WSK M06B3

A sleek frame, brightly painted fuel tank, and a top speed of 80 kilometers per hour. We are talking about the WSK M06 B3, the most popular model produced by Wytwórnia Sprzętu Komunikacyjnego in Świdnik. Between 1971 and 1985, over 650,000 units of this iconic motorcycle rolled off the production line, turning many a man in the Polish People's Republic era into a nonchalant charmer with dishevelled hair, breaking one woman's heart on the way to the next.

WSK competed with the Warsaw Motorcycle Factory (Warszawska Fabryka Motocykli), which after 1957 began to fall behind the Świdnik factory. The decline of the Varsovians can be attributed to the radical modernization and application of new solutions by WSK, which ultimately led to the closure of the factory in Warsaw. The final straw for WFM's failures was the presentation by WSK in 1964 at the Poznań Fair of the M06 version, which technically far surpassed the motorcycles of the Warsaw factory and did not differ in price at all.

The WSK M06 B3 is also the domain of the so-called "bird family," which includes motorcycles named, among others, "Gil" (Hawfinch), "Kos" (Blackbird), and "Bąk" (Bittern). The iconic model also had sports and export versions. The last unit left the factory on October 31, 1985, and a day later, sugar rationing was abolished. Probably to sweeten the end of their golden era for all those charmers.

The drawing was created by Wrocław artist Paweł Grabowski.