01
Origins
The ARO 24 Series of 1969 modernised Câmpulung's off-roader into its definitive form: coil-sprung front suspension, a family of petrol and diesel engines, and body styles from soft-top field car to wagon — a genuine Land Rover competitor priced for the developing world. It became socialist Romania's export star, shipped to some seventy countries, assembled abroad from Portugal to Brazil, serving armies, farms and aid agencies wherever cheap all-terrain honesty mattered. Quality tracked the domestic economy's decline through the 1980s, and post-revolution privatisation ended in 2006's messy collapse. But the 24's record stands: hundreds of thousands built across nearly four decades — the Bloc's most travelled 4x4 after the UAZ, and Romania's most successful automotive ambassador.
ARO 243 · JOHN LLOYD · CC BY 2.0
