Recently the GAZ Group marked the 70^th anniversary of its first production truck at its Ural Vehicle Plant. On July 8, 1944, the first military version of ZIS-5V vehicle was delivered from the production line of the Plant.

The ZIS-5V vehicle, a four-wheeled high-sided truck with 4×2 axle arrangement, and payload of 3 tons, was one of the basic Soviet vehicles during the World War II, the second most numerous war time truck after GAZ-AA, according to the company. From 1933 the non-military version of the ZIS-5V was manufactured in Moscow at the Vehicle Plant named after Stalin, during the war the simplified version of ZIS-5V was manufactured at ZIS, and during 1942-1944 it was produced in Ulyanovsk (“UlZIS”), and later in Miass (UralZIS) -in the engine and casting shops of the Plant named after I. Stalin evacuated from Moscow to Miass.

During the first stage of production the design of the vehicle was simplified: mechanical rear brakes, the cabin with the wooden framework, and coated with clapboard, with wooden footboards and mud shields, curved fenders, the platform with the tailgate, etc. Its design was upgraded several times: the vehicle was equipped with the brakes hydraulic drive, the reinforced rear axle gearbox, the reinforced sided platform, the improved water pump, the new holder of the spare wheel, etc. At the end of the 1940s the vehicle got the name of ZIS-5M (modern).

Work Truck eNews will be featuring historic images of fleet trucks on a regular basis. If you have an historic fleet truck image you'd like to share with readers, e-mail it to Lauren Fletcher or Chris Wolski.