Ikarus 303

The Ikarus 303 was a luxury intercity bus developed by Ikarus in 1959. It grew from plans for an Ikarus 33, a midi-sized rear-engined replacement for the Ikarus 31, and was designed by engineers including Finta Laszlo, Michelberger Pal and Oszetzky Karoly. It was the first Hungarian vehicle built with air suspension and also had a roll-over frame, a safety steering column and power steering, with large windows that gave unusual light. The special design used a tilted 120 horsepower V6 engine from the JAFI institute at the rear, though some examples had the four-cylinder Csepel D-414. The show examples toured the 1959 and 1960 Budapest fairs and the 1960 Leipzig fair. Nine were built, but costs and unit supply kept it from series production.