The GAZ-64 was developed from a requirement developed during the 1939-1940
war between the Soviet Union and Finland. Although it appears outwardly similar to the American
Bantam /
Willys jeep, it was developed using parts already commercially available in the Soviet Union, and built in a plant that was originally set up with Ford. It was designed to replace the earlier
GAZ-61, which was totally reconstructed in a very short period (3 February – 25 March 1941) under the leadership of
Vitaly Grachev to create a
4×4 jeep, which was named the GAZ-64. During WWII, it was succeeded by the more successful
GAZ-67 and GAZ-67B. The GAZ-64 and GAZ-67 formed the basis for the
BA-64 armoured cars.
Production 646 GAZ-64s were made between March 1941 and summer 1942 by the
GAZ or Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod company. The name translates as the Gorky automobile plant, and the factory was originally a cooperation between the company
Ford and the
Soviet Union. Due to the availability of American made jeeps provided by the American
Lend-Lease program, the majority of wartime production of the GAZ-64 was dedicated to the BA-64 armored cars. Due to GAZ-64 (and GAZ-67(B) from 1943/1944) production being tied to BA-64 production, only around 2,500 regular units were produced during the war. Post-war production increased greatly, and more than 90,000 GAZ-67Bs were produced by the time production ended in 1953. == References ==