The large industrial city of Melitopol was freed from Nazi occupation in 1944, at which time the National Committee of USSR ordered the factory to resume operations. In 1958 the factory was renamed MeMZ and started developing micro car engines for ZAZ. In 1960 MeMZ released the first gasoline powered engine - the MeMZ-965. The original engine had a peak power output of 23 horsepower, roughly 17 kilowatts. Despite being small, the engine produced a great-deal of heat, all of which could not be effectively dissipated by an air-cooling system. In 1963 the initial design saw some improvements and the new MeMZ-966 model was released into mass production.