CarBrandLogos archive · GAZ · 1936
The Emka: 1930s Soviet officialdom on four wheels, for better and worse.
Discover the storyPhoto: Музей отечественной военной истории · CC BY-SA 4.0
The story
Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the GAZ-M1, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.
01
Gorky's second car followed the same route as its first, taking Ford's Model B as a starting point, but GAZ engineers reworked it considerably for Soviet roads, with stronger suspension, a revised frame and locally sourced materials throughout. Known universally as the Emka, from the letter M in its name, it entered production in 1936 with a 3.3-litre side-valve four and a three-speed gearbox.
GAZ-GL-1 in 2010 · Alexander Plushev · CC BY 2.0
02
It became the standard car of the Soviet 1930s: ministry transport, taxi, staff car, and the vehicle in which the NKVD arrived at night, an association that has followed it into Russian literature and film ever since. From 1940 a 3.5-litre six derived from a Chrysler design was fitted to the GAZ 11-73, which continued to 1948.
GAZ-VM phaeton left01 · Unknown Soviet state employee. · Public domain
03
Wartime production kept the basic car going to 1943 in various forms, including light armoured and pickup derivatives. Its replacements split the difference: the four-cylinder line passed to the GAZ-M20 Pobeda, while the six went on to underpin the GAZ-12 ZIM.
Ostankinsky District, Moscow, Russia - panoramio · Максим Улитин · CC BY 3.0
At a glance
Produced
1936–1943Technical specification
Badge at launch
This is the marque emblem that accompanied the GAZ-M1's era. The full identity timeline is documented in the brand archive.
Explore the logo history →Lineage
Contemporaries from the 1930s
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