4×4S.ORGTHE REGISTRY BASE MODEL · 1957–59
BASE MODELRomania

IMS-57 (1957–59)

Romania’s first four-wheel drive: the IMS-57 of 1957, built at Câmpulung Muscel from the GAZ-69 under licence — the chassis and the 3,260 cc side-valve engine of the GAZ-67 under a GAZ-69 body — and named for the works, Întreprinderea Metalurgică de Stat, and the year. 914 were built to 1959, most of them by hand.

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Sources & evidence
MODEL LINEIMSBUILT BYARO (Uzina Mecanică Muscel), CâmpulungPRODUCED1957–59PRODUCTION914LAYOUT4 wheels · 92″

The record

The plant at Câmpulung had been laid out in 1942 to make airscrews for IAR, the Romanian aircraft works, and was turned over to vehicles after the war. The IMS-57 was a licence copy rather than a design, and it shows in the numbers: 914 cars in three years, with manual windscreen wipers and 50 hp. Everything ARO built afterwards descends from it.

Specification

MANUFACTURED1957–59
ENGINE3,260 cc side-valve four, 50 hp at 2,800 rpmARO 3,260 cc side-valve four
PRODUCTION RUN914
COUNTRY OF ORIGINRomania
STATUSreplaced by the M59 in 1959
RECORD KINDBase model
MODEL LINEIMS
FAMILYIMS
WHEELS4
NOMINAL WHEELBASE92″
BODY STYLESoft top
VARIANTS1

Catalogue fields describe the vehicle's structure and body as this registry records it. They are not certified factory measurements, and no performance figures are published here.

Body styles & colours

Factory colours

  • Olive Drab

Codes on hover. Hex values are representative approximations of period paint unless a source states a measured value.

AI rendering impression

An AI rendering impression starts from a 3D model of this vehicle, which an image model then paints into a scene. It is an artist's impression of the type, made to give a feel for the vehicle in its element — not a photograph, and not a record of any particular vehicle.

Proportions, fittings, markings, colours and the setting can all drift from the original in the process. For the vehicle's actual details, rely on the specification, the photographs and the cited sources on this page.

Sources

  1. 1ARO M461 ↗Wikipedia · accessed 2026-09-23SOURCE
  2. 2ARO (company) ↗Wikipedia · accessed 2026-09-23SOURCE

Registry record updated 2026-09-23 · status: researched