BYMILTONSTERNINTERNATIONALUNDERDOGS
GAZ Volga: Anyone See This?
I was never happier in my life. Finally,
we could send Granny to rehab.
The GAZ Volga was born on October
10, 1956. It was powered by an L-head
148.4-cu.in. (2,432-cc) four-cylinder
engine, mated to a three-speed,
column-shifted transmission. The
65-horsepower Hudson Jet lookalike
was also as overbuilt as its American
cousin, and quickly earned a reputation
for ruggedness and tank-like strength.
The Soviet Union promoted the
Volgas with endurance runs across
the country, and their drag coeffi cient
was a reasonably effi cient 0.42; Leo
Emerius had styled them.
Early cars had three chrome
horizontal bars with a fi ve-point star in
the middle for a grille, but this design
presented a couple of issues. The bars
weren’t strong enough to support the front
panels and were expensive to produce,
and the star made the car look like a
military vehicle, which would thwart the
Russians’ plans to export their latest car.
In 1958, a new fascia was unveiled
with 16 vertical slits, sans the star logo.
Behind the more attractive grille was
an overhead-valve engine, measuring
149.2-cu.in. (2,445-cc) and generating
about 70 horsepower. You could have
one for 5,400 rubles. The 16-slit vertical
grille earned the nickname “Shark.”
Also featured was a central lubricationTHE FIRST TIME I SAW THIS MONTH’S
underdog, I couldn’t get over the
resemblance to another American car
from the same era, inside and out. I would
mention this to anyone within earshot,
but much like the empty bottles of Wild
Turkey bourbon we’d fi nd in Granny’s
trash can every week, no one wanted to
acknowledge it.
I’ve read many articles about the
1956-’70 GAZ Volga, and it is always
mentioned how its styling was based on
the Ford Custom. Really? It isn’t even the
same size. Volgas were more in tune with
the American compacts of the early 1950s,
such as Nash Rambler, Willys Aero, and
Hudson Jet. I truly believe if some dealer
had snuck a few Volgas into the United
States and slapped on any American car
company logo, he could have fooled
anyone who didn’t notice the Cyrillic on
the dash.
I was fi nally vindicated in September- I sold my 1954 Hudson Jet Liner.
The shipping company the buyer hired
sent a covered truck to pick up my
favorite and most reliable car ever, and
when the driver stepped out of the truck
and took one look at the Jet, he said in
a thick Russian accent, “Wow. A Volga!
Good car! Strong car! I like this car!” He
didn’t believe me when I told him it was
a Hudson, and he was even harder to
convince when he looked at the interior,
especially the layout of the dashboard
and, in particular, the instrument cluster.
“No, this is Volga.”
20 HEMMINGS CLASSIC CAR OCTOBER 2019 I Hemmings.com