GAZ-62

The GAZ-62 was a Soviet light four-wheel-drive cross-country truck with a cab over the engine, a payload of 1.1 tonnes or room for twelve people, and a special role with the airborne troops. Several bonneted prototypes were also built under the GAZ-62 index, but only the forward-control version was produced, in a small series. The decision to build it as a forward-control truck was taken in 1958. It had cam-type self-locking differentials, hypoid final drives, telescopic shock absorbers and a large ground clearance, and its tyres could run at a pressure of only 0.5 kilograms per square centimetre on sand and marsh, a notable achievement for the time. The cab tilted forward on two springs for access to the engine, an economical overhead-valve version of the six-cylinder GAZ-11 engine with pre-chamber ignition. Production was 40 vehicles in 1959, 21 in 1960, five in 1961 and three in 1962, when it ended. Its axle and tyre solutions appeared on later four-wheel-drive GAZ models.