Volga

Russia

Russia and America

dinc arslan Volga

Symbol of the GAZ factory: The Communist Gazelle

So you thought that the only machines Soviets built were Ladas and Tanks, but indeed they also had a superior brand called "Volga", named after the biggest river in Europe .

It all began when Ford Company of USA and Soviet Union built a joint production factory in 1929 (yes, they were friends then) combining the tools and know-how of american automobile industry and the supreme communist labor in Nijniy Novgorod, the city which was renamed later to Gorky. The GAZ factory (Gorsky Avtomobilniy Zavod / Gorky Automobile Factory) had its first products on military vehicles and some experimental models based on Ford vehicles already in sale in USA. (One of them was maybe the first passenger car with a all-terrain chassis.)

Another communist victory: The world's first passenger 4x4, GAZ-61
After WWII, they started building an upscale passenger model and named it Pobeda (Victory) after their devastating victory against Germans. The Pobeda line was highly appraised by the party officials (nomenklatura) as it allowed a showcase of their distinctive lifestyle from the common comrade citizen. As the common comrade would wait for years for a Lada, they would get their cool "Volgas".

Proud GAZ Pobeda posing near the Moscow River

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