The Story of the Moskvich 400 and 402 in Detail

The first Moskvich at a glance

Each model has its own catalogue page: the Moskvich-400, the Moskvich-407 and the Moskvich-403. The wider story of the factory, from the KIM works to AZLK, is told in the history of Moskvich and AZLK.

Before the 402: the KIM-10 and the Opel decision

The small-car plant that later built every Moskvich started life as the KIM works. Its first car, the KIM-10-50, appeared in 1940 and took clear inspiration from the British Ford Prefect. About 500 were made before production stopped in 1941. The factory also planned a four-door KIM-10-52 but never built it.

When work on a post-war people's car resumed, the decision fell on the German Opel Kadett K38. According to the usual account, the Soviet leadership, reportedly Stalin personally, chose the four-door Kadett in June 1945. The Soviet side claimed drawings and tooling from Opel's Rüsselsheim works as war reparations, and German engineers helped to reconstruct the missing plans. Some historians doubt how much of the tooling actually survived, and the old 1cars article added that four Kadetts were bought and taken apart to make master models.

In August 1945 the KIM works became MZMA, the small-car plant. Official papers date the start of the project to 10 October 1945, and the team finished the master models in August 1946. Workers assembled the first Moskvich-400-420 on 9 December 1946, and the government approved mass production on 28 April 1947.

Moskvich-400 and 401: a pre-war design for a new start

The 400-420 saloon used a unitary steel body, hydraulic brakes and independent front suspension, all modern features for a small car of the 1940s. Its 1,074 cc side-valve four produced 17 kW (23 hp) with a compression ratio of just 5.6:1, so performance was gentle: 0–80 km/h took 55 seconds. Fuel use of about 9 l/100 km was the best of any Soviet car of its time.

Output grew quickly, from 1,501 cars in 1947 to 4,808 in 1948 and 19,906 in 1949. The 100,000th car left the line in October 1952. A cabriolet (400-420A) arrived in 1949, and a wood-framed van (400-422) in 1948. In 1951 the three-speed gearbox gained synchromesh on the top two gears, and the lever moved to the steering column.

The 401 of 1954 looked the same but had a reworked engine. Compression rose to 6.2:1 and power to 19 kW (26 hp), and the car gained a new starter, dynamo, wheel bearings and handbrake. The 401 weighed 885 kg and reached 90 km/h. The saloon was built until 20 April 1956, and the 400 and 401 together reached 247,439 cars.

The early cars also went abroad. The Moskvich-400 went on sale in Belgium in October 1950, priced below the Ford Prefect and the Morris Minor. Further cars went to East Germany and to Norway, which reportedly paid for some of them with fish.

Prototypes and the naming system

Between 1948 and 1951 the factory tried several upgrades. In 1949 it built six prototypes, the 401E-424E with 19 kW (26 hp) and the 403E-424E with about 24 kW (33 hp). A 403-424A coupé followed in 1951 with a 35 hp four. In 1954 the 404 Sport roadster appeared with a 58 hp overhead-valve engine, and the factory's racing story continues on the page about Moskvich racing cars.

The names followed a simple code. The first number stood for the engine and the second for the body: in "402-425", 402 is the engine type and 425 the body style. That is why the old text called the car "Moskvich-402-405". Over time the first number became the model name.

Designing the 402: the first home-grown Moskvich

By the early 1950s the Kadett design was outdated, and facelifts could not hide its 1930s shape. Development of a new car began in 1950. The first prototype, the 402-425, ran in mid-1951, and seven prototypes with different body styles were built. With no test track available, engineers tried the cars on public roads. Engineers from GAZ, who were working on the larger GAZ-21 Volga at the same time, took part in the styling.

A prototype was shown to the public in February 1955. The factory completed the first series car on 20 April 1956, the same day the last 401 saloon left the line. Compared with the 401, the 402 was 200 mm longer, much wider and had a boot of about 340 litres.

The engine was a bored-out development of the old side-valve unit, and the rear axle and gearbox came from the 401. Compared with the 401, the 402 had about a third more power but almost halved the 0–80 km/h time, from 55 to 28.5 seconds. 1cars calculated that gain from the factory figures in the table above.

Estate, 4x4 and special versions

The 402 family grew quickly:

• 402B, 402M and 402T: versions with hand controls for disabled drivers, a medical car and a taxi.
• 423 estate (1957–1958): a four-door estate with folding rear seats and a 250 kg payload.
• 410 (1957–1958): a four-wheel-drive saloon using parts from the GAZ-69, with 220 mm of ground clearance.
• 410N and 411 (1958–1961): the 4x4 saloon and estate with the stronger 407 engine.
• A9 and 429: a minibus and a closed van that remained prototypes.

By January 1961 the factory had built 11,890 four-wheel-drive Moskvich cars. A 4x4 family saloon of this size was rare anywhere in the world at the time.

From 402 to 407 and 403

In 1958 the 402 body received the new 1,358 cc overhead-valve engine with 34 kW (45 hp), and the car became the Moskvich-407. Top speed rose to about 115 km/h, and a four-speed synchromesh gearbox arrived at the end of 1959. The 407 was built until October 1963, with 359,980 made and 120,903 exported. The transitional 403 followed, then the 408 and the Moskvich-412.

Exports became important. In some years about half of all 407s went abroad, mainly to Eastern Europe, Norway, Finland and France. In Western Europe the cars were sometimes sold as the "Elite", and the Belgian importer Scaldia began assembling them in Seneffe in 1962. A 407 finished third in its class at the 1957 Thousand Lakes Rally in Finland.

Which early Moskvich to choose today

The old 1cars article compared the early cars with army ranks: the 400 and 401 were privates and sergeants, while the 402 became the first "officer". The comparison works. The 402 was the first Moskvich that its own engineers designed from scratch, and it set the layout of every Moskvich until the late 1960s.

For collectors the choice depends on what they want from the car. The 400 and 401 are the historic Opel-derived cars. The 402 is the rarest of the 402-407-403 family, because it was built for only about two years. The 407 is the most practical to own, thanks to its stronger OHV engine and four-speed gearbox, and it suits owners who want to drive their classic regularly, because parts are easier to find. The 407 and 412 are set side by side in the Moskvich-407 vs Moskvich-412 comparison, and more cars of the period appear among the best Soviet classic cars.