FSC Żuk
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The Żuk ( pl. ''
beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...
'') is a van and light truck produced in
Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...
,
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
, between 1958 and 1998 by FSC. It was based on
FSO Warszawa FSO Warszawa (from Polish: ''Warsaw'') is an automobile manufactured in FSO factory in Warsaw, Poland between 1951 and 1973, based on GAZ-M20 Pobeda. The Warszawa was the first newly designed car built in Poland after the World War II. Warsza ...
, which in turn was licensed from the Soviet passenger car
GAZ-M20 Pobeda The GAZ-M20 "Pobeda" (; ''победа'' means ''victory'') is a passenger car produced in the Soviet Union by GAZ from 1946 until 1958. It was also licensed to the Poland, Polish Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych, Passenger Automobile Factory and pro ...
. The chassis, suspension and engine from FSO Warszawa formed the basis of the Żuk and the Nysa light vans designed in the late 1950s. About were manufactured. The Żuk was mainly sold to state organizations, but also to individuals. After 1989, with the liberalization of the Polish economy, the Żuk was able to maintain sales to the traditional markets and expand the number sold to individual consumers. The final few years of production was in parallel to its successor, the Lublin van, as a cheaper alternative. The Żuk came in a range of body styles. The most common were van and light 1.1-ton pickup truck. Rarer variants were
minibus A minibus, microbus, or minicoach 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, the word "minibus" is us ...
and a long-cab truck. Rare for a van, it had independent front suspension. It was very angular, with a number of wide channels running along the side of the body and a completely flat windscreen/windshield. After about ten years in production the front of the cab was restyled, from then on the distinctive side channels no longer continued around onto the front to meet the grille. No further changes were made, except a minor change to the number of vents located above the headlights. The Żuk was a favourite of farmers, and a common place to find groups of them was at any local market when they were used to transport crops from the fields to the farmers’ own stalls. The Polish postal service (
Poczta Polska The Polish Post (, ) is the state postal administration of Poland, initially founded in 1558. The company is headquartered in Warsaw and employs over 67,000 people. It is the largest mail-handling company in the country, which additionally prov ...
) used large numbers of Żuks painted in a dull orange colour, and local fire services used them as personnel carriers or even as mini fire engines in country districts. The Żuk was shipped to the Soviet Union in the panel van form. From the 1970s to about 1990, it was also manufactured in Egypt under licence as ELTRAMCO RAMZES.


Variants

There were two main types of Żuk trucks, the ones with the original slightly "rounded" front and the more angular improved version. The change was made at the end of 1960s. Other modifications were indicated with suffixes M, B and C (for example A11M, A15B or A151C). A03: older version pickup with optional tarpaulin cover A05: older version van, rear compartment has only rear window, no side windows A06: newer version van, similar to A05 except the nose A07: van for cargo or passengers ("tow-os"), similar to A06, the rear compartment has side windows A09: older version flatbed truck with optional tarpaulin covered box A11: newer version of the A09 flatbed truck A13: newer version pickup, similar to A03 A15: firefighter truck, first based on the A05 then later on the A06 van, with reinforced roof structure, added ladder and firefighting equipment storage on the roof, with a portable fire pump and additional equipment (hoses, pickaxe, etc.) in the rear compartment. Also added rotating emergency lights above the cab and a siren (electronic or electromechanical). A151: firefighter truck similar to A15, with a front-mounted fire pump. The pump was powered by the crankshaft of the truck's engine via an electromagnetically actuated clutch A16: "crew cab" version of the A11, with shorter bed


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:FSC Zuk Vehicles of Poland FSC vehicles Science and technology in Poland Vans