GAZ-A in German Service

In the late 1920s, the Soviet Union’s leadership decided to acquire a modern automobile factory abroad, along with licenses for the production of trucks and passenger cars. In May 1929, a contract was signed between a Soviet government commission and the Ford Motor Company to license the production of Ford A passenger cars and Ford AA trucks.

By February 1930, assembly of Ford A vehicles had begun at an automotive plant in Moscow using kits imported from the United States. Three years later, a new factory was launched in Nizhny Novgorod, where these vehicles were produced under license.

Despite being poorly suited to local environmental conditions — the chosen model was the Ford A Standard Phaeton with a soft top — the vehicle was produced on a large scale for six years and became quite widespread. Some were used by units of the Red Army, and later, during World War II, a number of them were captured and put into service by the Wehrmacht.