Cars – Zbigniew Michniowski

For a very long time, since the 19th century, Bielsko has been an economic leader on the map of Europe. It was here that one of the first waterworks in Europe was built over 130 years ago, and the power plant built in those pioneering times enabled the construction of a tram line in 1895, which was also one of the first investments of this type. Bielsko, next to Łódź, became the center of the wool industry. At the same time, other branches of the economy were developing, hence Bielsko was later called the city of a hundred industries.

But earlier, as part of the industrial revolution, this region and Cieszyn Silesia were an example of the dynamic development of industry and technical thought. A sensation on a global scale was built by Józef Bożek from Bierów near Grodziec, most likely the first passenger car. It was in 1815 when a car, structurally modeled on horse-drawn carriages of the time, equipped with an external combustion steam engine, hit the streets of Prague, where Bożek's life path led him through Cieszyn. His earlier structures, e.g. related to church clocks, have survived to modern times in many places. Józef Bożek, who studied and worked in Brno and Prague, was extremely interested in the development of steam engine designs at that time, mainly for use on railways and in factories to drive machines. Hence the idea to use an engine in vehicles, with a boiler to generate steam, pistons working in cylinders and transmitting rotational motion to the wheels through connecting rods.

The fact of starting the car in which Bożek transported passengers for a fee was even recorded on Czech stamps. An earlier steam-powered vehicle was the Cugnot tractor intended for the army, but it did not prove successful. The following decades, however, did not bring a breakthrough because the weight and dimensions of the steam engine did not provide any prospects for development in vehicles the size of horse-drawn carriages of that time. Only the invention of internal combustion engines using petroleum fuel provided an opportunity to significantly reduce the dimensions and weight of engines, which in the 1880s began the history of the development of the automotive industry. However, it is worth remembering that the first vehicle that met the criteria of a car was the car of Józef Bożek, who came from the area of ​​today's Podbeskidzie.

The history of Bielsko-Biała's connection with the automotive industry begins in earnest in the early 1950s, when the Mechanical Equipment Factory began producing engines for Syrena cars, mass-produced since 1957 at FSO in Warsaw.

The production of Syrena 104 in Bielsko-Biała started in October 1971 and this was the real beginning of the development of car production in Podbeskidzie. This should be said because the plants cooperating with WSM were located throughout this area. A newer, slightly modernized model was the Syrena 105, whose production began a few months later. In the same period, a contract was signed with Fiat for the production and sale of the 126p car. The year 1972 began with a change of the name of the plant to Fabryka Samochodów Małolitrażowych, which clearly classified it in the group of car manufacturers.

In the same year, the Branch Center of the Central Bureau of Design and Research of the Automotive Industry, which had been operating for several months, was renamed the Research and Development Center for Small-Capacity Cars "Bosmal", which is important because from that moment design and construction work on new models and varieties of cars and their components manufactured at FSM. The first model that was created and put into production in 1974 was the Syrena 105 Bosto van, the next design is a typical cargo variant, the R-20 with a cargo box covered with a canvas roof, mainly intended as an offer for the agricultural sector. At the same time, the plant is being expanded to start the production of the 126p license car, and OBR SM is starting to analyze the possibilities of variants of this small-capacity car. Design work is ongoing in the studios in cooperation with external, experienced designers from the automotive industry. A design and prototypes of the "Bombel" variety are being created by Cezary Nawrot from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, who will be invited to cooperate many times. In "Bosmal", in the Construction Department headed by Eng. Wiesław Wiatrak, design work in this area is coordinated by an established design team, which also runs its own projects. Significant variations implemented at that time were a 126p-based wheelchair car, a "striker" for road services and changes to the car's equipment. As part of the development of the production of a licensed car, FSM implements variant equipment versions, such as the "126p Personal" models and then the BIS model, which was characterized by an underfloor boxer engine. This made it possible to create additional, although small, cargo space in the rear part above the engine.

This also allowed Bosmal to create prototype combi versions, after previous attempts to extend the basic version by 10 cm. The next serious design attempt was the development of the 126p NP model with a front engine and opening rear doors. At that time, these were already extensive design activities in cooperation with a team from the Faculty of Industrial Design of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, led by prof. Jerzy Ginalski.

