The GAZ-13 is a car from GAZ, built from 1959 to 1956, at the height of the post-war boom. Under the bonnet: 5.5L ZMZ-13 V8.
Where it came from
The GAZ-13 Chaika (Seagull) is an automobile which was manufactured by the Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod (GAZ, Gorky Automobile Plant) from 1959 to 1981 as a generation of its Chaika marque. It is famously noted for its styling which resembled 1950s Packard Patrician.
Under the skin
Power comes from 5.5L ZMZ-13 V8. It weighs 2050-2190 kg. It shifts through a 3-speed automatic. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 3250 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the GAZ-12 ZIM; its successor was the GAZ-14; assembly was at Gorky, Soviet Union. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Nissan Patrol, the Mini Mini, the Dodge Challenger — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the GAZ catalogue sit the Chaika and the GAZ 24-24.
What it costs now
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the GAZ-13 has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.