Motorcycle cars usually have a body similar to a car, but the engine is usually taken as a motorcycle type. Early examples had a three-wheel chassis, but later, due to its shortcomings (mainly poor stability at speed and even a tendency to roll over), most manufacturers switched to four-wheel designs.

History.

Motorcycle carriages were widespread in Europe after the First World War.

This is not a car without a lost wheel. This is a 1923 Scott Tricar. United Kingdom. They were even supplied to the army!

Stevens, UK 1927.

Czechoslovakia 30s. Velorex 350

French motorized carriage of trucks.

After the Second World Wars (until the 1960s); after World War II, they played a huge role in the massive motorization of the European population. They were especially popular in war-ravaged Germany. Former aircraft building firms also took part in the production of such wheelchairs.
Heinkel.

Messerschmitt.

In Germany, motorized carriages were called "Kabinenroller" - "motor scooter with a cabin". They were in good demand until the economic boom of the sixties, when most West Germans were already able to afford a full-fledged car, such as the Volkswagen Beetle.

BMW (Isetta)

In England, motorized carriages were called Bubble cars or microcars. The term microcars is now used to refer to modern microcars like Smart, which have no direct relation to traditional motorized carriages.

There at one time there were many well-known manufacturers of sidecars, such as Bond, whose products enjoyed a fairly steady demand until the 1980s and even the 1990s.

Bond Minicar 1950.

As in the USSR, in Great Britain there was a specialized transport for disabled people - the Thundersley Invacar motorized carriage, which was issued to British disabled people by the social security authorities until 1977. In 2003, "Invakar" was banned from operation on British public roads due to non-compliance with new safety standards, by this time there were still about 200 sidecars of this model in service.

France

As in the USSR, in Great Britain there was a specialized transport for disabled people - the Thundersley Invacar motorized carriage, which was issued to British disabled people by the social security authorities until 1977. In 2003, "Invakar" was banned from operation on British public roads due to non-compliance with new safety standards, by this time there were still about 200 sidecars of this model in service for a long time.
Motorcycle carriages were produced and were popular in different countries as a shopping trolley almost until the end of the 70s.

In the USSR, due to the poor quality of roads, long distances and a cold climate, motorized carriages also did not receive almost any distribution (like motor scooters) due to low cross-country ability, a small cruising range and a tiny resource, lack of a heating system; in addition, there was a great public prejudice against such transport.

After the Great Patriotic War, the first models of sidecars appeared in the USSR. Taking as a basis the front part of a small, rather like a moped, motorcycle K16 - "Kievlyanin" - with a parallelogram front fork and a tiny ninety-eight cc motor (a copy of the German "SAKS") and attaching a simple body to it, we got the first model of a "disabled woman". The car had a drive to only one of the rear wheels and was controlled using a long lever attached to the fork instead of the traditional steering wheel.

This motorized carriage for the disabled was manufactured by the Serpukhov Motorcycle Plant under the SZL brand. S-1-L (1952-1959)

Motorcycle car SMZ S-3AV In 1957, the first motorized carriage SMZ S-3A rolled off the assembly line of the Serpukhov Motorcycle Plant. In the post-war period, there were many disabled people in the USSR who needed means of transportation.

And this is a prototype of the Soviet motorcycle Atlas, Spain.

At its core, the stroller was a so-called "motorized seat", but consumers put forward the same requirements for it as for an ordinary car.

As a result, the manufacturer tried in every possible way to modernize the stroller, thereby complicating its design. The stroller was equipped with an IZH-49 two-stroke motorcycle engine and a 4-speed gearbox.

In 1962, the stroller was modernized. She now has hydraulic telescopic shock absorbers, rubber bushings for axle shafts, a new muffler and other innovations. But she never succeeded in becoming a full-fledged machine. In 1970, the stroller was discontinued, giving way to a new model with a closed body SMZ S-ZD.

After the release of L. Gaidai's comedy "Operation Y and Other Adventures of Shurik", the SMZ S-3A motorized carriage became a universal favorite.

It was on such a motorized carriage that the famous trinity of Coward, Goonies and Experienced rode around. For many, this car, along with jokes and funny quotes, has become one of the symbols of the film.

