Projects GAZ 12 «ZIM» Custom coupe (Russian build)

GAZ 12 «ZIM» Custom coupe

Some history: 1950 GAZ 12 “ZIM” - Soviet six/seven-passenger executive class car.

​

Plans for this Vehicle: Creation of a large sedan with features such as body sedanett based on a technical basis of Toyota Crown Majesta with 1UZ-FE VVT-i engine and air suspension.
The body will be constructed according to a design project from scratch.
Dimensions and wheelbase of Toyota served as a starting point for designing the future of the body.

​

Builder's name is Igor Sukhinin - one of the best custom car builders in Russia. Here is:

​

My name is Nikita Tsurkan. I'm a designer in this project and i going to publish here the progress of building. Also i can to answer all your technical questions.

Let's start:

Preparing of a "donor" for reconstruction.

In April 2011, we received Majesta as a "donor" car. The car was bought in Japan special for this project.

​

Here is our original GAZ (we need just fenders and hood for a start from it):

​

The interior has been disassembled, removed chassis and engine. Then the body was mounted on a special frame and fixed. Thresholds have been reinforced. Then the doors were removed, cut off the roof and door pillars.

​

to be continued...

 

Interesting....

 

Subscribed.........

 

I believe the Crown Majesta is pretty much the same car sold in the US as a Lexus LS.

 

I've got to give you credit, it must be much more difficult to build a custom in Russia. the design looks great, as vast improvement over the original car!

 

Original GAZ looks like a cross between a 49-51 Merc (front of roof, side windows, a 46-48 Chrysler (rear windows and rear of roof), a 49-51 Mopar (rear fenders) and a '47-'49 Cadillac (grille, hood) .... it's almost a custom already.

 

Wow! This is a cool build that you don't see every day. Thanks for sharing.


Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad

 

Door frames.
Just photo content.

​

Door hinges.

​

Rear shelf, bracket of trunk.

​

 

Subscribed!

 

Very, very impressive! We all can learn a lot from this build. Keep the photos coming!


Ray

 

From the look of those door hinges, I'd guess that you once worked making tanks.
Top quality work. Anyone see the custom two door built in Russia a few years back. One of the most beautiful cars ever built.
r

 

kool car, i always liked the look of this car, if you ever get to kiev, i can hook you up with all the old car guys there.

the ems guy

 

Very nice work! Thanks for taking the time to post it!

 

That guy isn't just playing around!

I wanna see more!!!

 

Great! saw this build like a year ago on the zz-rod forums, definitely a good thing to see a custom made from a soviet car.

 

I think we've found the guy who designed the landing gear doors for the MiG-29...

I'm loving this, nice build and a lot to learn from it.

 

You can call it Gazilla!

 

Any updates?

 

Freaking amazing build. The quality of your work is mind-boggling. I'm looking forward to seeing the progress of this unusual build.

 

This looks to be a really interesting project, and what a craftsman!
The car already looks like a Mercury (if you squint a bit) so it can´t be a bad starting point.

The Volga/BMW V12 crossbreed? That was cool.

 

Yes, that's it!
I love that car.
r

 

How did he get that Wilton vise in Russia?

 

This ^

Bodywork looks beautiful. I might wish that they were using a more old-school engine, but since there is likely no such thing as "vintage Soviet performance parts," I can't really complain.

 

The Iron curtain has been down since around 1989, so he´s had a few years to get his hands on one.

 

Amazing.

 

In my design project I tried to fully reflect Igor Sukhinin's ideas of car's shapes.
So he decided to perform all the lines and curves of the body in strict accordance with my detailed drawing.
As a result, a vehicle's space frame was formed. It includes the support stiffness determining shape of the body, the forming side frames, front and rear window aperture.



To make rear window frame a template from a sheet of fiberboard was made. A frame's countour was prodused by this template. Countour was made from some L-shape parts holding together by spot weld. Curved plate (part of the body's skin between the plane of the glass and tailgate) will be welded to countour.



The same way windshield frame was made. We decided to make it in the style of classic ZIM. In my sketch it was solid but now it's splitted.







Side opening windows'shaping profiles are made of steel 1.5 mm to provide the necessary rigidity. They were made ??full-length glazing according to the drawings. They will be attached to the front edge of the windshield frame. Reaching the top they smoothly fall to the mounting points the C-pillars to the wings. They also will snap the central rack and profiles for fixing the roof.



The Majesta's rear overhang is shorter than ZIM's, so the boot floor was extended by molded plate (which corresponds to the shape of vehicle's tailgate design).



After that trunk and rear fenders's formative stiffness were installed.



Next - making skin and detailes of vehicle's tail end...

 

In my opinion it's one of the most interesting customs projects in Russia.

 

wow, very cool build. it's definitely creative and the craftsmanship is top notch!!

 

This looks very interesting. Russians are very good fabricators. Our body man in the shop is Russian and he does wonders, rebuilding cars rusted out to the roof.

 

I'm watching.. Cool.