After unsuccessful tests with the prototype ZIL-Moscow in 1956 the ZIL-111 was introduced from ZIL

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...

in 1959. The styling was inspired by the mid-1950s 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...

, a United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 automobile manufacturer. It was powered by a 6.0 L V8 engine producing 200 hp connected to an automatic transmission

Automatic transmission

An automatic transmission is one type of motor vehicle transmission that can automatically change gear ratios as the vehicle moves, freeing the driver from having to shift gears manually...

 giving a top speed of 170 km/h (106 mph).

In the early 1960s the car was restyled (and re-named ZiL-111G) and it was available both as sedan and convertible

Convertible

A convertible is a type of automobile in which the roof can retract and fold away having windows which wind-down inside the doors, converting it from an enclosed to an open-air vehicle...

.