The history of the first Soviet car: it was called “Prombron”, four pieces were produced

Experts call this “gasoline engine” also “Soviet Russo-Balt”. Its pedigree “Prombron” leads from the Russian Baltic. Back in the pre-revolutionary years in Riga, the Russian-Baltic Carriage Works launched serial production of cars under the Russo-Balt brand. The first of the Riga “self-propelled” was ready in 1909, and over the next five years, the number of assembled machines of various modifications reached several hundred. But at the height of the First World War, due to the threat of the German occupation of Riga, production had to be stopped, and all factory workshops had to be evacuated deep into the country.

The production of automobiles, according to the plans, was supposed to migrate to the western outskirts of Moscow, to Fili, where the workshops of the new 2nd Russo-Balt automobile plant were hastily built. The revolution prevented the completion of the work. The Bolsheviks nationalized the automotive business in the republic, but with the organization of the assembly of motor vehicles, the new authorities got a hitch that stretched for several years. Concrete results were achieved only with the transfer of the enterprise to the jurisdiction of the Armored Directorate of the Red Army. From now on, this industrial facility was part of the Prombron association and was called the 1st Auto-Armored Tank Plant (1st BTAZ).

The magazine “Technology and Supply of the Red Army” in the summer of 1922 wrote about this epic:

“… At the foot of Poklonnaya Hill, from where Napoleon once contemplated Moscow, there is one of the largest automobile plants in the Republic. Its construction began back in 1916 by the Russian-Baltic Joint-Stock Company on the territory acquired from the widow of the merchant Shelaputin, with a total area of ​​250 acres.

Having received a significant subsidy from the tsarist government, the company concluded an agreement with him, according to which the plant was to be completed with construction and equipment within a year … The production program was calculated with the full construction of the plant and equipment for the production of 1500 cars annually … But as a result .. .two construction seasons, only huge reinforced concrete buildings appeared …

… Thus, the October Revolution and the Soviet government that came along with it found the plant unfinished … The Soviet government, under incredibly difficult conditions, tried to maintain, improve and complete the plant, which promises to play a major role in our economic construction … In the 1922 season … the completion of the plant made significant progress forward, thanks to the creation of a tough program scheduled for execution … by the commission for the completion of the factories of the Armored Directorate of the Republic “Auto-Bronestroy” … Now we are already in front of the release of new cars – the first Russian cars of the Russo-Balt type after the revolution.

Some details about the first-born of the Soviet automobile industry, the MK correspondent at one time had a chance to learn from one of the best experts in the history of the domestic automotive industry, the long-term head of the Moscow Society of Old Car Lovers Pathfinders of Automotostarina Lev Shugurov.

“Starting their own production, the factory workers chose the Russo-Balt model C-24-40 of the last eighteenth series as a model,” said Lev Mikhailovich. – True, some changes were made to the drawings taken to Fili from the RBVZ, so that the Prombron machine still had a number of differences from its pre-revolutionary prototype.

Among the most noticeable – a shorter base, due to which the new car’s cross-country ability should have improved. The former primitive acetylene lamps that were installed on the Russo-Balty were replaced for the Prombron with headlights with electric incandescent lamps powered by a generator. The other was the windshield frame. In addition, protective aluminum rims were provided for the spoked wheels. As an additional protective element, the car was equipped with a front bumper made of a pipe, which was not on the pre-revolutionary model.

Structural improvements also touched on individual internal nodes. For example, the gears of the gearbox did not rotate in bushings, but on ball bearings. The modernization of the former “Riga” engine made it possible to increase its power from 40 to 45 horsepower.

It should be emphasized that all elements of the Prombron car, with the exception of rolling bearings, a carburetor and a magneto, were made in our country and from domestic materials.

A passenger car assembled at a factory in Fili weighed almost 2 tons. He could accelerate to 75 km / h and consumed more than 25 liters of gasoline for every hundred kilometers.

The Prombroni body deserves a separate discussion. Here is his description given in the journal of that time:

“A torpedo-type body for 6 seats is installed on the chassis … And in front of the chauffeur (that’s how they wrote this word a century ago. — A.D.) two seats, two seats in the back and two folding seats in the middle. The car is equipped with an American-style convertible top.

Taking into account the fact that the new cars were supposed to be used for the needs of the army headquarters leadership, additional devices were provided in the bodies of some copies of Prombron: a folding table for working with maps, pockets for documents on the sides … In addition, a searchlight was installed outside.

The very first Prombron car was ready on October 8, 1922.

“Directly from the factory shop, this car went under its own power to Red Square, where there was a demonstration of auto and armored vehicles that day,” said Lev Shugurov. – The novelty was examined by the Soviet leaders who were present at the holiday, including the chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Mikhail Kalinin. It was announced that, by decision of the workers of the 1st BTAZ, the passenger car was transferred for personal use to the “All-Russian headman”. Mikhail Ivanovich was very flattered by such attention and delivered an emotional speech to the audience, saying that “the release of the first car makes the first breach in our technically weak country.” “I am sure that this first Soviet car at one of the historical crossroads will catch up and overtake the bourgeois one,” Mikhail Ivanovich added optimistically.

