"Moskvich-2141" (AZLK): description, technical characteristics and reviews
By the mid-1980s, the AZLK plantcars with rear-wheel drive, the design of which was not much different from the "Moskvich 412", developed 20 years ago. The volumes of production and exports have steadily declined, despite cosmetic updates and the release of the "luxury" version. The plant, which until recently was the leader in the automobile industry of the USSR, turned into a frank outsider. The company urgently needed a modern and promising car. This design became AZLK 2141.
Creating a new machine
It should be noted that the development of promisingAZLK models began immediately after the creation of the 412th Moskvich. In the 70 years, several experienced cars with rear-wheel drive were created, but for a number of reasons they did not reach the conveyor.
Near the end of the 1970s, at the ministry levelit was decided to mass-scale the introduction of the front-wheel drive to all prospective models. Since the plant had neither the time nor the experience of creating cars with front-wheel drive, the designers in the creation of the new model widely used the experience of foreign automakers.
One of the borrowed solutions waslayout scheme AZLK 2141. The design of the machine provided for a longitudinally located engine, following the example of the production of Volkswagen. This solution provided a good load of driving wheels and the ability to accommodate various power units.
Problems with the engine
As mentioned above, the timing of the creation of a newthe models of "Moskvich" AZLK 2141 were extremely tight. To accelerate the output of the machine designers took an unpopular step - used as a power unit engine UZAM from the previous model. No change left the clutch and the elements of the brake system.
From the very beginning it was clear to everyone that the 72-strongthe engine is not suitable for a sufficiently heavy machine. Therefore, the search for an alternative engine for the AZLK 2141 began. One of the main conditions of choice was the serial production. In such conditions, the only relatively suitable motor was the Togliatti 76-strong VAZ 2106.
Since the WHA was not able to provideengines of the whole production program AZLK 2141, then on the serial machines both types of engines were used. Machines of the first year of production were equipped exclusively with VAZ engines.
At the same time,power unit UZAM. During the works, the Ufa plant faced enormous technological difficulties. On the motor UZAM 331, intended for the automobile AZLK 2141, it was possible to introduce only a new block head and a modified intake manifold.
To solve problems with engines, the plant AZLKbegan construction of its own motor production. It was supposed to produce two engines of a new family with a working volume of 1.8-1.9 liters - a 95-horsepower petrol and a 65-liter diesel. This plant was not completed, so almost all of the released AZLK 2141 were equipped with low-power engines.
The first serial
Despite all the difficulties, the new car went toproduction since mid-February 1986. Almost two years there was a parallel release of the old and new model and only in the summer of 1988 the last "Moskvich" with a rear drive was assembled. The first 245 serial cars were distributed between the employees of the AZLK and veterans of the Great Patriotic War.
The new car was a lot unusual for AZLKsolutions - front-wheel drive, five-speed gearbox, a combination of instruments with a tachometer, plastic bulk bumper and much more. In different years at AZLK 2141 combinations of devices of different manufacturers were put, but all of them were closed with bent glass, which did not give any glare.
Spare wheel was removed from the luggage compartmentcompartment under the bottom in the rear overhang of the car, which made it possible to level the floor of the trunk. In this decision there was a big minus - to take out the wheel from its place was possible only while kneeling.
The car was positioned as an intermediatebetween the production of VAZ and GAZ, so the price of AZLK 2141 in basic performance was 8500 rubles. In the "luxury" performance (costing about 9600 rubles), the car was equipped with a regular radio receiver and a "janitor" on the rear window.
Distinctions of early cars
The very first AZLK 2141 had repeaters of turns in the front part of the wings, closer to the block headlights. This design of the headlights was also a novelty for AZLK.
Interior trim details were multi-colored due todifficulties with mastering the production of plastics. Exactly the same problems were and VAZ in the production of early cars with front-wheel drive VAZ 2108/09. Many elements of the early interior trim differed in the number and arrangement of attachment points.
Early cars were equipped with a plafond of lightingluggage compartment and a regular fixing of the pump on the skin, then gradually they refused to install these parts. The rear seats lacked seat belts, although there were points for their installation.
