International Journal of New Economics and Social Sciences № 1(7)2018 Bartosz Zakrzewski PhD, Scientific Information and Publications Section, Motor Transport Institute (Warsaw, Poland) * Corresponding author: e-mail: [email protected] ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9902-9759 PASSENGER CARS TESTED AT THE MOTOR TRANSPORT INSTITUTE IN THE 1950s OF THE 20th CENTURY – THE PROTOTYPE OF THE FSO SYRENA SAMOCHODY OSOBOWE BADANE W INSTYTUCIE TRANSPORTU SAMOCHODOWEGO W LATACH 50. XX W. - PROTOTYP FSO SYRENA ПАССАЖИРСКИЕ АВТОМОБИЛИ, ПОЛУЧЕННЫЕ В ИНСТИТУТЕ ОСЕННЕГО ТРАНСПОРТА В 50-Е ГОДЫ XX B. - ПРОТОТИП FSO SYRENA Abstract The article presents and characterizes the results of road tests that the prototype of the FSO Syrena passenger car underwent at the Motor Transport Institute (ITS) in Warsaw in 1955. The final report from the tests carried out at MTI, kept in the archives, was subject to a detailed analysis and the conclusions have been presented in this article. The road tests carried out at MTI in 1955 served the FSO engineers in designing the series-production version of the Syrena car, whose production started in 1957. The FSO Syrena, over almost 30 years, was the first popular car for hundreds of thousands of Polish families, and today it has become a legendary vehicle, synonymous with the motoring of the PPR's day. Keywords: passenger cars, popular car, prototype, Passenger Automobile Factory, FSO Syrena, road tests Streszczenie W artykule zaprezentowano i scharakteryzowano wyniki badań drogowych, które przeszedł w 1955 roku w Instytucie Transportu Samochodowego (ITS) w Warszawie, prototyp samo- chodu osobowego marki FSO Syrena. Przechowywane w archiwum sprawozdanie końcowe z przeprowadzonych w ITS badań poddano szczegółowej analizie, a wnioski zaprezento- wano w artykule. Badania drogowe przeprowadzone w ITS 1955 r. posłużyły inżynierom z FSO przy projektowaniu seryjnej wersji samochodu Syrena, którą rozpoczęto produkować w 1957 r. FSO Syrena, na przestrzeni niemal 30 lat, była pierwszym samochodem popular- nym dla setek tysięcy polskich rodzin, a dziś stała się pojazdem legendarnym, synonimem motoryzacji doby PRL. ISSN 2450-2146 / E-ISSN 2451-1064 © 2018 /Published by: Międzynarodowy Instytut Innowacji Nauka-Edukacja-Rozwój w Warszawie, Polska This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) Zakrzewski B. (2018) Passenger Cars Tested at The Motor Transport Institute in the 1950s of the 20th Century – the Prototype of the FSO Syrena. International Journal of New Economics and Social Sciences,1(7)2018: 145-159 DOI 10.5604/01.3001.0012.2552 145 International Journal of New Economics and Social Sciences № 1(7)2018 Słowa kluczowe: samochody osobowe, samochód popularny, prototyp, Fabryka Samocho- dów Osobowych, FSO Syrena, badania drogowe Аннотация В статье представлены и характеризуются результаты дорожных испытаний, прошедших в Институте автомобильного транс-порта (ITS) в Варшаве, прототипе пассажирского автомобиля FSO Syrena в 1955 году. Был подробно проанализирован окончательный отчет исследований, проведенных в ИТС, хранящихся в архивах, и выводы были представлены в статье. Дорожные испытания, проведенные в ITS 1955, служили инженерам FSO при разработке серийной версии автомобиля Syrena, который был запущен в 1958 году. FSO Syrena, почти 30 лет назад, был первым автомобилем, популярным для сотен тысяч польских семей, и сегодня он стал транспортным средством легендарный, синонимичный с автомобилем в день Польской Народной Республики. Ключевые слова: легковые автомобили, популярный автомобиль, прототип, Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych, FSO Syrena, дорожные испытания ____________________________________________________________ Article history: Received: 22.06.2018 / Accepted: 25.06.2018 / Published: 30.06.2018 JEL Classification: R 49 ________________________________________________________________________ The statement of the problem in general outlook and its connection with important scientific and practical tasks. Work on the first Polish prototypes of cars The desings of the prototype were started to after the Second World War began quite be prepared. The first of these prototypes late, because it started in the early 1950s. were constructed using the trial and error Until that time, the Polish roads were method, often adapting solutions from other dominated by post-military, often still war, already existing foreign vehicles (DKW, American, Soviet and German cars. At the IFA-F8, Aero). The method of adaptation end of 1951, the production of Warszawa made the first Polish prototypes of M-20 cars (or rather Gaz M20 Pobieda) passenger cars very imperfect and with began under a Soviet license. However, the many defects. The first two of these Warszawa car was intended for public prototypes were called “Gad 500” and officers or taxi companies- it was a large “Pionier” and were powered by engines and a "gas-guzzling" car. The development designed by engineer Stefan Gajęcki of individual motorization