The Great Patriotic War died out, and a large country began to recover. At that time, there was a shortage of small trucks. And such was created. This is a ZIS-150. Despite his small carrying capacity, he played a significant role in the restoration and economic work.
History of creation
The first car came off the assembly line in early 1948. In a huge country, a large-scale restoration was planned, as well as the reconstruction of the entire economy. This was planned to be done at an accelerated pace from 1946 to 1950, which entailed the creation of new civilian cars.
The result is the ZIS-150 - a fully civilian truck with a capacity of 4 tons. At its core, experts could notice a resemblance to American models from International, which has been produced since 1941. Today, even preserved advertising and press releases on this car.
History does not know how the American series further developed, however, about 700,000 cars of this brand were produced in the USSR. This figure is presented without taking into account the various analogues that were released in Europe under license.
The car ZIS-150 fully met all the expectations of the government and showed itself perfectly in the national economy. Appointments at the car were very, very many.
Even before the war
The famous ZIS-5 was built before the war. The first samples of the ZIS-15 began to appear from 1938 to 1940. Then the possibility of modernization was laid in the design. It was possible to increase the carrying capacity, power, platform dimensions, as well as comfort. But all this must be invested in the next generation.
The developers were tasked with creating a new truck, and although not immediately, but they coped with this task.
Exit to the series
After the war, there was a shortage of high-quality steel alloys. And at first the truck was made with a simpler cabin made of metal and wood. However, after 2 years the cabin changed its shape and became completely steel. The windshield was two halves. The left glass could be raised - a rocker mechanism was used for this .
The truck was equipped with a power unit of 5.5 liters and a capacity of 90 "horses". Engineers were very generously rewarded with the State Prize for this motor. Then, for the release of the ZIS-150, the director of the plant Likhachev also received such a prize.
Appearance
The new first prototype was called the ZIS-150. The cabin had a beveled radiator trim. The design is very similar to the Opel Blitz. But the Soviet truck with Opel had no family ties. Just to create some details were used from the pre-war truck YAG-7.
A year later, the cab decided to do restyling. Here, it became clear the similarities with American cars from Harvester.
The thing here is that in the Soviet Union somehow they managed to agree on the acquisition in the States of presses for the production of some parts of the machine. In addition to the cabin, the “Hero of Socialist Labor” from the Americans no longer had anything. Everything else was inherited from his ancestor - ZISa-15.
The year 1945 is significant in the history of this car in that it was in this year that it was first shown to a wide audience. It was a prototype that was exhibited at an industrial exhibition.
Cabin after restyling
The new cabin was completely metal. Its roof and rear wall were insulated, the front panel also had thermal insulation.
As the glazing on the first cars at the factory, triplex glass was used, which was distinguished by a layer of celluloid. However, practice has shown that it tended to tarnish and delaminate due to the effects of weather and precipitation. That is why in 1953 they began to use tempered glass. It was distinguished by increased strength, and also never exfoliated.
The windshield was equipped with a wiper. He used compressed air to work. His drive was connected to the brake system. To turn it on, the driver was required to rotate a special control knob. This powered two brushes. When rotating the head, it was possible to change the direction of the brushes. This mechanism also had a special lever that allows you to start the work of the brushes manually and take them to the extreme position.
On the car ZIS-150 of the first issues there were two wipers. There were also two controls that could be switched on separately.
For ventilation, the second half of the glass had the opportunity to open. Also in front of the glass was a special hatch. The roof could also be opened. For this, the engineers made a special handle in the ventilation manhole cover.
Dashboard
As a dashboard , one common dashboard was used, in which many indicators, various measuring and control devices were combined. In the center you can see the speedometer and odometer.
Until 1953, a thermometer was located on the left of the dashboard, showing the temperature of the coolant. On the right is the fuel gauge. An indicator showing the main beam on was on the speedometer scale.
Platform
ZIS-150 was built on a wooden platform with hinged sides. Its length was 3540 mm, and its width was 250 mm. The height for loading was 1320 mm. The side was 584 mm in height.
The front side was fixed using three racks, where it was held by two angles, which were mounted on the frame. The sides of the truck were hinged. To exclude a possible deflection, the developers reinforced the sides with beams.
The tailgate is fixed on three loops. Locks had a latch principle. To make it convenient to tie the load, there were special hooks on the transverse bars.
On the right side of the platform was a special box where the driver could store a heavy tool or any other travel equipment.
The chassis was two longitudinal, as well as five transverse bars, which were fastened together using clamps. Also, additional clamps were held by kerchiefs. As a chassis, engineers used past generations - the 15th model.
Engines
The ZIS-150 model was equipped with the same unit as the 5th series, and then the 15th. With a cylinder diameter of 101.6 mm, this carbureted engine had a volume of 5.5 liters. In it, in 1950, after significant work on the modernization and installation of a new carburetor with a falling flow of the fuel mixture, as well as a completely new intake manifold, they managed to increase the compression ratio - this increased its power to 95 liters. from.
In the first series, with all its advantages, the car had a rather significant minus. The long driveshaft shaft had a weak safety margin and was critical in terms of the number of revolutions. This often led to the fact that when driving downhill the number of revolutions was significantly higher than the safety limit. The driveshaft broke off. At the same time, he made the brake drive unusable - it was very difficult to stop the machine. Having assessed the situation, the specialists had no choice but to forcibly reduce the speed to 2400 rpm.
Transmission
A five-speed gearbox, as well as a two-disk clutch system, worked with this engine. The box also housed a transmission disc brake. The transfer case consisted of three shafts.
ZIS-150: technical specifications
The wheel formula is 4 x 2. The maximum mass of the cargo for this car was 4 tons. The mass of the car was 3900 kg. Wheelbase - 4000 mm. Ground clearance - 265 mm. The maximum speed that could be achieved in this car was 65 km / h, while the speed was limited. Fuel consumption was about 38 l / 100 km. This model with a full tank could cover a distance of 4000 km. The gearbox was five-speed, and the fifth gear was accelerating.
The steering was a globoidal worm with a three-ridged roller. The brake system is represented by drum brakes. The brake drive was pneumatic. Suspension system - spring type at the rear. At the rear, two additional springs were installed.
Short century
This Soviet iron machine ZIS-150 was not for long on the tops of Olympus. It was discontinued in 1957. But on the basis of this model, many different modifications were built. For all the time, about 827 thousand of these trucks were manufactured. These cars were used everywhere to restore the national economy. He was replaced by ZIL-164, which practically did not differ in construction and design.
Despite the fact that production was curtailed in the Soviet Union , ZIS-150 was produced in China and a number of other countries, drawings for these countries were licensed. Production was also established in Romania, and in the Middle Kingdom it was one of the most popular trucks. So, we found out the features of the Soviet car ZIS 150.