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1940 GAZ Chaika

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1940 GAZ Chaika specs

GAZ (RTS:GAZA) or Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod (Russia, Nizhny Novgorod), translated as Gorky Automobile Plant (Russian: ГАЗ or Го́рьковский автомоби́льный заво́д), started in 1929 as NNAZ, a cooperation between Ford and the Soviet Union.

In May 1929 the Soviet Union signed an agreement with the Ford Motor Company. Under its terms, the Soviets agreed to purchase $13 million worth of automobiles and parts, while Ford agreed to give technical assistance until 1938 to construct an integrated automobile-manufacturing plant at Nizhny Novgorod. Completed in 1932, the factory and marque was titled Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod, or GAZ. GAZ's first vehicle was the medium-priced Ford Model A, sold as the GAZ- A, and a light truck, the Ford Model AA (GAZ-AA). GAZ-A production commenced in 1932 and lasted until 1936, during which time over 100,000 examples were built.

Many American engineers and skilled auto workers moved to the Soviet Union to work at GAZ. A few American workers stayed on after the plant's completion in 1932, and became victims of Stalin's Great Terror, either shot or exiled to Soviet gulags. The factory's name changed when the city was renamed after Maxim Gorky. From 1935 to 1956, the official name was augmented with imeni Molotova (literally, named after Molotov).

The GAZ-A was succeeded by the more modern GAZ M1 (based largely on the Ford V8), produced from 1936 to 1942. The M letter stands for Molotovets ('of Molotov's fame'), it was the origin of the car's nickname, M'ka (Эмка).

Experience with the A and the M1 allowed the GAZ engineers to develop their own car model independently of Ford. Called the GAZ 11, this more upscale model entered production in 1942 and remained in limited wartime production until 1946. The M2's bodyshell entered limited production in 1941, mounted on a four-wheel drive chassis and sold in small quantities as the GAZ-61 (quite possibly the world's first all-wheel drive passenger car).

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