GAZ-M20 Pobeda

GAZ-M20 Pobeda (Russian:ГАЗ-М20 Победа) is a passenger car produced in the Soviet Union by GAZ from 1946 until 1958. It was also licensed to Polish FSO.

The first "Pobeda" model car was manufactured in the Soviet Union (chief engineer Andrei A. Liphart). "Pobeda" means "Victory" and it is not accidental. The car's first tests were conducted at Gorkovski Car Plant (GAZ) in 1943, when the victory in the Great Patriotic War (WWII) was dawning. The plant was later heavily bombarded, but the work did not stop for a moment. The first prototype was ready on November 6th, 1944. It was approved, and on June 21st, 1946, the first serial car was manufactured. This car had become permanent income item for Soviet’s export for a long time. Since 1951 under the Soviet Union license it had been produced in the Polish People’s Republic FSO (Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych) Car Plant, Warsaw and in addition some amount of this brand was produced in Pyongyang, North Korea.

After the first 700 cars were manufactured, multiple minor defects started to show in the car's design. The car's modernization was conducted directly during the production. But, basically, the design proved fine, so many foreign firms, including the British "Standard", started to borrow some technological solutions.