THIS AMAZING GAS-AND

On the sixth of December, 1932, eleven months after the start of the Gorky automobile plant, with its conveyor descended first cars GAZ-A. Cars these, very simple and unpretentious, quickly won the hearts of drivers. In fact, their distant relatives were already well known in our country.

 

Since 1930, the Moscow plant named KIM and Gorky’s “the Whistle of October” was assembled from American parts cars “Ford-A”, the machine proved to be the most suitable for use in our country. The factories of steel for the Soviet specialists the preparatory classes in mastering the art of conveyor assemblies. Of course, everyone was waiting for the time when we ourselves, with his own hands from beginning to end we make cars.

 

And in the history of domestic car industry opened a new page mastered the mass production of cars.

 

In 1933, the country received 10 thousand cars “Gazovik” as they were called at that time. The following year, output reached 17 and in 1935 -19 thousand. Only from 1932 to 1936 the plant was built more than 50 thousand cars GAZ-A. They were so reliable and durable that even today, forty years later (a long time from the point of view of “life” of the car), individual instances can be found in Chita and Kazan, Yaroslavl and Sverdlovsk. Three such machines are carefully preserved in museums: one in the factory Museum Gas, the other on AZLK (in the past the plant named KIM), the third is exhibited in the Department of automotive engineering of the Polytechnic Museum in Moscow.

 

We will enter into the hall, where there is a faint smell of gasoline, oil, even some strange, typically the Museum’s a taste of antiquity. Here it is, the GAS-AND, looking at us looking a little yellow reflectors of the headlights, a friendly stretch towards black wings, paint them — a sign of age — covered already visible web of small cracks.

 

 

 

Fig. 1. The chassis of the GAZ-A.

 

Walk around the car. Its buffer is made of two elastic steel strips. Nickel plated radiator the first is decorated with the emblem of the Gorky plant — black oval with the letters “GAS”. Wheel with wire spokes without threaded nipples to adjust the tension — the kind of strength and reliability possessed design. Similar wheels on modern cars almost never meet — except on a sports car. But in those years spellbane wheel was used quite widely.

 

Slightly yellowish color of the windscreen suggests that it is laminated — two layers of glass with a padded third elastic film, the once transparent but yellowed. Upon impact, laminated glass was covered with a thick layer of cracked but not scattered in one crystal, as later invented tempered glass. In front of the windscreen sticking out of the tube tank. It is located at the rear of the engine compartment: fuel flowed to the carburetor by gravity. Thus, eliminated the need to pump in those years is still a very imperfect instrument. Tank of GAS-AND almost hung over the knees of the driver and passenger. At the bottom of the tank was tap, which the driver, before leaving, blocked. The tap is often leaking from the point of view of fire safety posed a serious threat. Black ebony steering wheel near the horn button, there are two lever. One is to manually control the spark advance (today this work is done by machine) and another to install a constant supply of “gas”. The speedometer is not the usual hands — in the window of the moving device applied to the drum the numbers indicating the speed. The numbers on the pointer of gasoline deposited on the scale, connected directly with the float in the gas tank.

 

Just below the tiny, round pedal “gas” I had heel feet — oblong pedal appeared on the later cars.

 

If we were able to disassemble the whole car to the last bolt, we would see only 21 of the bearing (in a modern car about two hundred), seven of which are roller, and the rollers are wound from thick steel strip. But the crankshaft bearings were sleeve bearings, not like now, with thin-walled bimetallic quick-change liners that serve 80-100 thousand km Material was provided by alloy, called Babbitt, which is poured a “bed” for the bearing directly to the cylinder block or connecting rod. To fit the surface of the bearing to sakam crankshaft, a layer of babbit was sabriel. But even the most careful adjustment is not saved from the fact that in 30-40 thousand kilometers had to re-pour the bearings.

 

 

 

 

Fig. 3. The engine of the GAZ-A.

 

Much of the design of GAS-AS it seems in our days amazing: belt hand brake the rear wheels, the lack of a device to adjust the valves (if necessary, the valve stem slightly cut down), very small (4,2) compression, so that in hot weather, when the conditions for evaporation of the liquid is favorable, the engine could even run on kerosene.

 

For suspension he served two transverse leaf springs, the rear had an unusual form of highly stretched “written” the letters L.

 

The GAS-produced mainly five-seater four-door open body “Phaeton”. In case of bad weather it was possible to raise a canvas tent and fasten over the door canvas sides with celluloid Windows. In 1934 it was produced a pilot batch of cars (they had an index of GAS-6) equipped with a closed body of type “sedan”. Assembly on the conveyor of such body requiring the mutual adjustment of many complex shape, and most importantly, easily deformable parts, was very slow, and they refused. But the demand for closed cars existed to satisfy him, Moskovskiy Zavod Aremkuz (now he is engaged in repair of buses) began to mount on the chassis of the GAZ-a closed four-door body for the Moscow taxi.

 

Very interesting, although the only sample GAS BUT the saloon was built in 1934, the Moscow engineer Alexei Nikitin. He gave the car a two-door streamlined body, which would significantly reduce aerodynamic losses and to increase by 20 km/h maximum speed. With the same purpose, a separate Moscow and Leningrad sportsmeny put homemade outdoor double body on the chassis of the GAZ-A.

 

From 1934 to 1937, GAZ produced “pickups” GAS-4. They used double cab of the truck GAZ-AA, which has a metal body 0.5 tonnes of cargo. In the back of the body (for loading mail products, small consignments of industrial goods} has been made door. Therefore, the spare wheel moved to the front pocket of the left wing. By the way, post “pickups” GAS-4 met in the streets of Moscow, even in the late forties.

 

In 1934, Gorky made a batch of a few hundred cars GAZ-TK (not to be confused with the GAZ-AAA), three-axle vehicles based on the GAZ-A. Here we should pay attention to the bus GAZ-A. Their width is equal to 120 mm, that is was almost the same as a modern motorcycle with a sidecar. But with a full load of GAS, AND weighed three times more of this bike and hence its narrow tires provided the soil is much more pressure. So when driving on sand, mud, snow wheels easily failed, and the car was stuck. Such a narrow tire then applied to all passenger car and the GAZ-A was no exception. However, during the famous Karakum mileage of 1933, which was tested and six GAS-AND, they were equipped with experimental tires “sorbello” with a width of 250 mm and an outer diameter of 800 mm. They provided a very low ground pressure and, in fact, was the predecessor of today’s wide-base tires used on road vehicles.

 

I must say that the chassis of the GAZ-a was used not only for “pickups” or taxi. It was body mounted armored D-6 and D-12 that were on the armament of the red Army.

 

Despite the relatively short period of production of GAZ-A (1932 and 1936), the machine is permanently entered into the life of our towns and villages, has received universal recognition. This car is dear to us as the firstborn of mass Soviet passenger automobile industry as a car-worker, a sample of automotive longevity.

 

Advice to the Modeler