272 Jelcz MEX - bus from '60 and 70 produced by the Polish company Jelcz Czechoslovakian license, was and still is an icon of Polish moto.

Author:Lukas 3z under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

Author:Lukas 3z under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

Jelcz 272 ME was affectionately called "Cucumber", and this is because of its shape simmilat to this vegetable. The car was built on a riveted frame, but the floor was made of pine boards covered with rubber. The door opened pneumatically were reportedly able to stutter quite often. The heater, powered directly from fuel tank, did not keep up with heating in winter. Apparently it was incredibly loud in the interior, and sometimes smelled of exhaust fumes. Despite all this, the car permanently inscribed itself in Polish history. It drove lot of people and lot of them remembers these trips with fondness. Cucumber, despite its flaws, was still one of the most reliable and convenient public transport in Communist Poland, and certainly one of the few at all ;-)

Author: Radomil under:Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0

Only three copies of Cucumber survieved in Poland til now: two of them belong to the associations, and the third is in private hands. However since 2002, MPK in Krakow has rebuilt a version of Jelcz 043 to 272 Mex (Cucumber). There will be one more running Jelcz soon, because MPK in Kielce is working on rennovation.

Rennovation in Kielce

Author: Szater