Despite its historically significant status, the “Ukraine-4” is a little-known vehicle. Very little information about it has survived. It is only known that the truck was built in November 1930 or early 1931 at the Kharkiv Automobile Assembly Plant. At the same time, it is believed that only two such trucks were produced, and even then as test samples. And it is one of them that is depicted in the photo discovered by automotive historians from the Facebook community OldWheels in the catalog “New Machines and New Constructions of the Industry of the Ukrainian SSR” for 1932.
Unlike many other Soviet trucks, the “Ukraine-4” was not a licensed copy of Western models – it was developed from scratch in Kharkiv, and even the most complex parts for the vehicle were produced locally, at the automobile assembly plant. However, it was this very fact that doomed the first Ukrainian car: it stood out from the general line, and there was neither a ready-made production technology nor a special conveyor for it. As a result, it remained existing in the form of two prototypes.
By the way, in addition to the aforementioned photos, there is also a shot of the radiator grille of the “Ukraine-4” (first published by the Facebook community Українські автомобілі), as well as a “full-length” drawing of the vehicle by artist V. Reminsky.
As for the characteristics, the “Ukraine-4” had a 6-cylinder gasoline engine with an output of 70 hp (at that time it was incredibly powerful). The maximum speed of the truck was 50-70 km/h, and the load capacity was 4-5 tons (data on this parameter vary). It also had an impressive wheelbase – as much as 4.7 m.
