Meet "Jerboa" (37 photos)

30 December 2016

LuAZ-969. The life story of a small, all-terrain Soviet SUV.

First, you might be interested in watching the full test drive on video:

“Little Tank”, “Lunokhod”, “Jerboa” - all sorts of nicknames were given to the legendary Soviet SUV LuAZ-969 “Volyn”. Its incredible cross-country ability was recognized even outside the country, which is not so typical for cars originally from the USSR. At the International Motor Show in Turin, LuAZ-969M entered the top ten best SUVs in Europe.

Having evolved from a simple motorized cart for collecting the wounded on the battlefield to an all-terrain vehicle that is indispensable in rural conditions, this small jeep of a bizarre shape has managed to gain both loyal fans and those who cannot stand it, but it has left few people indifferent.

LuAZ-969 is known for its absolutely unsurpassed cross-country ability and equally unsurpassed sparse interior. And this is not surprising, because the original purpose of this car was 100% military.

In the early 1950s, during the Korean War, the Lutsk Automobile Plant, commissioned by the Ministry of Defense, developed a front-line transporter - TPK. It was a motorized all-terrain trolley no more than half a meter in height, with all-wheel drive and a winch, which was supposed to be parachuted from an airplane. But perhaps the main feature was its ability to move on water.

Soon, Soviet engineers realized that military equipment could be adapted for the needs of the village, and thus, on the basis of the TPK, a decade later, the Volyn was born - the first Soviet all-terrain vehicle.

The first civilian models can be called a rural jeep without a stretch - they had to forget about moving on water, the driver and passengers were placed as in a regular car, and attached canvas sides were added to the canvas top. LuAZ-969V became the first production car with front axle drive.

The letter “B” in the name just denoted a front-wheel drive modification. The fact is that before the start of mass production, the model did not have time to be equipped with a rear axle gearbox, which is why it went into production with front-wheel drive. This story continued until the early 1970s, when LuAZ finally acquired all-wheel drive.

It’s true that LuAZ can beat anyone off-road, be it a Niva or a Hummer. The engine, gearbox, final drive and driveshaft are compactly located in a body with an integrated side member frame, and all components are actually located in a single sealed housing. The independent torsion bar suspension on the trailing arms front and rear has enormous travel, and the 13-inch tires have very powerful lugs. Without exaggeration, this is “a small tank with a Zaporozhets engine.”

Nevertheless, the car had enough problems. The Zaporozhets engine simultaneously gave advantages, being in the front, and was a kind of scourge due to its low power. They tried to modernize the car first in 1975, when a 40-horsepower engine appeared in Volyn (the model became known as LuAZ-969A), and then in 1979, when locks appeared on the doors (attention!) and seats in the cabin. from the Zhiguli, the outside of the body has become less angular. Model 969M began to look different.

In the early 90s - around the time when the engine from Zaporozhets was replaced by an engine from Tavria - LuAZ-969 became LuAZ-1302 due to a change in indices in the USSR. The new engine was already liquid cooled, 4 cylinders and 53 horsepower. “Volyn” now consumed 7.7 liters per 100 kilometers (as opposed to the previous official 10) and reached a maximum speed of up to 100 kilometers per hour (previously it was 85). About a year after the launch of the new model, Ukraine seceded from the USSR and LuAZ’s contacts with Russia ceased.

It is not entirely clear when exactly the LuAZ-969 began to be called “Volynya,” but this name lasted a long time, starting with the 1967 model and right up to the early 1990s. True, this SUV received many more names among the people, for example, “Fantomas” - for its comedic-villainous appearance, “BMW”, which stood for “Fighting Vehicle of Volyn”, “Jerboa” - for the ability to “jump” over any terrain and many others.

Throughout the 1990-2000s, there were several attempts to “upgrade” models, but nothing meaningful came of it. In the mid-2000s, the Lutsk Automobile Plant finally stopped car production, which put an end to the story of the lively Soviet “jerboa”.

Judging by numerous photos on the Internet, “Jerboas” are still loved, pampered and cherished...