All the (off)road going amphibious vehicles of the world. (work in progress) All the (off)road going amphibious vehicles of the world. (work in progress)

Last modified 22 Apr 2010

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ZIL 4906 "Синими птицами" (Russian for Dark Blue Bird)
ZIL 4906 When I will be a MULTY millionaire this is nr 2 for the collection,
right after a Stolly that is. :)

In the forward compartment are the radio, navigation equipment and 4 places for the crew.
Behind the forward axis the power unit has his place, in the rear the cargo compartment or the living quarters.

ZIL 4906

An exploded view of the 4906
zil 4972

Picture © Roman Astakhoff

 The ZIL 4906(1) is based on the Zil 4972
See http://legion.wplus.net/guide/army/tr/zil.html on the site of Roman Astakhoff for more info on the 4972.
zil 4906 This Amphib is a 6WD with 4WS, the front and rear wheels steer.
The fiberglass body, is air conditioned.
The tire pressure control from the cab.
The uniform arrangement of the axles on the machine (2400+2400 mm) allows to overcome trenches more than 1.5 m width, and vertical earth and snow barriers up to 1 m.
Engine: V8 petrol engine ZIL-508.10 with 150 hp
OR
Engine: diesel ZIL-0550.30.
Gearbox: 5 gear + reverse transferbox: 2 gear low and high.
Speed land 80 Offroad average with cargo 20 water: 13 km/h
Water propulsion: 2 propellers
Transmission is executed in a H-circuit (Just like the Alvis Stalwart).
But the ZIL has hydraulic couplings on the axles to prevent winding up of the transmission on asphalt roads.

The way it works is that a coupling lets a very small difference in the axle revs pass but that is only a fraction of the power needed to drive the vehicle forward.

zil49061 This very special vehicle was involved with the searching and evacuation of the returned space ships and there crews.

The pictures on the left and above are used with permission from:

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/4546/zil4906.html

zil49061 I do not know where I got this picture.
zil 4906 The rest of the pictures come with permission of A.F. Ruban from the site:
Soviet & Russian Military Vehicles
http://leon-esman.chat.ru/
ZIL 4906
Length: 8340 width; 2480 height: 2510 mm
It is a bit shorter and the fuel tank is smaller than the later models (after 1977)
The Blue Birds were build until 1979.
zil49061 There was ones a time: ;-)
A used Blue Bird for sale the asking price was 300.000 Euro. ;-)

In 2010 you pay in advance 300.000 to a guy that wispers in your ear: "I know one for sale"

In 2008 a Bird in very good conditon was soled for unknown EURO.

The price was over 6 zero's. But how much over, 2 times or 5? That is no tale that is cash! :-)
zil 4906 The longer version had a range of 700 km that is 140 km more that the older (1972) model.

I have received much info from Kataev Sasha

But a lot of questions remain unanswered.

Kataev contribution to my pages was the mention and translation of Russian web pages http://leon-esman.chat.ru/

zil49061