ЛуАЗ-967: машина, которой управляли лёжа, чтобы вывезти раненых из-под пуль

In the late 1950s, the Soviet Union built a car unlike any other in the world. It had a folding steering wheel, allowing the driver to steer while lying flat on the floor—to keep their head and back from protruding above the side, and to allow bullets to pass higher. It floated without a single propeller, scooping up water with its wheels. It was dropped by parachute, carried on a helicopter's external sling, and pushed by hand when the fuel ran out. And most importantly, a wounded soldier, with no one to carry him off the battlefield, could crawl into it himself: the tailgate folded down almost to the ground. This is the LuAZ-967, a front-line transporter—the strangest and most humane vehicle in the Soviet automobile industry. This issue tells the whole story from beginning to end: how it was conceived by Boris Fitterman, a ZIS designer who served five years in prison on trumped-up charges and returned to rescue soldiers; what the legendary "Uncle Vasya" Margelov demanded of his engineers; Why the car has no frame, no springs, no radiator, but does have wheel hubs and a ground clearance of almost thirty centimeters; how the people's "Volyn"—the country's first front-wheel drive car—was born from this military trough. And why a car that was hidden under the radar and written off as scrap metal by its own people is now being rescued and restored by collectors in Europe. Like, subscribe to the channel, and tell us in the comments which car we'd like to feature next.