GAZ Chaika History

The GAZ Chaika (Russian: Чайка, 'Seagull') was GAZ's flagship luxury vehicle and the transport of choice for senior Soviet party and government officials — one tier below the hand-built ZIL limousines reserved for the very top leadership. The GAZ-13 debuted at the Brussels motor show in 1958 and entered production in 1959; 3,179 were built before production ended in 1981. It was powered by a 195-hp 5.5-liter V8 driving through a push-button automatic transmission of similar design to the Chrysler TorqueFlite, and was offered as a saloon, limousine (GAZ-13A), and a four-door cabriolet (GAZ-13B) with an electrohydraulic top.

The GAZ-14, introduced in 1977, replaced the ageing GAZ-13 with a more modern body while the two briefly overlapped in production. The GAZ-14's twin-four-barrel-carbureted 5.5-liter V8 produced 220 PS. Around one hundred were built per year; total production reached approximately 1,114 units before the Chaika line was halted in 1988 — reportedly on the personal order of Mikhail Gorbachev as a symbol of anti-privilege reform. The Chaika was never sold to private citizens; all examples were state property.