When, in the mid-thirties, the chief designer of GAZ, Andrei Lipgart, was working on options for modernizing a passenger car - GAZ M1, a licensed copy of the American Ford, he could hardly have guessed what tectonic scale the step would be in the course of this work. Most of the consequences of his choice then, in the thirties, he will see during his lifetime. But a lot will happen later.
This amazing story is known in few places - in our country it is known from fragments, and outside of it, no one is interested in it at all. But it at least deserves to be told.
The coming of the Flathead
In 1928, Chrysler engineers created and the company launched a new generation of automotive engines. Its first-born was a four-cylinder, and four years later an in-line "six" saw the light of day. The motor had a cast iron block, a lower valve arrangement, a camshaft chain drive, an oil pump, a thermostat, and in general was quite modern for those times. For the specific shape of the head (and in fact - the cover, since we have a lower-shaft engine), the motor received in the USA a nickname with which it was destined to stay forever - flathead, which literally means "flat head", but in relation to the engine it was possible would translate as "flathead" [engine]. The four-cylinder was called the flathead-4, and the six-cylinder was called the flathead-6.
This engine was destined for a glorious fate in the USA - if the 4-cylinder version stood in production, then the six-cylinder version was only serially installed on cars until the end of the 60s, and on various special equipment and industrial equipment for another ten years. To this day, spare parts are sold for it, and enthusiasts build “around it” various hot rods and the like. However, we are interested in a completely different "branch" of the evolution of this motor.
Assessing the prospects for replacing or modernizing the engine, A. Lipgart understood that you couldn't squeeze out a lot from the old "emka" engine - those 10 hp, which in the end they still managed to get by raising the power from 40 to 50 forces already looked like a miracle, after all, they were obtained on the then low-tech industrial equipment and without loss of reliability. But that was not enough.
In fact, there was only one way out - to buy a motor abroad and produce it in the USSR. In those years, such copying was not considered something shameful - it was obvious to the citizens of the USSR that their country was technically far behind other developed countries.
Lipgart was no exception, and went along the path traditional for the USSR in the thirties. Find a suitable engine, buy a license, adapt it to the harsh Soviet realities and produce it, along the way learning advanced technologies from foreigners. Where to take a sample also did not arise - then in the USSR the mainstream was cooperation with the United States, and this was what they pushed off from, especially the Americans, who had just said goodbye to the "Great Depression" willingly sold everything.
Analyzing the design of automobile engines Lipgart and his subordinates drew attention to the Dodge D5 car. The engine that was installed on it attracted their attention by combining novelty and power on the one hand, simplicity and reliability on the other. This was the Chrysler Flathead 6.
Today in Russia this engine is mistakenly called "Dodge D5", but this is a mistake, this is the name of the car on which Soviet engineers first "spied" this engine. He himself was never called that.
In 1937, Lipgart went to the USA with a group of engineers. There, our specialists studied the engine, Lipgart himself delved deeply into the technological processes used for its production, and he himself supervised the purchase of the equipment necessary for the production.
At the end of 1938, the first domestic engines were already manufactured at GAZ.
I must say that the motor has been deeply reworked. So, the timing chain drive was replaced by a gear drive, the dimensions were not only converted to millimeters, but also brought to standard size ranges.
For example, the Chrysler cylinder bore was 88.25 mm (3 inches), our engine had 88 mm exactly. And so in almost everything.
The main direction of making changes in the design of the engine was its adaptation to Soviet fuel, lubricants and more than poor quality of maintenance. And it turned out "one hundred percent."
But they did not quite guess the quality - at first it was unsatisfactory, the low level of the industrial base at GAZ in particular, and in the USSR in general, affected. And 1938, and 1939, and part of 1940, the plant fought for quality, bringing the new design to readiness for mass production. And by the middle of the forties everything worked out again - the engine finally started working as it should. It was time to start.
In 1940, 128 engines were produced. The plan for 1941 provided for thousands of engines, with the prospect of further growth.
The serial engine was named GAZ-11. There were two modifications - with a cast-iron block head, compression ratio 5, 6 and 76 hp. at 3400 rpm, and with an aluminum cylinder head, compression ratio 6, 5 and a power of 85 hp. at 3600 rpm.
The first production car to receive it was the Emka. Longer six-cylinder engine easily got under its hood, it only took a slightly "convex" radiator grille to make the engine compartment long enough. The car was named GAZ 11-73. Before the war, they managed to produce several hundred of these machines.
But this is a production car. In general, a promising motor for what they just did not "match". And on new army trucks, all-terrain vehicles GAZ 33, 62 and 63 (not to be confused with post-war models), on armored vehicles LB-NATI and DB-62, which should have become the first Soviet all-wheel drive wheeled armored vehicles, on the gas pickup GAZ 415, there were aviation and ship options …
There were many plans. But on June 22, 1941, they all sharply lost their relevance.
