Jelcz 300

Jelcz is not only a favorite place for people from Lower Silesia, where they spend summer afternoons by the lake. Jelcz is also famous for its trucks, with the iconic 300 series produced between 1968 and 1992. However, before our Jelcz went into production, Jelcz Automobile Works was involved in the production of its predecessor, the Żubr A80. It was a flawed model, but it had a load capacity of up to 8 tons – it was the only Polish-made truck with such a capacity until then. Jelcz Automobile Works began working on a new, better-designed truck model in 1966, aiming to produce a vehicle that could carry loads weighing between 10 and 12 tons.

Thus, in 1967, prototypes of the "three hundreds" Jelcz were created. In the early 1970s, the load capacity even exceeded the desired 12 tons, allowing for the transport of 18-ton loads. Despite increasingly better results, the trucks from Jelcz did not satisfy the manufacturers. Therefore, in 1972, the Automobile Works turned to the Austrian company Steyr-Daimler-Puch with a proposal for cooperation. From then on, Austrian components were used in Polish trucks. Soon after, due to technical difficulties, the cooperation was terminated, and Jelcz Automobile Works returned to improving old designs, thus maintaining production until the 1990s. Now, the famous "three hundreds" are not seen on the streets, but they can be seen on t-shirts – thanks to you, Jelcz will remain iconic.

The drawing is by Wrocław artist Paweł Grabowski.