Moskvitch does not build many cars like the Moskvitch 408: a 4-door saloon / 5-door estate / 3-door panel van with 1357 , built from 1964 to 1967 in the decade that gave the world the pony car and the mid-engined supercar.
How it came about
The Moskvitch-408 (also referred to as the Moskvich-408, and M-408) series is a small family car produced by the Soviet car manufacturer MZMA/AZLK between 1964 and 1975. The first prototype was made in 1960. The M-408, the first of the series, replaced the second generation Moskvitch 407 as the main production model; it had a longer wheelbase than the 407. Design work started in 1959, and the first prototype appeared in March 1961.
The first production 408 was built 1 August 1964, and the 408 was given its official debut on October 21. First marketed body styles of the main version were a four-door saloon (base), five-door estate (the model M-426, an upgrade of second generation M-423 and M-424), and a three-door sedan delivery (the M-433, an upgrade of the second generation M-432 delivery pick-up). The IZh-408 was a duplicate version of the car made by IZh factory in Izhevsk from 1966 to 1967. It was then replaced in production by the M-412. In 1976, alongside the M-412, the series were succeeded by the third generation M-2140 series.
The hardware
Under the skin sits 1357 other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. Kerb weight is 945 kg. The gearbox is a 4-speed manual. 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 2400 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Where it sits in Moskvitch's history is not in doubt: the Moskvitch 402/403/407 came before it; the Moskvitch 412 followed it; it was built at Moscow, Russia. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Porsche 911, the Plymouth Barracuda, the Ford Transit. Its Moskvitch stablemates include the AZLK-2139 and the AZLK-2144.
The money
There is no federal ownership record for the Moskvitch 408 — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.