And finally, a real live Messerschmitt .:

SMZ S-1L is a two-seater three-wheeled motorized car, produced at the Serpukhov Motorcycle Plant from 1952 to 1956. In 1956-1958, the S-3L modification was produced, which differed from the base one by a more powerful engine. In total, 19 128 S-1L sidecars and 17 053 S-3L sidecars were produced.

Specifications:

Number of doors / seats - 2/2
Engine type, volume - 1-cylinder motorcycle two-stroke engine Moscow-M1A, 123 cm³ (the C-3L used the engine (Izh-49), 346 cm³)
Engine power - 4 HP (8 HP in S-ZL)
Power system - carburetor
Number of gears - 3
Engine location - rear, longitudinally
Drive - rear
Maximum speed - 30 km / h (S-3L -60 km / h)
Curb weight - 275 kg
Dimensions:
length - 2650 mm
width - 1388 mm
height - 1330 mm
Rear brakes - drum / -
Front brakes - no / -
Tires - 4.50-9 "
Modifications
C-1L - the basic version of a motorized carriage, produced from 1952 to 1956.
C-1L-O - option with one right hand control
C-1L-OL - version with one left hand control
C-2L - an experimental model with a 2-cylinder engine and minor design changes, not mass-produced
S-3L is a modernized version of a motorized carriage with a more powerful engine IZH-49, produced from 1956 to 1958.

In 1958, the SMZ S-3A stroller was installed on the conveyor of the Serpukhov Motorcycle Plant. This stroller became the first four-wheeled car in our country. The SMZ S-ZA model was nothing more than a kind of motorized chair for the disabled. However, against the background of a shortage of cars, consumers began to put forward the same requirements in relation to it as to an ordinary vehicle. Attempts to satisfy them only complicated the car. The power unit for the C-3A model was the Izh-49 motorcycle two-stroke engine (346 cm3, 10 hp) in a block with a four-speed gearbox. The engine was equipped with a fan and a cylinder cooling jacket, an electric starter. The stroller turned out to be quite heavy (curb weight 425 kg), with insufficiently high cross-country ability (tires measuring 5.00-10 "and ground clearance of 170 mm), poor dynamics (maximum speed up to 60 km / h) and high fuel consumption (4 , 5-5.0 l / 100 km) Repeated attempts to modernize the C-3A (improved muffler, telescopic shock absorbers and other innovations) were unsuccessful.

A further step, taken in 1970, turned the stroller into an SMZ S-ZD car with a new closed body, but practically the same chassis. The direction of the automotive industry, which was represented by SMZ motorized carriages, turned out to be unpromising. SZD is a two-seater four-wheeled motorized carriage of the Serpukhov Automobile Plant (SeAZ). The car replaced the S-3AM motorized carriage in 1970.

The car was 2.6 meters long and weighs just under 500 kilograms. The engine of the IZH-P3 model with forced air cooling was frankly weak for a rather heavy structure with an all-metal body and emitted an extremely unpleasant crack during operation (however, generally characteristic of two-stroke engines).

Despite the unprepossessing appearance and obvious prestige, the stroller had a number of design solutions that were unusual for the Soviet automobile industry and advanced at that time: it is enough to note the independent suspension of all wheels (the rear is of the "swinging candle" type, that is, a kind of MacPherson strut), rack and pinion steering, clutch cable drive - all this in those years had not yet become generally accepted in the practice of world automotive industry, and appeared on "real" Soviet cars only in the eighties.

The maintenance of the motorized carriages was unpretentious. A weak point in operation in the winter was a membrane fuel pump - condensate froze in it in the cold, and the engine stopped while driving. On the other hand, a two-stroke air-cooled engine started up more easily in the cold and did not cause such problems during operation in winter as water-cooled engines (in those years, personal cars were operated mainly “on the water” due to the lack of antifreeze).

