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GAZGAZ-12 ZIM

1950–1960 Russia Automobile 11 production years
Production1950–1960
Recorded originRussia
ClassAutomobile
Background

The ZIM-12 was a Soviet full-size luxury car produced by the Gorky Automotive Plant (GAZ) from 1950 until 1960. It was the first luxury car produced by GAZ and the first one to have the famous leaping gazelle hood ornament. The car was built to serve high and medium rank Soviet nomenklatura, but was also readily available as a taxi and ambulance. Unlike its successors, ZIM was the only Soviet executive class full-size car that was actually made available for private ownership. A total of 21,527 examples were built.

Text adapted from “GAZ-12 ZIM” on Wikipedia ↗ · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗ · retrieved 2026-07

Chronology ledger

Dates with their meaning intact

Production chronology1950–1960

Sourced production or model lifecycle range used by the main catalog timeline.

Wikipedia lead ↗11 years