Devrim (, meaning revolution in Turkish) was the first automobile designed and produced in Turkey.
Automotive Industry Congress On 15 May 1961, the Otomotiv Endüstri Kongresi (Automotive Industry Congress) was opened by President Cemal Gürsel. In his inaugural speech, he said:
After the congress, Gürsel issued a order to build a prototype engine and car meeting the requirements of the country. These prototypes would be compared with the best cars of the time, the shortcomings would be identified, and project development work would be undertaken in order to produce the best possible car in Turkey.
Design and production
In 1961, President Cemal Gürsel ordered 24 engineers, working in various companies, to build a car fully designed and produced in Turkey, to be demonstrated during the Republic Day celebrations on October 29, 1961.
After 130 days of labor at the workshop in Eskişehir, which later became the TÜLOMSAŞ factory, the engineers managed to make four prototypes of the automobile. It was named Devrim, the Turkish word for revolution.
The schedule was extremely tight; four cars were completed, and two were shipped to Ankara for the Republic Day celebrations. The polishing paint of the one car, painted black, was done while it was on the train to Ankara. The cars were filled with little fuel, intended only for maneuvering. Since the compression rate had been increased to boost engine performance, high-octane fuel, only available in Ankara, was needed to run the engines without engine knock. On the day of the celebrations, President Gürsel attempted to make a ceremonial ride in one model before it was refuelled. The president was able to use the other car, which had been refuelled, to drive to Anıtkabir. The two cars then completed the ceremonial runs without problems.
The vehicle was never mass-produced. Legacy Three of the prototypes were scrapped due to the bureaucratic restrictions, with their engines converted to diesel generators, but the last one (body no. 002, engine no. 002) is kept, in working condition inside the TÜLOMSAŞ factory in Eskişehir, where it was built. In 2018, it was completely disassembled and thoroughly maintained by TÜLOMSAŞ for continued preservation. Since it was preserved in a closed showroom, very little rust was observed; though paint and vinyl interiors had to be replaced according to original specifications of the car.
The story of the building process and the efforts of the 24 engineers who worked on the model were related in the film Devrim Arabaları (English: Cars of the Revolution), released 2008.
In late 2010, students from the National University of Science and Technology in Pakistan developed a hybrid car named Devrim II, drawing inspiration from Devrim.
References
External links
Official page of Devrim TÜLOMSAŞ page on Devrim NTVMSNBC Article on Devrim Turkish Wikipedia article Turkish Wikipedia article about the Devrim Arabalari movie