Such cars were popularly called “disabled women” and were distributed (sometimes with partial or full payment) through social security agencies among disabled people of various categories. Motorized carriages were issued with social security for 5 years. After two years and six months of operation, the disabled person received free repair of the “disabled woman,” then used this vehicle for another two and a half years. As a result, he was obliged to hand over the motorized carriage to the social security and get a new one. All Soviet wheelchair-bound wheelchairs suffered from one common drawback - they represented a kind of compromise between a self-propelled wheelchair (as Lev Shugurov aptly put it, a “motorized prosthesis”) and a full-fledged microcar, as a result performing both functions equally mediocre. For a "wheelchair with a motor" they were oversized and heavy, and by automotive standards, their performance, comfort and other consumer qualities clearly left much to be desired. The attempts to balance between these two concepts, exacerbated by the shortage of conventional passenger cars, only led to aggravation of the contradiction - even the last in the series SMZ S-3D motorized carriage, having received a closed car-type body, has not yet become a "real" car, and almost completely lost the quality of a "motorized prosthesis" , approaching in weight and size to a full-fledged four-seater car like "Trabant" or "Mini". Attempts to launch a series of structures that are closer to a full-fledged car, which could both be used as a special vehicle for disabled people, and go into retail sale as the smallest Soviet production car, like the SMZ-NAMI-086 Sputnik, were unsuccessful. including due to the low technical level of manufacturers of sidecars.

The last 300 FDD models left SeAZ in the fall of 1997. FDD has been replaced

A vehicle such as a motorized carriage, as has been noted more than once, played a very important role in raising the war-worn economies of European countries. The Soviet Union, which was a proud winner, could not afford to exchange for such a "pot-bellied trifle" and released expensive and rather large Victories. Even the small car Moskvich 400 was removed from the drawings of the by no means the cheapest and most compact Opel Kadett. Everything, of course, looked good, only the disabled war veterans, of whom there were more than two million, could, at best, count on a wheelchair as a means of transportation.

In September 1945, the Kiev Motorcycle Plant (KMZ) was created on the basis of the former Armored Repair Plant No. 8 in Kiev. It was here from the plant in Schönau near Chemnitz (Germany) that the documentation and equipment for the production of the light Wanderer ISp motorcycle, which began to be produced in Ukraine in 1946 under the K-1B brand, were taken out for reparations.

It was on its basis that they decided to create the first motorized carriage for disabled people, because it was KMZ that had the technical basis for their production. In order to adapt the K-1B motorcycle to the capabilities of people without one or both legs, the frame was changed, and instead of the rear wheel, two were installed. Between the widely spaced wheels there is a conditionally two-seat "sofa".

Since the distance from the seat back to the front fork (in the form of a parallelogram) turned out to be quite large, instead of a motorcycle handlebar, one long lever was installed, prudently offset relative to the longitudinal axis of the crew (so that it would not rest against the driver's stomach). By moving the lever up and down, it was possible to engage and disengage the clutch. This "piece of functionality" was crowned with a rotating motorcycle throttle.

It turned out to be quite obvious that motorized carriage K-1V, created from a motorcycle, turned out to be completely unsuitable for realities. Therefore, in the late 40s and early 50s, the task of creating a motorcycle for disabled people was set before the Central Design Bureau of Motorcycle Building (later VNIImotoprom). The production of the S1L motorcycle stroller began in Serpukhov in 1952.

The S-1L became the first Soviet production model with an independent spring suspension on all wheels. As a power unit, an engine from an M-1A motorcycle was used, equipped with a fan, located at the back. There was no electric starter; a lever was used to start. The S-1L used miniature tires at that time.

The lack of controls that must be operated with feet, a space frame welded from pipes, a three-speed gearbox, friction shock absorbers, motorcycle-type steering - these are the characteristic features of this motorcycle. The main gear was chain, and the turning radius was only 4 m. In total, until 1955, 19128 sidecars of this model were produced, to this day, single copies have survived.

The operating experience of the S1L has shown that such a design is also far from ideal and limits the scope of application. She could not overcome steep climbs even in cities, and was completely useless off-road. Therefore, already in 1955, SMZ built and tested several three-wheeled sidecars with a more powerful (346 cm, 11 hp) motorcycle engine.

In general, the operation of the S-1L proved that a two-stroke engine is not very suitable for a micro-car, it is very uneconomical and short-lived, despite the simplicity of the design.

In 1958, they began to produce a modernized motorized carriage SMZ S-3A- the first with four wheels in our country. In fact, the concept of SMZ S-3A practically did not differ from its predecessor. The power unit was still a two-stroke motorcycle engine. It was borrowed from Izh-49 (346 cm3, 10 hp) along with a four-speed gearbox.

