FSO Polonez

[angle]

I've done a search, and there doesn't seem to have ever been one posted on RR. And I don't exactly have fond memories of them - that's what spending three days in the back of one going to the south of France as a child does to you. However, its an established fact that obscure base model:



Plus lowering:



Plus rims:



works pretty well.







Oh, and have some bonus Polski Fiats:

[Deleted]

Works for me

[crazymonkey]

dunno why but that polonez seems to have a definite hint of nissan sunny in it lol

but yeah rims plus lowering them does definitely work ;D

[MikeyPhresh]

Sweet I was waiting for this thread!
This is my spot from last summer's visit in the land of Poles... For me it's a definition of Polonez and possibly an inspiration for the future if I ever move to Poland for some time...



Oh.. and guess what, it was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, definitely the biggest legend in car design as far as I'm concerned. For me it was always very close to Lancia Delta which was designed a year later. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgetto_Giugiaro
Giugiaro = Alfasud, DeLorean, Mangusta, Ferrari 250GT, Lotus Esprit, Maseratis, Golf Mk1, Passat Mk1... ...Zastava Yugo

Oh, and the fiat... D3 WAISS -it's from Wroclaw, where I was born. I saw this car on couple of shows and it was one of the first ever modded 125p's on the scene... Pretty much started the scene. Have few pictures from my good friend's hip-hop video shoot.

[alexg]

There is love out there for the Polonez, check out what this loon did on autoshite

www.autoshite.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10276

[BenzBoy]

It's been years and years since I've seen a Polonez in the wild!

In fitting with RR Rally week, here are some rally Polonezeses...

[MikeyPhresh]

Mmmmm Stratopolonez... The legendary Polonez with Lancia Stratos running gear and engine. It's been rebuilt and apparently is in running condition!

By the way, forgot to mention why there are not many of them around. I seem to remember that the British export ones were a lot better equipped and some of them even had Rover engines. That's why a lot of them got imported back to Poland for parts / steering wheel swaps after they were getting a bit older and prices dropped. I remember lots of them on car transporters with British plates and light bangs/scrapes in the early 90's. Probably first time ever that I saw a RHD car and got really confused

Edit: Just found this...

All i can say is WoW...

[BenzBoy]

Wait... it has STRATOS RUNNING GEAR?! I did not know that. The coolness of that car just went through the roof in my opinion.

As for the UK road-going ones, I'd forgotten that they came with Rover K-Series lumps - I think they were sold here as the FSO Caro, which was if I recall just a facelifted Polonez.

When I was a kid the bloke across the road from me had a brand new Polonez. It literally dissolved within 3 years and it was shunted into the garden and a different car parked behind it.

[tonycocacola]

needs smaller wheels and lowering more.
definately going in the right direction though.

[MikeyPhresh]

Mar 17, 2011 0:06:36 GMT BenzBoy said:

Wait... it has STRATOS RUNNING GEAR?! I did not know that. The coolness of that car just went through the roof in my opinion.

It had a 2.4 V6 engine used in Ferrari Dino and Lancia Stratos. Basically a story is quite epic as in 1977 during a European Rally Championship in Poland there was a very close and fierce final battle between Polish and French teams both driving Stratoses (Stratosae? ). Close to the end the Polish guy changed gear at wrong time and flew out on a corner destroying the body but leaving the rest with only some minor damage. The French guy (Darniche) won the Championship. At the same time there was a rally version of Polonez being prepared (Polonez 2500 Racing) so the Polishes decided to scrap the original engine (FR layout) and use the frame, running gear and the engine of a Stratos plus the body of a rally Polonez. After few litres of very strong vodka, some angle grinders, welders, hammers and a lot of cigarettes with no filters, the legend was born... When the team first started the engine. some people living nearby called Milicja (communist version of police) complaining and worrying about the terrible noise!
After running first tests... OK, there were no tests, first rally was supposed to be the first test. Because it was a prototype and the Polonez was not in production for another year it had to go through a handicap race and despite spinning out many times it finished first! People had no idea what was powering the beast and many were confused when after opening the bonnet they saw a gigantic radiator adapted from a Polish lorry - Star (apart from cooling it was also adding weight at the front). Only after looking from behind it became clear what was inside...

It is a true legend with 0-62mph in less than 6 seconds and top speeds around 142mph... it also used 100 litres of fuel per 100km. Yeah, that's around 2.35mpg

The guys who restored it and got it running are also legends and deserve a lot of credit

Edit: Forgot to add. The body was made entirely out of metal, none of that girly fibreglass

(rougly translated from the remains of restorer's website www.stratopolonez.republika.pl/historia.html )

[BenzBoy]

Fantastic info, thanks MP! I love it when there's an interesting back-story to these cars. I'm surprised the use of decadent Western engineering was allowed behind the Iron Curtain.

[MrSpeedy]

When I was a kid we had a polish brickie doing our extension. He had a Polonez and I was fascinated by it. Couldn't stop looking at it.
Always thought it could be a very cool looking car.

That orange one goes someway to prove that everything has potential

[Leo]

I've got a weird soft spot for these too. Back in what I guess was the very early 90's, my parents had one. Dad had lost his job and company car and needed some wheels. Somehow he found one of these, paid something like 50 notes for it and we had it a while.

Two things stick in my mind, first was that a friend who lived nearby asked when we got the BMW! He thought it looked like a 3 series (would be an E30) because of the quad headlights. Second thing was the disco dash. The choke light and handbrake light flash when on and with the choke, handbrake and indicators on, there was a red, orange and green disco on the dash :-D

[ettorebugatti]

In The Netherlands you could buy in tne early nineties: A FSO Prima with a Rover K-series (1.4l, 103bhp).


Would be a riot to drive.

They did even do a race version!

[Czechered Flag]

I spotted an FSO Caro Pick up in London at the weekend.

I'd love to find a Polonez hidden away somewhere.

[MikeyPhresh]

Some moar!





Essence of bad taste

Very rare Coupe version:







And in action:


About decadent western cars behind Iron Curtain... I'm not sure, I think there were some close ties with Italy at that time despite everything. Take Polski Fiat for example. There were also many Lancias, Alfas and Fiats around at that time for some reason so there's definitely something in it. It was long before my time though so I wouldn't know exactly.

[Rich606]

Mar 16, 2011 23:22:17 GMT BenzBoy said:

It's been years and years since I've seen a Polonez in the wild!

I honestly don't think I've ever seen one on the road. Stratopolonez is genius ;D

[wilko]

The facelift "Caro" was used by a taxi firm in Northampton back in the 90's, think they were about P reg & I think they were powered by n/a Peugeot 1.9 diesel engines!

I have been harbouring ideas about driving an old jalopy of some description to Poland, buying a cheap Polonez and driving home again... A Polish mate of mine at work reckons it would be possible!

[scoobypete]

Why drive out there? just fly over,ive been harbouring a desire to do that also but i want a dacia ;D

[MikeyPhresh]

Be very careful about buying old Polish/Eastern cars in Poland... To be honest it's best if you have someone there who knows a bit about buying second hand cars as it's quite a skill. You don't want to end up finding out that the car was held up by zip-ties and packing tape whilst you're scratching your head on the side of an Autobahn... Basically it's like buying a dog of a traveller