was not (Berkan J. 2007; Zakrzewski B., Pawlak P. assumed, partly for ideological reasons (the 2014; Zakrzewski B. 2010). While the Gad car was synonymous with bourgeois was a car designed as a convertible, the luxury), and secondly for economic reasons Pioneer was supposed to be a whole family (Polish industry was only just rebuilding of cars, including the commercial and after the Second World War hecatomb). ambulance versions. Ultimately, however, Over time, however, when the first only prototypes of the vehicles not Warszawa M-20 cars were already going on introduced to serial production were devel- Polish roads, the idea of a popular car for oped (Zakrzewski B., Pawlak P. 2014). the masses with a small engine appeared. ISSN 2450-2146 / E-ISSN 2451-1064 © 2018 /Published by: Międzynarodowy Instytut Innowacji Nauka-Edukacja-Rozwój w Warszawie, Polska This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) Zakrzewski B. (2018) Passenger Cars Tested at The Motor Transport Institute in the 1950s of the 20th Century – the Prototype of the FSO Syrena. International Journal of New Economics and Social Sciences,1(7)2018: 145-159 DOI 10.5604/01.3001.0012.2552 146 International Journal of New Economics and Social Sciences № 1(7)2018 In July 1953, a few months after the death persons could buy it only in 1958. (Szczer- of USSR leader Józef Stalin, using, among bicki T. 2016). others, experience from road tests carried Before starting the car production, the pro- out with the Gad and Pionier, a team of de- totype of the FSO Syrena passenger car un- signers composed of Kazimierz Studziński, derwent road tests at the Motor Transport Jerzy Werner, Stanisław Panczakiewicz, Institute in Warsaw (Zakrzewski B. 2017). Karol Pionnier, Kazimierz Dębski and Fry- Such road tests, including those under road deryk Blumke presented the official con- conditions, were extremely important. At struction designs of the new popular car. In that time, the Institute was the only institu- these designs, the new popular car was to tion capable of conducting full road tests be a four-passenger vehicle of the 2+2 (Zakrzewski B. 2012). Only the Institute scheme (and therefore a family car) with a had suitably qualified staff and high-quality two-stroke engine of about 22 hp. By the instruments and equipment to carry out way, the designers were to achieve the low- such tests. Their results were therefore of est possible production costs, maximum great importance for the then notables economic efficiency in operation and the mainly from the Ministry of Road and Air greatest possible unification of parts with Transport. They decided which vehicles the Warszawa M20 car. As in the case of can be driven on Polish roads, which vehi- the Gad and Pionier, the engineering team cles and how could be produced. The opin- drew a lot of inspiration from the German ions of the MTI experts were therefore IFA F8 and F9 cars or the DKW car (Górski overwhelmingly in line with subsequent de- M. 2009). cisions concerning entry into service or the At the end of 1953 the first prototype units production of vehicles tested in the MTI. A were made in two bodywork versions: the well-assessed car was roadworthy and in first one consisted of a wooden frame cov- the case of foreign cars the green light for ered with fibreboards (design by S. Pancza- the import of these vehicles into Poland was kiewicz, with, e.g., the P70 as a pattern), the lit. Bad test results and then unfavourable second one was made of steel with a large opinions of the MTI experts resulted in number of elements from the Warszawa making decisions on further works on pro- M20 (S. Łukasiewicz). The prototypes totypes of Polish popular vehicles (War- were named “Syrena” and premiered on the szawa M-20, Syrena) or prototypes were New Year's Eve in 1953 and 1954. approved (EMW340, P-70, Wolga M-21 Throughout 1954, road tests of the proto- Skoda 440) or the idea of importing the types were carried out and several more tested foreign constructions to Poland was prototypes were manufactured. In the end, abandoned (Standard Delivery Van) the more prospective version was the steel (Zakrzewski B. 2012). The article presents sheet version of the car. The first public and discusses for the first time the results of presentation of an already refined car took tests of the FSO Syrena passenger car pro- place in July 1955 at the 14th Poznań Inter- totype, found in the MTI archive. This arti- national Fair (Podbielski Z. 2013). The cle is related to the author's other research small-sized FSO Syrena was supposed to be that has been conducted for several years cheap and efficient. However, serial pro- now, concerning the development of the duction started only in 1957 and private Polish post-war motor industry (Krysiuk C., Zakrzewski B., et al. 2012). ISSN 2450-2146 / E-ISSN 2451-1064 © 2018 /Published by: Międzynarodowy Instytut Innowacji Nauka-Edukacja-Rozwój w Warszawie, Polska This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) Zakrzewski B.