GAZ-67 and GAZ-67B are well-known Soviet all-wheel drive cars with a simplified open body, in which cutouts were used instead of doors. The car was a further modernization of the GAZ-64, like the first model, it was developed by the designer V. A. Grachev on the basis of the GAZ-M1 units. This off-road passenger car took an active part in the final stage of the Great Patriotic War, as well as in the Korean War. It became widespread in the army as a reconnaissance and staff vehicle, a carrier for infantry and wounded, and was also widely used as an artillery tractor for transporting anti-tank artillery guns.
In the army, this car received a very large number of nicknames, among which one can note: "goat", "goat", "flea warrior", "pygmy", HBV (I want to be "Willis)," Ivan-Willis ". In Poland, this car was called "Chapaev" or "gazik". The production volumes of GAZ-67 and GAZ-67B SUVs during the war years were very small - only 4,851 units, which was only 10% of the lend-lease deliveries of Ford GPW and Willys MB cars to the USSR, since the main attention in the country was paid to the production armored car BA-64B, with which the Soviet jeeps had chassis unification. Until the end of the war, 3137 GAZ-67 and 1714 GAZ-67B vehicles were produced. In total, by the end of 1953, Soviet industry produced 92,843 vehicles of this type.
After the end of the war, the GAZ-67B was very actively used not only in the army, but also in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of State Security, forestry and agriculture, and geological exploration. On its basis, a hydraulic crane-boring machine BKGM-AN, as well as snow-plowing vehicles, was even produced. The GAZ-67 car became sturdier and more reliable than its predecessor, it could work steadily on low-quality fuels and lubricants, with honor it withstood significant overloads and fully fulfilled the specified service life. It was a real hard worker, which became known as a durable, traction, all-terrain and unpretentious car.
The history of the creation of GAZ-67
In the fall of 1940, the first information about the American army multipurpose all-terrain vehicle Bantam appeared in the Soviet press. The USSR became interested in this car, especially since a year earlier in Gorky there were successful tests of the first Soviet passenger car with all-terrain vehicles - GAZ-61-40. The urgency of work on the new machine was determined by a rather complex international situation, and the events on Khalkhin Gol demonstrated the need for a greater modernization of the Red Army.
At the same time, Soviet designers had only magazine photographs of Bantam in their hands, and therefore they had to invent and invent a lot themselves. The basis for the future SUV was taken rather reliable units and components of the GAZ-61: transfer case, front and rear axles, brakes, steering, cardan shafts, wheels. The clutch, engine and four-speed cargo gearbox, well mastered by the Soviet industry, were taken from the "lorry" by installing an improved carburetor and strengthening the cooling system. At the same time, it was necessary to re-create the frame, body, front suspension, radiator and its lining, seats, an additional gas tank, steering rods. At the same time, in accordance with the issued terms of reference, it was necessary to significantly reduce the car's track. The whole point was that the car was supposed to be used in the role of an airborne assault, which means that it had to enter the cargo compartment of the PS-84 transport aircraft, which is better known to us as the Li-2.
The design of a new car, designated GAZ-64-416, began on February 3, 1941. On February 12, the first drawings of the future car were handed over to the workshops of the plant, on March 4, the assembly of the first car began. On March 17, bodywork was completed in Gorky, and on March 25, the finished all-terrain vehicle left the assembly shops on its own. In April, the vehicle passed military trials, and on August 17 the first GAZ-64-416 were handed over to the front. In total, 601 cars were assembled in Gorky by the end of 1941, however, then they were produced using temporary technology. This is how the car's tin bodies were bent by hand at the factory. All devices and electrical equipment were borrowed from GAZ-MM and GAZ-M1. At the same time, their number was reduced to the limit. In particular, the SUV lacked a coolant temperature gauge, an oil pressure gauge.
With a length of 3360 mm, the car had a 2100 mm wheelbase and 1530 mm width. The GAZ-64 was equipped with an engine from the GAZ-M1 car, which with a working volume of 3.286 liters. at 2800 rpm it produced 50 hp. This was enough for a car weighing 1200 kg. accelerated along the highway to a speed of 100 km / h.
