About ZAZ-965

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.

ZAZ-965 "Zaporozhets"

A few words about the prehistory

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. This led the government to find new solutions and the development of modern sidecars and midget cars. As a result, even several model variants were released, for example: NAMI-031, NAMI-059, IMZ-A50 "Squirrel", GAZ-18, but none of them passed "the exam". The government did not want to wait for a few years of thorough development and to invest a lot of money in this project. It was much easier to take as a sample some produced imported car and to remake 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.

Experimental "Moskvich-444"

Option of the future midget car GAZ-18

IMZ-A50 "Squirrel"

One of the options of civil rover NAMI-031

Specially for this car NAMI Institute developed a V-shaped, 746-cc engine with 4 cylinders. It had an original design with cast shafts. According to its characteristics the engine was very successful and as a result, somewhat larger than the engine of Fiat 600, which was the reason for its installation, that is why there was a kind of hump and "Zaporozhets" got its nickname "humpbacked". Another interesting fact is that the cars were assembled at Zaporozhye plant, but the engines were updated at Melitopol Auto Plant. Before the start of the car production in winter 1960 three prototypes with engines MAP-965V were presented. For almost three months they were going under severe internal testing, where two cars covered around 5 thousand km and the other one as many as 14 thousand km. Then they were sent to the Interdepartmental Commission, where the test had lasted till the end of June. The final verdict was positive, although the Commission rebuked the designers that the weight was overstated by nearly 54 kg and the height of the interior did not match the drawings up to 30 mm. ZAZ was permitted to put into production, but only after the removal of these and of some other shortcomings. In addition, "Zaporozhets" was shown even o Khrushchev, who, despite his "well-fed belly", without any problems got behind the wheel and felt quite comfortable. The professional Soviet automobile examiner Skidanenko even expressed his respect and emphasized, that such a car had to be sold as soon as possible with the price affordable to any "worker".

A prototype of "Humpback» Fiat 600

The serial production of this car was officially launched in 1960 with a starting price of 18 thousand of pre-reform rubles. It was a good indicator, because Moskvich-407 cost more than 25 thousand rubles and speaking about "Volga", its price was about 51 thousand rubles. In the end of 1962 the designers began the modernization of the "heart" of the car, and as a result, the cylinders were increased to 72 mm, working volume - up to 887 cc, and power - up to 27 horsepower.

The first prototype of “Zaporozhets”

Construction and design solutions

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.

Production batch of ZAZ-965 in manufacturing

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.

While working on the exterior of the car, the designers did not pay much attention to decorative details and a wide range of additional appliances, because the main goal was to create a civil budget "horse". The body itself was closed, structurally sound of solid metal and the type of "chubby". Its front end was accentuated by two folds of the original symmetrical form. Their transition curves had quite small radius and wheel edges were a bit "bulging". The wheel cap had three heads of bolts and the rear wheels had a marked camber. Since the engine was located behind the trunk, its front cover was closed from the inside. The front seats were separated, movable and adjustable (depending on the growth of the person) and the rear bench was quite comfortable. Among the useful "stuff" we should point out the sun screens, door pockets and 12-volt DC electrical equipment, which had a 1-wire system.

Interior of ZAZ-965

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. 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.

Front dash panel of ZAZ-965

Among the disadvantages of ZAZ there were high noise of the engine and poor sound insulation of the compartment, the reverse opening of doors, as well as - the location of petrol tank in front, that was very dangerous in the event of a collision. Some car owners had negative comments of the power, which was clearly not enough.

Specifications of "Humpback" ZAZ-965

The main part of the motor housing was the sump, in its inner partition there was a special hollow for supporting the bearing. A pair of whole bearings and the supporting was fixed with the bolt. On the walls of the crankcase there was a support for the camshaft, at the top of the crankcase - 4 holes. They were designed to set the cylinder, its heads were made of aluminum alloy and had cooling ribs. There were four exhaust channels (for each cylinder) and only two intake channels. The holes were also provided for the spark plugs, where optional fittings were installed.

Engine of ZAZ-965 located behind

Four-speed transmission had two shafts and three gears. One transmission was back, 2nd and 3rd had helical cog wheels, which were in constant crutch. 2nd, 3d and 4th gears had synchronizers necessary for quiet operation. Since the rapid gear changes could damage the system, the design of the lever allowed to move it very smooth and without jerks. Clutch gearbox moved by three rods and forks. Cooling system was another weak spot of "Humpback" because the system was always overheated in the warm season, especially during the long drive.

Front suspension was borrowed by the designers from Volkswagen’s "Beetle". It consisted of two torsions of transverse type, which were attached to 4 arms. Four lugs of drive wheels were adjusted additionally to the levers with the help of the unit. The rear suspension had two diagonal levers with the floating axes. This budget and simple in design suspension made the car more economical, though not very fast. In the future, designers still got rid of this structure, replacing it with the "oblique lever" design, its semi-axis had the hinges.

Specifications ZAZ-965

Modifications of "Humpback" ZAZ-965

ZAZ-965AB – a model for the disabled with manual control lever. 

ZAZ-965AR – vehicle for the disabled who have only one leg and / or one arm damaged.

ZAZ-965S – right-hand drive van with rear metal panels and modified cooling system, designed to collect mail. 

Postal wagon ZAZ-965S

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.

ZAZ-965E "Yalta" at the museum

965 Pickup – modification without its own index, it was used only inside the factory and was made on the basis of defective production cars ZA.

"Zaporozhets" in the industry of souvenirs and cinema

There were several companies producing toy ZAZ in 1:43 scale in the Soviet Union, for example Poltava workshop "AAA", Kherson plant "Cimmeria" or Kaliningrad AGD. By the way, most recently in 2009, white souvenir "Zaporozhets" was released along with the scientific and educational magazine "Autolegends of the USSR" (ed. "DeAgostini"). In 2010 a small company "Our auto industry" started to sell white and blue export ZAZ-965E (scale 1:43). In the same year Ukrainian Post released a unique stamp with the image of Zaporozhets, which was placed on the envelopes only on the 18th of November 2010.

Large-scale toy ZAZ-965 in 1:43 scale from the magazine “Autolegends of the USSR” №131

ZAZ-965 can be seen in such well-known Soviet films as "Queen of the petrol station", "Three plus two", "Detective", "Three rubles", "Early developer" In addition “Humpback” was starring in the animated film "Winter in Prostokvashino" and "Well, wait!". By the way, those who watched the movie "Be My Husband" could also recognize "Humpback" which was made convertible specially for this film.

Interesting facts about "Zaporozhets"

• Inhabitants of Odessa liked to call ZAZ-965 "Jewish tank". 
• In addition, such nicknames as "Zapor", "Zazik", “Fiat Folksvagenovich”, “Zhuzhik”, “Kid” were also widely spread.
• Resistant to hot air intakes that were invented by the designer Wasserman, were popularly called "graters of Wasserman."
• “Zaporozhets” was the last car in the USSR with reverse doors opening. 
• It differed with good performance, that is why "Humpback" got famous folk-rhyme joke: "Where a foreign car slows down, “Zapor” will crawl on its belly”.