A ‘bread loaf’ on tank tracks. An unusual ATV on the basis of an UAZ car!
Since the Soviet era, Russians have been calling the trailer-shaped UAZ ATV a ‘bukhanka’, aka a ‘loaf of bread’. But, apparently, there’s a true ATV with this car body type.
This is not a custom vehicle, but an official factory-produced one. It’s called ‘UZOLA’ and is produced at the ‘All-Terrain Vehicle Factory’ in Nizhny Novgorod Region.
There are two versions: passenger and cargo, but, in general, they are very similar and are designed to traverse ice, swamps and snow; they can even pass through certain water levels.
Apart from having no wheels, the control method also differs from a regular ‘bukhanka’ (‘bread loaf’). Manufacturers can install the usual steering wheel, but, in its basic version, the vehicle’s movements are executed with levers, just like in a tank.
The ‘UZOLA’ is also manufactured with both gasoline and diesel engines. It can reach a maximum speed of up to 60 km/h (37 mph) off-road and up to 5 km/h (3 mph) in water.
This modified ATV is used, for example, as an ambulance car in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to get to hard-to-reach regions in bad weather. The interior of the car is equipped with the required medical equipment for transportation, treatment and resuscitation.
‘Bread loafs’ on tank tracks are also produced for the police (for example, there’s one in the hard-to-reach region of Krasnoyarsk Territory) and for the Ministry of Emergency Situations (the rescue team of the Troitsky administrative district of Moscow has a ‘UZOLA’), as well as for other departments.
