Thai fso polonez

[quicksilver]

Wow, I didn't even know that 1. it was practical to export a car from Thailand or 2. the Polonez was sold there. Strange to think that having dwindled to almost nothing the UK population of FSOs is increasing with all these recent imports. My neighbour had a Polonez in that awful grey that looked like primer and I was pleased to see this one at a recent show, owned by a Polish family who had driven it here a few years ago.

B970 XYG - 1984 FSO Polonez 1.5 C by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

[LightBulbFun]

24 minutes ago, quicksilver said:

Wow, I didn't even know that 1. it was practical to export a car from Thailand or 2.

who said it was practical? this is autoshite afterall

[sierraman]

It’s one of those cars that you’d expect to find in a 90 year olds garage. Bought it with his retirement money then got too old to drive and it sits in the garage for 20 years.

[lanciamatt]

I do love a fso, they are on my list of cars I need to own, equally so a Yugo 

[Shep Shepherd]

For those who don't know, or have forgotten, this is what a Polonez Prima looks like: 

Dig those Wellers

[egg]

23 hours ago, Benno said:

Thai car hunter

please ask the chap to sign up here and post lots of cars that we want to import :-)!

[egg]

Oh, and does @nigel bickle still have his one?

[Tadhg Tiogar]

6 minutes ago, Shep Shepherd said:

For those who don't know, or have forgotten, this is what a Polonez Prima looks like: 

Dig those Wellers

We never got the 2-litre version, which was a shame. That could have been quite handy.

[Shep Shepherd]

6 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

We never got the 2-litre version, which was a shame. That could have been quite handy.

I believe that engine was the Fiat twin-cam, as fitted to the 132, Argenta and some Mirafioris. Very nice! 

On related note, I wonder if a Lancia Beta Volumex engine and associated bits would go in a Polonez? 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Just now, Shep Shepherd said:

I believe that engine was the Fiat twin-cam, as fitted to the 132, Argenta and some Mirafioris. Very nice! 

I wonder if a Lancia Beta Volumex lump would go in a Polonez? 

Get the bits together and let us know how the thing goes.

[Shep Shepherd]

Finding a suitable Polonez and a donor Beta Volumex could be problematic, and I imagine that the resulting car would be lethal! 

[stuboy]

i had the 1600 sle, trying to find actual picture

[stuboy]

found it, dam u photobucket...

 

polished wellers from older fso, front spolier from opel manta

[skattrd]

Nice, does the fact that it comes from Thailand mean it has aircon?

[Pieman]

On 7/31/2019 at 10:36 PM, Lankytim said:

Back in my youth I used to race bangers

102?

[Lankytim]

3 hours ago, Pieman said:

102?

Correct!

[Benno]

On 7/31/2019 at 10:20 PM, Amishtat said:

What happened to the ones you rescued from racing? There used to be a few of these around when I was a child, usually white or grey and with white 8-spoke Wellers. You've gone to a lot of effort to find one, I hope you get some enjoyment from it. Haven't seen one in the wild for ages, the last couple I saw were being raced at Standlake about ten years ago and even then they were unusual. 

I sold the white one to richie de la tour, he rescued the blue one he calls Paula from a similar fate. I still have the grey one but that’s on the on way soon as I think as I have another one incoming.

[Benno]

On 7/31/2019 at 10:36 PM, Lankytim said:

It's great that these have such a following now.  Back in my youth I used to race bangers and when these appeared on the scene they carried a certain kudos- they were known as the Polish Westminster due to their strength, they could absolutely pulverize a Mk5 Cortina.  They seemed to have an amazingly short life cycle, some were on the scrap heap or on the track before their third or forth birthday, low values,  corrosion, build quality issues and a lack of spares making repair uneconomic. I was given a Polonez, a 125P and paid £30 odd each for the others I had. Good times. I seem to remember three of them had number plates that ended MOB, weirdly. D218MOB was one I think.

 

All of a sudden they vanished, none on the roads, none in scrapyards, none available to race. Is there such a thing as a mint UK registered one? 

I don’t know of a rhd uk minter, I’ll have mine on uk plates soon, it’s not mint but it’s pretty good for a 40 year old fso, 

[Benno]

On 8/1/2019 at 8:11 AM, bramz7 said:

Is the Atwell Wilson one still in the museum or did they sell it on? It was donated to them at 3 or 4 years old.....

It’s still there but last I heard had been put into storage so wasn’t currently on show, 

[Benno]

On 8/1/2019 at 9:36 AM, Iamgroot said:

@Benno as requested..

He's also very keen to know how much a polonez is in Thailand..

