GAZ-M1 Emka

The defining Soviet car of the 1930s. The “Emka” carried party officials, doctors and engineers, and became the emblem of the pre-war years.

The GAZ-M1 was based on the Ford Model B but reworked for Soviet conditions: a strengthened frame, suspension tuned for unpaved roads and a closed all-steel body. The “M” in the name came from Molotov, whose name the plant carried at the time. The car became a fixture of pre-war life — it appears in dozens of Soviet films, doctors drove it on house calls, and the security services used it for their night-time visits. During the war the Emka served as a staff car at the front.