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Concept
Riga Autobus Factory
Summary
The Riga Autobus Factory (RAF; Rīgas Autobusu Fabrika) was a factory in Jelgava, Latvia, making vans and minibuses under the brand name Latvija.
During the Soviet period, RAF and UAZ were the only producers of vans and minibuses in Soviet Union. RAF vans and minibuses were used only by state enterprises, most often as ambulances and for public transit. Private persons were not allowed to own them, the only exception being for families with at least five children.
In 1949, the factory began producing van bodies on the site of the Riga auto repair factory No.2 (commonly known as RARZ). In 1955, it was renamed the Riga Experimental Bus Factory (Rīgas eksperimentālā autobusu fabrika, Рижский Опытный Автобусный Завод), and the products started to be abbreviated to RAF. It would become the main Soviet producer of minibuses.
RAF's first product was the RAF-251, a 22-seat local bus, based on the GAZ-51 chassis (which RAF also built), with a wood and metal body. There was also a passenger- and freight version (Kombi), the 251T, with a payload of 14 passengers and cargo.
From 1958, the factory started to produce RAF-977 minibuses, based on GAZ-21 Volga engine (between the front seats, rather like the Dodge A100; the engine was accessible through an inside hatch), transmission, axles, and steering. It was planned to produce passenger ("route taxis" for airports, and for sporting teams), freight, mail, and ambulance versions of the vehicle, to replace the modified estates then in use. Drawing inspiration from the VW Type 2, it had a front-mounted water-cooled engine (based on the Volga's, with a lower compression ratio), and seated ten. It debuted in 1957, and ten were built for display at that year's Moscow Youth Festival, leading to a proposed name Festival. The first batch was produced in 1959, under the new RAF 977 name. It got and could reach , the majority of those being hand-built.
In 1965, RAF proposed two prototypes, with the hope of persuading Minavtoprom to finance a new factory: a conventional version, comparable to the Ford Transit (dubbed the RAF 962-I), or a forward control version, similar to the Renault Estafette (dubbed the 962-II).
Official source
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