The engine was equipped with a fan and a cylinder cooling jacket, an electric starter. The curb weight of 425 kg, the tiny tires measuring 5.00-10 "and the ground clearance of 170 mm made overcoming any little off-road a real problem. On good roads, the car did not shine either: the top speed was only 60 km / h, and the fuel consumption - 4.5-5.0 l / 100 km.

Already in 1958, the first attempt at modernization was made. There was a modification motorized carriages S-ZAB with rack-and-pinion steering, and on the doors, instead of tarpaulin sidewalls with transparent celluloid inserts, full-fledged glass appeared in the frames.

In 1962, the machine underwent further improvements: friction shock absorbers gave way to telescopic hydraulic; there were rubber bushings for axle shafts and a more advanced muffler. Such a stroller received the SMZ S-ZAM index and was subsequently produced unchanged.

The last modernization of the Serpukhov motorcycle stroller was the SMZ S-ZD model with a new closed body, but almost the same chassis. The people called her simply "Invalid". The car was 2.6 meters long and weighs just under 500 kg. The engine of the IZH-P3 model with forced air cooling was frankly weak for a rather heavy structure with an all-metal body and emitted an extremely unpleasant crack during operation (however, generally characteristic of two-stroke engines).

Motorcycle car S-3D had a number of innovative solutions for Soviet cars, for example, independent suspension of all wheels (rear - type "swinging candle"), rack and pinion steering, clutch cable drive. All this appeared on other Soviet cars only in the 80s.

The maintenance of the motorized carriages was unpretentious. A weak point in operation in the winter was a membrane fuel pump - condensate froze in it in the cold, and the engine stopped while driving. On the other hand, a two-stroke air-cooled engine started up more easily in the cold and did not cause such problems during operation in winter as water-cooled engines (in those years, personal cars were operated mainly “on the water” due to the lack of antifreeze).

Motorized carriages were issued with social security for 5 years. After two years and six months of operation, the disabled person received free repair of the “disabled woman,” then used this vehicle for another two and a half years. As a result, he was obliged to hand over the motorized carriage to the social security and get a new one. The last 300 FDD models left SeAZ in the fall of 1997. The FDD was replaced by Oka.

But there were also very interesting projects of sidecars for disabled people. For example, SMZ-NAMI-086, created in the second half of the 50s. The air-cooled engine (representing the "half" of the ZAZ-965 motor) was located at the rear. The stroller received an independent torsion bar suspension of all wheels, an electromagnetic clutch, and an autonomous heater.

But its most significant feature was the architectural design of the body. The car was distinguished by forms fresh for their time, good proportions (designers V. Rostkov and E. Molchanov). Unfortunately, SMZ-NAMI-086 remained a prototype, since the organization of its serial production required significant costs.

Other experimental modifications:
* C-4A (1959) - an experimental version with a hard roof, did not go into production.
* C-4B (1960) - prototype with a coupe body, did not go into production.
* S-5A (1960) - a prototype with fiberglass body panels, did not go into the series.

In the first post-war years, Russian invalids of the Patriotic War at first did not even have wheelchairs. They rode on a rectangular wooden box with bearing wheels, pushing off from the pavement with wooden blocks. However, soon after the war, the Kievlyanin tricycle appeared, similar to the wheelchair of the Indian auto rickshaw. The tricycle had a drive to only one of the rear wheels and was controlled by a long lever attached to the fork instead of the traditional handlebar. This lever was slightly displaced relative to the longitudinal axis of the crew, so as not to interfere too much when driving, had a motorcycle throttle handle and swung up and down, which made it possible to disengage the clutch. In addition, there was a "winding" curve, like a gramophone, with a chain drive to the motor. The Kievlyanin's engine had a working volume of only 98 cubic centimeters and at 4000 rpm developed a power of 2.3 hp. This power was enough only to get to the store on a smooth, good road.

The first "disabled woman" with a closed body was the S-1L three-wheeled car, which first rolled off the assembly line of the Serpukhov Motorcycle Plant in 1952. The S-1L, for all its shortcomings, provided protection from the weather and some comfort, since it had a metal body with doors and a folding canvas roof. Comfort, of course, was relative, because there was no heater in the cabin, and from the crackle of a 125 cc two-stroke engine. cm, taken from the motorcycle "Moscow", pinched his ears. The stroller had a motorcycle-type steering wheel and an independent spring suspension of the rear wheels on the wishbones. The body frame was welded from pipes and covered with metal. A weak four-horsepower motor was barely enough to set in motion a car weighing 275 kg. The speed did not exceed 30 km / h. Therefore, in 1956, the engine was replaced with a more powerful one - from the Izh-56 motorcycle, which developed 7.5 hp. This made it possible to increase the speed to 55 km / h.

