The Polski Fiat 618 Grom was a light truck produced by Państwowe Zakłady Inżynierii in Warsaw under Fiat licence from 1937 to 1939. Its payload was up to 1,200 kg, and it was built as a complete chassis with engine, transmission, steering, brakes and instruments, leaving the body to be fitted afterwards.
Polski Fiat 618 at a glance
| Maker | PZInż, Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych i Półciężarowych, Warsaw |
|---|---|
| Production | 1937–1939 |
| Payload | up to 1,200 kg |
| Engine | Fiat 118 (PZInż 157), 1,944 cc, 45 hp at 3,600 rpm |
| Compression | 6.1:1 |
| Gearbox | four speeds, third and fourth synchronised |
| Brakes | hydraulic drums on all wheels, two separate circuits |
| Fuel tank | 60 litres, about 400 km range |
| Weight | chassis about 1,200 kg, vehicle about 1,850 kg |
| Top speed | 60 km/h |
| Fuel use | about 15 litres per 100 km |
| Built | about 600 chassis |
based on one source: the Polish Wikipedia article on the Fiat 618. There is no English article on this model, and the Polish text is the only description of the Grom available here.
History of the Polski Fiat 618
Origins
Fiat cars had been built in Poland under licence since 1932. When the agreement was widened in 1937, two new models entered production: the Polski Fiat 518 Mazur and the light truck Polski Fiat 618 Grom, which used the engine of the 518.
The truck was built at the Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych i Półciężarowych of PZInż as a complete chassis with the engine, transmission, steering and braking mechanisms and the instrument panel. No body was fitted at the factory; for the driver there was only a provisional wooden bench.
Bodies and uses
The bodies were added elsewhere. Military vehicles were bodied at the Nadwoziownia Specjalna, the special body shop of the same PZInż works, while cars for private buyers were finished in the workshops of the Spółka Akcyjna Polski Fiat, the sole distributor for civilian customers.
The chassis had a low centre of gravity and could carry not only truck bodies but also bus, ambulance and closed goods bodies, and its springing gave a reasonable ride. A novel feature was a two-circuit hydraulic braking system, with a separate section for the front and rear wheels. The 60-litre fuel tank gave a range of about 400 km without refuelling.
Besides the ordinary trucks, the Fiat 618 was made as a cavalry vehicle, the type 618, designed at the Biuro Badań Technicznych Broni Pancernej in Warsaw for motorised cavalry units. Its body could carry twelve soldiers with full equipment, or eight with one heavy machine gun and its ammunition, or ten with a light machine gun and four ammunition units, and it had mountings for machine guns, including a pedestal for firing at aircraft, and day and night signalling equipment. A prototype was built in 1938 and a small information series was planned after testing.
Numbers and survival
About 600 chassis were built between 1937 and 1939, and most were bodied as trucks and as fourteen-seat buses. The only surviving Polski Fiat 618 in the world, with a bus body, was restored by Juliusz Siudziński and is in his collection; a few Fiat 618s also survive elsewhere, among them in Italy.
The technical side
The truck body was of wood and steel, with a wooden load box under a canvas cover, mounted on a channel-section frame. The engine was the side-valve Fiat 118, built in Poland as the PZInż 157: four cylinders in line, 82 by 92 mm, 1,944 cc, a compression ratio of 6.1:1 and 45 hp at 3,600 rpm, driving the rear wheels through a dry single-plate clutch and a four-speed gearbox with synchromesh on third and fourth. Both axles were rigid, on semi-elliptic leaf springs with hydraulic lever-arm dampers. The tyres were Polish Stomil 6.00×18. The vehicle was 4,720 mm long, 1,760 mm wide and 2,000 to 2,110 mm high, on a wheelbase of 3,050 mm.
Design and features
- Chassis only: PZInż supplied a complete rolling chassis and the body was fitted by others.
- Two braking circuits: front and rear wheels had separate hydraulic sections, unusual at the time.
- Many bodies: truck, bus, ambulance and closed goods bodies could all be mounted.
- Cavalry version: a special body for motorised cavalry, designed in 1938.
- Polish-built engine: the Fiat 118 was made in Poland as the PZInż 157.
Polski Fiat 618 versions
- 618 truck: the standard cargo body with a canvas cover.
- 618 bus: a fourteen-seat bus body, the version that survives today.
- 618 ambulance and closed goods: other bodies on the same chassis.
- Cavalry vehicle type 618: designed for motorised cavalry, with machine-gun mountings.
- Fiat 618 (Italy): the original Italian model on which the Polish lorry was based.
The car that shared this engine was the Polski Fiat 518 Mazur, and the other Polish-built Fiat truck was the Polski Fiat 621. More vehicles are in the Polski Fiat collection.
Sources
- Fiat 618, Polish Wikipedia: history, licence, chassis supply, bodies, cavalry version, numbers, technical data
