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Moskvitch 400/401 1947-1956
The Moskvitch 400-420 (and similar 401) was a car from Soviet manufacturer Moskvitch introduced in 1947.
After the war the Soviet Union deemed the plans and tooling for the 1939 Opel Kadett a part of the war reparations package. People in Rüsselsheim remember dismantling the Kadett production tooling after World War II, to go into a large number of freight cars on their way to Moscow, where their destination was the "Stalin Factory".
Between 1940 and 1941, the Russians had independently made 500 units of the KIM 10-50, a loose copy of the similarly sized four-door Ford Prefect, but national priorities changed with the German invasion of Russia in Summer 1941, and the production of the Ford inspired car was not resumed after the war.
Most of the Opel tooling removed to Russia was for the two-door Kadett model, and the Russians converted this into a 4-door configuration that visually was near identical to the original Kadett 4-door. Although Opel was US-property, GM did not recover control of the factory until 1948 and were therefore unable to contest the transfer.
A factory called MZMA (Moskovsky Zavod Malolitrazhnykh Avtomobiley, that is, Moscow Compact Car Factory) started to manufacture the modified Kadett as Moskvitch 400-420 in December 1946. "400" meant a type of engine, and "420" - a sedan body. In 1954 it was replaced with externally identical 401-420 model, with engine uprated from 23 to 26 hp. Also a cabriolet 400-420A and wooden van 400-422 / 401-422 were made.
Some of the production was exported, among other countries to East Germany and Norway. Production ended in 1956, when the design was heavily outdated. Private users in Norway at the time needed a license to buy a new imported car. This did not apply to Russian cars that as a "friendly gesture" were supplied in exchange for fish. In all, 247,439 Moskvitches 400/401 were made, after 107,608 Kadetts in Rüsselsheim 1937-1940.
[SIZE="1"]Source: wikipedia.org[/SIZE]