 

Wow that’s lovely, i love orange. The car cost me approx £1100, and around £2000 to get it here 

[Benno]

On 8/1/2019 at 10:53 AM, Tadhg Tiogar said:

A certain website reckons there were as many as eight still on the road in the last year......

I think these are all imports, unless it includes caros

[Benno]

On 8/1/2019 at 8:17 PM, egg said:

Oh, and does @nigel bickle still have his one?

He does 

[Benno]

On 8/1/2019 at 8:17 PM, Tadhg Tiogar said:

We never got the 2-litre version, which was a shame. That could have been quite handy.

I know of a dealer in the West Midlands that was given a couple of polonez fitted with the fiat 2 litre twin cam for evaluation. I don’t know what happened to them, unfortunately said dealer is now dead. 

[Benno]

On 8/1/2019 at 10:23 PM, skattrd said:

Nice, does the fact that it comes from Thailand mean it has aircon?

It has aircon although I’m thinking of removing it as the blowers for the aircon sit where the radio should be and the radio is on top of the dash and it’s annoying me, 

[Benno]

On 8/1/2019 at 8:10 PM, Shep Shepherd said:

For those who don't know, or have forgotten, this is what a Polonez Prima looks like: 

Dig those Wellers

I have a couple  offsets of these, some whites and some silver. 

[Benno]

On 8/1/2019 at 8:11 PM, egg said:

please ask the chap to sign up here and post lots of cars that we want to import :-)!

I have asked Chris and extolled on him the virtues of autoshite 

[Benno]

On 8/1/2019 at 2:08 PM, Conan said:

Oh wow! I think this called for some of interesting* tidbits in delectable* English sentences. (Surprised no one told me about this thread yet!)

 

I believe I've actually sent the link for 9ง-0023 to hairnet months back. So this is where it went! (Quite amazing to think about it). The yellow one I've seen too and maybe I did brought to attention to a certain hairnet.

 

These FSO Polonez was sold during the 1980's, I also believe they came in as CKD kit and locally assembled in the same factory that did Fiat 131. (Kannasut Fiat, today is better known for construction projects as Italian-Thai) The reason for this was because of Thai's punitive taxation on imports car which means after 1978 you have to pay 600% tax on any imported cars. And after 1985 any imports of complete vehicle were outlawed. At one point FSO Polonez was the cheapest car available on the market.

 

9ง suggested this car was registered in around 1980-1983 (quite difficult to find the exact year before 1988) and must've been to some really important person as 0023 is quite a special number and very sought after especially with older prefix (These get xx prefix which later went to 1 xx, (the 1x is obsolete and the gov will always try to get you to change to xx prefix), my Corolla is 7ช) we don't have personalise plate system before 2004 so the number sequences are really the only thing people can wish for). I reckon the plates alone is worth a 700-800 quid to the right people. But the car need to stay within Thailand with full MOT and tax so I guess that's out of the question now.

 

I personally don't think there's more than 8 Polonez left over here. We don't have howmanyleft, of course, so it is just a guesstimate.  As you could've guess, they didn't sell very many back in the day. So thanks for reducing that number by one. ?

Hi Conan, thanks for the info, using the chassis number it appears to have been manufactured in 81 and registered in 83. I’m sorry if reducing the stock of polonez by one in Thailand has caused you pain. It certainly wasn’t my intention, we did find another one very similar to this for sale in a slightly worse condition and on bmw alloys. I did toy with bringing them both over but didn’t in the end. 

Photos of the other one below 

[hairnet]

i like that with the e30 wheels on it

@Conan Y U send me merc 123 links or japanese smol car tat when i could rock this??

 

 

[CrapCarNerd]

I do like the look of these early Polonez (mk1?)  like the one Ben imported from Thailand. Whats the value these days? Although as 'how many left' think theres 13 on the road its unlikely ones coming up for sale.

Also what are they like compared to UK cars of the era... i'd expect it to have wollowy handling and not much power being a big 1.5 car?  so probably like my Escort mk3 1.1 before I lowered it 😂

[Zelandeth]

3 minutes ago, CrapCarNerd said:

I do like the look of these early Polonez (mk1?)  like the one Ben imported from Thailand. Whats the value these days? Although as 'how many left' think theres 13 on the road its unlikely ones coming up for sale.

Also what are they like compared to UK cars of the era... i'd expect it to have wollowy handling and not much power being a big 1.5 car?  so probably like my Escort mk3 1.1 before I lowered it 😂

My take on it from the couple I've driven basically is very similar to a Lada of the same era, Lada managing slightly better ride and better mechanical refinement.  FSO had a superficially better appointed cabin and a fantastically early 80s dash, though always to me felt cheaper and tinnier.