1. Popular name
Officially, the car is called GAZ-66, although another popular name stuck to the car back in the 1960s. The truck was affectionately nicknamed "Shishiga". We chose such a nickname for the car on the one hand from the consonance with "sixty-six", and on the other hand, the pronunciation of the index "66" is consonant with the name of evil spirits in Russian folklore. Shishiga or shishok is an unclean spirit living in various places. For example, forest shishiga is also popularly known as the goblin.
2. Age and quality
"In this body, all the Politburo will still be taken to the cemetery!" - this is how one could adapt the old Soviet joke about "fragile shoulders" in relation to this truck. Just think: GAZ-66 was born in 1964, survived the war in Afghanistan, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the "dashing 90s" and continues to be used to this day. In the 1960s, the car was awarded a gold medal at an exhibition of agricultural machinery in Moscow, and then another gold medal at an exhibition in Leipzig. In addition, "Shishiga" became the first domestic car that received the state "Quality Mark".
3. "For the airborne forces!"
From the very beginning, the GAZ-66 was positioned as an all-terrain truck for driving, including on rough terrain, in a loaded state. For this, the car was equipped with a 4.3-liter V8 gasoline power unit, which was also equipped with a pre-heater. The truck had a plug-in four-wheel drive with a reduction gear. Working carrying capacity of "Shishiga" - 2 tons. The most interesting detail was that the ideal "weight distribution" of the car structure along the axes made the GAZ-66 an ideal choice for the Airborne Forces. The truck could land on all four wheels without maintaining roll.
4. "Not good for the call"
First of all, "Shishiga" was created for the national economy of the USSR, but a truck was also used by the army. True, during the years of the war in Afghanistan, an extremely unpleasant detail emerged. Due to its size, the truck turned out to be "too cramped" for both the people in the back and the people in the cab. In peacetime, this was not a serious problem. War is another matter. For this reason, Shishigi, unsafe in the matter of detonating a mine, began to actively withdraw from Afgan at the very beginning of the campaign.
5. Modernization potential
"Shishiga" was released in the USSR in dozens of modifications. For example, there were GAZ-66 models with an onboard platform, a centralized system for regulating the pressure in the wheels (like in military trucks), and a winch. There was a very specific modification with fully shielded electrical equipment. In addition, there were several models with more powerful engines and a payload increased to 2.3 tons.
6. Export leader
"Shishiga" was supplied to absolutely all countries of the socialist camp, as well as to dozens of other, completely capitalist states. Most often, GAZ-66 was bought for work in temperate or hot climates. With the latter, "Shishiga" had an extremely difficult relationship. Export modifications for such countries were equipped with a special cabin, because in the original car, the heat from the car was actively pouring into the salon.
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7. Experimental machine
Finally, one cannot but recall that the GAZ-66 for a long time remained for Soviet engineers one of the most beloved platforms for experiments. Mainly on "Shishiga" experiments were carried out to increase the cross-country ability and increase the overall off-road potential of trucks. Although the experiments went with varying success, they also had bright fruits. For example, GAZ-66B was a "Shishiga", which was transplanted to a caterpillar track.
If you want to know even more interesting things about that, then read why in the last Soviet tracked truck ZIS-42 were no brakes needed.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/140621/59378/
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