Zaporozhets
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The Zaporozhets (Template:Lang-ru, Zaporozhets; Template:Lang-ua, Zaporozhets’) was a brand name of subcompact cars designed and built from 1958 at the ZAZ factory in Soviet Ukraine ("Zaporozhsky Avtomobilny Zavod", or Zaporozhsky Automobile Factory). Different types of Zaporozhets were produced until 1994.
The name Zaporozhets means a Cossack of the Zaporizhian Sich.
Zaporozhets is still warmly remembered in many ex-USSR countries. Like the Volkswagen Beetle or East Germany's Trabant, Soviet Zaporozhets was destined to become a "people's car". It was the cheapest Soviet car and so the most affordable to common people; at the same time, it was rather sturdy and well suitable to Russian roads (or the lack thereof). The very looks of this car gave birth to several nicknames that stuck with it forever — "Zapor" (which is short for "Zaporozhets", but also means "constipation" in Russian), "hunchback" (because of the earlier model's insect-like form), "big-eared" (the car had air intakes on its sides to cool down the engine in the rear of the vehicle).
All Zaporozhets cars feature rear wheel drive (with engine in the rear) and aircooling.
ZAZ-965/965A
Model ZAZ-965 was made between 1960 and 1969. The design is very similar to that of the Fiat 600. The power came from MeMZ-965, a rear-mounted, aircooled OHV 887 cc V4 engine of partially aluminium design, giving 26 hp (19.4 kW) (27 hp (20.1 kW) in the ZAZ-965A). It is a common (and false) urban legend that the same engine was used for starter motor in soviet tanks. The base model was made between 1960 and 1963, and the ZAZ-965A, which had the air-intake "ears" removed, between 1962 and 1969.
ZAZ-966/968/968M
Model ZAZ-966 was made from 1967 to 1974. It had restyled chassis that was no more resembling the Fiat Topolino. The engines were slightly updated as well, but he infamous "ears" were back.
Model ZAZ-968 was produced from 1972 to 1980. It had the ears removed again, and major update came from MeMZ-968 engine, which increased the displacement to 1.2L and doubled the power output. Model ZAZ-968M featured some minor updates and was made from 1979 to 1994.
The 968 was replaced by heavily updated ZAZ Tavria hatchback, which was quite different from Zaporozhets in using front wheel drive and watercooling.