FSC Żuk A11

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

The T-shirt features a Żuk from 1967, specifically the version with a wooden cargo box, which gave it a payload capacity of 950 kg. Other variants of the Żuk were mainly used for transporting 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. The Egyptian ELTRAMCO plants assembled their Żuk-Ramzes until the 1990s, with many modifications introduced along the way.

Production of the Żuk was halted 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 particularly serving the common person. Its sharply defined rectangular silhouette and sad expression of the front bumper became iconic, and will be remembered for many years by working Poles of the PRL era.

The author of the drawing is Wrocław artist Paweł Grabowski.