Prototype 126p NP vehicles, manufactured at OBR SM "Bosmal", were presented in Warsaw in April 1980 as part of the presentation ceremony of the millionth "Maluch". An increasingly professional and experienced staff was mobilized to develop the concept of their own car, the so-called class 1000, and the driving force behind such activities was Eng. Wiatrak, convinced of the great aspirations and capabilities of the entire team of the Construction Plant, consisting of experienced constructors and representatives of the young generation of engineers and designers with excellent knowledge of the art of construction. After preliminary analyses, cooperation with the ASP Kraków team was resumed and the team was commissioned to develop the body of such a car.

Many variants and models were created, preserved in "Bosmal" to this day, two of which were selected for further design work. One of them was by prof. Ginalski, second prof. Krzysztof Meisner. The 1:1 mock-up made at the Faculty of Design was, in the opinion of the evaluators, less "avant-garde", so the design of prof. Meisner. Its characteristic feature was its single-body structure, which seemed much more promising for aerodynamic reasons, and this was confirmed by tests carried out in a wind tunnel. Despite the economically difficult period of the early 1980s, by the decision of the OBR SM and FSM management, the selected variant was sent for design and prototype development.

Beskid 106 and Beskid 3

1:5 models of designed cars

6. Design drawing of one of the Cinquecento utility variants

7. Eng. W. Wiatr and Eng. Z. Michniowski at the CarDesign 2012 exhibition

8. Model of a fire truck manufactured by WISS Bielsko-Biała

9. "Trike" a three-wheeler based on a 126p engine

"Beskid 106", which hit the roads as a prototype in 1983, aroused extraordinary interest as a single-body concept. Road and laboratory tests as well as opinions of users, i.e. those who were tasked with testing the prototypes during use, allowed for a detailed analysis and decision-making regarding possible implementation works. The effects of such considerations were the reason for the decision to design a car that would eliminate the observed shortcomings and possibly be an argument in talks with the licensor. This is how Beskid 2 was created in 1987, in some materials presented as Beskid III version, with interior elements according to the concept of prof. Cezary Nawrot. After making a driving mock-up, the project was presented to the public, including TV automotive programs, together with the first-generation Beskid and the 126p Cabrio car, whose design and technology were developed in "Bosmal" and implemented into production as part of the so-called short series.

FIAT's position on the possible launch of a car in FSM based on Polish proposals was uncompromising. They did not allow the idea of ​​introducing a model not designed by them into their sales network. So, given the ongoing talks about the takeover of FSM by FIAT, the prospects for Beskid were zero. At the same time, in the late 1980s, negotiations were held to launch another license car at FSM, which was assumed to be larger than the 126p and designed in Italy, taking into account the latest technologies at that time. And so, in 1991, FSM started the production of Cinquecento in two engine variants: 700 and 900, the production of which was taken over by the newly built plant in Tychy with a production potential exceeding 250,000. vehicles per year. However, OBR SM "Bosmal" had previously continued work on the creation of possible utility variants, which allowed the gathering, as in the case of work on Beskid I and III, knowledge and experience so that the Polish side would be a partner and not just a listener in license negotiations. In terms of conceptual and then design and prototype work, variants of the five-door car and van variants were created, the work was carried out within the OBR SM Design Department, including the Design Team, but also in cooperation with the design team of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. The production of models and prototypes was entrusted to the proven staff of the Prototypownia and Modelarnia. An interesting project completed up to the prototype stage was the TRIKE three-wheeler, which, like the Autofura concept developed a few years earlier, was intended to use the production potential of the 126p engine. Meanwhile, the so-called Maluch's make-up, however, did not go beyond concepts and preliminary models, because the Italian side pushed their project, which was particularly important for them when FSM was privatized and Fiat Auto Poland was established in 1993.

However, it is worth mentioning that interesting projects and vehicles were created outside the FSM structures. The most famous delivery vehicle produced on a small series scale was the Polonez in the Furgon version, implemented in the 1980s in cooperation with the Polish company Atarex from Bielsko-Biała, and the concept of an off-road vehicle based on the Lada-Niva, designed on behalf of another company, did not go beyond design concepts and mock-ups. . Moreover, the Polish companies that were the first to be established in the Podbeskidzie region had a significant share in cooperative deliveries to FSM and also produced accessories for all types of cars, such as roof racks.

This is a brief history of car designs and production in Bielsko-Biała and the surrounding area, when for many years the city was called the capital of the Polish automotive industry.

From the editor: Head of the Design Team and designer of the body of Beskid III, TRIK of the above-mentioned projects of Polish companies, as well as the author and co-author of many patents and utility models, including utility versions of the Cinquecento car, as part of his work in "Bosmal" at the OBR SM Design Plant, and as part of his own design activity, the author of the above study - Zbigniew Michniowski