Gaz cars can be said to be the first car brand of the fighting nation, but they are still somewhat lacking in heavy vehicles. Gass also tried to enter the heavy-duty vehicle market, and for this reason specially launched an amphibious transport vehicle series, but in the end it did not work in Bryansk and Minsk, two car factories. The car we're talking about today is the GAZ-44, a series of 4-axle all-wheel drive (8×8) amphibious heavy transporters, a model that falls somewhere between a boat and a truck.
In 1929, the Soviet Union won the complete production line of Ford Motor In the United States, and in 1932 the Nizhny Novgorod Automobile Plant was completed and put into operation, and in 1933 it was officially renamed the GORKY (GAZ) Automobile Plant. In the early 1970s, Gass launched a complete series of 2-5-ton, 2-4 axle amphibious amphibious transport vehicles. The series was highly anticipated as an alternative to the Ural 379/395, the GAZ-44 series.
The vehicle was developed within the framework of the "Universal-1" with the aim of creating an amphibious model that can be used by land and water and also pass through underwater non-rigid obstacles. The picture above is a GAZ-44 amphibious transport vehicle carrying a GAZ-66, which feels like wading deeply.
The cab of the vehicle is very similar to that of a commercial truck, and it is only in some details that it is an amphibious model. First of all, the flat-top cab has a slightly convex brim, and the left top has a skylight, which can be accessed if the doors on both sides of the water are not convenient to open. The front two split windshields have an inclination angle and are equipped with double wipers on the bottom of the figure-eight. In the middle of the front of the car are two horizontally patterned intake grilles on the left and right, with a small light on each side of the grille.
The lower protruding bumper is in the middle of the license plate position, and there is an embedded trailer hook on each side of the top of the license plate. On each side of the bumper is an embedded light protected by a metal mesh, which is not easily detected by aircraft in the air. The underside of the bumper is connected to the chassis in one piece, and although the cab is similar to a regular truck, it is mounted on a sealed all-metal chassis.
From the side of the vehicle, it can be seen that its chassis is completely sealed, the side one-stage boarding pedal is wide out of the cab, and the side doors are no different from ordinary trucks, but with waterproof sealing strips inside. There is a round one-arm door mirror on each side, and an adjustable headlight in front of the left rearview mirror to facilitate water surface lighting. The air intake and air filter system are located behind the cab and are both waterproof. At the rear is an all-metal platform for carrying goods, and the platform can be selected as a canopy with canvas and metal brackets.
BTR-70 amphibious wheeled armored personnel carrier driving area
Co-pilot area
No interior pictures of the GAZ-44 were found, but two interior pictures of the BTR-70 amphibious wheeled armored personnel carrier were found. After all, this car is built on the chassis of the BTR-70 amphibious wheeled armored personnel carrier, according to my estimation, in addition to the appearance, the main functional area distribution should be similar, we can imagine the interior layout of the GAZ-44 through the picture.
This is a model between a regular truck and an armored personnel carrier, which is a new exploration, but more inclined to armored vehicles. The two prototypes were equipped with different power configurations, one was the BRDM-2 armored personnel carrier's V-8-cylinder GAZ-41 gasoline engine with a maximum power of 140 horsepower, and the other was a YAMZ-740 diesel engine with a maximum power of 210 horsepower.
In addition to the powertrain, the car's drive axles, suspensions, reducers, brakes, and wheels are all derived from the BTR-70 armored personnel carrier. Although the car passed the acceptance and testing of the factory and the military, it did not compete with similar models of the Bryansk and Minsk automobile plants in the end.
4-axle version of the GAZ-44 amphibious transporter
2-axle version of the GAZ-44 amphibious transporter
3-axle version of the GAZ-44 amphibious transporter
The GAZ-44 amphibious transporter is a heavy-duty 4-axle, 8-wheel model of the series, and the other two-axle and three-axle models exist only in the design drawings. After reading what you want to say, or want to know which brand models, welcome to leave a message to tell me.