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Nysa
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| Defunct |
The Nysa van was produced in the town of Nysa, Poland from the late 1950s until the early 1990s. Most were sold to the armed services in Poland, particularly the Militia, and were painted a distinctive shade of dark blue. The Militia was the only form of police during the Communist era in Poland, including the dreaded ZOMO, which even years after it was disbanded many people linked to the dark blue Nysa van.
When Poland became a democracy again in 1989 the future was bleak for the Nysa. Development work had been minimal for the past 20 years and it was too closely tied to one buyer. When the Militia were reformed into a police force they had little money to buy vans, and even less desire to continue with an outdated one when now they had access to more modern, faster and safer foreign vans.
Both Nysa and sibling Żuk van were heavily based on Warszawa (Varshava) M-20 car models. Nysas were sold off in large numbers mainly to farmers, who did not mind the single, side opening reart door designed to allow the quick exit of the militia. In East Europe, these were also used as delivery vans, especially in Bulgaria and in some parts of Russia.
In Hungary Nysa vans were almost exclusively used as ambulance cars; 777 of them were in use in 1987.
Somewhere around 1970 the front end styling was changed. Nysa models included: N57, N58, N59, N60, N61, N63, 501, 503 and 521/522
