1962 GAZ 16A Hover Vehicle by Autocult

When I worked at the Defense Department during the Carter administration, I was spellbound by the grainy photos of experimental Soviet naval craft such as the Caspian Sea Monster.

The GAZ 16A was a few years before it but fascinating nonetheless.

"The Unique Soviet Development - the Flying Volga GAZ 16a" 

Here's what Autocult has to say about it:

It's now an open secret that the Soviet Union researched and developed many things to gain a strategic military advantage. Over the years, many weird prototypes, possibly classified as top secret at the time, have been unveiled, giving us interesting insights into the past. One of the weirdest prototypes was the GAZ 16A. Its name comes from the Gorky Automobile Factory where it was assembled; GAZ was founded in 1932 and manufactured specialty vehicles such as trucks, passenger cars and amphibious vehicles. During the Cold War era of the 1950s, GAZ began to handle development work. In the early 1960s, they began to manufacture hovercraft. While GAZ engineers knew the conceptual difficulties of hovercraft, they were still able to design a usable body for the new vehicle. Two propellers at the front and rear lifted the vehicle off the ground, and two large propulsion propellers generated enough wind to move the hovercraft horizontally. Engineers around the world attempted the development and concept of air cushion vehicles, but ultimately the economic and general success of the concept remained at a low level, and it was used only in a few areas.