MiniAutoHobby: Żubr A80

Saturday 8 May 2021

Żubr A80 - Polish truck produced in Jelczańskie Zakłady Samochodowe in Jelcz-Laskowice in the years 1960-1968. It was the first truck produced by this manufacturer.

In the first post-war years, in order to meet the country's transport needs, the Central Design Office of the Automotive Industry was established. This office dealt with the creation of vehicle plans, which were then implemented in factories throughout the country.

The first car factory in post-war Poland was the Truck Factory in Starachowice, opened in 1949. The first prototypes of the Old 20 were completed on December 15, 1948. These plants were established on the basis of the former steelworks and armaments plants. This manufacturer produced small and medium-sized trucks and chassis for specialized cars and buses. At the beginning of the 1950s, the Fabryka Samochodow Osobowych in Warsaw was put into operation. At that time, plants producing components for various manufacturers, located in different parts of the country, developed as well.

Post-war road transport in Poland was based on low-capacity trucks (2-4 tons). The fleets of carriers were dominated by Lublin 51, vehicles of Soviet production (ZIS, ZIŁ and GAZ), Czechoslovakia (Skoda, Tatra) and surplus vehicles, mainly pre-war.

Jelczańskie Zakłady Samochodowe started its activity in 1952. Initially, they dealt with the repair of trucks and the construction of bodies on cars of various manufacturers. An additional activity was the production of tools and workshop equipment.

Also in 1952 in Warsaw, in the Design Office of the Automotive Industry, the concept of building a truck with a carrying capacity of 8 tons was created. The chassis design work, led by Witold Kończykowski, engineer, was completed in October 1952. At the end of 1952, the office and employees were moved to Jelcz.

After moving the office to Jelcz, the design team of Eng. Kończykowski developed the assumptions of derivative cars. At that time, 3 concepts were created: A-01 - load capacity of 7 tons and 4x4 drive, A-02 - load capacity of 7 tons and drive 4x2 and a bus chassis with a lowered frame and an enlarged wheelbase.

At the same time, in the team led by Eng. Edward Loth, the design of the S56 engine was created. It was approved in April 1953, tests of the finished prototype on the dynamometer were completed at the turn of 1954 and 1955.

The entire project was approved in January 1954. In summer 1955, road tests of the complete prototype began. The vehicle was made with a tipper body with a capacity of 7.5 tons (in the 1950s, cars of this type produced in Poland had a load capacity of up to 3.5 tons).

In 1960, Żubr C-90 was created, which was a tractor unit that could tow trailers weighing up to 16 tons.

At that time, there was a division of production between Jelcz, which was to produce large trucks, and Stare, which dealt with medium-sized trucks and off-road trucks.

Serial production of the Żubr A80 began in 1960. It turned out, however, that the new vehicle is very emergency. Users mainly complained about the engine and the rear axle. Designers developed a new S-560 engine. The cooling system, gearbox and rear axle were changed. The most visible change was the replacement of the 22-inch wheels with the 20-inch ones. As a result of the troubles of Zakłady Mechaniczne in Łabędy, Hungarian Raba driving bridges were used. Despite this fact, the Żubr A80 was still a very emergency vehicle.

In 1961, the cabin was also modernized, which was much more modern than the original one. In 1962, the production of chassis for bodies and tractors was started in small series. In the same year, work began on the successor of Żubr - Żubr II.

Serial production ended in 1968, when the assembly of the Jelcz 315 began. In total, less than 7,000 units were produced.