in twenty years after the collapse of the country, to create it. Gas attempts to launch a series of fundamentally new car. At various times he was a GAZ-3105, GAZ-3111 and GAZ-3115, but the wide acceptance and commercial success of fate no machine has won. As an expression of high-style, dynamic squat silhouette lurking around the corner of history, barely noticeable blinking stoplights goodbye. Volga has become part of our automotive history. Stories, under an hour of bitter, but they are not less interesting and important.



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