The Nysa van was produced in the town of

Nysa, Poland Nysa (german: Neisse or ''Neiße'', szl, Nysa) is a town in southwestern Poland on the Eastern Neisse ( Polish: ''Nysa Kłodzka'') river, situated in the Opole Voivodeship. With 43,849 inhabitants (2019), it is the capital of Nysa County. It ...

, from 1958 until 1994. The Nysa was based on the same chassis as the angular shaped Żuk van, but had rounded body lines, especially the two-part rounded windshield, and was considered more comfortable and a better fit for carrying people. The basic body variant was a universal van, for cargo or persons, with sliding doors on the right or conventional doors (marked with a letter T - ). At the rear, most variants had a single door opening to the left side. A few variants existed: a cargo van (letter F - ), a

minibus A minibus, microbus, minicoach, or commuter (in Zimbabwe) is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, ...

(letter M) and an ambulance (letter S), and some others. A rare variant was made in the form of a light truck. At the time, the Nysa was practically the only van-size ambulance used in Poland. Many vans were sold to the

Militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

, which was the only form of police during the Communist era in Poland; blue Nysa vans became a kind of "trademark" of the Militia (Militia variants had slide doors on both sides, most had also a two-part door at the rear). The peak of its popularity was in the 1970s, with 18,200 made in 1978. In the 1980s the production decreased. When Poland became a democracy again in 1989 the future was bleak for the Nysa. Development work had been minimal for the past 20 years. Most customers, including the Police, chose more modern, faster and safer vans of Western manufacturers, that became widely imported instead. The production was closed in 1994, after manufacturing 380,575 vehicles. Both Nysa and its sibling Żuk van were heavily based on the

Warszawa Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

, itself a licensed version of the Soviet

GAZ-M20 Pobeda The GAZ-M20 "Pobeda" (russian: ГАЗ-М20 Победа; ''победа'' means ''victory'') was a passenger car produced in the Soviet Union by GAZ from 1946 until 1958. It was also licensed to the Polish Passenger Automobile Factory and produ ...

. Among others, it had the same wheelbase and engine. Its transmission and suspension were modified. Early variants of the Nysa were powered by the M20 petrol engine (R4 flathead, 2.12 L, 36.8 kW), most common was the newer S21 petrol engine (R4

OHV An overhead valve (OHV) engine, sometimes called a ''pushrod engine'', is a piston engine whose valves are located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier flathead engines, where the valves were located bel ...

, 2.12l, 51.5 kW), used from 1964 onward. A big part of production was exported (in some years, 70%), mostly to Eastern Bloc countries, especially

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

and

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, but also to

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

and some Asian and African countries. In

Nysa vans were almost exclusively used as ambulance cars; 777 of them were in use in 1987. In 1968 the front end styling was changed, and the most numerous model 521/522 entered production, which remained in a largely unchanged form until the end. Nysa models included: N57 (1958), N58 (1958), N59, N60, N61, N63 (not produced), 501 (1964), 503 (not produced) and 521/522 (1968).

Gallery

Nysa N59M in Kraków - bus stop.jpg, Nysa N59M Bieszczady68-91-Rabe.jpg, Nysa N61-K Színészek-Újságírók Rangadó (SZÚR), Kabos László színművész. Fortepan 50258.jpg, Nysa 501 ZSD Nysa 522 M during II. Vasút - Vasútmodell és Technikai Modell Fesztivál.jpg, Nysa 522, Hungary

References

External links

Nysa and other Polish trucks
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nysa (van) Cars of Poland Vans FSC vehicles Science and technology in Poland PRL nostalgia Polish brands