At the same time, during military operation, it was discovered that the car had poor lateral stability, which was a consequence of the narrowed track of the car. This forced the designers to bring the track from 1278 to 1446 mm. But this decision entailed a radical reconstruction of the all-terrain vehicle. On the machine, it was necessary to change the mounting of the muffler, modify the frame, after which the improvements began to pour in one after another - each of them entailed a new one. For example, at the suggestion of the designer BT Komarovsky, who was responsible for the creation of the body, special exhaust slots ("air vents") were made in the rear of the hood covers.
The shortened base of the car in comparison with the GAZ-61 made it possible to abandon the rear intermediate propeller shaft. The front open gimbal was equipped with needle bearing hinges. In order to facilitate overcoming the vertical walls and increase the front approach angle to 75 degrees, the front axle of the car was suspended on 4 quarter-elliptical springs. In order to achieve a more stable rectilinear movement in the hinges of all springs of the car, durable and well-protected threaded bushings and pins from GAZ-11-73 were used. The rear springs of the all-terrain vehicle were located above the bridge covers. All this significantly increased the ground clearance of the car. Due to chronic shortage and low efficiency, a second pair of shock absorbers was removed from the car from the rear suspension. Due to the increase in the spring track, there was no need for a rear anti-roll bar. The production of rear axle shafts from chromansil almost completely eliminated their breakdowns, although it did not prevent them at all.
By installing a captured Stromberg carburetor on the car, which was installed on German "Mercedes", the engine power was brought to 54 hp. Subsequently, the Soviet industry mastered the production of an analogue of this carburetor, which was named K-23. The air filter was installed on the left of the engine and connected to the carburetor using a pipe. As a result of all these numerous alterations, which lasted 2 years and were interrupted for a while by the bombing of the Gorky Automobile Plant, a new all-terrain vehicle, the GAZ-67, was born.
Compared to the GAZ-64, the length of the GAZ-67 increased insignificantly - up to 3345 mm, but the width increased to 1720 mm, which significantly increased the lateral stability of the machine. In the process of mastering production, the mass of the vehicle in running order reached 1342 kg. In addition, due to the increase in width by 29%, the drag of the body also increased. For these 2 reasons, the maximum speed, despite a slight increase in power, dropped to 88 km / h. But on the other hand, the designers managed to further increase the tractive effort of the wheels, which ultimately amounted to 1050 kg.
The 4-spoke steering wheel with a bent wooden rim with a diameter of 385 mm, which was forced into production in just 1 day due to the failure of the supplier of carbolite parts, became a kind of visiting card of the car - the factory that produced them was destroyed during an air raid. Despite the archaic and unsightly steering wheel, it even managed to take root, and drivers loved it for the convenience of working without gloves, especially in cold weather, and were in no hurry to change it to a plastic one on occasion.
With its appearance, the GAZ-67 resembled a stubborn, tightly knocked down, albeit unprepossessing workaholic, who could equally confidently move on any roads, thanks to the unusually widely spaced wheels. The car could be used in any weather and on any terrain, which earned it the respect of all front-line soldiers who encountered it. Even after long enough many hours of travel on broken front roads, the drivers and passengers of the car did not experience increased physical and nervous fatigue. For the creation of the GAZ-67 in January 1944, the designer V. A. Grachev was nominated for the Stalin Prize.
After the war, the production of this machine was not only preserved, but also significantly expanded. The car was actively used by civil services, representatives of the national economy liked it very much, for many chairmen of collective farms, agronomists and mechanics of MTS, the "gazik" was the most desirable car. Before the war, such machines simply did not exist in the country's agriculture. The car spread across the country and sold well abroad, even to Australia, not to mention the countries of Eastern Europe, the DPRK and China. Car production grew from year to year until the end of production, and the last car left the production shops at the end of August 1953. In total, almost 93 thousand cars were assembled.
A number of civil achievements also belonged to this all-terrain vehicle. So, for example, the light version of the GAZ-67B was able to successfully climb Elbrus to the Shelter of Eleven in the spring of 1950. In the summer of the same year, a GAZ-67B car was delivered by plane to the SP-2 drifting polar station. On an ice floe, this car has been used for a long time and effectively as a tractor and transport vehicle. The first parachute landing in the history of domestic aviation also fell on the GAZ-67B car, in 1949 the car was dropped in this way from the Tu-2 aircraft. The Mi-4 helicopter was also developed in due time for its transportation.
