1962 GAZ Chaika Model 13B Convertible

UnclassifiedOn Display

Mar 3

Written By Andrew Summers

Quick Specs

5.5-liter V-8.
N/A
99.5 mph.
N/A

Out-Of-This-World Soviet Luxury

Its name meaning “gull,” the Chaika was built in the former Soviet Union by GAZ, a firm originally established to manufacture Ford vehicles beginning in 1932. Though Chaikas bear a strong resemblance to the 1955 and 1956 Packard and were powered by large, American-style V-8 engines, they were produced with no involvement from any American firm. But it was evident that the styling of the American luxury brand substantially influenced the formative years of Chaika development, and when the first prototypes of the new class of Soviet “luxury” vehicle debuted in 1957, there was no mistaking the source of its inspiration. Officially designated the GAZ-13, the cars were evaluated on the challenging roads of Ukraine and Russia, including in the Caucasus Mountains, accumulating a total of more than 21,000 test miles—a small number by American standards, but satisfactory for a vehicle built by an aspiring luxury car manufacturer. The first production GAZ-13 rolled off the assembly line at the Gorky plant on January 19, 1959.

The new car was given the brand name Chaika to symbolically distinguish it from the more proletarian Volga that was built in the same plant. It was said that just as gulls always fly over rivers, so would the GAZ-13 always be above the Volga in terms of prestige and luxury. It was powered by a 5.5-liter, overhead valve V-8 engine and came equipped from the factory with power brakes, power steering, power windows, and a push-button automatic transmission. Its three rows of seats could accommodate at least seven people, and its efficient heating system was well suited to keep passengers comfortable in the bitterly cold Russian winters. Acceleration from zero to 100 kilometers per hour took 20 seconds, and top speed was 99.5 miles per hour; unimpressive figures by Western standards, but more than acceptable for a car that was a ponderous 18.5 feet in length and weighed almost three tons. Painted two-tone black and white, the earliest production car shown publicly was displayed at virtually every important international automobile exhibition, including those at Brno, Budapest, Geneva, New York, Leipzig, and Mexico.

This imposing four-door convertible was the official parade car of Nikita Khrushchev during the final years of his regime. Premier of the USSR from 1958 through 1964, Khrushchev had two of these cars built to order, one of which he gave as to the Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human to travel in space. Upon Gagarin’s death in 1968, both cars were given to Hungarian President Janos Kadar and remained in Hungary until the collapse of communism in 1989, after which they were exported to the United States.

Collection of the Petersen Automotive Museum, gift of Margie and Robert E. Petersen.

This vehicle featured in the ‘The Vault’.

1962 GAZ Chaika Model 13B Gallery

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