GAZ-16

The GAZ-16, with its GAZ-16A and GAZ-16B developments, was an experimental Soviet vehicle that tried to combine a road car with an air cushion craft for cross-country travel. It was developed from 1960 by the experimental design department of the Gorky Automobile Plant under chief designer Aleksei Smolin, with help from specialists of the NAMI institute, and built in 1962 with the aid of an aircraft factory, although a 2016 feature says the first model was ready in 1961. Its chassis and front suspension came from the Volga GAZ-21 and its V8 engine from the GAZ-13 Chaika. On rough ground the wheels retracted and two fans of 1200 millimetres lifted the body about 150 millimetres on a cushion of air. The first version managed only about 40 kilometres per hour on its cushion, so the GAZ-16A added two small propellers and the GAZ-16B used a gas turbine. On the road it could reach 170 kilometres per hour. The concept found no practical use, and a fragment of the GAZ-16A is kept in the plant museum.