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Volga (automobile)
The Volga (russian: Волга) is an executive car that originated in the Soviet Union to replace the GAZ Pobeda in 1956. Their role in serving the Soviet nomenklatura made them a contemporary cultural icon. Several generations of the car have been produced. Despite the continuous modernisations, GAZ found it increasingly difficult to keep the ageing design competitive in a market economy. GAZ CEO Bo Andersson decided to discontinue the Volga range in 2010. First Generation, the GAZ-M-21 Development The first Volga model was originally developed as a replacement for the GAZ-M20 Pobeda mid-size car which was produced from 1946. Despite its fastback design with Ponton body styling, the evolution of postwar automotive design and powertrain meant that in 1951 a brief was issued for its eventual replacement. In 1952 this matured into two projects: ''Zvezda'' ("Star"), an evolution of Pobeda's fastback contour with panoramic windows and large tailfins, and the ''Volga'' with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GAZ-M20 Pobeda
The GAZ-M20 "Pobeda" (russian: ГАЗ-М20 Победа; ''победа'' means ''victory'') was a passenger car produced in the Soviet Union by GAZ from 1946 until 1958. It was also licensed to the Polish Passenger Automobile Factory and produced as the FSO Warszawa. Although usually known as the GAZ-M20, an original car's designation at that time was just M-20: M for "Molotovets" (the GAZ factory was named after Vyacheslav Molotov). History The first sketches of similar-looking cars were completed by Valentin Brodsky in 1938 and by Vladimir Aryamov in 1940, which revealed a growing tendency towards streamlined car design in the Soviet Union. Aryamov's two-door coupe GAZ-11-80, designed in 1940, greatly resembled the later Pobeda and was in many ways identical to it. However, after the German invasion of 1941 military priorities delayed the work on the new car and the factory was switched to military production. The first Pobeda was developed in the Soviet Union under chief engin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fastback
A fastback is an automotive styling feature, defined by the rear of the car having a single slope from the roof to the tail. The kammback is a type of fastback style. Some models, such as the Ford Mustang, have been specifically marketed as fastbacks, often to differentiate them from other body styles (e.g. coupe models) in the same model range. The ''4-door coupe'' is a common branding term used today to describe fastback sedans. Definition A fastback is often defined as having a single slope from the roof to the rear of the vehicle. The term "fastback" is not interchangeable with "liftback"; the former describes the shape of the car, and the latter refers to a roof-hinged tailgate that lifts more upwards than rearwards. More specifically, '' Road & Track'' have defined the fastback as A closed body style, usually a coupe but sometimes a sedan, with a roof sloped gradually in an unbroken line from the windshield to the rear edge of the car. A fastback naturally le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zavolzhye, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
Zavolzhye (russian: Заво́лжье) is a town in Gorodetsky District of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Volga River, opposite Gorodets, the administrative centre of the district, and northwest of Nizhny Novgorod, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: Etymology The name of the town literally means ''" he landsbeyond the Volga"'', i.e., on the river's ''left'' bank, since "beyond" here is taken relative to the historically more populated right bank of the river. Thus, Zavolzhye—the region in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast—normally refers to its forested and sparsely populated northeastern half. This makes the name of the town of Zavolzhye somewhat confusing for some people in the region, since the city is located on the ''right'' side of the river—it is only "beyond the river" with respect to much older Gorodets. History It was founded in 1950 as a settlement serving the construction of the Gorky Hydroelectric Station (now Nizh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sidevalve
A flathead engine, also known as a sidevalve engine''American Rodder'', 6/94, pp.45 & 93. or valve-in-block engine is an internal combustion engine with its poppet valves contained within the engine block, instead of in the cylinder head, as in an overhead valve engine. Flatheads were widely used internationally by automobile manufacturers from the late 1890s until the mid-1950s but were replaced by more efficient overhead valve and overhead camshaft engines. They are currently experiencing a revival in low-revving aero-engines such as the D-Motor. The side-valve design The valve gear comprises a camshaft sited low in the cylinder block which operates the poppet valves via tappets and short pushrods (or sometimes with no pushrods at all). The flathead system obviates the need for further valvetrain components such as lengthy pushrods, rocker arms, overhead valves or overhead camshafts. The sidevalves are typically adjacent, sited on one side of the cylinder(s), though some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red Star