In 1958, an experimental GAZ-18 car was designed at the design bureau of the Gorky Automobile Plant. It was a hand-operated two-seater subcompact car.

The two-cylinder engine with a volume of 0.5 liters was a "half" of the "Moskvich-402" engine. But the most interesting thing in the design of the GAZ-18 is an automatic gearbox with a torque converter, exactly the same as on the representative ZIM and on the first 21 Volgas. It made it possible to do without a clutch pedal, greatly simplifying driving, which is especially important for disabled people. The engine and gearbox are located at the rear of the car, and in front there is a small trunk and a gas tank. In accordance with the purpose of the car, access to the engine and its systems was provided both from the outside and from the driver's seat. To do this, it was only necessary to recline the back of the passenger seat. Wheel suspension - independent, torsion bar. The dimensions of the doorways and interior space of the all-metal body, as well as the adjustable seat, ensured a comfortable fit. However, the party and the government considered that providing such a vehicle for those who lost their legs while defending their homeland would be too burdensome for the national economy, and they did not launch the GAZ-18 series. The designers of the Serpukhov plant at that time did not even think to sit idly by. The rethinking of the not very successful design of the S-1L led to the creation of the first classic "invalid".

She was the famous C3A (es-tri-a, not es-ze-a). By its design, it was very similar to the Citroën 2CV. However, if the French willingly bought their "ugly duckling" and were not at all ashamed of him, then in the USSR, which was not spoiled by cars, this "invalid" was not even considered a car. They called it the term "motorized carriage", and were given yellow motorcycle numbers.

The last of these yellow numbers were replaced with black ones in 1965. Immediately after its appearance, S3A became the hero of anecdotes, and Leonid Gaidai even filmed her in the film "Operation Y". By the way, the small mass of the motorized carriage allowed Morgunov to move it around the set alone.

Conceptually, the car turned out to be quite progressive. For the first time in the history of the domestic automotive industry, manual steering, independent suspension of all wheels and a rear-mounted power unit were used. The lack of a motor in the front and flat, thanks to the compact, typically VW torsion bar suspension, the front axle left enough room to fully extend the legs. It was convenient for those for whom they did not bend. The brake was only manual, mechanical. The engine had an electric starter, but, just in case, there was a lever in the cabin with which it was also possible to start the engine. The rear axle had a chain-driven differential with a reverse, which made it possible to receive four gears both forward and backward. An engine from an Izh-Planet motorcycle was installed on the stroller. With a cylinder diameter of 72 millimeters and a piston stroke of 85, its working volume was 346 cubic meters. cm. At 3400 rpm, it produced 10 horsepower (Citroёn 2CV had 9 at first, and in those days it was 12 with an engine volume of 375 cc). The compression ratio was quite high for those times - six units, but the engine still worked on 66th gasoline, since the addition of engine oil to the fuel contributed to the increase in detonation resistance - the engine was a two-stroke one. The maximum speed was limited to sixty kilometers per hour, and from 0 to 40 С3Д accelerated in 18 seconds. Fuel consumption was 4.5 liters per hundred kilometers. The car was 2625 mm long and 1315 mm wide. The car's maneuverability was unsurpassed, and the control scheme allowed it to be operated with one hand. Due to the abundance of manual labor and 75 running meters of expensive chromonsil pipes in the structure, the cost of C3A was higher than that of the 407 Moskvich, which was produced at that time. Subsequent upgrades introduced elastic rubber couplings on the rear axle shafts and telescopic shock absorbers instead of friction ones.

1994 motorized carriage "Invalidka" S-3D 0.8 l / 33 hp - new, mileage - 160 km

S-3D (es-tri-de)- a two-seater four-wheeled motorized car of the Serpukhov Automobile Plant (at that time still SMZ). The car replaced the S3AM motorized carriage in 1970.

