GAZ-23 Volga

The GAZ-23 Volga was a fast, specially equipped version of the ordinary GAZ-21 Volga sedan, built by the Gorky Automobile Plant in the Soviet Union from 1962 to 1970. It replaced the earlier M-20G, a more powerful Pobeda, and was in turn replaced by the GAZ-24-24 built on the second-generation GAZ-24 Volga. Its closed-document name was a fast car or escort car, and it served the KGB and other security services rather than going on sale to ordinary buyers. The key change was an eight-cylinder ZMZ-23 engine of 5.526 litres, derived from the engine of the GAZ-13 Chaika, paired with an automatic gearbox. The body was strengthened, the radiator grille was new, the brakes and suspension were reworked, and the car weighed more than 300 kilograms more than the base model. Tests showed more than 170 km/h, though the specification gave 160 km/h.