GAZ-52 belongs to the family of medium-tonnage cars manufactured by the Gorky Automobile Plant in the period from 1966 to 1989, and belongs to the third generation of GAZ cars.
The idea of producing three families of cars at once at the Gorky Automobile Plant, which would be completely unified, arose in the middle of the last century. For the base model, they decided to take the new GAZ-52 car - the successor to the previous model, the GAZ-51A. By the way, the GAZ-51 model is one of the most massive cars produced by the Soviet automobile industry. For all the time almost 3.5 million copies were produced (not including cars produced abroad under license). Having adopted the engine, most of the components and assemblies of the chassis from its predecessor, the new car began to be produced with a cab from the GAZ-53. The main difference between the GAZ-52, the photo of which is practically no different from the photo of the GAZ-53, is that the in-line six-cylinder engine was installed on the 52nd, and the V-shaped eight-cylinder on the 53rd.
The GAZ-52 car was created by a creative team led by the chief designer A.D. Prosvirnina with the participation of leading designers A.I. Shikhova and V.D. Zapoynova. The engine designer was P.E. Syrkin. A prototype of this car was presented in 1958 at the International Exhibition in Brussels, where it was awarded the highest award.
The next creation of Gorky automakers was entrusted with the task of ensuring the car good maneuverability, smoothness and high passability, taking into account the absence of paved roads in most regions. At the same time, a number of improvements were made to the design of the new GAZ-52 model: an all-metal double cabin, in which there was a heating device, blowing the windshield, vacuum wipers, panoramic windshield, etc.
In addition, the lack of high-quality high-octane fuel at that time created additional difficulties in creating a powerful but economical engine. The result of the work of Soviet scientists was the torch-ignition engine, nowadays almost completely forgotten. The use of new technology allowed to increase the compression ratio of the engine from 6.2 to 6.8, and power - from 70 to 85 hp. when using gasoline brand A-66 (subsequently began to use A-76). It was also possible to achieve a reduction in fuel consumption with a significant increase in dynamic performance.
The GAZ-52 car was produced in almost twenty versions. On the basis of its chassis, many special vehicles have been created - dump trucks, vans, tankers, mobile workshops, etc. Some modifications have been converted to operate on liquefied gas.
For all the time, more than a million pieces of equipment were produced, the last copy of which came off the assembly line in 1989. Nevertheless, still on the streets of our settlements you can often find the hard worker GAZ-52. The price for it is relatively small, but its combination with high reliability and ease of operation make the 52nd, perhaps the most popular car in its class.