Towarzystwo Budowy Samochodów AS was an

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

and mechanical parts manufacturer based in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

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 ...

, that operated from 1924 to 1939.

History

The company was founded in 1924 by

-based businessman Jan Łaski, and an engineer

Czesław Zbierański Czesław Michał Zbierański (1885–1982) was a Polish engineer, pioneer of Polish aviation, Major (rank), major of Polish Army. In 1910–1911, with Stanisław Cywiński, he constructed an aircraft with two pairs of wings, the first Polish aircr ...

, who was an owner of Warszawskie Autowarszaty (Warsaw Car Repair Shops), a group of the assembly halls located at the 64 Złota Street, Warsaw, and where the product has been set. The headquarters of the company were based at the 16 Srebrna Street, Warsaw. They had begun working on designing the AS car, with Zbierański becoming the production manager and engineer Aleksander Liberman, designing the

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

for the car. The first prototypes were made on 4 January 1927. On 27 March 1927, the final version of the chassis was manufactured in

Fabryka Powozów Braci Węgrzeckich Fabryka is a settlement in the administrative district of Gmina Ostrów Wielkopolski, within Ostrów Wielkopolski County, Greater Poland Voivodeship Greater Poland Voivodeship ( ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship, or province, in west ...

located in

Szydłowiec Szydłowiec (; ; ) is a town in Szydłowiec County, Mazovian Voivodeship, south-central Poland, with 5,243 inhabitants (31 December 2005). It is the seat of Gmina Szydłowiec (commune). Szydłowiec is part of the historic region of Lesser Polan ...

, Poland.

After a few months of road tests, the car had been allowed to be sold. It was manufactured in 4

car body styles Governments and private organizations have developed car classification schemes that are used for various purposes including regulation, description, and categorization of cars. The International Standard ISO 3833-1977 ''Road vehicles – Type ...

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

landaulet,

convertible A convertible or cabriolet () is a Car, passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary across eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air drivin ...

limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment which can be operated mechanically by hand or by a button electronically. A luxu ...

and

panel van A panel van, also known as a delivery van (United Kingdom), blind van, car-derived van or sedan delivery (United States), is a small cargo vehicle with a passenger car chassis, typically with a single front bench seat and no side windows behind ...

. The taxi landaulet version was the most popular, having around 100 cars being made, while the other version had around 50 cars made for each one. The customers could have also ordered only the chassis, paying a lower price. The car was manufactured in 2 versions, with different

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

s: S1 and S2. S1 used engine manufactured by

Chapuis-Dornier Chapuis-Dornier was a French manufacturer of proprietary engines for automobiles from 1904 to 1928 in Puteaux near Paris. Between 1919 and 1921 it displayed a prototype automobile, but it was never volume produced.Linz, Schrader: ''Die große Autom ...

while S2, by

CIME C.I.M.E., CIME, La Compagnie Industrielle des Moteurs Explosion, (''Industrial Internal combustion engine, Combustion Engine Company''), was a French manufacturer of light proprietary engines, mainly Inline-four engine, four-cylinder units. CIME ...

. The first models of the car also used the engine made by

Ruby Ruby is a pinkish-red-to-blood-red-colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapph ...

. All engines, as well as the

gearbox A transmission (also called a gearbox) is a mechanical device invented by Louis Renault (who founded Renault) which uses a gear set—two or more gears working together—to change the speed, direction of rotation, or torque multiplication/r ...

were imported from

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The rest of the elements of the car were manufactured in Poland. The car manufacturing company was awarded the silver medal for its AS cars at the 1929

Polish General Exhibition The Polish General Exhibition (Polish: ''Powszechna Wystawa Krajowa'') was an exhibition event held from 16 May to 30 September 1929 (138 days) in Poznań, Poland. It was organized to commemorate the 10th anniversary of regaining independence and ...

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

. Its cars also arouse interest at the exhibition. AS was mostly praised for its noiseless, non-resistive, and precise way of closing its doors. In 1929, Liberman bought stock shares in the company from Łaski, and become the owner of the company. The car stopped being manufactured in 1930, due to the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. There were around 150 AS cars manufactured in total. They were made in 3 series, the first two countings respectively 60 and 80 cars. The third series was planned to count 100 cars, however, only a small number of cars that series has been manufactured. In 1932, most of the machinery in the assembly line, needed for the car manufacture, had burned down in the fire. In the second half of the 1930s, Zbierański had moved the remaining machinery and car parts to a factory in Miedzeszyn. The company manufactured the car components for various other cars, the spare parts to AS cars, and to various other cars and planes, as well as various

bevel A bevelled edge (UK) or beveled edge (US) is an edge of a structure that is not perpendicular to the faces of the piece. The words bevel and chamfer overlap in usage; in general usage, they are often interchanged, while in technical usage, they ...

and

spur gear Spur gears or straight-cut gears are the simplest type of gear. They consist of a cylinder or disk with teeth projecting radially. Viewing the gear at 90 degrees from the shaft length (side on) the tooth faces are straight and aligned parallel to ...

s. It ceased to exist with the annexation of Poland in the

invasion An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory (country subdivision), territory controlled by another similar entity, ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

in 1939, which began the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Vehicle models

* AS S1 * AS S2

External links

Citations

Notes

References

{{Automotive industry in Poland Car brands Car manufacturers of Poland Polish brands Defunct manufacturing companies of Poland Manufacturing companies based in Warsaw Manufacturing companies established in 1924 1924 establishments in Poland Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1939 1939 disestablishments in Poland Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers Śródmieście Północne Wawer