ZAZ-965 is the Soviet passenger car, belonging to A class, produced in the period from 1960 to 1963 (965A - from 1962 to 1969). 322,166 copies, including their modifications rolled off the assembly line for 9 years of production.
New Moskvich-402 was released since 1955. Despite the fact that it belonged to the low-cost cars for "average citizens", it was not affordable to many Soviet workers. That is why the Soviet government took as a sample some produced imported car and to remaked it "in their own way." They did so, and the "victim" was the Italian midget car Fiat 600, which was characterized by lightweight construction and was extremely popular. Moscow plant of midget cars even managed to produce a sample, referred to as "Moskvich-444". It had the engine from the Soviet motorcycle "Ural", mechanical windows and 13 inch wheels. After some time the technical documentation of this midget car was decided to transfer to Zaporozhye factory "Kommunar", which had previously specialized in agricultural machines.
From the earliest years this car was very well accepted by customers and did not get any serious complaints. "Zaporozhets" showed very good results driving in rural areas or on bad roads. The smooth bottom, independent suspension for all four wheels and a big load (almost 60%) at the driving wheels provided a high rate of performance . By the way, an interesting fact is that even stuck in a swamp or snow, "Zaporozhets" did not create any problems for its passengers, because even 2 people could easily "pull out" the car from the captivity, with its weight of only 665 kg. By the way, "Zaporozhets" was distinguished by the fact that it could easily drive between rough wheel tracks left by road trucks. This could not be made by any passenger car, even GAZ-69, which had to enter into a rack with one side and to move gently over the hump skewed with the other one.
In the interior of “Zaporozhets” there was minimalism - behind the steering wheel several control devices were located, on the right - the ignition, a few buttons, heater and radio. Windscreen provided quite good visibility and side windows had the vents-corners in the front.
The owners of "humpback" liked it not only for good maneuverability and strong body (due to only two doors), but also for the economy and simplicity in the engine repair.
ZAZ-965 was a two-door, but a full 4-seat car, its length was only 3.33 m. Getting into the back bench of the car was made by bending the right front seat. The bottom didn’t have a driveshaft, it was perfectly smooth and the length of the clearance under the rear axle was only 20 mm, which caused an excellent permeability.
ZAZ-965E "Yalta" – export sedan, the import of which was organized by the company from Belgium “Scaldia-Volga” and the Finnish company “Konela”. This modification had a good noise isolation, more expensive trim and mirror located on the side of the hood.