A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. It has been widely used in flags, state emblems, monuments, ornaments, and logos. One interpretation sees the five points as representing the five fingers of the worker's hand, as well as the five populated continents (counting the Americas as one). A lesser-known suggestion is that in communist symbolism, the five points on the star were intended to represent the five social groups that would lead Russia to communism: the youth, the military, the industrial labourers, the agricultural workers or peasantry and the intelligentsia. In Soviet heraldry, the red star symbolized the Red Army and military service, as opposed to the hammer and sickle, which symbolized peaceful labour. Different countries across Europe treat the symbol very diff ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GAZ-21 (1st Generation) "Volga" In Moscow (left Front View)
The GAZ M21 Volga is an automobile produced in the Soviet Union by GAZ (Gorkovsky Avtomobilniy Zavod, in English "Gorky automobile factory") from 1956 to 1970. The first car to carry the Volga name, it was developed in the early 1950s. Volgas were built with high ground clearance (which gives it a specific "high" look, contrary to "low-long-sleek" look of Western cars of similar design), rugged suspension, strong and forgiving engine, and rustproofing on a scale unheard of in the 1950s. The Volga was stylistically in line with the major American manufacturers of the period in which it was introduced, and incorporated such then-luxury features as the reclining front seat, cigarette lighter, heater, windshield washer and three-wave radio. When in 1959 the six-cylinder line of GAZ cars was discontinued, GAZ M-21 Volga became the biggest and most luxurious car officially sold to individual owners in the USSR in large quantities; though its very high price made it unavailable for m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Automatic Transmission
An automatic transmission (sometimes abbreviated to auto or AT) is a multi-speed transmission used in internal combustion engine-based motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving conditions. It typically includes a transmission, axle, and differential in one integrated assembly, thus technically becoming a transaxle. The most common type of automatic transmission is the hydraulic automatic, which uses a planetary gearset, hydraulic controls, and a torque converter. Other types of automatic transmissions include continuously variable transmissions (CVT), automated manual transmissions (AMT), and dual-clutch transmissions (DCT). An electronic automatic transmission (EAT) may also be called an electronically controlled transmission (ECT), or electronic automatic transaxle (EATX). A hydraulic automatic transmission may also colloquially called a " slushbox" or simply a "torque converter", although the latter term c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spiral Bevel Gear
A spiral bevel gear is a bevel gear with helical teeth. The main application of this is in a vehicle differential, where the direction of drive from the drive shaft must be turned 90 degrees to drive the wheels. The helical design produces less vibration and noise than conventional straight-cut or spur-cut gear with straight teeth. A spiral bevel gear set should always be replaced in pairs i.e. both the left hand and right hand gears should be replaced together since the gears are manufactured and lapped in pairs. Handedness A right hand spiral bevel gear is one in which the outer half of a tooth is inclined in the clockwise direction from the axial plane through the midpoint of the tooth as viewed by an observer looking at the face of the gear. A left hand spiral bevel gear is one in which the outer half of a tooth is inclined in the counterclockwise direction from the axial plane through the midpoint of the tooth as viewed by an observer looking at the face of the gear. No ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Overhead-valve Engine
An overhead valve (OHV) engine, sometimes called a ''pushrod engine'', is a piston engine whose valves are located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier flathead engines, where the valves were located below the combustion chamber in the engine block. Although an overhead camshaft (OHC) engine also has overhead valves, the common usage of the term "overhead valve engine" is limited to engines where the camshaft is located in the engine block. In these traditional OHV engines, the motion of the camshaft is transferred using pushrods (hence the term "pushrod engine") and rocker arms to operate the valves at the top of the engine. Some early intake-over-exhaust engines used a hybrid design combining elements of both side-valves and overhead valves. History Predecessors The first internal combustion engines were based on steam engines and therefore used slide valves. This was the case for the first Otto engine, which was first succes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Car Tailfin
The tailfin era of automobile styling encompassed the 1950s and 1960s, peaking between 1955 and 1961. It was a style that spread worldwide, as car designers picked up styling trends from the US automobile industry, where it was regarded as the "golden age" of American auto design and American exceptionalism. General Motors design chief Harley Earl is often credited for the automobile tailfin, introducing small fins on the 1948 Cadillac, but according to many sources the actual inventor/designer of the tailfin for the 1948 Cadillac was Franklin Quick Hershey, who at the time the 1948 Cadillac was being designed was chief of the GM Special Car Design Studio. It was Hershey who, after seeing an early production model of a P-38 at Selfridge Air Base, thought the twin rudders of the airplane would make a sleek design addition to the rear of future modern automobiles. Tailfins took particular hold on the automotive buying public’s imagination as a result of Chrysler designer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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