The engine that saved the USSR
The Great Patriotic War is firmly associated in the mass consciousness with tanks, and the latter with the T-34 of various modifications.
But let's remember that they were not alone in the war. In the very first weeks of the war, it became clear that the Red Army's medium and heavy tanks alone would not be enough, and the regulations and doctrines of that time directly provided for the use of light tanks in a variety of situations. At the same time, the industry was unable to produce a perfect and high-tech light T-50. Under these conditions, an outstanding engineer, creator of a number of light armored vehicles Nikolai Astrov made a salutary decision. He designed a simple light tank T-60, which could quickly go into production at GAZ, and which was equipped with … a GAZ-11 engine. Rather, its version of the GAZ-202, which differed only in electrical equipment. Otherwise, it was the same engine.
Astrov himself had previously designed a light amphibious tank T-40, which was also equipped with a GAZ-202! But the T-40s fought for at least the entire first year of the war, took part in the battle for Moscow. They were often the only tanks that the infantry could rely on. Even if they were machine-gun, but better than nothing, besides, the T-40, covered by its own infantry and operating against the enemy, which here and now did not have anti-tank artillery, turned into "infinite magnitude" - like any other tank … And there were such cases.
The T-60 was already armed with an automatic cannon, and these guns could inflict huge losses on the German infantry. Light tanks made it possible to accelerate the formation of tank units and "forge" the personnel needed for the war … but where would they come from if there was no suitable engine? Astrov's tanks were equipped with a 76 hp version with a cast-iron cylinder head, which did not require a lot of light alloys for its production. Taking into account the fact that the USSR had already lost 70% of its aluminum (the GOKs remained in the territory occupied by the Germans), and it was necessary to live up to the massive deliveries of the American under Lend-Lease, this was a vital moment.
Saving.
In total, 960 T-40 tanks and 5920 T-60 tanks were produced in the USSR. All of them were equipped with GAZ-202 engines, the very "flat-headed" ones. So on May 9, it is worth remembering with a kind word both Lipgart and Chrysler. It is not known how it would have gone if it had not been for them …
However, it was not even the beginning …
The T-60 did not last long on the conveyor. A little over a month after the counter-offensive near Moscow, Astrov "pushed through" the production of a more powerful model - the T-70. Thicker armor gave even light tank crews a better chance of surviving, and a 45 mm gun made it possible to hit a German tank in battle, even if they were small and reduced every year. These improvements to the light tank required a new, more powerful engine.
A new powerful engine was obtained by splicing two GAZ-202 into a block of two GAZ-203 engines. The engines were slightly derated to improve reliability, and in total the unit gave 140 hp, "two to seventy". The T-70 became the second largest Soviet tank. There were built 8,231 vehicles. And again it is worth remembering Chrysler and Lipgart.
This was the beginning, no doubt about it. But only the beginning.
The GAZ-203 power unit became the "heart" for the car, whose contribution to the Victory simply cannot be overestimated. We are talking about ACS Su-76M. This, in a sense, the legendary self-propelled gun became the main means of fire support for the advancing Soviet infantry, and made a significant contribution to the anti-tank defense. This is what would have happened if it had not been, I do not even want to present it. During the war years, 14292 self-propelled guns were produced.
Let's evaluate the contribution of tracked combat vehicles with the "former American" "heart".
Tanks T-40, T-60 and T-70, self-propelled guns Su-76M is a total of 29403 tanks and self-propelled guns. Adding here 70 units of light T-80s that fell into the army (there was such a thing in those years), we finally get 29,473 tanks and self-propelled guns. Approximately a third of all produced. But Lipgart could have chosen a motor that would not fit the armored vehicles. And what would have happened then?
Against this background, 238 all-wheel drive all-wheel drive GAZ 61 all-terrain vehicles of all modifications no longer look, although again, one can fantasize about Zhukov, who got stuck on a weak car at the wrong time … But he had 85 hp. under the hood, in its all-terrain “emki” modification. Not stuck.
It is difficult to judge what would have happened if our country had not had this engine. Apparently nothing good.
But the war was only an episode in the life of this motor.
And now everything has begun
After the war, the USSR found itself in a difficult situation - the country lay in ruins, hunger raged, and the military threat from the United States and the West was growing. And in such conditions, it was necessary to deal with both the restoration of the destroyed and the development. In the automotive industry, everything was even tougher - it was necessary to make a leap in conditions when several war years and work for the future were not carried out, and personnel simply died in the war.
Under these conditions, GAZ got a strong head start - it had an engine that could immediately be used on any promising technology.
