ZIL » E169A

At the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, the topic of trucks with a cab above the engine became extremely popular. This layout, though it had a number of disadvantages, in general looked quite promising - with the same overall dimensions of a truck, the cargo platform turned out to be longer, the visibility of the road improved, and the tilting cab facilitates access to the engine for maintenance and repair.

It is not surprising that ZIL tried to create a similar design as an alternative to the conventional ZIL-130 mass production of which had just began. Of course, no one was talking about replacing one model with another, but with a lucky coincidence the release of cabover trucks could be organized in parallel with the bonneted trucks.

In 1965, a ZIL E169 (later designated as ZIL E169A) was built on ZIL in a single copy. In addition to the new layout solution, this truck had one more important feature - its front suspension was independent without a screwdriver with torsion bars along the frame as elastic elements. In addition, the truck was equipped with a two-speed driving axle.

Comprehensive tests of ZIL-E169A should demonstrate how promising new solutions are. As a result, it turned out that the independent suspension on medium-duty trucks has no special advantages over the conventional spring suspension, and the cab, on the contrary, looks quite advantageous, especially if it is installed on trucks with a long wheelbase.