GAZ Volga

The first generation Volga was developed as a replacement for the 1946 GAZ-M20 Pobeda mid-size car, based on a brief issued in 1951. The first pre-production batch left GAZ on 10 October 1956. It was built in three distinct series; in total 639,478 Volgas were built from 1956 until 1970. There was also an estate derivative (GAZ-22) and a rare, V8-engined version developed for the KGB's 9th Directorate as an escort vehicle for motorcades.^[2]

The first series, nicknamed the Star, was built from late 1956 until 1958. It was replaced by the second series, fitted with a 16-slit grille and nicknamed Akula (Shark). There were also continuous improvements throughout the entire production run. In 1962, the third series with its characteristic 36-slit grille was introduced. The new grille prompted the "Baleen" (Kitovy Us) nickname and became a Volga trademark for decades. Originally called the GAZ-M-21, the -M- prefix was a reference to Vyacheslav Molotov, after whom the Volga plant was named. The plant was renamed following the downfall of his career in 1957, and the -M- prefix was gradually removed from the car beginning in 1965. A fourth series was rejected and production of the third and final GAZ-21 continued until 15 July 1970.

The estate was introduced in 1962 and remains rare.

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  The first generation cars featured a characteristic grille with a star emblem which gave the car its nickname. It proved time-consuming to manufacture and deterred potential foreign customers, thus lasting less than two years on the assembly line
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  The second generation, the "Shark".
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  A GAZ-M-21U of the Third Series, showing the "Baleen" type grille would become a factory trademark element for all successive cars.
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  Due to private ownership of GAZ-22 station wagon/estate being forbidden in the Soviet Union, few survive

Development of the planned replacement for the GAZ-21 Volga began in 1961. The GAZ-24 Volga was planned to have 7-10 year lifetime, lasting through the 1970s. However, even before its 1968 première, it was already behind schedule and as the USSR slipped into the Era of Stagnation, following Alexey Kosygin's 1965 Soviet economic reform, the car was to become an iconic feature of that era, both aesthetically and technically. Developed in the mid-1960s it would undergo a series of modernisations and facelifts, and despite unsuccessful attempts to find a replacement (GAZ-3105, GAZ-3111 and the Siber), the car would only be retired in 2009 - 40 years after the first series began production.

Design of GAZ-21's replacement began in the early 1960s, with sketches gradually showing a more angular and rigid profile. GAZ planned to keep a modernised version of the four-cylinder engine and manual transmission in the base model, but a prototype also appeared with a 120 PS (88 kW; 118 hp) 2,990 cc (182 cu in) V6 engine.^[3] The first prototypes were built in 1966, and a year later the car was certified for production. For economic reasons the V6 model, despite showing promising results, was deemed unfeasible for mass production. The first batch of 24 vehicles were assembled in 1968 but it took until 15 July 1970 for the car to finally supersede the GAZ-21 on the conveyor belt.

Despite its more imposing appearance, the GAZ-24 was in fact 75 mm (3.0 in) shorter in length and 120 mm in height, yet its wheelbase was extended by 10 mm. The lower body waist line, allowed the window area was to be increased, whilst using thinner linings in doors, roof, and other body panels notably increased interior space. The car was powered by the 2,445 cc (149.2 cu in)^[4] ZMZ-24D engine, an evolution of the ZMZ-21A. Transmission was now a fully synchronised four on the floor layout, and the brakes were improved with a hydraulic vacuum servo unit as well as an independent parking brake (rather than the GAZ-21's transmission brake). Certain features were retained for their proven reliability, like the kingpin front suspension^[5] and recirculating ball steering.

The car was built in several modifications and these were now indicated by numbers rather than letters. Though the vehicle never underwent a generational facelift on the scale of the GAZ-21, nonetheless the car was modernised with continuous technical improvements during production. In the original design brief, the GAZ-24 was to be retired by 1978, but GAZ was forced to update the 24 instead. After a light refresh in 1977, the GAZ-24-10 appeared in 1985, receiving many of the features developed for the GAZ-3102, the 24's intended successor. Including the GAZ-24-10, almost one and a half million such Volgas were produced until 1992. The lion's share of cars were used for the Soviet nomenklatura and the rest mainly in taxi, police and ambulances.

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  Volkspolizei GAZ-24
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  GAZ-24 sedan
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  GAZ-24 estate
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  Interior of a 1974 model
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  GAZ-24-10

Manufacture of the 3102 began in 1981, with its official launch the next year.^[6] However, such car would never see light, as the 1970s unrolled, the stagnation era effects has significantly thwarted any innovation in Soviet Union's planned economy structure. Moreover, the Minister of Automotive Industry, Viktor Polyakov, had open favouritism for the new VAZ giant, and thus neither AZLK's 3-5 project, nor GAZ's ambitious third-generation Volga would see their respective conveyors. In 1973 more economic solution was adopted for the future car, that rotated around giving a major upgrade to the GAZ-24 by replacing most of the mechanics, the body panels, the interior yet keeping the skeletal body sections and platform, thus avoiding the most costly replacement of production press stamping.

