FSC Żuk A11

Polish roads have seen many a "Żuk". In this case, however, we are not referring to the popular Volkswagen Beetle, but to the Polish "van" - the Żuk. The name covers an entire series of Polish delivery vehicles, produced by the Fabryka Samochodów Ciężarowych (Truck Factory) in Lublin between 1959 and 1998. The Żuk was a favourite of farmers, served postal workers from Poczta Polska (Polish Post Office), and sometimes even played the role of a fire engine. Like the iconic Maluch, the Żuk was a hero of everyday life for many Poles.

The T-shirt features a 1967 Żuk, a version with a wooden cargo bed, which gave it a load capacity of 950 kg. Other variants of the Żuk were mainly used to transport food products or clothing, but passenger models, i.e., minibuses, were also produced. In 1970, Żuks even began to be assembled in Egypt, and despite the obvious analogy, they were not called "Scarab", but Ramzes. Egyptian ELTRAMCO plants assembled their Żuk-Ramzes until the 1990s, with many modifications introduced along the way.

The production of the Żuk was stopped in 1998, when the number of units released reached 587,818. And although in terms of numbers and sales it was far behind the "beetle" Garbus, it does not mean that it was not a car that particularly served the common man. Its sharply outlined rectangular silhouette and sad expression of the front bumper became iconic, and for many years will be remembered by working Poles of the Polish People's Republic era.

The author of the drawing is Wrocław artist Paweł Grabowski.