In the Automobile Engineering Museum of UMMC there was an unusual installation: a new exhibit - a car "Niva", descending from the spurs of the Jomolungma. It's not just the designer's fantasy - indeed, the car set a world altitude record in 1998, having ascended to the base camp at Everest at a height of 5200 meters.
The Volga Automobile Plant began to produce VAZ-2121 "Niva" more than 40 years ago - since April 5, 1977. For the first time, the general public could look at this car in the summer and autumn of 1975 at the Exhibition of Economic Achievements, during the thematic exhibition "Automotive Technology", and a pilot lot of 50 copies was collected in February 1976 for the 25th Congress of the CPSU.
"The initiator of the creation of a comfortable SUV was the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Alexei Kosygin who visited the plant in Togliatti in the summer of 1970. It was at that time that the development of the first generation of VAZ machines was already completed and a new task was set before the plant. The external appearance of the car was determined by the young artist of AvtoVAZ Valery Semushkin, who also coined the name "Niva", in which the main scope of the machine was laid - the rural open spaces of the USSR, collective farms and, in general, hard-to-reach areas, "said the chief specialist of the Automotive Technology Museum Andrey Zimin.
The developers of the project decided that the all-terrain vehicle for the countryside should not yield to the Zhiguli in comfort. So domestic designers, headed by Peter Prusov, became one of the first in the world who in a compact car combined off-road capability and comfort of a car, and the car itself became in some ways a trendsetter and one of the founders of a new class of cars.
Against the backdrop of its direct competitors UAZ-469 and LuAZ-969, the new VAZ vehicle was fitted with a more advanced closed all-metal body with three doors. The third door opened upward, and not sideways, which gave the advantage of access to the rear of the body. Salon "Niva" was made of plastic and favorably distinguished by comfortable seats, more effective noise insulation and heating system. At the same time, the "Niva" was not inferior to the utilitarian UAZ and the LuAZ in the patency. Geometric parameters, including short base, high ground clearance, and also a relatively small weight made Niva in many situations more passable. In this case, the car had an independent front suspension, a permanent all-wheel drive, a lockable interaxle differential and a demultiplier.
Under the hood of the car is not only the most powerful in the line of VAZ classic engine 1.6 liters, but also a spare tire. This idea domestic designers borrowed from the Italian car FIAT-127. Attach the spare parts from the outside were not solved because of aesthetic considerations, and the layout of the car did not allow to place the wheel inside. Also, the car received a four-speed transmission.
Front brakes on the VAZ-2121 designers made a disk - this solution can not be called traditional, because it was believed that the drum brakes are more reliable and resistant to dirt.
In the eighties, most of the cars (up to 50%) went to export, which contributed to the sports successes of the car. At that time, "Niva" several times ranked second in the class of off-road cars at the marathons "Paris-Dakar", although at the wheel of cars were foreign athletes. Today every visitor of the Museum can feel such a driver - on the fourth floor of the exhibition center a thematic photozone appeared.