The ZAZ-969 (also called LuAZ-969) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

four-wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

automobile built by the Zaporizhia Automobile Building Plant. The first Soviet vehicle with

front wheel drive Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional lon ...

, it was based on the

LuAZ-967 The LuAZ-967 ('' uk, ЛуАЗ-967'') was the Transporter of the Front Line, a small Soviet four-wheel drive amphibious vehicle. Light enough to be air transportable, it had a payload over most terrain. History The design originated after the Kor ...

Development

Developing ideas from the unbuilt Moskvitch 415 prototype, designers used the LuAZ-967 as a basis for a four-wheel drive. vehicle They added a body to the LuAZ's bare form, and fitted a MeMZ 966

air-cooled Air-cooled engines rely on the circulation of air directly over heat dissipation fins or hot areas of the engine to cool them in order to keep the engine within operating temperatures. In all combustion engines, a great percentage of the heat ge ...

four-cylinder engine. No other mechanical changes were made. Its pioneering (for a Soviet car) front wheel drive was due to a lack of drivable rear axles from the supplier, which was giving priority to the LuAZ-967. Nevertheless, the 969 performed well, with a weight of only (thanks in part to a soft top) and an

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

. The

transmission Transmission may refer to: Medicine, science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual transmission *** ...

was a four-speed.

Production

A pre-production batch of fifty was created in 1965, dubbed ZAZ-969, and production was authorized in 1966 as the 969V. It was built by ZAZ until 1971, when

LuAZ LuAZ ( uk, ЛуАЗ, short for ''"Луцький автомобільний завод"'', ''Lutskyi avtomobilnyi zavod''; Lutsk automobile factory) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian automobile manufacturer in the city Lutsk built in the Soviet Union. Si ...

took over. When LuAZ took over production (making it the LuAZ-969), four-wheel drive became standard. In 1975, the LuAZ-969A replaced the original 969, offering a new

MeMZ 969 MEMZ is a brand of vehicle engines related to Melitopol Engine Factory ( uk, Мелітопольський моторний завод; literally "Melitopol Motor Plant" ), which is located in Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia Oblast and it is a part ...

four-cylinder engine. It survived until 1979. This was followed by a hard-top panel van version in 1977, known as the 969F, with a payload, which was only built in small quantities. LuAZ began developing a replacement for the 969A in 1974, the 969M; it entered production in 1979. It was named

Volin Vsevolod Mikhailovich Eikhenbaum (russian: Все́волод Миха́йлович Эйхенба́ум; 11 August 188218 September 1945), commonly known by his psuedonym Volin (russian: Во́лин), was a Russian anarchist intellectual. H ...

, for the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

around Lutsk (where the factory was located). It retained the engine, but changed to

disk brake Disk or disc may refer to: * Disk (mathematics), a geometric shape * Disk storage Music * Disc (band), an American experimental music band * ''Disk'' (album), a 1995 EP by Moby Other uses * Disk (functional analysis), a subset of a vector space ...

s with

servo Servo may refer to: Mechanisms * Servomechanism, or servo, a device used to provide control of a desired operation through the use of feedback ** AI servo, an autofocus mode ** Electrohydraulic servo valve, an electrically operated valve that ...

assist. Door locks were added. Folding windshield was standard. LuAS-969M JM

Exports were limited, though it proved popular in Italy, where Martorelli also offered it with a Ford engine.

References

Sources

*{{Cite book , last=Thompson , first=Andy , title=Cars of the Soviet Union , publisher=

Haynes Publishing The Haynes Owner's Workshop Manuals (commonly known as Haynes Manuals) are a series of practical manuals from the British publisher Haynes Publishing Group. The series primarily focuses upon the maintenance and repair of automotive vehicles, co ...

, isbn=978-1844254835 , year=2008 ZAZ vehicles 1970s cars Soviet automobiles Cars introduced in 1965