 The design process leading to the GAZ 21 began in November 1953.Alexander Nevzorov, head of the design team, was given a free hand to develop whatever he wanted to reach the objective of competing with American automobiles.The designer Lev Eremeyev decided to follow the fashion set by the Chevrolet Bel Air, Plymouth Savoy, and Ford Mainline; the finished product bears a resemblance to the 1955 Mainline, although according to archive documents the latter was purchased for comparison and onroad testing by GAZ only in mid-1954 – after the first prototypes of the GAZ-21 had already been built and tested.