Żuk — mug

Beetle ceramic mug

Mug capacity: 330 ml

FSC Beetle

Polish roads have seen many a Beetle. However, in this case, we are not referring to the popular Volkswagen Beetle, but to the Polish "delivery van" - the Żuk. The name covers an entire series of Polish delivery vehicles, produced by the Truck Factory in Lublin between 1959 and 1998. The Żuk was a favorite of farmers, served postmen from the Polish Post, and sometimes even played the role of a fire truck. Like the iconic Maluch, the Żuk was a daily hero for many Poles.

The T-shirt features a Żuk from 1967, which was a version with a wooden cargo box that gave it a payload 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. Egyptian ELTRAMCO factories assembled their Żuk-Ramzes until the 90s, with many modifications introduced along the way.

The 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 that particularly served the common man. Its sharply outlined rectangular silhouette and the sad expression of its 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 the Wrocław artist Paweł Grabowski.