UAZ - 3303 - the "tadpole". History of birth

The history of this car, UAZ-3303, begins in the fifties of the last century. It was then, after the creation of the Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant OGK and the development of the Ulyanovsk production of the extremely popular all-terrain vehicle GAZ-69, the question arose about the development of a small all-terrain vehicle for the army with increased payload. The work was entrusted to a new team of developers at the plant itself. The customer was the Ministry of Defense.

Several basic conditions were put forward by the military. The new car should be an all-terrain vehicle capable of carrying eight hundred kilograms of cargo off-road, its design should be unified with mass-produced cars. These requirements looked quite common for the military, but they created significant difficulties for the developers.

There was a lot of talk and controversy about the concept and options for building a new car, which resulted in an unusual solution - a four-wheel-drive four-wheel-drive metal wagon with a wheel formula of four to four - UAZ-450. It was the first car of its kind in the world ! During the testing and design development several different modifications appeared; One of them - UAZ-450D, variant of the on-board truck, and later became UAZ-3303, when the plant subsequently switched to a new designation of the machines.

For those times it was just an outstanding car, the dream of all chairmen of collective farms and rural residents. Yes, he had an excessive appetite, but at that time gasoline was not measured. Yes, he left much to be desired for better build quality and reliability, but it was repaired with the help of any sledgehammer in any place. To this car, the concept of safety is not applicable at all, only a few millimeters of iron separates from the driver's road. But all the shortcomings were overlapped by one virtue - he could drive anywhere and anytime.

And as the legal successor to the cars of that legendary era, the UAZ-3303, whose technical characteristics have not become worse, it is still considered one of the most passable cars. It is scolded and, it must be admitted, is often just. But it becomes truly indispensable when the water again floods the roads and all the dirt surrounds everything that is possible. And then the UAZ-3303, which was extremely unflattering about the comments, immediately turns into a savior and a kind of wand-zashchalochku.

Despite the unassuming nickname - "tadpole", he was repeatedly tried to adapt for a variety of purposes. From UAZ-3303 they wanted to make a trailer for towing a considerable cargo. They tried to attach one more axle and turn it into a six-wheeled car to increase the carrying capacity, but everything turned out to be in vain.

He remained in his original form - "tadpole" and "loaf". And although the car is out of date not only morally, but also physically, until now there are few cars of this class that can surpass it when driving off-road.

The history of the birth, life and service of UAZ-3303 is extremely curious. This is the world's first car-wagon configuration with four-wheel drive. And even for such a long service life, since 1958, there have not been cars of this class, capable of arguing with him off-road.