M-72 (car)

In the post-war years, with the departure of the obsolete GAZ-61 and the launch of the M-20 Pobeda car, the question was raised of creating a new domestic comfortable passenger cross-country vehicle.

The SUV, called the M-72, was created on the basis of the Victory body and units of the GAZ-69 army all - terrain vehicle. From the M-20 “Victory” for this car, only exterior body panels and a supporting body frame were taken, which was modified and further strengthened.

To place the transfer case, I had to abandon the transverse box-shaped amplifier of the body, as well as the longitudinal amplifier - the closed drive shaft tunnel, which were characteristic of the M-20 Pobeda body. To compensate for these missing power elements, as well as to increase the longitudinal and lateral stiffness of the body as a whole, 14 additional floor amplifiers, side members, door pillars and roof were introduced into its design. Unlike the M-20 Pobeda , the M-72 had a completely new submotor frame designed to mount the spring suspension of the front axle.

A gearbox , transfer case , front and rear axles were borrowed from the GAZ-69 . The gearbox on the M-20 Pobeda and GAZ-69 is the same, the difference is only in the different side covers of the gearbox housing and the location of the gear lever; on the Pobeda, the shift mechanism (the lever is brought to the steering column) was used, on the GAZ- 69 - outdoor.

The body equipment of the M-72 was the same as that of the M-20 Pobeda : soft upholstery, a clock, a heater, a dual-band radio. But, taking into account the need to work on dirty lanes, the windshield washer was used for the first time in domestic practice on the M-72. Some of the innovations that first appeared on the M-72, then went to the modernized Victory. In particular, it was for the M-72 that a new radiator casing with massive beams was developed, which appeared in the Victories in the fall of 1955. A steering wheel with a ring signal button appeared on the same model.

This car became the embodiment of the concept of comfortable SUVs - foreign automobile companies did not even think about the mass production of such cars at that time. It should be noted that approximately at the same time, the American company Marmon-Herrington nevertheless released a small number (four copies) of comfortable SUVs based on Mercury cars with various bodies, but, firstly, in this case we can hardly talk about serial production - it can be called tuning rather, and secondly - Mercury were still frame cars, which greatly simplified the adaptation of all-wheel drive and made them more conceptual analogues of the earlier Soviet GAZ-61-73 based on Emka, rather than M-72 with its supporting body.

The car was equipped with a transfer case with a demultiplier and a switchable front axle (the front wheel hubs were also disconnected). On 16-inch wheels with increased lugs (as on the modern all-wheel drive Niva ), the car had significant ground clearance, which provided it with good cross-country ability through mud, sand, snow, arable land and broken roads. ^[1] The car was produced in a small series from 1955 to 1958. The first batch was assembled in June 1955, the car went into a series in September. In 1955, 1525 units were produced, in 1956–1151, and in 1957–2001. With the completion of the release of the M-20 “Victory” , production of the M-72 also ceased.

• The total number of issued copies is 4677 pcs.
• In addition to the M-72, the plant did not assign any official name to this car. Therefore, the name "Victory" (or "Victory" -jeep) is not appropriate.

The radiator lining was decorated with a M-72 cockade, and on the sides of the hood there were nameplates with a stylized inscription “M-72”.

• In the series “Inspector Cooper,” the main character, the district policeman Alexey Kupriyanov (actor Oleg Chernov ), drives an M-72 blue-green.

• The scale model M-72 on an industrial scale in the USSR was not produced.
• In September 2012, the PCT company released the M-72 model for the blue-green color for the magazine series Autolends of the USSR of the publishing house DeAgostini .

• The team of authors of the GAZ plant. Car M-72. Care instructions. - The fourth edition. - Gorky, 1957.

• Sergey Kannunikov. Wheels for the chairman // Off-road drive. - 2011. - No. 02 . - S. 118-121 .

• M-72, retro car museum.
• M-72, military-technical museum.