ZIS-101 was a limousine

Limousine

A limousine is a luxury sedan or saloon car, especially one with a lengthened wheelbase or driven by a chauffeur. The chassis of a limousine may have been extended by the manufacturer or by an independent coachbuilder. These are called "stretch" limousines and are traditionally black or white....

 from Zavod Imeni Stalina

Zavod Imeni Likhacheva

Zavod imeni Likhachova, more commonly called ZIL is a major Russian truck and heavy equipment manufacturer, which also produced armored cars for most Soviet leaders, as well as buses, armored fighting vehicles, and aerosani...

. The 101 was introduced in 1936 and was equipped with an 5.8 l (354 cu in) straight-8

Straight-8

The straight-eight engine or inline-eight engine is an eight-cylinder internal combustion engine with all eight cylinders mounted in a straight line along the crankcase...

 engine producing 90 hp and giving a top speed of 115 km/h (71 mph). The car was inspired by Packard

Packard

Packard was an American luxury-type automobile marque built by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, and later by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation of South Bend, Indiana...

 designs of the time. It was fitted with a 3 speed automatic gearbox and torque converter

Torque converter

In modern usage, a torque converter is generally a type of hydrodynamic fluid coupling that is used to transfer rotating power from a prime mover, such as an internal combustion engine or electric motor, to a rotating driven load...

.

It was followed by 101-A that had improved the engine giving 110 hp and a new top speed of approximately 130 km/h (81 mph). Production ended in 1941.

In 1939 a two seat sport version designed by Valentin Nikolaevich Rostkov called 101-Sport was made. The engine was the same as in the 101-A, but boosted to 141 hp and a top speed of 162 km/h (101 mph) (although a Pravda

Pravda

Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....

article claims 170-180 km/h). It was however not made in more than one or two copies.