The first users of the 3102 were the KGB and other government bodies through 1983.^[7] It proved unavailable to the public until after the collapse of the Soviet Union.^[8] This limited availability has given the 3102 a particular cachet in Russia (even over the Mercedes common among the privileged), allowing GAZ sell it at a markup.^[9]

By 1980 a replacement was developed, the GAZ-3102, which was based on the central platform and body of the GAZ-24, but with original fascia, interior, engine and chassis. However, political and economic stagnation of the late Brezhnev years continuously delayed the car's launch. From 1982 and all the way until 2008, the GAZ-3102 was produced in parallel with other Volgas, though in lesser quantities. Originally having its own production line and many distinct features, by 1997 the differences between production, trim and accessories of GAZ-3102 and latter Volga's was external only. Having originally been an exclusive car for higher ranking authorities, it retained such an image during the 1990s and well into the 2000s. In 1992, when the original machine tooling for the GAZ-24 body panels disintegrated, GAZ used the bodypanels of the GAZ-3102 on the somewhat obsolete but lower-cost GAZ-24 underpinnings. Production of the resulting GAZ-31029 doubled in quantity and halved in quality, transforming the car from a symbol of status into a disposable workhorse.

Though deemed temporary until GAZ's own LCV cars, the GAZelle and Sobol, entered production, the GAZ-31029 Volga occupied a major market niche, and demand for the vehicle remained. Thus in 1997 GAZ modernised the car once more, creating original body panels, whilst retaining the GAZ-24's central shell. This removed the visual dissonance that the 31029 created, and by incorporating the chassis and powertrain developed for the new Gazelle families (which in turn were designed for the aborted GAZ-3103/04/05 Volgas), combined with a new interior resulted in GAZ-3110 model. Given the timing, with the 1998 financial crises that followed, which left many foreign equivalents outside the budget Russia's business and public alike, the GAZ-3110 proved a necessity rather than a cheap alternative during the post-crises years.

GAZ-31105 was a second stage of the GAZ-3110's modernisation, though the designation was applied to cars produced from January 2004, the mechanical features were introduced almost a year earlier, and certain external ones were available in separate batches as standard or optional in others.

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  GAZ-31105 in Monaco
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  GAZ-31105 (2007 facelift)
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  Taxi in Kyiv

During the late 1980s GAZ developed a concept car for a future replacement for both the executive car -3102 Volga and the luxury limousine GAZ-14 Chaika. However the resulting GAZ-3105, which was never to be part of the Volga family, as it would be produced on the Chaika's conveyor (presently still used for the -3102) due to the economic problems never reached production.

The GAZ-3111 was scheduled to launch in 2000, but the factory's new owner Oleg Deripaska was unimpressed with the vehicle visually and once again, the high price of the car prevented any interest to sales. As a result, only 428 cars were built as part of the pre-production batch.

Although GAZ was developing a "spiritual successor" to the 3111, the front-wheel drive Volga 3115, in December 2005 RusPromAvto, the parent company of GAZ, announced that production of Volga passenger cars would be phased out over a 2-year period, with production to end in 2007. GAZ stated that they would instead concentrate on their more profitable truck, bus, and commercial vehicle businesses. At the same time the announcement was made, GAZ also introduced the Volga 311055, a long wheelbase derivative of the 31105. However, in the summer of 2006, GAZ reversed its earlier decision, announcing that further investments would be made in upgrading the styling and technology of the Volga saloons, keeping them in production as "retro" or "historical" vehicles. In early 2006, GAZ signed a deal with DaimlerChrysler to acquire the tooling and intellectual property rights for the Chrysler Sebring mid-size car design. GAZ stated that the new car would not carry the Volga brand.^{[citation needed]}

When GAZ acquired the Chrysler Sebring license, it decided to further modify the car, and the Volga Siber was the result. The Volga Siber was unveiled in August 2007, and production began in July 2008, with a goal of producing 20,000 units the first year. However, sales figures were not met and only 2,500 Sibers were built in all of 2009.

In total, about 9,000 cars were produced during the 2008–2010 production run.

• Black Volga

• Thompson, Andy. Cars of the Soviet Union (Haynes Publishing, Somerset, UK, 2008).

• / UK road test 1969 GAZ M-21 Volga
• Owners club
• Volga Auto
• GAZ Website^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in English and Russian)
• Autosoviet on the Volga
• German Volga importer (in German and English)
• About Volga GAZ-24 in English
• About Volga GAZ-21 in English
• Scaldia Volga M24D in English
• Jay Leno's Volga GAZ-21