“That calls for a drink,” as is said in Correspondents’ Drinking Song by Konstantin Simonov: the first M’ka rolled off the production line of Gorky Motor Plant. Today, it is loudly and rightfully praised as the first Soviet car. The designers refused from copying Ford’s model, but presented their own idea of the light motor vehicle, and not for the fun of it, but taking into account the state of roads in the country. The official name of the model was GAZ M-1. M stood for People’s Commissar Molotov, as the motor plant was named after him. The pride of the Soviet automotive industry became a personal car of directors and Red Army commanders of high rank. However, when state security staff began using it for night arrests, the people started calling the car Black Maria, it may happen that due to the presence of letter M in the model’s name.