Editing GAZ (section)

===Early history===
{{See also|Bombing of Gorky in World War II}}

In May 1929 the [[Soviet Union]] signed an agreement with the American [[Ford Motor Company]].<ref name="Odin, L.C. 2015">Odin, L.C. ''World in Motion 1939 - The whole of the year's automobile production''. Belvedere Publishing, 2015. ASIN: B00ZLN91ZG.</ref> Under its terms, the Soviets agreed to purchase $13 million worth of automobiles and parts, while Ford agreed to give technical assistance until 1938 to construct an integrated automobile-manufacturing plant at [[Nizhny Novgorod]]. The factory was founded and production started on 1 January 1932. At the time the factory was known as '''Nizhny Novgorod Automobile Plant''', short '''NAZ''' (''Nizhegorodskiy avtomobilny zavod''), full name '''Nizhny Novgorod Automobile Plant named after V. M. Molotov''' (''Nizhegorodskiy avtomobilny zavod imeni V. M. Molotova''), after the Soviet minister [[Vyacheslav Molotov]].<ref>[http://his.1september.ru/article.php?ID=199902903 Zur Geschichte der Zusammenarbeit zwischen Ford und Russland bzw. der Sowjetunion der Jahre 1909 bis 1935] (russian)</ref> In 1932 the plant produced its first automobiles, [[GAZ-AA]] (originally known as NAZ-AA, as they were manufactured before Nizhny Novgorod became Gorky) truck and [[GAZ-A]] passenger car (manufactured after Nizhny Novgorod became Gorky). The cars were based on the [[Ford Model AA]] and [[Ford Model A (1927–1931)|Ford Model A]], respectively.

In 1933, the factory's name changed to ''Gorkovsky avtomobilny zavod'', or GAZ, when the city was renamed after [[Maxim Gorky]].

The [[GAZ-A]] was succeeded by the more modern [[GAZ-M1]] (based largely on the four-cylinder version of the [[Ford Model B, Model 18, & Model 40 (1932)|Ford Model B]]), produced from 1936 to 1942. The M letter stands for ''Molotovets'' ('of Molotov's fame'), it was the origin of the car's nickname, ''M'ka'' (эмка).<ref name="Odin, L.C. 2015"/>

During the war, GAZ assembled [[Chevrolet G7107]] and G7117 (G7107 with winch) from parts shipped from the US under [[Lend Lease]].<gallery widths=180>
File:GAZ USSR Ford A.png|GAZ logo
File:Ford Logo 1976 Print ver v2.svg|Ford Logo
</gallery>