The WW II ZiS 5 Zahar truck. Power – 73 hp. Made in 1939. Moscow transport museum

The ZIS-5 (Russian: ЗИС-5) was a 4×2 Soviet truck produced by Moscow ZIS factory from 1932 to 1948 (first one made at the end of 1930).

In 1931 Moscow Avtomobilnoe Moskovskoe Obshchestvo (AMO, Russian Автомобильное Московское Общество (АМО) — Moscow Automotive Enterprise) truck plant was re-equipped and expanded with the help of the American A.J. Brandt Co., and began to produce a new truck with designation of AMO-2. AMO-2 was intended as a replacement of the previous AMO-F-15, the first Soviet truck ever built (it was a copy of the Italian Fiat F-15).

However, it was clear that the AMO F-15 was getting outdated, so they started producing the newer AMO-2 and AMO-3 trucks, that were based on the Autocar SD trucks, after a license agreement with the Autocar Company. In 1933 AMO was rebuilt again and renamed into Factory No. 2 Zavod Imeni Stalina (or Plant of Stalin’s name, abbreviated in ZIS or ZiS) and in Summer, the AMO-2 and AMO-3 trucks were modernized and re-branded as the ZIS-5 trucks.

Read more: History of trucks with Jim Andrews ...