PAZ-672 - national bus

On the automotive map of the Soviet Union there were car factories that did not belong to the giants of the auto industry, but their importance and significance did not become less. One of them is the bus plant in Pavlovo, which produced a PAZ-672 well-known to all the inhabitants of the country, or, as it was usually called, "pazik". What epithets did not reward him! Often offensive and pejorative, but he, despite all this, regularly wound miles of rural and suburban roads on their wheels and in our country, and in many other countries.

The history of the Soviet bus in general is very interesting and curious. There were some finds and failures in it, but among the domestic machines the bus PAZ-672 deservedly occupied an honorable place. And the creation of the first Soviet buses began with the installation of the first plywood booth on the chassis of the first trucks, which were AMO F15. Later on, steel bodies were specially created and buses built using parts from commercially produced trucks.

Subsequently, in 1950, the production of buses was started at Pavlovsk, and then at the Kurgan bus plants. After a series of models, each of which deserves a separate story, in 1968 appeared PAZ-672. It was a small bus, designed for 23 passengers (seats), while the total capacity was 45 people.

Despite the relatively modest dimensions, it almost perfectly fit into the niche of official transport. Many enterprises had such a bus. At the same time PAZ-672 not only carried out duty, emergency brigades, night shifts, excursions and delegations, but was used as a kind of base for various technical services (headquarters, mobile control point, television, etc.). At the same time, he worked equally well in the frosts of Yakutia, in the heat of Turkmenistan, in the jungles of Asia, and in the savannas of Africa.

But his main destination was still the transportation of people. It has become literally indispensable on suburban routes, as well as on country roads and rural roads. Frame construction, significant clearance and patency, acceptable fuel consumption, excellent maintainability made it a welcome guest in the garage of any collective farm. At that time for PAZ-672, the sale was limited by the general need for such a bus, and therefore was carried out through limits and quotas.

It is not necessary, probably now, to consider the technical characteristics of this machine. They, of course, changed, the design was improved and modernized, improvements and changes were introduced, various bus variants appeared - sanitary, all-wheel drive, with one door, with a modified engine. It all does not matter, many "pazikov" played a kind of social role, giving everyone the opportunity to quickly and surely get into any part of our country.

The role of the PAZ-672 bus in the life of the Soviet country is difficult to overestimate. It has become an integral part of it. Mobile, fast enough, passable, "pasik" with relative comfort allowed to get to the most remote places, often performing the functions of a staff car. For twenty-two years he worked on the roads of the USSR until he was replaced by new, more modern models.