Obscure Polish cars

[Andrew353w]

Yes, I have an FSO dealership list, which I was sent by the importers in 1989, when I (briefly!) considered buying a new Polonez. Many of the dealers were originally Wartburg dealers, which is not surprising when one realises that the importers were the same and used the same offices in Tunbridge Wells! I'll try to dig it out from wherever it's now buried...

 

On an unrelated matter, I've sold my 1960 VW Beetle! may I recommend Autoshiters to visit www.eclecticcars.co.uk when they have a spare few minutes; a really professional company!

[Tayne]

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[boobydoo]

My second car ever was a lime green 1975 Skoda S100L, (same colour as piccie) reg number HFB633N. I paid £450 for it from the Skoda main dealer in Bath in December 1981. A reliable old thing, always started in any weather, but rust soon got a hold and I had to replace two front wings after only about a year of ownership. I never bothered to paint them so I think one was white and one red.

 

It was my everyday hack as a student so it didn't get treated that well to be honest and I eventually sold it for £50 to an old guy in 1984, who was caretaker at one of the houses in The Royal Crescent , Bath.

 

I still snigger to this day because he always parked it slap bang in the middle of said Crescent and I can imagine all these American and Japanese tourists photographing this stunning architectural beauty and then noticing this pile of lime green/red/white, rusting crap taking pride of place centre of the photo.

 

I like to imagine the comments when they got back to the good ol' USA and they had a nice slideshow evening of their English vacation.....

"Wilma, those British buildings sure are awesome...but what the f**k is that awful green turd out front??!

 

[ChinaTom]

Had Autoshite bought Jaguar instead of Tata:

 

 

Good old Serbians.

[wilko]

I was chatting to a Polish mate at work a few moments ago - her dad sold his last 125p (shagged out but still driving) for the equivalent £1.65 about a decade ago!Apparently still plenty about and plenty cheap - I am seriously considering flying over & driving back in one She tells me last time she went home by road, they drove it in one go & it took 22.5 hours.

[Peter C]

She tells me last time she went home by road, they drove it in one go & it took 22.5 hours.

I often go to Poland to visit friends and family.The first leg of the trip from Bucks to Dover takes about 1.5 hours (always leave very early in the morning to avoid traffic on the M25).We usually take the Chunnel Tunnel, which takes around 1.5 hours all in.From Calais to the Polish border the drive takes about 10 hours. We only stop 3 times for petrol and piss breaks. There are no motorways from the Polish border to a town called Torun. The journey takes about 1.5 hours to cover approx 50 miles. The rest of the journey from Torun to Poznan, where I am originally from, takes about 45 minutes.Door to door the journey takes between 15-20 hours, depending on traffic conditions. The first time I did the trip was about 15 years ago, in a 1.6 (Pinto) Ford Sierra. That wasn't fun. The following year I thrashed my Alfa Romeo Sprint 1.5 to Poland and back, that was a good trip! I've also done a couple of trips in my MR2, a Saab 9000, Vauxhall Vectra and a Honda Accord. The most fun I had through was 4 years ago, when my wife and I went over there in a Honda S2000. I maxed it out on the autobahn at 155MPH. Mad mad car!

[GJR 11L]

The only car I ever purchased split new was a 125P 1500, bought from a dealership in Reading during 1987. First thing I did to it was remove that awful thin plastic radio surround and fit a home-made, wooden one so that a) it held the wireless properly and it looked more like a proper Fiat on the inside.

 

I ran that for 7 Months and did around 11,000 miles in the thing, then, when one day a really good A60 came along and I needed the cash to buy that, I took the 125 back to the FSO dealership and they bought it back for only £70 less than the cost of the car new!

Reason was that they had customers who kept coming back for more but cars were becoming harder to find.

 

I enjoyed it, it drove much better than the Lada 1500 Kombi I'd had a year or two earlier and made lovely, Fiat-like rasping noises when I thrashed it along.

 

I last saw it during a visit back there in 1994, having parked next to it, quite coincidentally, in Pangbourne. It looked every bit as tidy as it had when it was mine and how I wished I'd kept that car.

[cms206]

I've been chatting to a Polish colleague about satisfying my Polonez 1500 fetish... it is ongoing, but apparantly a decent one can be picked up for pennies. The paperwork is the issue apparantly, but about £100 for a roadgoing Fiat 126P and maybe £200 for a mint Polonez seems pretty good to me!

[barrett]

Could you not get said Polish chap (or a mate) to drive one over for you, then register it in his name, then sell it to you as a UK-registered car? Lots of the Poles I know have bought thier own motors over and I dont think there is any problems getting them UK registered.

[Pillock]

Is that Zastava Sedan.... thing..... rolling on ATS Cups?

[VWPowered]

yes, so 'scene'

[Marshall]

Does anybody have an old FSO dealer list?

I ask as I live round the corner from the old Dacia dealer

 

 

and I'm going to try and find the Analogue(s) this weekend.

Any clues would be appreciated.

Bit late, but here ya go:

 

 

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[Tayne]

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[Marshall]

No worries. I did have a look for a Dacia dealer list among my Dacia stuff but too no avail. I'm quite chuffed I still have my Dacia brochures too be fair.

