OLD FRIEND

“Soap”, “the Hunchback”, “Fafik” — not once nicknamed little brisk Zaporozhets 965-th model. Many of us that he began his “auto” biography. Not all, however, know how motley was the story that first among the “Cossacks”.

Interest in midget, as they were called, the cars emerged and grew like an avalanche in the mid 50-ies. In different countries, there appeared numerous examples — from the primitive substitute of the vehicle to a small copy of the traditional subcompact. Work on such structures was deployed and we in the Soviet Union. The impetus was the fact that with 1956 MZMA ceased production of small-sized (length: 3855 mm), light (840 kg), quadruple the “Moskvich-401” and moved to more spacious, comfortable and expensive “Moskvich-402”. And the demand for compact, lightweight and easy the car has not disappeared.

 

Our factories and research institutes in the years 1955-1960 designed, built and tested many prototypes of cars of small and sidecars. Here are some of them: “Protein” IMZ-A50, US-048, US-031, GAS-18, US-059, Bauman. All these designs have helped to define more clearly the requirements for vehicles of ultra-low class.

 

Just in those years, it was decided to reconstruct the combine plant “Kommunar” in Zaporozhye and light plant diesel engines in Melitopol, in order from 1960 to expand minicar production. The design, construction and debugging of prototypes of new machines commissioned the team of the Moscow plant of small cars — MZMA (now AZLK). Their development began in the fall of 1956. For a sample, took the FIAT 600, the most successful car in this class. An important factor behind the choice was the fact that this machine was the newest (its production started in 1955), and that it best meets the conditions of mass production.

 

The first prototype of the car — she was given the index “444” — was ready just a year later, in October 1957. In its appearance and construction sites felt the impact of the FIAT 600, but even at this stage there has been significant differences.

For small machines the decisive factor is always the diameter of the wheels. Given the road conditions of our country, the designers increased landing size for tires from 12 to 13 inches. This move resulted in significant changes in the kinematics of the wheel suspension, made to increase the volume of wheel niches and to make adjustments to the overall design. Another important difference — the car was not a four-cylinder water-cooled engine as in the Fiat, and opposed twin-cylinder MD-65 Irbitsky motorcycle factory, which had air cooling. The disadvantage of the engine, and very significant, from a layout point of view, was a very developed Carter — its depth (distance from the crankshaft centerline to bottom of oil pan) was 184 mm. Therefore, to obtain an acceptable level of clearance at the rear wheel hubs of “Moskvich-444” had to install wheel motors, similar to those used today on LUAZ-969М.

 

ZAZ-965:

 

In addition, the first pattern 1957 — call it conditionally “444-57” — differed from the Italian machines, in addition to the above, the shape of the rear portion of the body, other design front, reinforced gearbox. The triangular emblem on the front, convex sagittal podshtampovki door, decorative “comb” before opening the rear wheel (motif, borrowed from the “Moskvich-402”) and four round air intake on the rear wing, resembling miniature helmets firefighters — those were the other distinctive parts of the body. By the way, already at this stage the machine had interchangeable front and back glass is a valuable feature for the mass model.

 

The following year MZMA built new models (we call them “444-58”) with the changed design elements: the front wing with a higher top, other form of cladding. One of them, painted in ivory, with a roof of carrot color, was exhibited in the winter of 1958/59 year on VDNH USSR. This machine, the emblem of which is “444,” was “650”, has been preserved from the first sample and the front suspension on transverse leaf spring and movable (very heavy) glass in the door.

 

Engine MD-65, created on the basis of motorcycle, it was revealed that the test is unsuitable for the car. On a motorcycle with a sidecar that weighs 320 kg, the engine worked in more favorable (for load) conditions than on the minicar, twice as heavy. In addition, MD-65 on the bench developed a capacity of only 17.5 HP Hence the poor dynamics of the machine: sluggish acceleration and the shortage of maximum speed (80 km/h instead of the project 95 km/h). The motor was very noisy, poorly cooled. But the main drawback was the fact that the engine was short-lived: its life before overhaul could barely reach 30 thousand km.

 

For these reasons, first at the MZMA in 1957, and then in the US began designing a new, special engine. Created on MZMA two designs two-cylinder boxer type of engine “Citroen 2ЛС” air-cooled and a displacement of 748 cm³ in the second half of 1958, still only passed bench tests. As a temporary measure for an improved version, designated “444-BKR” (i.e., without steering gear), put the engine of the BMW 600 — the same small-car. This motor had a much smaller sump, like engineered motors MZMA and US. The rejection of reducers allowed to reduce the unsprung weight of 6 kg. at the same time the car received a front suspension on the longitudinal equalizer levers and the torsion plate and the side air intakes in the form of elongated bars.