After the end of the rally, a small parade took place – units of the Red Army that arrived on Red Square marched past the four-wheeled hero of the occasion.

In No. 24 of the magazine “Technology and Supply of the Red Army” the following is written about this event:

“The first Soviet car of labor workers of the 1st BTAZ.

On October 8, a celebration took place on the occasion of the release of the first Soviet car from the 1st Auto-Armored Tank Plant. This day is significant in that, after long efforts, the Soviet government finally manages to take the path of concrete implementation of the most necessary condition of its existence – the restoration of heavy industry. The 1st Auto-Armored Tank Plant, which produced the first Soviet car … promises the Republic, with full completion and re-equipment, a brilliant prospect in the field of auto production …

Having released the first car and presented it to the “all-Russian headman” comrade Kalinin, personifying the whole of Workers ‘and Peasants’ Russia, the factory workers with enthusiasm and redoubled energy began to assemble the next cars from the same series, which will be released by the middle of this month. The second series will be released by the end of this year.”

However, the promised bright prospects were not destined to be realized. Over the next few weeks, only four Prombroni were assembled at the Fili plant. Then the auto industry here was curtailed.

The reason was the urgent re-profiling of this industrial enterprise. And this is connected with the conclusion by the young Country of Soviets of one of the very first major foreign contracts for cooperation in the technical field in its history.

In October 1922, a representative of the German joint-stock company Junkers addressed the Main Concession Committee of the Republic. A very tempting offer came from him: a famous company from Germany could organize the production of modern civil aircraft and aircraft engines at a Soviet plant. Negotiations on this subject did not last long, and already in January 1923, a concession agreement was concluded between the government of the RSFSR and JSC Junkers. According to him, the German company received a 30-year lease on a plant in Fili, which was previously managed by Avto-Bronestroy. Already a few months later, the assembly of four Yu-20 and Yu-21 motor aircraft began in the converted workshops. However, foreign concessionaires did not show much zeal in organizing this aircraft production and ensuring its quality (according to the terms of the agreement, the company had to sell part of the Junkers assembled in Moscow to Soviet Russia at a reduced price, and the other part had the right to sell on a market basis to other countries, transferring the agreed percentage of the profit received to the Soviet side). As a result, less than three years later, the concession was cancelled. However, the plant in Fili after that did not change its “heavenly” “career guidance”. Today this largest enterprise is known as the State Space Research and Production Center. M.V. Khrunichev.

And what about Prombron cars?

Their release was transferred to the 2nd Armored Automobile Plant of the Prombron association, which was also located in Moscow – not far from the Preobrazhenskaya outpost. Part of the equipment was transported here from Fily, as well as parts and blanks for future vehicles made for the future.

“According to the data found, in the period up to 1926, 22 more such vehicles were manufactured at the 2nd BTAZ,” Lev Shugurov specified. – Thus, in total, the entire series of passenger cars “Prombron” consisted of 27 copies.

Of course, now we can only smile at such a “large-scale” production. Alas, the impressive figures outlined by the initial plans of the Soviet leadership were never achieved. Nevertheless, in the RSFSR in the first half of the 1920s, they were very optimistic about the prospects for the development of their own auto industry. Confirmation of this is the advertisements printed in the magazines of that time. Everything is serious here:

“The Board of Factory Enterprises of the Armored Department “Prombron” sells:

Indispensable for the conditions of Russian roads, six-seater passenger cars of the Russo-Balt type S-24-40.

The engine is a four-cylinder, simple, solid design.

Ignition – Bosch high voltage magneto.

The frame is stamped from sheet steel, box-shaped, quite durable and adapted in terms of design features to the conditions of Russian roads …

In the Prombroni store “Everything for a Car” (Stoleshnikov per., 55), they sell and receive orders for everything necessary for vehicles manufactured at their factories and workshops.

Unfortunately, not a single copy of the “Soviet Russo-Balt” has survived to this day. Probably, the car No. 1 already mentioned above “lived” the longest, in honor of which a holiday was held on Red Square in the fall of 1922.

“I managed to find out the further fate of this car,” said Lev Shugurov. – For many years she stood in the garage of the “All-Russian”, and later – the “All-Union Headman.” In the 1920s–1930s, it was at the Prombroni given to him by the workers of the Filevka plant that M.I. Kalinin preferred to leave Moscow, going on his next vacation to his homeland in the Tver province. However, shortly after the death of Mikhail Ivanovich in 1946, the car was decommissioned and sent for scrap …

According to Lev Mikhailovich, the second of the “Soviet Russo-Balts” gathered in Fili was handed over to Lenin (Ilyich, already seriously ill, did not have time to use the gift from the factory workers). And a copy of “Prombroni” under No. 3 was presented to Trotsky. However, Lev Davydovich did not want to demonstrate ostentatious patriotism and continued to drive around in a much more comfortable Rolls-Royce from the royal garage, preferring it to a modest Soviet passenger car.

It is also known that two Prombron cars took part in the All-Russian test rally, organized in the fall of 1923. The participants of this marathon covered almost 2,000 kilometers along the dead Russian roads.