The design of many nodes of the early AZLK 2141 used plastic. From it, a fuel tank and radiator construction elements were made. Subsequently, these parts were made of metal.
Modifications
Initially, the project of the AZLK with front-wheel drive envisaged the creation of various variants of the machine for the purpose. Some of these variants were produced in small series.
The AZLK 2141 pick-up truck had to stand on the conveyorfive years after the launch of the basic model, but in fact it did not happen until late 1993. But the first pickups appeared already in 1986-1887, these cars were made from defective bodies and used inside the plant. But some of these machines were later purchased by employees. The "official" pick-up "Moskvich 2335" with the rear spring suspension from the model 2140 was produced in small series.
In addition, in 1990 severalcars with a body sedan under designation АЗЛК 2142. In a series this car has got only in 1998 in the elongated kind under a name "Prince Vladimir" and became one of symbols of destruction of a factory.
Entering the export market
In the 60s the AZLK (the plant then bore the name MZMA)actively exported its products. In some years, the share of exports reached 65-67 percent. Then there was a sharp decline, due to the rapid aging of the products.
According to the idea of the developers, the AZLK 2141 Moskvich shouldwas to return part of the lost market. But the problems with the engine did not allow the new car to immediately enter the foreign market. Only in 1990, a version for exporting abroad was created.
Since the serial petrol engines are notsatisfied the toughened requirements to exhaust toxicity, the car was equipped with a four-cylinder diesel engine. The export version with a 60-horsepower diesel engine "Ford XLD418" received an in-house index of 2141-135. The original contract between the plant AZLK and the European branch of the company Ford provided for the supply of 20 thousand such engines.
Machines began to be delivered to Europe in 1992under the trademark "Lada Aleko". The name "Lada" was applied for marketing reasons, since this brand of cars from the USSR was well known in the European market.
The implementation was carried out by Deutsche Lada, a subsidiaryenterprise of the Volga Automobile Plant. But the name did not help the car to gain popularity - in just a year, not more than 400 cars were sold. Already in 1995, sales of cars abroad stopped, and the remaining diesel AZLK 2141 were sold on the domestic market. Such cars had the inscriptions Aleko and Diesel on the trunk lid and a combination of instruments with a built-in gear indicator.
Problems with sales
The production of AZLK 2141 in the first years of production,despite criticism from buyers, only increased. Many buyers chose AZLK 2141 because of the versatile body with a large trunk. The peak of release came in 1991, when almost 105 thousand cars were collected.
The plant opened wide prospectsexpansion of the model range, since the platform of the machine originally provided for the possibility of using different bodies. But the low quality of products and the growing problems with the supply of components led to outflow of potential buyers. Its role was played by the growing import of second-hand foreign cars, which successfully competed with new cars of domestic production.
Buyers criticized the interior trim elements,which had a poor interplay and made a creak in motion. Major complaints were caused by the UZAM engine, which was equipped with most of the produced cars. Due to the high compression ratio, the motor was prone to detonation. Located low to the ground the distributor was easily flooded with water, which caused the failure of the ignition system AZLK 2141.
Late new motors
By 1994, the Ufa plant was able to re-equipits production of modernized equipment and start production of motors with increased working volume. AZLK plant began to equip its products with engine UZAM 3317 with a working volume of 1.7 liters and UZAM 3313 with a volume of 1.8 liters. The new engines significantly improved the operational and dynamic data of the machine.
But the engines were too late and could notaffect sales AZLK 2141. By early 1996, the factory was mired in debt, thousands of incomplete cars were parked on the sites. Supplies of spare parts for AZLK 2141 also became unstable. All these factors led to the first complete stoppage of production in February 1996.
The last 2141
A year later the production was resumed, ina series of modernized cars under the name "Moskvich Svyatogor" went. This car had a lot of different options and deserves a separate story. We can say one thing - to save the plant "Svyatogor" and cars on its base could not, they only pushed his death for five years.
In new cars, the number of importedaccessories. This allowed to improve the consumer characteristics of the machines, but during the crisis in August 1998 the plant suffered enormous losses. The economic situation at the plant has always been difficult, and this blow was fatal. At the end of 2001, the main conveyor of AZLK stopped for the second and last time.
