First car produced in soviet-era Poland goes on display after decades of search

After decades of searching, the first car produced in Soviet-era Poland after World War II has been exhibited near Warsaw. The 1951 Warszawa M-20, carrying the serial number 000001, was tracked down in Finland and acquired after years of negotiations. The car left the FSO passenger car factory in Warsaw on November 6, 1951.

The vehicle, a symbol of Poland's subordination to the Soviet Union's communist government after the war, now joins the numerous historic vehicles in the private museum in Otrebusy, near the capital. The museum's co-founder, Zbigniew Mikiciuk, expressed immense pride in the acquisition. "We are extremely proud because now we count among the very few people in the world who have retrieved the very first vehicles of the series made in their countries," Mikiciuk said, according to the Associated Press.

The car was initially delivered to Soviet Army Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky, who served as Poland's Minister of Defense after the war to seal the country's dependence on Moscow. The vehicle's history between its time with Rokossovsky and its discovery remains unclear. It was eventually found in the possession of the family of Finnish rally driver Rauno Aaltonen. According to Mikiciuk, more than two years of negotiations were needed to obtain the vehicle from the Finnish owners.

Despite its age, the car still "holds together" and is "cool," Mikiciuk said, according to the Associated Press. Its original light color has been repainted in a brown shade that was fashionable in the 1970s. The car also has signs of use that the museum has preserved.

The now-defunct FSO factory intensively sought the original model during the 1970s in hopes of using it to mark an anniversary. The factory even offered a new car in exchange for the original model, but to no avail. The FSO factory was originally built to make Italian Fiat cars in the late 1940s. However, Soviet leaders in Moscow objected to the ties with a Western company during the Cold War. Moscow ordered production to be based on the Soviet Union's Pobeda (Victory) cars and provided the technology and production lines for the Warszawa M-20 and the FSO factory.

The museum's collection includes other historic vehicles with rich histories. Among them is a 1928 U.S.-made Oakland brought to Poland before the war by a doctor's family. The museum also has a 1953 Buick that belonged to Poland's communist-era Prime Minister Jozef Cyrankiewicz, who brought it to Poland via the Netherlands to avoid a direct connection to the U.S. during the Cold War. Additionally, the museum displays a Volvo that was used by Poland's communist leader, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, who is known for having imposed martial law in Poland in 1981.

"We have been doing this for more than 50 years and we are not collecting cars you can see in the street but cars that have their history, their soul and their legend," Mikiciuk said, according to the Associated Press. The museum owners hope that by displaying the original Warszawa M-20, they can encourage members of the public to come forward and share more details about its history.

Sources: AP, The Independent, Infobae

This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq