GAZ-56

The GAZ-56 was an experimental Soviet light truck with a payload of one and a half tonnes, developed at the Gorky Automobile Plant from 1952. It was meant to fill the gap between the old GAZ-MM and the 2.5 tonne GAZ-51 with a compact load carrier that shared some units with passenger cars, much the role the later Gazelle would play. Its design included sealed drum brakes, a self-locking cam-type differential, a hypoid final drive, telescopic shock absorbers and an overhead-valve engine with prechamber torch ignition. It was drawn in two bodies, an early one with low wings and a later one with a cab shared with the GAZ-53. Pre-series prototypes were ready in 1956 and tested well for reliability, though the 70 hp engine was judged weak. The truck never reached the main assembly line because the plant was busy with the GAZ-53 and several cars, but its engine was simplified and reused in the Volga GAZ-21.