GAZ-M1 taxi

A taxi version of the GAZ-M1 did indeed exist, and from 1936 to 1946 it was the main car in taxi fleets in large Soviet cities. According to available accounts, the first 20 GAZ-M1 taxis reached the fleets of Leningrad, now Saint Petersburg, as early as the first quarter of 1936. Figures for September 1939 list 20 GAZ-M1 taxis in Minsk, as many as 465 in Leningrad and 2,740 in Moscow.

When production of the ‘Emka’ ended in 1943, spare-parts manufacture was also discontinued. As a result, the last GAZ-M1 taxis were withdrawn from service in 1946–1947. The principal differences from the standard car were a taximeter and the appropriate taxi paint scheme.