Incredible facts about the “six” VAZ

On February 10, 1976, two VAZ-2106s were assembled in a test mode on the VAZ conveyor in Togliatti. Rumor has it that the first car appeared before the New Year, and mass production, according to official figures, started on February 21. One way or another, but the date of birth of the “six” is considered to be February 10th.

Despite the fact that this car is essentially just a slightly modernized “troika” (it is), during its design and testing there were many interesting moments.

The “six” has unique taillights

In addition to the headlight cladding and the new grille, which created the main visual difference from the VAZ-2103, the task of the designers included updating the rear, namely the creation of new lights. They were designed by the designer V. Stepanov, not only successfully fitting into the rear, but also adding the original sections of the license plate illumination. As noted by his colleague V. Antipin (he was working on the front of the car), he had never seen anything like it then or later.

Pickup was planned – VAZ-2106 Tourist

Such a car was really seen among the possible options for the sixth model. On the instructions of the technical directorate, a prototype was created at the VAZ, in the body of which a tent was built. Unfortunately, things did not go further than the single copy shown in the photo.

Autopilot was tested on “six”

In the early 1980s, the Georgian Academy of Machine Mechanics developed an assault rifle pilot that could replace humans during grueling cobblestone trials. An agreement was signed with VAZ, the plant allocated funds. In 1983, after two years of design and testing, a representative of the academy A. Nozadze brought a sample of the automatic pilot to Togliatti.

A light sensor was installed on the bumper of the VAZ-2106, which received information about the road and gave commands to the actuators that were on the steering wheel, pedals, gear lever and ignition lock. In theory, the car was supposed to move without a driver at a certain speed and along a given route. But in practice, the car was constantly pulled aside – the test drive ended in nothing. A. Nozadze suddenly left and did not appear at the plant again.

The second most popular

VAZ-2106 ranks second in terms of mass production among all Lada models: 4 million 175 thousand cars were produced, only “one” has more. In Togliatti, this model was made from 1976 to 2001, from 1998 the cars were assembled in Syzran (“RosLada”), and from the end of 2001 to the end of 2005 – at the Izhevsk Automobile Plant.

Buy VAZ 2106