 

I remember a mate of mine at Edinburgh Uni in 1994 lived on Colonsay and they had a 125p pickup so they made it to a few far flung areas of Scotland.

 

Off to my Aunties new place in Hungary in a month or so and I hope to witness all manner of shite - I will be taking a camera! I have a real penchant for Dacia Denem's at present for some reason. I dont know if Hungary is awash with 'em but we will see.

[Milford Cubicle]

I wonder why Mormond Motors isn't on the list

[Tayne]

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[Milford Cubicle]

Not too far away, it's in Dallas.

[Barry Cade]

Thanks for that.

 

I hadn't realised that Tower Garage was an FSO dealer.

I grew up in Abernethy and I now suspect my mother's Polski Fiat came from the local village garage. A novel thought nowadays.

 

New Blyth is the most local to me now but I haven't been through there for 5 years or so.

There's still a garage but no signs of FSO on google street view.

 

The Forfar garage is now a used car lot with recent steel buildings.

 

The Dundee site is now an independent mechanic & carpet warehouse.

 

The Edinburgh site is new build flats.

 

Falkirk is now a Subaru dealer.

 

Thorn Brae in Johnstone appears to be a used car dealer.

 

Castle Garage in Dundonald is an repair garage.

 

And Caledonian Place in Lockerbie isn't on streetview but is right in the town centre.

 

 

I'd hazard a guess that there's more evidence of the Dacia dealer network than the FSO network in Scotland.

 

But I will take a run up to New Blyth to look for 4x4 FSOs. Its right in the middle of cheuchter country.

I used to work in the FSO dealer in Alness-Riverside motors. we'd put out the Caro osprey for £5995otr,and the Pheonix for £6995. Pheonix had all the extras.. central locking,electric windows,electric sunroof... problem was they all came in platic bags in the boot and needed to be fitted.. Diesels used to eat gearboxes,which could be changed in under an hour.Picups and tippers sold really well, and taxi drivers loved the Caro. we sent 6 to Shetland in one go. There was also an FSO dealers on the prom in Leven,Fife.

[GJR 11L]

......I used to work in the FSO dealer...

Yay! A true motoring hero is among us.

 

I'd forgotten that there were Diesel Caros, am I right in thinking that they used the PSA XUD engine? Car heaven; a torquey Diesel in a RWD car that gained a largely unfounded reputation for being rubbish when, in fact, petrol version's pushrod-bending habit apart, they seemed like good cars to me, especially when stepping from a Lada into one.

Was that a Fiat gearbox then? If so, doesn't that mean that an XUD could be fitted into a Mirafiori, 132 or 124 special T?

 

Imagine doing that and tipping up at a Fiat club concours with it.....

[Barry Cade]

......I used to work in the FSO dealer...

Yay! A true motoring hero is among us.

 

I'd forgotten that there were Diesel Caros, am I right in thinking that they used the PSA XUD engine? Car heaven; a torquey Diesel in a RWD car that gained a largely unfounded reputation for being rubbish when, in fact, petrol version's pushrod-bending habit apart, they seemed like good cars to me, especially when stepping from a Lada into one.

Was that a Fiat gearbox then? If so, doesn't that mean that an XUD could be fitted into a Mirafiori, 132 or 124 special T?

 

Imagine doing that and tipping up at a Fiat club concours with it.....

Hero..LOL.

 

The engines seemingly came from France ready to bolt in,in a crate,and the gearboxes were the same as the 1500 petrol,internally at least hence the need to change them often..the torque ripped them apart. They were very very light! I got a big surprise the first time I changed one, bracing myself to take the weight..and then next to nothing.. know the feeling when you think there is another step there and there isn't...

 

If you got a 1.9 Caro box, I reckon a XUD Mirafiori would be no problem!!

 

This makes an interesting read.. there were more than just XUD engines fitted...

http://members.multimania.co.uk/fsopolo ... so_eng.htm

[Albert Ross]

I used to work at a Yugo and Dacia dealer (All under one roof). Have I mentioned it before?

[Barry Cade]

LOL, I also used to work at the Rover/Kia/Rocsta dealer in Dingwall...

[Milford Cubicle]

Tiff and Albert, how many brands did you bring to collapse then?

[Albert Ross]

Erm..... I tried Kia, but they are still trading. Mercedes, Land Rover, Vauxhall (currently), Leyland Daf, and a few independents.... why do you care?

[Tayne]

.

[Barry Cade]

Yes, but never imported into this country. There was talk of it, and we had a LOT of interest, but never happened.

[GJR 11L]

 

#jesteśmy *monkees*#

[Tayne]

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[Andrew353w]

FSO suffered, like all eastern block manufacturers, from a chronic lack of investment. Having bought the basic 125 idea from Fiat they tried to develop new models, but had to use the basic 125 parts to cobble it together. The best (or worst, depending how you look at it!) example of this was the Polonez; launched as a new car, designed and built by Polski Fiat, they'd rushed production testing so much that they'd not designed the rear seats to tip forward-essential when you buy a hatchback!

 

Homer Simpson couldn't have said it better.....

[Milford Cubicle]

At least they created a world-beater in the Caro.