Sao Penza

[nigel bickle]

Those of you who know me/ my family know we favour oddities.

Rare vehicles, not necessarily valuable, but in limited or non existent numbers. Circumstances mean that if such a vehicle appears, I will try to get someone else to save it, but if that fails,  we’ll step  in. That is what happened here.

Some of you may know of young Jude Currie, from Surrey who has an interest in similar, predominantly Asiatic, motors.

He had been hunting this car for some considerable time, and a bit of joint sleuthing narrowed the area, little by little. We knew it existed, or had done until recently, someplace in Poole or possibly Bournemouth.

A little luck was had, when it was spotted on a street hunt. I helped Jude approach the Owner, who was surprised at the interest. Youthful exuberance raised the asking - but we all need to learn, eh! 

 

At least it stopped it being scrapped, which had seemed probable. 

The initial finder had first dibs, but turned it down.

Jude went down, and spent some considerable time looking at it, but decided it was too much work for him. Although it was running well when he started, it now wouldn’t run evenly or tick over, and didn’t sound well.  I had warned him about the pitfalls of running a long term layup, but - again youthful exuberance! 

So, I contacted the vendor, who was a little pissed off now. A Property Developer,( it came free with Bereavement purchase.)He drove it back to his, taken with the clean condition & low mileage (22,000) but unaware of its rarity. We chatted - I bought it unseen, based on Jude’s pics.

 

 

A week or so later we headed down with the A frame, 

By now, it wouldn’t run, at all.  We tried the usual, but it barely hiccupped. . But look at it! Funds changed hands, and the car was hitched up, returning to my barn without event.

A few hours fettling had it running reasonably well. It’s principal problem was / is cold starts. Neat fuel dribbled into the carb gets it running, and gentle feathering gets it warm at which point it’ll drive,nreasonably.

So,  an MOT was booked as it’s first road trip -(  we weren’t prepared to risk DVLA shenanigans for an unlicensed  25 yr gap) with no real idea how good the brakes were.

 

 

Straight pass, first time. It’s near immaculate, aside from a few small blemishes on the bottom of the drivers door, exacerbated by  by being taped over by the previous owner. I drove it home, parked up

The next day I tried to start it - the cam belt failed! Instantly. 

Research said it’s non interference, so we stripped it off, replacing the water pump at the same time. Fingers crossed, it fired up fine-& that’s really the story to date.  I’ve not taxed it, as I’m not up to using it right now, but it is dry/ safe-& and ready to go.

Family concern for those irreplaceable wheel trims means they’re coming off. We’ve tracked a set of turbovecs which we’ll get tyres up & trial fit, for now - although this is one car I’d prefer to keep standard, where possible.

It needs snagging. About 2 tankfuls, or 5-600 miles should sort the fuel system and settle the car down.Then the door bottom, and that’s it

We’ll  update, infrequently, when We’ve  something to add.

 

[bramz7]

Ace save. 

 

Funnily enough SAO are my initials, that's about as much as I can add to this. 

[nigel bickle]

Towed back with your old Marea!

 

[sierraman]

What do you think the likelihood of finding the one Lonsdale YD41 still taxed will be? It’s got to be somewhere! 

[alcyonecorporation]

Hirst is aware. 

[Spiny Norman]

Superb to see it's living again, I saw Jude's  initial post on one of the FB groups and along with many others tried to persuade him to buy it on the spot. Great to see it in the AS fold, well done to all concerned for saving a car that would undoubtedly have been plucked off the property and cubed otherwise.

[richbraith]

2 hours ago, sierraman said:

What do you think the likelihood of finding the one Lonsdale YD41 still taxed will be? It’s got to be somewhere! 

There's one of those out there?!  I've only seen one, a YD45 estate in 1989.  Harder to find than a Renault 14 I'd have thought,

[dozeydustman]

I expect to see this outside your house soon Mr Bickle!

[sierraman]

[500tops]

This is real AS

[spartacus]

Great story, fantastic save. It looks like a licence built Mazda, is that right?

[Tadhg Tiogar]

9 minutes ago, spartacus said:

.... licence built Mazda, is that right?

South-African "own brand" 323.

[spartacus]

You learn something every day, I thought they were Malaysian!

Trekking is always a good way to spot tat, I see something new every ride out!

[Tadhg Tiogar]

9 minutes ago, spartacus said:

You learn something every day, I thought they were Malaysian!

Proton are the Malaysian ones; basically rebadged/reskinned Mitsubishis. Not sure if the Malaysian Government ever did a deal with Mazda.

[BL Bloke]

I can't remember seeing one of these before. Great save. 

[Timewaster]

When I sold car parts, we had a trade customer whose mother in law had a Sao Penza and he reconed we were we the only factors with any idea of what it was.

 

Apparently none of the others could look up Mazda parts.

That was 15 years ago. Good luck getting anything now!

Same with Ford engined LDV Convoys, no one seemed capable of looking up Transit parts. Computer says no!

[fatharris]

Cap duly doffed, she's a rare beast.

 

[Jim Bergerac]

A SAO FREAKING PENZA? Autoshite has been won, we cannot top this. 

Excellent work as ever, Nigel. 

[Spottedlaurel]

Excellent stuff Nigel. Fantastic that it managed to survive and now has a future.

[wuvvum]

Until you posted in the Mazda 323 thread earlier, I genuinely thought these were extinct.  I'm pleased there's at least one left in captivity.

[eddyramrod]

Well saved Nigel!

[Volksy]

This has cheered up a very depressing Monday.

 

Great work!
 

[ProgRocker]

Well saved!

I remember What Car? magazine doing a group road test on the Sao Penza in 1991 or thereabouts. It was pitted against the Proton 1.3, Maestro 1.3 Clubman and Mitsubishi  Colt 1300 GL. The Sao was criticised for it's poor build quality.

[Broadsword]

What an amazing result! Never knew the car or manufacturer existed. I can't believe it passed the MOT easily as well. Given there is no recent MOT history on DVLA, it seems fair to conclude it's been standing for over 10 years?

[CortinaDave]

incredible that such a beast has not only survived.... but is a low mile minter!

Odds would have been that IF one had survived, it would probably be on 185k, lying in a field and with a tree growing through the roof.... and we'd then have the dilemma of how the hell we could possibly let something possibly unique die, even though it was buggered.

But no, its a beauty! Incredible work

[SiC]

Didn't trigger track one of these down a year or so ago as well?

[DoctorRetro]

Is this 1.3 or 1.5?

[brownnova]

This is utterly utterly fantastic!! An actual Sao Penza!!!

I was so excited that I went to find my missus on her lunch break to tell her that there was an actual surviving Penza and it was alive and well... she might not have looked as excited as me, but deep down I reckon she was excited! 

Nigel thank you for doing this thread! 

And if you ever come to sell (not that you probably will)... I’m registering my interest!

[egg]

K reg, and Kent registered. Who were the original supplying dealer?

Must make next year's calendar.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

What a save. 

I followed the initial discussions on anti-social media after the car was unearthed, and hoped that some primal hadn't ended up with such a rare car. 

Great to see it's gone to a decent home. I hope it's wrapped up out of the elements!