The LuAZ-967 (') was the Transporter of the Front Line, a small

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

four-wheel drive A four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, is 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 pr ...

amphibious vehicle An amphibious vehicle (or simply amphibian) is a vehicle that works both on land and on or under water. Amphibious vehicles include amphibious Amphibious cycle, bicycles, Amphibious ATV, ATVs, Amphibious automobile, cars, Duckboats, buses, truc ...

. Light enough to be air transportable, it had a payload over most terrain.

History

The design originated after the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, when the Soviets saw a need for small off-road vehicles comparable to the American

Jeep Jeep is an American automobile brand, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with other assets, from its previous owner, American Motors Co ...

, to supplement the overly-large and -heavy GAZ-69s then in service. It was to be used by

Soviet Airborne Forces The Soviet Airborne Forces or VDV (from ''Vozdushno- desantnye voyska SSSR'', Russian: Воздушно-десантные войска СССР, ВДВ; Air-landing Forces) was a separate troops branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. First formed b ...

(''VDV'') for

casualty evacuation Casualty evacuation, also known as CASEVAC or by the callsign Dustoff or colloquially Dust Off, is a military term for the emergency patient evacuation of casualty (person), casualties from a combat zone. Casevac can be done by both ground and ...

, munition supply and the transport of light armaments. Developed at ''NAMI'' (the National Automobile Institute), the prototype, known as '' NAMI 049'', was completed in 1958. Unlike the Jeep, it had a

Fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass c ...

body, four-wheel

torsion bar A torsion bar suspension, also known as a torsion spring suspension, is any vehicle suspension that uses a torsion bar as its main weight-bearing spring. One end of a long metal bar is attached firmly to the vehicle chassis; the opposite end ...

independent suspension Independent suspension is any automobile suspension system that allows each wheel on the same axle to move vertically (i.e. reacting to a bump on the road) independently of the others. This is contrasted with a beam axle or deDion axle system in ...

, and permanent

with locking hubs. It had a

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 ...

of , a

ground clearance Ride height or ground clearance is the amount of space between the base of an automobile tire and the lowest point of the automobile, typically the bottom exterior of the differential housing (even though the lower shock mounting point may be l ...

of , and was powered by a MD-65 motorcycle engine (copied from an Orbita motorcycle). Trials proved it underpowered, and the body too fragile. A second prototype, the ''NAMI'' 049A, had a V4 MeMZ-965 engine (selected for use in the ZAZ-965), steel body, and rear wheel drive (with optional drive to the front wheels). The torsion bars were replaced with a

coil spring A tension coil spring A coil spring is a mechanical device that typically is used to store energy and subsequently release it, to absorb shock, or to maintain a force between contacting surfaces. It is made of an elastic material formed into the ...

setup. It weighed , with a MeMZ-967A engine, and was able to pull a trailer; it could cross a 58° gradient, and top speed was . It was produced between 1961–1975 at

Lutsk Lutsk (, ; see #Names and etymology, below for other names) is a city on the Styr River in northwestern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Volyn Oblast and the administrative center of Lutsk Raion within the oblast. Lutsk has a populati ...

automobile plant -

LuAZ LuAZ (, short for ''Луцький автомобільний завод'', ''Lutskyi Avtomobilnyi Zavod''; Lutsk Automobile Plant) was a Ukrainian automobile manufacturer in the city of Lutsk built in the Soviet Union. Since 2009 it has bee ...

. It was succeeded by the '' LuAZ-969В'', ''LuAZ-969'', ''LuAZ-969М'' and the ''LuAZ-1302''.

Modifications

* LuAZ-967A — modernized high-powered engine MeMZ-967А * LuAZ-967M — modernized ЛуАЗ-967А with the same engine. * Geolog - a specialized 6-wheel version.

Mechanical

The LuAZ-967M had a MeMZ-967A gasoline engine from the ZAZ automobile. An air-cooled, carbureted ohv V4, it developed at 2,250 rpm. A 4+1 speed transmission has separately engaged crawl gear. Unlike many small military vehicles, it was a front wheel drive 4×2, the rear axle was selectively engaged only when 4×4 was needed. The watertight steel body had 4-wheel independent suspension with torsion bars and of ground clearance. The driving controls were on the truck's centerline, both the controls and the windshield could be folded down for a lower profile.

References

Sources

* Многоцелевой транспортер // журнал « За рулём», № 4, апрель 1978. стр.2 * *

External links

*
LuAZ-967 Verwundetentransporter photos
* {{in lang, uk}

1960s cars 1970s cars Soviet automobiles Military vehicles of the Soviet Union Wheeled amphibious vehicles Military vehicles introduced in the 1960s