GAZ-M20

GAZ-M20 Pobeda at a glance

The GAZ-M20 Pobeda is a front-engined, rear-wheel-drive executive-class saloon, and it was GAZ's passenger car of the immediate post-war years. "Pobeda" means "Victory". Besides the saloon, GAZ built the car in large numbers as a taxi, and a four-door cabriolet was offered for part of the production run.

The body stayed the same for twelve years. What changed was the build quality, the gearbox, the engine output and the trim.

Development and production history

Work on the Pobeda began in 1943, while the war was still being fought, and the first prototype was ready on 6 November 1944, according to English-language references. German sources date the government contract to February 1943. The chief engineer was Andrei Liphart (also spelt Lipgart), and the body styling is credited to Veniamin Samoilov; early sketches are attributed to Valentin Brodsky.

The project was first called "Rodina" ("Homeland"). It is usually reported that Stalin preferred the name "Pobeda", and the car went into production under that name.

Production crisis of 1946–1949

Series production started in June 1946, but the first two years went badly. English-language references state that only 23 cars were completed in 1946, virtually by hand, that mass production began on 28 April 1947 and that only about 700 cars had been built by October 1948.

The problems were material shortages and build quality. The same references describe body panels welded from strips of steel because full sheets were not available, bodies that leaked, about 20 kg (44 lb) of solder per car and roughly 200 kg (441 lb) of extra weight, with up to 60 percent of the steel rejected. Production was stopped in the autumn of 1948 on government orders and the plant director was dismissed. German sources add that cars already delivered were recalled to have the front axle repaired.

The improved second series followed in 1949, after a reported 346 design changes and around 2,000 new tools. It brought a lowered rear seat and a 12 V electrical system. Full-scale output is usually dated from this point rather than from 1946.

Design and engineering

The Pobeda's main engineering idea was a pontoon body: one smooth envelope without separate wings or running boards, built as a load-bearing unit body rather than a body bolted to a separate frame. English-language references describe it as one of the first Soviet cars with an original design and pontoon styling, and the first Soviet car whose body dies were made entirely within the USSR.

The Opel Kapitän question

The Pobeda was not a copy of a Western model, but it did borrow engineering. According to English-language references, the independent front suspension and part of the unit-body structure were reverse-engineered from the 1938 Opel Kapitän. German sources name the 1939 Kapitän as the reference for the chassis and drivetrain. The fastback shape, on the other hand, was GAZ's own, and one design writer has called the Pobeda "the first true Soviet car".

Equipment for its time

Brakes are hydraulically operated drums on all four wheels, reported to be the first such system on a Soviet car. English-language sources also credit it with the first Soviet use of turn signals, two electric wipers, a heater and a factory radio, though these claims rest on a single source family. After 1949 the electrical system ran at 12 V, which German sources pair with a 50 Ah battery.

The 2.1-litre engine and drivetrain

The GAZ-M20 Pobeda engine is a 2,112 cc (128.9 cu in) side-valve inline-four with a cast-iron block, rated at 37 kW (50 PS) at 3,600 rpm and later at 38 kW (52 PS). Bore and stroke are usually quoted as 82 × 100 mm (3.23 × 3.94 in) and the compression ratio as 6.2:1. Sources disagree on when the rise to 52 PS came, and a figure of 55 PS for the M20V appears in some references but not in others.

The engine is reported to derive from an American flathead six of the Dodge D5 type, shortened to four cylinders. English-language references add that Stalin chose the four-cylinder car over a 2.7-litre six rated at 46 kW (62 PS). A revised carburettor later let the engine run on fuel of about 66 octane.

Power goes to the rear axle through a three-speed manual gearbox. Synchromesh on the upper gears arrived around 1950; sources do not agree on whether the gear lever moved from the floor to the steering column at the same time. The final drive ratio is usually given as 4.7:1 at first and 5.125:1 after a revision. The six-cylinder M20G, described under variants, used a quite different engine.

GAZ-M20 Pobeda specifications

The table covers the standard rear-wheel-drive saloon with the side-valve petrol engine after the 1949 improvements. Dimensions, weight and tank size come from one family of encyclopedic sources.

Consumption is shown as a range because sources quote 11 L/100 km at a steady 60 km/h (37 mph) and 13.5 L/100 km as a general figure. No torque figure is given; the only one found comes from a weak source.

Variants and derivatives

Beyond the standard saloon, the Pobeda family includes a taxi, a cabriolet, the M20V, the four-wheel-drive M72, a six-cylinder special series, a minibus and the Polish Warszawa.

GAZ-M72: the four-wheel-drive Pobeda

The GAZ-M72 combined the Pobeda's unit body with the front axle and transfer case of the GAZ-69 off-roader. GAZ built 4,677 of them from 1955 to 1958. At 1,690 kg (3,726 lb) it was 340 kg (750 lb) heavier than the saloon. It is the only four-wheel-drive Pobeda; the standard car drove the rear wheels only. For later vehicles with driven front axles, see the site's 4x4 and all-wheel-drive cars.

M20G, M20V and the prototypes

The M20G took the 3,485 cc straight-six from the GAZ-12 ZIM, usually quoted at around 66 kW (90 PS), and was built in a small series for the security services. The M20V of 1955 was the final production version, with a revised grille and carburettor and a radio. NAMI also built two NAMI-Pobeda notchback prototypes in 1948; neither went into production.

The cabriolet

The cabriolet kept all four doors and replaced the steel roof with a folding fabric top. GAZ built 14,222 of them between 1949 and 1953 (German sources give 14,220), about one car in seventeen. The site lists other open cars of many eras under convertibles and roadsters.

In service: exports, Poland and legacy

The Pobeda reached markets well beyond the USSR, and Finland became the best-documented one. Exports are reported to have gone to Eastern Bloc countries, Finland, Scandinavia, Belgium and Austria. In 1950s Finland it was the most popular taxi, and 5,644 Pobedas were still registered there in 1963.

Its durability is the trait most often mentioned. Andy Thompson, in a 2008 Haynes book on Soviet cars, wrote that Western drivers found it almost impossible to wear out. The simple side-valve engine, its low compression ratio and the 200 mm (7.9 in) ground clearance are consistent with that reputation.

FSO Warszawa: the Pobeda in Poland

FSO licensed the design in 1951 and built it as the Warszawa until 1973, which kept the Pobeda shape in production fifteen years after GAZ stopped. Until 1957 the Warszawa was essentially identical to the Soviet car. From 1962 it received an overhead-valve engine rated at 51 kW (70 PS). The Polish total is about 250,000 in German sources and 254,471 in English ones, so the licence car may have outnumbered the original.

Successor at GAZ

The GAZ-21 Volga replaced the Pobeda, and the two ran in parallel at GAZ from 1956 until the Pobeda ended in 1958. The history of GAZ covers the factory's other products, and the full range is listed under all GAZ models.

Preservation and collecting today

A Pobeda restoration starts with identifying the series, because similar-looking cars differ in detail. The main clues:

• A car from 1946–1948 belongs to the small first series; a lowered rear seat and 12 V electrics point to 1949 or later.
• A different grille, a radio and a 52 PS rating suggest an M20V from 1955–1958.
• A transfer case and a GAZ-69 front axle identify an M72; only 4,677 were built, so check the papers to rule out a later conversion.
• FSO badging or an overhead-valve engine points to an FSO Warszawa, which shares much of the body and running gear with the early Soviet car.

Because the two cars were essentially identical until 1957, Warszawa literature is a useful cross-reference when restoring an early Pobeda. The Pobeda also appears among the site's Soviet classic cars and classic cars of the 1940s.