Moskvich-407

Moskvich-407 at a glance

The Moskvich-407 is a compact family saloon (sedan) that MZMA built in series from 1958 to October 1963. It belongs to the second generation of the Moskvitch line, as the name is often spelled in English, and it sits between the 402 of 1956 and the transitional 403. The maker was MZMA at the time; the same plant became AZLK in October 1968, which is why later literature sometimes credits the car to AZLK. The 407 was a mass-produced private car, but it also carried a long list of working versions: estates, vans, taxis and four-wheel-drive models.

Development and production history

The 407 was not a new design but a re-engined 402, introduced in 1958. To see why that was enough, it helps to follow the line back to the first post-war car.

The Moskvich-400 entered production in December 1946. It was based on the pre-war four-door Opel Kadett; how the tooling reached the plant is still debated, and some recent sources dispute the long-repeated claim that it was captured. The 400 and its 1954 update, the 401, reached 247,439 cars between them.

The 402 of 1956 was the first Moskvich designed in the USSR rather than adapted from a foreign car. Its styling followed several similar-sized Western models of the early 1950s, among them the Hillman Minx, FIAT 1100, Ford Prefect 100E, Jowett Javelin and Ford Consul Mk1, and designers from the GAZ-21 project helped with the work. The 402 kept an elderly side-valve engine, though, and that was its weak point. In 1958 the plant fitted a new overhead-valve four, and the M-402 became the Moskvich-407.

The car changed little after that. The most important update came in December 1959, when a four-speed synchromesh gearbox replaced the three-speed unit. Production of the saloon ended in October 1963 after 359,980 cars. The Moskvich-403, which combined the 402/407 body with mechanical parts intended for the next model, covered the gap until July 1965. The new Moskvich-408, with a longer wheelbase, had already replaced the 407 as the main production model in 1964.

For the wider story of the plant, read the history of Moskvich and AZLK.

Design and engineering

The Moskvich-407 uses the monocoque body and chassis of the 402, with independent front suspension and a live rear axle. At the front, double wishbones work with telescopic dampers; the rear axle sits on leaf springs. Brakes are drums all round, and steering uses a worm-and-roller box.

That specification was modern for a small Soviet car of the late 1950s. The 402 generation also moved from a 6-volt to a 12-volt electrical system and came with a heater, a radio, a cigarette lighter and a windscreen demister as standard.

The body is a four-door saloon with seating for four or five and an external boot lid. Length is 4,055 mm (159.6 in) on a 2,370 mm (93.3 in) wheelbase, and the car weighs 910 kg (2,006 lb) at the kerb.

Engine and drivetrain

The 407 engine is an inline four with overhead valves and a capacity of 1,358 cc (82.9 cu in), mounted at the front and driving the rear wheels. It produces about 33 kW (45 PS) at 4,500 rpm. Spec aggregators give the same unit as 1,360 cc and 44 hp, which is the same output expressed in a different horsepower measure.

Torque is usually quoted as 88 Nm (65 lb-ft) at 2,600 rpm, with a bore and stroke of 76 × 75 mm (3.0 × 3.0 in) and a compression ratio of 7:1. With this engine the 402 body reached 115 km/h (71 mph), and the change from side valves to overhead valves is what defines the 407.

Gearbox and the faster police version

Early 407s kept the three-speed gearbox of the 402. From December 1959 a four-speed manual with synchromesh was fitted, and the four-wheel-drive versions received it in 1960. A four-speed car is therefore a later 407, which matters for anyone dating a survivor.

A more powerful 407 was built for police and security service use. It is quoted with 67 hp (roughly 50 kW), a top speed of up to 145 km/h (90 mph) and 0–100 km/h in about 19 seconds. It was not sold to the public, although some cars reached private owners after their service life.

Moskvich-407 specifications

The table covers the standard saloon. Published fuel consumption figures for the 407 disagree with each other, so none is given here; the factory acceleration figure is not documented in the sources used. Detailed figures for the 1.4-litre 44 hp saloon are on its specification page.

Variants and derivatives

The 407 was the base for a family of working and specialist versions, most of them carried over from the 402 with the new engine.

The estate deserves a word. The first 402-423 of 1957 could carry 250 kg (551 lb) with the rear seats folded, and the 407-423N kept that practical layout with more power.

Four-wheel-drive 410N and 411

The four-wheel-drive Moskvich used the transfer case and axles of the GAZ-69 off-roader under a passenger car body. The first 410 of 1957 had the 402 engine; the M-407-410N saloon followed in June 1958 and the 411 estate soon after. In all, 11,890 four-wheel-drive 402s and 407s were built before production ended in January 1961. With fewer than 12,000 built, they are a small minority of the family.

In service: export, reputation and legacy

The 402/407 family is usually described as the first Soviet car to sell well in the West. For several years up to half of production went abroad, mainly to the Eastern Bloc, Norway, Finland and France; of the 359,980 407s, 120,903 were exported, or about one in three.

In parts of Western Europe the car was sold as the Elite, partly because of a trademark conflict with Peugeot over numeric model names. The Belgian importer Sobimpex, renamed Scaldia in 1965, began test assembly in 1962 and full series assembly in March 1964. That made Moskvich the first Soviet make assembled inside the EEC, and some cars sold there received a Perkins diesel. These Belgian operations continued with the 408 and later models.

The 407's legacy is mostly technical. The overhead-valve layout stayed with the family: the 408 used an OHV four of almost the same capacity, 1,357 cc, until the aluminium engine of the Moskvich-412 took over in 1967. The car's simple layout and export success also set the pattern for the plant's later cars.

Preservation and collecting today

A Moskvich-407 is a simple car to keep running, and its main value today is historical rather than technical. Before buying or restoring one, a few checks help to confirm what it is:

• The engine: an overhead-valve 1,358 cc unit identifies a 407; a side-valve engine points to a 402.
• The gearbox: three speeds suggest a car built before December 1959, four speeds a later one.
• The body code: four-wheel-drive cars (410N, 411) made up fewer than 12,000 of the family, and the 423N estate and 430 van are also worth documenting carefully.

Many body and trim parts are shared with the 402 and 403, which widens the pool of donor cars. For other cars of the same era, browse our Soviet classic cars and classic cars of the 1950s.