Here’s a new one for me, and maybe you, thanks to Roshake77. The ZUK A-11 is a light truck (and van) built in Poland between 1958 and 1998 by FSC. It was based to some extent on the FSO Waszawa, which in turn was based on the Russian GAZ-M20 Pobeda.
The Zukwas mainly sold to state organizations (which of course dominated in the communist era), and some individuals. After the liberalization of the Polish economy, the Żuk was able to maintain sales to its traditional markets and expand the number sold to individual consumers.
There were van and truck version, in a number of body styles. Power came form a 2.1 L gas four. The ZUK was very popular with farmers, who used it to bring crops and wares to the markets from their farms. It was also used widely by the Polish postal service.
The original style of the ZUK was more rounded, like this van, but in around 1968 or so, the revise boxy style replaced it.
The ZUK is related to the Nysa 522, which we have seen here at CC back in 2014.
Love all the drip pans under the van!
Funny, but I’ve never seen any here in Yuma, Arizona.
I guess I need to get out more.
The upright stance reminds me of the Mercedes-Benz T2 vans and buses. Unfortunately, the bodyside ribbing increases the utilitarian look of the design. Adding a corrugated tin-like aspect to its looks, that does it no favours.
Like a 1980s graphic equalizer, it would have been cool if the grille slots on the newer Zuk illuminated vertically to match the engine RPMs.
I don’t think Daniel Stern would approve of this, for safety reasons. 🙂
What? I can’t hear you over my screams about the deadlamps on the truck in the lede pic of this post!
Hah ha ha, yess!!
I’m on a lightly packed weekend trip, so am looking at the site on my mobile potato… and that was the first thing that struck me. I had to blow up the pic and squint a bit to see what’s (not) going on there. Makes you wonder when those started degrading, and how long the owner will wait before replacing them. Sheesh.
Very interesting – I love reading about vehicles I’d never heard of before.
I’m pretty sure that in Polish, the word Zuk refers to some kind of bug. Google Translate says it means beetle, though I believe I’ve heard the term to refer to roach as well.
Eric,
You’re spot on with the translation. My Polish wife first said it was a “friendly cockroach” but later said it was a beetle.
Apparently her father had the Nysa version at work (mining) which she said was for people while the Zuk was for cargo.
Remember these very well, the steering wheel sticks out very high in the cab, when driving one of these your arms are up in the air.
Always felt sorry for the people who had to drive them
I drove one! (Briefly). My uncle bought one very used for carrying around heating equipment around 2003 I think – it was old and clapped out and on the edge of failing its yearly safety inspection. The driving experience was fun because the manual had reverse where normally you’d have 1st so I was very careful with that (Mercedes used that layout too). Fortunately his was a later model with full synchro or I’d have had a hard time getting it moving. They disappeared from the roads, now there are a few used for retro stuff like “communism” tours of cities. They’re usually on yellow plates which means +25 yrs antiques that don’t need to do safety inspections but need to be maintained as antiques.
Just noticed that one is on Hungarian plates, I’ve driven through Hungary and noticed more old cars than I see in Poland including stuff like Ladas used as daily drivers.
I like it. So utilitarian with no pretense. I wonder how many survive.
I had a friend in Poland once, an email buddy in the early 2000s. He had a Chevrolet Corsica and absolutely loved it. He’d ask me lots of questions about American market cars, before things like Google and Wikipedia were so common place. I do wonder how he’s doing, and what he’s driving now!
I concur regarding its unpretentious utilitarian design vibes. This would make a great inner-city runabout for high frequency small deliveries and the like. Park anywhere without hassle. That is one cool font on the fire truck.
A very abstract-looking badge!
It was not great to drive, no power steering, no power brakes, turn radius from what I recall also not that impressive. So they were what you could get under communism and you had to like it, then they were the cheapest transport and then they died out. BTW, yes Żuk (pronounced jook) – means beetle.