NAMI 0107

The idea of ​​creating a compact front-wheel drive car was born in the USSR in the early 1960s. In 1964, inspired by Morris Mini Minor the engineers of NAMI began to build a prototype of FWD microcar called NAMI 0107. It was finished and tested in 1966.

It was a small two-door sedan. The body was taken from a prototype of ZAZ-966. A 1.4-liter MZMA-408 engine from Moskvitch was installed under the hood. The four-speed gearbox was original, and an independent torsion bar suspension was also developed from scratch. Its design made it possible to change the ground clearance in the range of 7 centimeters.

NAMI-0107 went for tests in the summer of 1966, but during these tests the prototype constantly broke down, the engine overheated, oil was flowing.

However, the overall solutions received a positive assessment: the front-wheel drive layout made it possible to make the car shorter but more spacious than Moskvich-408; the car also had good stability and controllability.

As part of the further development of the project, a prototype NAMI-0107B was created in 1967.