In the fall of 1956, work started on two prototypes of an economy/family car. They were completed in 1957 in an experimental series of 17. In 1958, after extensive testing, 100 of these were constructed in pre-production form and distributed among the public for evaluation purposes.

From late 1958 to 1960 a total of 1728 of the minicars, virtually unmodified from the evaluation version, were produced under the name MR-300 "Mikrus" by WSK (Wytwornia Sprzetu Komunikacyjnego - translating to Transport Equipment Plant or Communications Plant). This manufacturer, located in the towns of Mielec and Rzeszow in Poland, was (and still is) a division of the aeroplane company PZL (Polskie Zaklady Lotnicze - translating to Polish Aeronautical Works) and exists to this day. The Rzeszow team was responsible for engine design, while the Mielec team developed the rest of the automobile.

Among the mentioned experimental series of 17 were two examples of a rather-pretty cabriolet, but alas did not reach production. An interesting prototype of a Mikrus pick-up constructed later in 1960 suffered a similar fate.

The Mikrus was a well-constructed automobile for the time, powered by a rear-mounted 2-cylinder 2-stroke 300cc engine which propelled it to a respectable 90 km/h. Its purpose was to provide simple and inexpensive transportation for a family which found bubble cars too small and could not afford or didn't need a bigger car with more features. It was also remarkably durable and of good quality due to the use of airplane-grade materials.

The Mikrus' unsynchronized gear change needed a bit of getting used to but this more or less was something one had to put up with in quite several automobiles, especially inexpensive ones, of the day. And the 15 hp power output, it can be argued, was considerably less than other vehicles but the "Mikrus" was also a relatively light car at 450 kg. Such a low mass was possible due to the extremely simple and rudimentary nature of the Mikrus. One of the things was that luggage had to be loaded from the inside, there was no access to the trunk from the outside. This interior opening most likely helped to motivate a certain man of two metres to modify the car so that he could fit inside and be able to drive.

In many ways, the MR-300 is comparable with the initial version of the Fiat 500 that went into production in the same year. The power output, mass, and maximum speed of both cars are very similar with the Mikrus being a bit more spacious due to its slightly larger size overall.

A successor to the Mikrus with a larger 600cc engine and presumably some improvements and additions were planned, but a theory exists claiming that the Soviets (this was the Cold War era, after all) did not allow this to go through since it would have most likely been able to compete with the Ukrainian-made Zaporozhets, initially being powered by a four-cycle 746cc V4. Quite possibly what prevented this from proceeding was the same reason that caused the production of the MR-300 to be cut short in the first place, the claimed high cost of producing it. It is interesting to consider what the "MR-600" (presumably) would have been like taking into account that the Mikrus MR-300 was what could be considered a somewhat experimental automobile and an important one for Polish motoring history.

Gregory Grden's car (with 90% original parts) is a very nice example of the Mikrus. It is shown here with the owner at a huge gathering of almost 200 micro and mini cars near Chicago where it received 1st prize in the under-400cc category (see www.microcar.org for more info). It is the only one on the American continent and arrived there in 2000 on the wings of a LOT (the Polish Airlines) aeroplane.
Click here for Detailed technical and other information about the MR-300 Mikrus.

Currently WSK "PZL-Mielec" is a holding company that controls Melex, a maker of electric vehicles (i.e. golf carts), and Gepard Ltd., which produces a pretty limited-production Rover-V8-powered old-British-style (think of Morgans) roadster with the name of Gepard (which is Polish for cheetah).