The TAM 75 was the smallest model in the numbered truck range of the Maribor factory in Slovenia, then part of Yugoslavia. Its model number, read through the factory’s naming rule, says seventy-five horsepower.
TAM 75 at a glance
| Maker | Tovarna avtomobilov Maribor, Slovenia |
|---|---|
| Model number | TAM 75 |
| Engine output | 75 hp, from the model number |
| Class | Light commercial truck |
| Plant | Maribor, Slovenia, then Yugoslavia |
| Position in the range | the smallest number of the old truck range |
| Models above it | TAM 80, 90, 100, 110 T7, 125, 130, 150 T11, 162, 170, 190, 260 |
| Naming system | power in hp, T for tovornjak, gross weight in tonnes |
| Company in the 1970s–80s | the largest truck and bus maker in Yugoslavia |
| Company dissolved | 1996 |
TAM has no separate article on the 75. The model appears in the past product line of the articles on the company, and its engine output follows the naming convention explained there; the sources give no production dates for it.
History of the TAM 75
Number 75 in the TAM system
TAM trucks carried a name of three variables: a number, the letter T and another number. The first number was engine power in horsepower, T stood for tovornjak, and the second number was the maximum permissible total weight in tonnes. The 75 sat at the bottom of that range; the factory’s list of past models runs from it up to the 260.
The factory that built it
The Maribor plant started as a wartime aircraft-parts works and was turned into a vehicle factory after 1945; its first model, the Pionir, was built under Czech Praga licence until 1962. A 1957 licence from Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz took TAM into German-designed trucks of 4.5 tonnes with about 30 percent local parts, and under the name Tovarna avtomobilov in motorjev Maribor, adopted in 1961, the company presented the TAM 2000 family and began military production for the JLA.
The end of the range
TAM became the largest truck and bus maker in Yugoslavia. In 1986 it produced its 200,000th vehicle with 8,175 employees, but the economic decline of the 1980s brought financial trouble and the company was dissolved in 1996. TVM continued with MAN trucks from 2001, and since 2014 the name TAM-Europe has been used for a bus maker in Maribor.
Design and features
- Smallest number in the range: seventy-five horsepower, below the 80 and 90.
- Factory numbering: power first, then T for tovornjak, then gross weight in tonnes.
- Part of a full programme: the same scheme ran up to the 260.
- Built in Maribor: Yugoslavia’s leading truck and bus factory.
TAM 75 versions
- TAM 75: the model as listed in the factory’s past product line.
- TAM 80 and TAM 90: the next steps up in the same numbered range.
- TAM 100 and TAM 110 T7 B/BV (1976–1991): the medium models above them.
- TAM 150 T11 B/BV and TAM 190: the heavy end of the range.
The TAM 110 T7 and the TAM 190 show how the same numbering worked further up the range. More vehicles from the factory are in the TAM collection.
Sources
- TAM-Europe, English Wikipedia: model list, naming convention, company history
- Tovarna avtomobilov Maribor, Slovenian Wikipedia: licence, 1961 range, production figures
