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1947 GAZ-20 Lighting Is an Unlikely Retro-Styled Rival for American Electric Pickups

Although they are famous for many things, Russians are not that well regarded when it comes to car manufacturing. The country does have an auto industry, with local big names like AvtoVAZ, GAZ, or Aurus doing their part alongside a much longer list of lesser-known brands, but Russians seem to like more buying cars than actually making them.
1947 GAZ-20 Lighting 32 photos
Photo: Andrey Tkachenko
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Although the nation probably has enormous potential as both a production hub and a large market, Western carmakers (read American, mostly) generally steer clear of the region. But that doesn’t mean people there aren’t envisioning a brighter future for the nation in the auto industry.

Such a dream comes in a digital form from a freelance artist by the name of Andrey Tkachenko, who came up with this rather good-looking machine he calls 1947 GAZ-20 Lighting.

Now, just to put things into perspective, GAZ presently only makes commercial vehicles, buses, and powertrains. It doesn’t make any passenger cars or pickup trucks, but it once did.

Officially named Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod, which can be translated into Gorky Automobile Plant, the company was born before the start of the Second World War, with the help of America’s already almighty Ford.

The first models it rolled out were, of course, Ford-based, with the Model A, AA and B being pivotal to the brand’s success. The first independently-developed car was the GAZ-11, which came to be right during the war years.

After the nation emerged victorious from the battles with Nazi Germany, the GAZ-M20 Pobeda (Victory) was born, one of the most successful model made by the nation. GAZ also had a great deal of trucks in its portfolio but, as said, not anymore.

So this thing here has no chance of actually getting made, probably not even as a custom project based on some old Russian pickup. We’re not even told what it’s supposed to power it, but the Lighting in its name is proof it’s electric, and we can imagine anything we’d like in there.

Of, and you got to love the throwback to the times of the Soviet Union, seen on the rear wing (yes, it has such a thing) as a Red Star.
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Editor's note: Gallery shows 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning.

About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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