SMZ S-3D
SMZ S-3D (es-tri-de) is a two-seater four-wheeled motorized vehicle manufactured by the Serpukhov Automobile Plant. The car replaced the SMZ S-3A in 1970.
Work on creating an alternative to the C3A motorized stroller has been carried out essentially since its development in production in 1958 (C4A, NAMI-031, NAMI-048, NAMI-059, NAMI-060, SMZ-NAMI-086 and others), but the introduction of more advanced designs were hampered for a long time by the technological backwardness of the Serpukhov plant – in those years, SMZ did not have the serious stamping equipment necessary for the production of closed bodies of complex shapes. Only by the beginning of 1964 did the real prospect of updating the production equipment of SMZ for the production of a new model appear.
Initial plans included the creation of a light, universal off-road vehicle for rural areas with a pickup-type body based on the front-mounted Zaporozhets ZAZ-965 power unit. In accordance with this task, the designers of the Wheeled Transport Sector of the Special Art and Design Bureau (SKhKB) under the Moscow Economic Council, Eric Sabo and Eduard Molchanov, created a project for the external appearance of a utilitarian all-terrain vehicle with a simplified body of an original form, which also took into account the limited technological capabilities of the manufacturer.
During the subsequent reorganization of the economic council system, the rural SUV project was “buried”, but the design developments for it, transferred to SMZ, turned out to be in demand and were used by factory designers as the basis for the appearance of the future motorized stroller, developed with the participation of NAMI specialists.
Direct preparations for production began in 1967. For the Serpukhov plant, this model was supposed to be a breakthrough – a transition from an open frame-panel body with a spatial frame made of pipes and sheet metal casing, processed on bending and creasing machines, very expensive and low-tech in mass production, to welded on a mechanized production line from stamped parts to an all-metal carrier should not only greatly increase comfort, but also provide a significant increase in the scale of production.
Assembly: Serpukhov (USSR/Russia)
Years of production: 1970—1997
Production: 223,051 units
Length: 2825 mm
Width: 1380 mm
Height: 1300 mm
Engine: 1 cylinder; 346 cc
Power: 12 HP
Max speed: 80 km/h
Weight: 498 kg
World cars museum and Vadim Zadorozhny’s Museum of Equipment (Moscow, Russia)
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