The plastic minibus "Start" is not known to every motorist. "Start" is a creation of the Ukrainian automobile industry, it was created at the Severodonetsk auto repair base, and the futuristic car was assembled at assembly plants in Luhansk and Donetsk.
Unfortunately, it has remained an expensive toy that was not put into mass production. This car is unique in its own way. The only truly avant-garde car in the 60s with a plastic body, a comfortable interior and using components from GAZ-21 Volga. The design of the body was carried out by the designer Yuri Andros.
The shell-type body, which was installed on the frame chassis, had a working fiberglass skin, which was glued inside a special six-detachable matrix in one technological step manually, by contact molding, after which wooden amplifiers of the sidewalls, roofs, window openings and doors were glued into it.
With a 2.83m wheelbase, the Start had a 5.54m length and a 61.98m width.
The 75-horsepower Volga engine provided the "Start" with a 110-kilometer speed. The mechanical filling for the car was taken from the 21st "Volga". The power architecture is based on a welded frame, designed in such a way as to "reconcile" the unchanged Volga chassis with the original wagon-type body.
The displacement of the engine allowed the use of a shortened driveshaft without an intermediate support, thus the engine was in the cabin. And the "hump" of the engine compartment was adapted for a table.
The lights, interior elements, front lights, a bird on the trunk were taken from the Volga .
The car at that time looked catchy, elegant,"Western-style". To create the technology of body gluing, students of the Kharkiv Automobile Institute who had dealt with the HADI sports car were invited.
The appearance of the "Start" was made in the fin style, typical of American cars of the 50s. The front lighting was four-phase. Moreover, one of the headlights from each pair gave both low and high beam, and the other — only far and turned on at the moment of switching to long-range lighting.
"Start" was intended for the transportation of passengers on routes with low traffic, tourist, family trips and excursions. It had good control and visibility for the driver. The fiberglass body was opposed to the metal one, not receptive to corrosion.
There were 10 seats in the cabin. The seats were made of foam and covered with artificial leather. In the cabin, a radio receiver and a "stove" were provided.
The engine hood easily turned into a table for playing chess during stops. There was a trunk for storing passengers' belongings. The driver had a separate trunk.
However, soon the gas car kits were used up, and the question arose about establishing mass production of the Start minibus.
The main operational disadvantage of the "Start" was the high fuel consumption — on average 10% higher than that of the RAF. And all because the fins created additional air resistance.
In addition, the total bond of the frame and body was not strong enough: the salon doors of the "Starts" almost fell off after operatiing as a minibus for a while.
Another problem was the engine location; since the engine was located almost in the center of the cabin, access to it was difficult: it was extremely inconvenient to maintain and repair it.
All this could end up in low operational profitability, extremely high cost of production and a large share of manual labor. Because of this, the selling price of the "Start" was 9500 rubles, while the most expensive modification of the GAZ-21 cost 8500, and RAF was sold to state-owned enterprises for 5600 rubles.
In total about 100 such minibuses were produced. To date, only a few surviving "Starts" are known.
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