HISTORY OF CREATION

Work on the creation of an alternative to the S3A motorcycle stroller was carried out in fact since its development in production in 1958 (NAMI-031, NAMI-048, NAMI-059, NAMI-060 and others), however, the technological backwardness of the Serpukhov plant has long prevented the introduction of more advanced designs ... Only by the beginning of 1964 there was a real prospect of updating the production equipment of the SMZ for the release of a new model. Its development was carried out with the participation of specialists from NAMI and the Special Artistic Design Bureau (SCHKB) under the Moscow Economic Council, and in accordance with the wishes of the customer, represented by the Serpukhov Plant, the future car was initially developed as a light all-purpose vehicle with all-terrain vehicles for rural areas, which left an imprint on it. appearance (designers - Eric Sabo and Eduard Molchanov). Subsequently, the project of a rural off-road vehicle was never implemented, however, design developments for it were in demand and formed the basis of the external appearance of the motorized carriage.

Direct preparation for production began in 1967. For the Serpukhov plant, this model was supposed to be a breakthrough - the transition from an open frame-panel body with a spatial frame made of chrome-steel pipes and cladding obtained on bending and bending machines, very expensive and low-tech in mass production, to an all-metal carrier welded from stamped parts should have not only greatly improve comfort, but also provide a significant increase in production scale.

C3D production began in July 1970, and the last 300 copies left SeAZ in the fall of 1997. A total of 223,051 copies of the stroller were produced.

DESIGN FEATURES

The body of the sidecar had a length of less than 3 meters, but at the same time the car weighed quite a lot - a little less than 500 kilograms in equipped form, more than a 2 + 2-seater Fiat Nuova 500 (470 kg) and is quite comparable to a four-seater "Trabant" with a plastic body (620 kg), and even "Okoy" (620 kg) and "humpback" "Zaporozhets" ZAZ-965 (640 kg).

Motorcycle engine - motorcycle type, single-cylinder, two-stroke carburetor, model "Izh-Planeta-2", later - "Izh-Planeta-3". Compared to motorcycle versions of these engines, designed for installation on motorized carriages, they were derated in order to achieve a greater motor resource when working with overload - up to 12 and 14 liters, respectively. with. Another important difference was the presence of a forced air cooling system in the form of a "blower" with a centrifugal fan, which drives air through the fins of the cylinder.

For a rather heavy design, both engine options were frankly weak, while, like all two-stroke engines, they had a relatively high fuel consumption and a high level of noise - the gluttony of the motorized carriage, however, was fully compensated by the cheapness of fuel in those years. The two-stroke engine required the addition of lubricating oil to gasoline, which created certain inconveniences with refueling. Since in practice, the fuel mixture was often prepared not in a measuring container, as required by the instructions, but "by eye", adding oil directly to the gas tank, the required proportion was not maintained, which led to increased engine wear - in addition, the owners of sidecars often saved money by using low-grade industrial oils or even working off. The use of high-grade oils for four-stroke engines also led to increased wear - the complex additives contained in them burned out when the fuel was ignited, quickly contaminating the combustion chamber with carbon deposits. The most suitable for use in the motorized sidecar engine was a special high-quality oil for two-stroke engines with a special set of additives, but it practically did not go to retail.

A multi-disc "wet" clutch and a four-speed gearbox were located in the same crankcase with the engine, and rotation to the input shaft of the gearbox was transmitted from the crankshaft by a short chain (the so-called motor transmission). Gear shifting was carried out with a lever that outwardly resembles a car, but the sequential gearshift mechanism dictated the "motorcycle" switching algorithm: the gears were engaged sequentially, one after the other, and neutral was located between the first and second gears. To engage the first gear from neutral, the lever with the clutch disengaged, it was necessary to move from the middle position forward and release, after which the transition to higher gears (shifting "up") was carried out by moving it from the middle position back (also with the clutch disengaged), and to the lower ( switching "down") - from the middle position forward, and after each switch, the lever released by the driver automatically returned to the middle position. Neutral was switched on when shifting from second gear "down", which was signaled by a special warning lamp on the instrument panel, and the next downshift included first gear.

