Moskvich-412

Development and production history

The Moskvich-412 began as an engine upgrade: the plant put a new, more powerful 1.5-litre unit into the existing Moskvich-408 and launched the result in 1967. The 408 itself had replaced the Moskvich-407.

The 412 was originally meant to replace the 408. That did not happen. The older car stayed in production because it tolerated 75-octane petrol and lower-grade oil. Until 1969 the 412 used the 408's body and chassis with a new engine and interior; from 1969 the two models shared the same body.

The plant changed its name during this period. MZMA became AZLK in October 1968, so documents name different makers for the same car. A second plant, IZh, built its own IZh-412 from 1967 to 1982. For the wider story of the factory, read the history of Moskvich and AZLK.

AZLK ended saloon production in 1975. The 408 was discontinued in December 1975, and its successor, the Moskvich-2140, entered production in January 1976. Some reference tables give 1976 as the 412's final year, which reflects this overlap with the 2140.

Body, chassis and safety engineering

The 412 is a conventional front-engined, rear-wheel-drive saloon with independent front suspension and a live rear axle. At the front, transverse arms and coil springs locate each wheel; at the rear, the axle sits on leaf springs. The wheelbase is 2,400 mm (94.5 in) and the width 1,550 mm (61.0 in); the car is about 4.1 m (13.5 ft) long, though published lengths vary.

The gearbox is a four-speed manual. Until early 1969 it was operated by a lever on the steering column; after that the lever moved to the floor. The brakes are dual-circuit with a servo. Front discs arrived in 1970, but drum-braked cars continued alongside them, so a 1970s car with front drums is not necessarily a conversion.

Safety tests at Montlhéry

The 1969 body was developed with export in mind. The car spent about five months on tests at the Montlhéry track in France and received an international safety certificate to UNECE standards. Further tests took place in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Sweden in 1970–1971 and West Germany in 1972. The passive safety features are usually listed as a padded dashboard, a soft steering-wheel cover, seat belts and a reinforced body.

The UZAM-412 engine

The UZAM-412 is a 1,478 cc (90.2 cu in) inline four with a single overhead camshaft, rated at 55 kW (75 PS). It was designed by Igor Okunev and built by the UZAM engine plant, and it is also known as the Moskvitch-DM.

The block, cylinder head and inlet manifold are aluminium, the combustion chambers are hemispherical, and a chain drives the overhead camshaft. The crankshaft runs in five main bearings. Replaceable steel cylinder liners mean that a worn engine can be rebuilt without reboring the block. The whole unit is installed leaning 20 degrees to one side.

Peak power is usually quoted at 5,800 rpm, with 108 Nm (80 lb-ft) of torque between 3,400 and 3,800 rpm. Bore and stroke are given as 82 × 70 mm (3.23 × 2.76 in) and the compression ratio as 8.8:1, and the engine was specified for 80-octane petrol. The complete unit weighs about 146 kg (322 lb).

The BMW comparison

The UZAM-412 is often compared with the BMW M10 and M115, and the claim that it was copied from the BMW engine appears regularly in English-language articles. Hagerty describes the engine as "allegedly reverse-engineered" from the M10, yet notes that the tilt angle differs by about 10 degrees. Other references call the similarity superficial: both engines lean to one side and use a chain-driven overhead camshaft, but that is where the documented overlap ends. No source we found shows that the UZAM design was taken from BMW drawings.

Larger engines that stayed on paper

The engine was meant to grow. Versions of 1,702 cc (81 hp) and 1,799 cc (103 hp) were developed, the larger one for the M-356 prototype, but neither reached production. The prototypes M-353 (1970), M-355 (1972) and M-356 (1973–1975), larger facelifted hatchbacks, also stayed unbuilt.

Moskvich-412 specifications

The table covers the AZLK-built Moskvich-412 saloon with the standard 1.5-litre engine. Figures marked as usually quoted rest on a single reference source rather than factory documents.

Fuel consumption is not listed because no reliable test-cycle figure was found. Length is also left out: published values range from 4,090 mm to 4,250 mm, and the higher one belongs to the later 2140.

Variants and derivatives

The 412 family includes the saloon, an estate, a delivery vehicle, the IZh-built versions and a sports engine. Letter suffixes on the saloon, such as E, I, U and P, marked versions for export, higher trim, commercial, official and sports use; the IE of 1969 was the export car with the safety-upgraded body.

The IZh cars are the easiest to confuse with AZLK ones. The IZh-412 and IZh-427 are almost identical to their AZLK counterparts but kept twin round headlights. The 1982 IZh-412-028 facelift added a black grille and hollow door handles. The longest-lived members of the family were the IZh-2715 van and IZh-27151 pickup, both built until 2001.

In service: rallies, export and reputation

Long-distance rallies gave the Moskvich-412 its best-known international results. In the 1968 London–Sydney Marathon, a 16,694 km (10,373 mi) event with 98 starters and 56 finishers, a 412 finished 20th, ahead of three 408s in 22nd, 33rd and 38th. The Teams' Prize went to Ford Australia, not to the Moskvich team. In the 1970 London–Mexico World Cup Rally, about 25,700 km (16,000 mi) long, the factory entered 412s with the 1.5-litre engine; the best finished 12th overall and two others 17th and 20th. Only 23 of the 96 starters reached the finish. The marque's wider motorsport story is told in our Moskvich racing history.

Sales and racing in the UK

The 412 was sold in the UK from 1969. The importer, SATRA Motors, started with 20 dealers and about 300 cars, and according to published figures sales peaked at 3,462 in 1973 through 268 dealers. From 1974 the car was badged Moskvitch 1500, and in 1975 only 344 were sold before the importer withdrew in 1976. In Finland it was sold as the Elite 1500 M. SATRA also raced the 412 in the 1972–1973 Group One saloon championship, and the car is credited with a 1-2-3 in the 1973 Avon Round Britain Rally and a class win in the 1973 Safari Rally.

Its UK reputation was mixed. In 1973 the Consumers' Association described the car as "dangerously unsafe", a finding reported in The Guardian and disputed by the importer. By then the car already held the safety certificate earned at Montlhéry, so the two verdicts point in opposite directions.

The related range was also assembled outside the Soviet Union. Balkancar in Lovech, Bulgaria, assembled Rila-badged versions of the 408, 412, 2140 and 2141 between 1966 and 1990, and Scaldia-Volga in Belgium assembled the 408.

Preservation and collecting today

For collectors, the main points of interest are the engine and the car's place in Soviet car history. Replaceable steel cylinder liners make an engine rebuild practical, and the aluminium construction is a point of interest in its own right. Identifying the exact version comes first, because two plants built near-identical cars from 1967 onwards:

• Headlights: twin round lamps point to an IZh-built car.
• Gear lever: a column shift indicates a car built before early 1969, when the floor lever arrived.
• Front brakes: discs appeared in 1970, but drums continued, so the brakes alone do not date a car.
• Estate tailgate: a one-piece lifting tailgate on a 427 indicates 1972 or later.
• Grille and handles: a black grille with hollow door handles marks the 1982 IZh-412-028.

Published sources say little about parts supply or typical faults, so a pre-purchase inspection by someone who knows the UZAM engine is the safer route. For other cars of the period, browse our classic cars section or all Moskvich models.