By 1977 the original Chaika design was, even by Soviet standards, well overdue for an overhaul.
Of course the mechanical components were to be retained, but GAZ needed a completely new bodyshell. The designers (under V. Nosakoff, chief of the GAZ heavy cars section) had produced their own version of the ZlL, less the glass partition. The seven-seater body was eight inches longer than the model it replaced, and 14.5 in. longer than a Daimler limousine. Both the M13 and M14 manufacture overlapped for several years. The engine needed all of its 220 bhp to carry the 2½ ton car monolith from rest to 62 mph in 15 seconds, and to a claimed top speed of 109 mph. The updated Chaika was conventionally sprung with coils in the front and semi-elliptics at the rear. The Chaika M14 remained in production from 1977 to 1988, after which point the Chaika limousine brand was ended.
One of the earliest and most potent turbocharged cars to come to the mass market, the 99 Turbo was an unlikely but impressive road rocket, establishing the front-drive turbocharged formula the Swedes made their own.
