Soviet-Russian convertibles - from "Prombron" to Aurus

Cars in a convertible body are always shrouded in a romantic aura. In Soviet times, such cars were considered bourgeois. In the early 1990s, they personified a luxurious life.


We have long been accustomed to the fact that convertibles are exclusively foreign cars. But in the USSR and Russia, their cars were produced in this body, some are still doing it, albeit in single copies.

Convertibles before 1945

The Soviet automobile industry was born almost from scratch. Under the tsarist regime, there were enough cars in large cities, almost all of them were foreign.

But there was only one manufacturer in the country - Russo-Balt. Most of the cars of this brand were a kind of convertibles - phaetons. After the "Reds" came to power, the enterprise was nationalized. A few years later it was renamed the First State Armored Plant.



The Party needed cars, in 1922 the first Soviet cabriolet Prombron C24 / 40 appeared. This model was a shortened copy of Russo-Balt. It is not known exactly how many vehicles were produced, but according to various sources - from 40 to 62. This number included 22 copies made at BTAZ-2 after the production was curtailed at the First State Armored Plant.

The second Soviet convertible appeared in 1927. This is the NAMI-1 – a completely domestic development, excluding the backbone frame, borrowed from Tatra. In fact, it was a hybrid of a car and motorcycle with a low-power two-stroke air-cooled engine.
Cabriolet phaetons from NAMI were produced from 1927 to 1932, during which time from 200 to 500 copies were produced.

By the way, cars with an open body type were made rather out of habit and because of the simplification of the process. In addition, cars at that time were considered as a luxury, a pleasure vehicle, so the view was supposed to be circular and extended.



GAZ-A, which was made from 1932 to 1936, was produced in the amount of 42 copies. Already in 000, it became clear that the Soviet Union has a clear change of seasons, and winter on a convertible is a dubious pleasure. The Council of People's Commissars issued a resolution according to which the Gorky Automobile Plant was obliged to make passenger cars with a closed body type.



This did not preclude the release of phaeton convertibles, but the bias towards "normal" models was obvious.
New passenger cars such as GAZ-6, ZiS-101 were closed. But at the same time, they were in no hurry to abandon work on convertibles - a phaeton was developed on the GAZ-M-1 chassis, which never became serial.

But closer to the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet automobile industry nevertheless produced several convertibles:

• ? ZiS-102 in the amount of 20-30 copies
  
• ? KIM-10-51, which did not even become small-scale, was prevented by the war
  

During the hostilities, the Soviet Union had no time for the development of convertibles, so such models were not produced until 1946.

Convertibles for the common people

With the advent of post-war passenger cars, such as Pobeda and Moskvich-400, the issue of convertibles also arose. But the new cars had a load-bearing body, so it was difficult to make an open model out of them.





Modifications were called:

• ? GAZ-M-20B - about 14 units of these cars were produced
  
• ? Moskvich-400-420A - collected about 18
  

These are atypical convertibles - they had roof and door frames, so the power frame of the body was partially preserved.

Only for the party elite!

After 1954, cabriolets were recognized as bourgeois prejudices, cars for the capitalists, which ordinary Soviet citizens did not need.



The ZiS-110V can be called the very first party convertible - only 3 of them were produced. The ZiS-110B phaeton became more popular, but there were few such cars. Since the ZiS-110 government limousines were frame ones, there were no problems with converting them into open versions.



Limousines ZiM / GAZ-12 were produced only in a closed body. They tried to make convertibles, there were even several experimental cars, but they did not go into the series.

GAZ-13 Seagull in the back of a convertible was produced in small batches, but there were about 20 of these cars. They are known under the index GAZ-13B. Collected cars from 1959 to 1981.

The next "Seagull" is the GAZ-14. In the back of a convertible, the modification was called GAZ-14-05, up to 10 copies were made. This car was exclusively ceremonial. It is not known in what years open models were made, but the Seagull in this body was produced from 1977 to 1988.





The first such ZIL car was the 111V model - about 45 of them were produced from 1960 to 1962.

After updating the limousines of the 111th series, convertibles became known as ZIL-111D. It happened in 1963. Only 8 copies of these cars were produced.

The next update of open cars happened on the basis of the ZIL-117 in 1971. These cars were distinguished by a two-door body.

The last Soviet convertible was the ZiL-41044 model, created on the basis of the 4104 limousine. Made in triplicate, the car had a pedestal for performances.

Convertibles from the 90s

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the theme of a convertible for the common man again became relevant. Although the Russian automotive giants did not at all seek to produce such models.

The Gorky plant abandoned the open body, and then decided to do away with passenger cars. But with AvtoVAZ, everything is not so simple. Convertibles were produced on the VAZ-2108 and VAZ-2121 Niva chassis, but this was done either not in Russia, or by private companies.



It makes no sense to list all the modifications, only on the basis of the G12 there were at least 10 of them, and about XNUMX on the Niva chassis. But the most popular model is still worth noting, especially since you can now find it on sale.

This is Lada Samara Fun - not even a convertible, but a landau. The car is unusual, you can’t exactly call it universal.

Modern convertible

Now a luxurious model Aurus Senat Cabriolet is being produced in Russia. The car is available to anyone, but the price is discussed on an individual basis. How much they ask for the model is unknown, but this amount will definitely be higher than 24 rubles.

So in Russia, convertibles are still being produced, and this model with a 8-liter V4,4 and a power of 598 liters. With. By the way, the gearbox here is 9-automatic transmission from a domestic manufacturer.

There are many convertibles sold in Russia, but these are models from foreign brands. Price category - starting from 120 rubles for an old Ford Escort, ending with the same Ferrari and Aurus Senat Cabriolet.



Having a convertible is prestigious, but this car is definitely not suitable for the role of the only vehicle.