When the Soviet of Ministers authorised the long-delayed assembly of the GAZ-3102 in 1981, there was hope that a full upgrade of the conveyor produced GAZ-24 to 3102 would follow. However, as the first serial cars left Gorky for government garages in 1982, it became clear to GAZ that lobbying for mass-production of such a car would be pointless. Not only would it fall on deaf ears, but also the general age of the car and the cost of refitting the conveyor would be too high. A more feasible route was thus chosen to use most of the features of the 3102 and retrofit them to the GAZ-24, in a simplified format. Yet it would take a further two years to gain this approval from Moscow, whose leadership was pre-occupied with the political aftermath following the death of Leonid Brezhnev to allow for a modernisation to begin. The "upgrade" was done in several stages, mechanical and body. Compared to the GAZ-3102 it was of course a step back, yet with the GAZ-24, it was nonetheless progress. Coincidentally, its introduction took place during the ascendency of Mikhail Gorbachev and the country entering into a new era—perestroika. The GAZ-24-10 would be a small, but an icon of the period nonetheless. This was in part due to its greater availability to the general public as part of the liberalisation programme. With the 3102 capitalising the prestige and exclusivity of the Volga brand, the GAZ-24-10 is merited at upholding its practical role. Thus, despite its obvious archaism in terms of design, and despite never being exported outside the Eastern Bloc, the GAZ-24-10 was a success overall. Its price was 16,300 rubles, compared to 15,300 for the 3102.
Technical details
For the mechanical upgrade, work began with the engine, in accordance to the new standard now known as ZMZ-402. This produced, but needed 92 octane petrol. The other option was the ZMZ 4021, which gave but only needed the more common 76 octane. The main novelty of the ZMZ-4022 was stratified charge ignition. This was immediately ruled out, due to its complication for the mass-produced car. Other changes, however, were retained. These included fingerless crankshaft bearing caps, new cast iron camshaft supports with no bushings, inlet and outlet valves of increased diameter with double-wound-springs, a new water pump, vibration dampener on the crankshaft pulley, contactless ignition system with a new alternator, new spark plugs, and an upgraded K-126GM carburettor. Some cars would feature the K-151 carburettor with a paper air filter, and an idle fuel cutoff solenoid with exhaust gas recirculation. These would often carry the aluminium cylinder block from the ZMZ-4022. Power was now. took 19 seconds, top speed was, and fuel economy. The GAZ-3102's braking system was also improved, with a tandem brake cylinder that featuring a dual-chambered vacuum servo and pressure regulator on the rear brakes; the 3102's front disk brakes were left out. The 3.9:1 rear axle, clutch and 205/70R14 radial tyres with "aerodynamic" hub cups were also carried across. The dashboard and steering wheel were also from the 3102 parts bin. With these additions, the Volga was shown in a 1984 Soviet car show and in early 1985 the first cars left the assembly line as "hybrid" cars with the GAZ-24-10 mechanicals and GAZ 24 bodies ; only in 1986 were "pure" 24-10s offered. The second part of the modernisation was the interior. Most of the 3102's layout, including separate front seats with headrests were carried across. However the cars differed, the 3102's trim was velour, for the standard car, standard fabric cloths. The dashboard of the GAZ-3102 was made of shock-absorbing foam with a coloured finish, the mass Volga had to do with hard black plastic. Though the exact layout of switches and ventilation outlets differed, the instrument clusters were identical. The 24-02 estate was similarly upgraded in 1986, to become the 24-12, production beginning in 1987. For the exterior, GAZ developed a simplified project repeating the 3102's silhouette but in a much simplified trim, with many chrome details, notably the "baleen" grille and the bumpers replaced by black plastic. Given that the car was to serve a temporary role, it was chosen to avoid replacing the body panels on grounds of cost, with the exception of the doors. To somehow improve the car's aesthetics, a novel decision was chosen to simplify the look. Thus most of the chrome details were removed: the boot lip trim, the cursive "Волга" name on the front fenders, mirrors and wipers were now painted black. The bumper overriders were also removed, as was the comfort light on the c-pillar ornament. Marker lights were integrated into the headlamp, and rectangular fog lamps replaced the circular ones. As a final touch, the Baleen radiator grille was replaced by a black plastic one. Introduced in April 1986, this completed the transition.
Versions
As the car was but an upgrade, it did not receive a new car index, though given that it was significantly different from the GAZ-24, the plant issued it the +10 suffix to it and all its models. The taxi was thus GAZ-24-11, the estate GAZ-24-12, ambulance GAZ-24-13, taxi estate GAZ-24-14, natural gas powered GAZ-24-17. The limited-production V8 chaser models were now called GAZ-24-34. These were fitted with the ZMZ 503.10 V8 of the Chaika 14, though a number are believed to have been fitted with dual-carburettor ZMZ 505.10s. The 23-34 was produced between 1987 and 1992. The 24-10 also spawned a 1985 four-wheel drive prototype, the 3105, which GAZ hoped could replace both the 3102 and Chaika. Only 55 were made between its public debut in 1992 and 1996, all by hand.