Immediately after the war, "flat-headed" was consistently registered on the GAZ-51 cargo truck, receiving the same name as the car - GAZ-51, on its all-wheel drive army version of the GAZ-63 and the national economic version of the GAZ-63P all-terrain vehicle. The copied cab (without feathers) from the "Studebaker" and the Chrysler engine made it possible for GAZ to save time. And a lot. True, the GAZ-51 engine was already a significantly different engine - but basically it remained the same. Power only dropped slightly, to 75 hp.
Curiously, at GAZ, he developed a version of such an engine with prechamber ignition. A slightly more powerful, but also capricious motor was produced until the end of the 70s.
Moreover, the former American "six" gave birth to another "branch of evolution" of the glorious engine.
GAZ M20 "Victory" was the first Soviet post-war passenger car, and, in terms of design, also the most original. Both the products of the MZMA (future AZLK) and the domestic auto industry in general sinned by "copying", and often illegal. GAZ made an innovative car that was not a copy of anything. It was a major success.
But what kind of engine was there? And the engine there was a modification of the GAZ-11, "cut down" by a couple of cylinders. Smaller displacement and reduced to 50 hp. power. It was such a motor that the devastated country needed, and she received it. A little later, it will also be installed on the next generation of light army off-road vehicles - GAZ-69. And this, too, will be just the beginning.
The next passenger car on which the Soviet "flat-headed" was "registered" was the GAZ-12, popularly known as the ZIM. This non-Soviet luxury car, worth a fantastic 45,000 rubles, became the most powerful Soviet passenger car, theoretically capable of becoming the property of an ordinary citizen. Well, or extraordinary. For this car, GAZ "returned" the aluminum cylinder head from oblivion, and through some simple modifications raised the power to 90 hp. - a very good result for those times. ZIM soon ceased to be produced, the sale of limousines to Soviet citizens stopped, and this car for a long time became the maximum possible for a person who is not alien to a "beautiful" life.
True practical, but often devoid of aesthetic sense, Soviet citizens much more often carried potatoes and the like to ZIMs, completely killing the "luxury" car, and turning it into a working nag. And, of course, the motor made it possible to do this without difficulty.
But this was not the end of the story; several new evolutionary breakthroughs were brewing in the life of the engine.
GAZ was preparing for production a new truck, more advanced than the GAZ-51. And the inline-six has already been chosen as the base engine for it. This truck was the GAZ 52, the last modification of which was to survive the USSR. And those who find this car will easily recognize the engine used on it.
The GAZ 52 engine, greatly modernized compared to the once original GAZ-11, and somewhat improved in comparison with the GAZ-51, has become a real long-liver. It was produced in the range of spare parts until the end of the nineties. It was installed on the loaders of the Lviv plant and to this day, not new Lviv loaders used in Russia are equipped mainly with this engine …
And what about defenses? Glorious traditions of defending the Motherland on motors once invented in America? Here, too, everything was in order, and it was not only the army vehicles of the GAZ-63 family.
Modifications of the Soviet "flat-headed" were consistently used on the BTR-40, BTR-60, and BRDM 69. These engines "dusted" along the dusty roads of Sinai and Galelei in the Arab-Israeli wars, carried supplies and soldiers along the Vietnamese Ho Chi Minh Trail during the war with America, it was on these engines that a significant part of the "Limited contingent" entered Afghanistan. Cubans and Nicaraguans fought and worked for them.
But that was not all.
From this engine the engine industry in China, Romania and North Korea grew. The M20 engine version was produced in Romania at ARO factories. The Chinese developed their industry with only two types of cars - a copy of the Soviet GAZ 51 and a copy of the Soviet ZiS-150. The first of them carried a Chrysler descendant under the hood. These motors have been produced and modified for many years, regardless of the prototype.
In the DPRK, the 4- and 6-cylinder descendants of the gas version of Chrysler are still in production and ten years ago they were the basic model of the local car industry.
And of course, we cannot ignore Poland. Having got the opportunity to produce "Pobeda" under the name "Warsaw", the Poles also copied the engine. But later, they reworked it into … an overhead valve! The new head of the block made it possible to increase the power and instead of 50 hp. at 3600 rpm the S-21 produced 70 at 4000. Quite, as they say, another matter.
The production of "Warsaw" was stopped in 1973, but the engines continued to be installed on the Zhuk and Nysa cars, familiar to everyone who remembers the USSR.
Today it is no longer easy to find a car with a descendant of a flat-headed one under the hood on the road - both Pobeda and GAZ-69, and GAZ-51, 52, 63 are more museum relics than “working” cars. But in some places they still go and work even in Russia.
And in the DPRK, the descendants of this engine are most likely still produced, because in their army there are so many cars from "Seungri", at least as spare parts, these motors still have to be supplied.
And this historical role of the motor invented at the end of the twenties cannot but arouse admiration.