There was no reverse gear in the motorcycle gearbox, as a result of which the motorized carriage had a reverse gear combined with the main gear - any of the four available gears could be used to move backward, with a decrease in the number of revolutions in comparison with the forward gear by 1.84 times - the reverse gear ratio reducer. The reverse gear was switched on with a separate lever. The main gear and differential had bevel spur gears, the gear ratio of the main gear was 2.08. The torque was transmitted from the gearbox to the main gear by a chain drive, and from the main gear to the drive wheels - by semi-axles with elastic rubber hinges.

Suspension - front and rear torsion bar, double trailing arms in front and single - at the rear. Wheels - dimension 10 ″, with collapsible disks, tires 5.0-10 ″.

Brakes - drum drum on all wheels, hydraulic drive from a hand lever.

The steering is a rack and pinion type.

EXPLOITATION

Such cars were popularly called "disabled women" and were distributed (sometimes with partial or full payment) through social security agencies among people with disabilities of various categories. Motorized carriages were issued with social security for 5 years. After two years and six months of operation, the disabled person received free repair of the “disabled woman,” then used this vehicle for another two and a half years. As a result, he was obliged to hand over the motorized carriage to the social security and get a new one.

Driving a motorized sidecar required a category "A" driver's license (motorcycles and scooters) with a special mark. Education for people with disabilities was organized by the social security authorities.

During the Soviet era, the components and assemblies of motorized carriages (power unit assembled, differential with reverse gear, steering elements, brakes, suspensions, body parts and others), due to their availability, ease of maintenance and sufficient reliability, were widely used for the "garage" production of microcars, tricycles, snowmobiles, mini-tractors, all-terrain vehicles on pneumatics and other equipment - descriptions of such homemade products were published in abundance in the magazine "Modelist-Constructor". Also, decommissioned motorized carriages in some places were transferred by social security bodies to the Houses of Pioneers and the Station of Young Technicians, where their units were used for the same purposes.

GRADE

In general, the S3D motorized carriage remained the same unsuccessful compromise between a full-fledged two-seater microcar and a "motorized prosthesis" as the previous model, and this contradiction was not only not resolved, but also significantly aggravated. Even the increased comfort of the closed body did not compensate for the very low dynamic characteristics, noise, high weight, high fuel consumption and, in general, the concept of a micro-car on motorcycle units that was outdated by the standards of the seventies.

Throughout the production of the stroller, there has been a gradual drift from this concept to the use of an ordinary passenger car of an especially small class adapted for driving a disabled person. At first, the disabled modifications of the Zaporozhtsev became widespread, and later the S3D was replaced by the disabled modification of the Oka, which was issued to disabled people before the monetization of benefits, in recent years - along with the "classic" VAZ models adapted for manual control.

Despite the unprepossessing appearance and obvious prestige, the stroller had a number of design solutions that were unusual for the Soviet automobile industry and quite progressive at that time: it is enough to note the transverse arrangement of the engine, independent suspension of all wheels, rack and pinion steering, cable clutch drive - all this in those years has not yet become generally accepted in the practice of world automotive industry, and appeared on "real" Soviet cars only in the eighties. Due to the absence of an engine in the front, the replacement of foot pedals with special handles and levers, as well as the design of the front axle with transverse torsion bars extended far forward (like the Zaporozhets), there was enough room in the cabin for the driver's legs fully extended, which was especially important for those in whom they could not bend or were paralyzed.

The passability on sand and broken country roads for disabled women was excellent - this was affected by its low weight, short wheelbase, independent suspension and good loading of the drive axle due to the chosen layout. Only on loose snow was the permeability low (some craftsmen used widened rims - the service life of tires on such disks was greatly reduced, but the contact patch with the road significantly increased, permeability improved, and the ride smoothness increased slightly).

In operation and maintenance, the motorized carriages were generally unpretentious. So, a two-stroke air-cooled engine easily started up in any frost, quickly warmed up and did not cause any problems during operation in winter, unlike water-cooled engines (in those years, personal cars were operated mainly “on the water” due to the shortage and low operating qualities of existing antifreezes). A weak point in operation in the winter was a membrane fuel pump - condensate sometimes froze in it in the cold, due to which the engine stalled while driving, as well as a gasoline interior heater, which was quite capricious - a description of its possible malfunctions took about a quarter of "instructions for operation of S3D ", although it ensured all-weather operation of the stroller. Many components of the motorized carriage have earned a high appraisal of the operators and the amateur car manufacturers who used them in their designs due to the combination of simplicity and structural reliability.