The FSO Polonez Story

The FSO Polonez is a car still beloved in its native Poland. When it launched in 1978 it was a modern looking car that was going to put the Polish car industry on the map not only in Europe, but also North America. So, where did this design come from, and what happened?

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[charliemansonUK]

There was a chap on our street who had a FSO P and polished it every weekend a couple of doors up there was a Lada and he argued constantly how much better his FSO was over the Lada.
The saga continued when the Lada owner upgraded to a Samara...
Enter the glorious FSO Polinez and the weekend polishing and arguing continued!!
Ahhhh life in a 1980's Northern Town!

[rorymacve]

That intro was really quite something, I thought I was still watching an advert for a moment! 🤣

My parents used to own a Polonez back in around 1983, they said it was the heaviest car they've ever driven, and that the steering was guaranteed to build upper body strength. However, they also said that it was such a rock-solid machine that other drivers probably knew to keep out of its way, lest they end up on the losing side of a collision!

Another superb video, great work! 😁

[Dropkick_Monger]

I grew up in Poland around the time the Polonez came out, and I remember quite a few people talking about it as a bit of a modern, aspirational vehicle. We never got one, but after a few years on the waiting list, my parents got a Fiat 125. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

[peterkoch]

This episode amazed me in three different points in particular:
1. The (as usual) well researched story about a quirky Eastern block car.
2. The intro.
3. The unexpected view of the Lego Technic helicopter, my most beloved Lego set as a kid.

[obelic]

I recollect that the Polonez even got a Rover K engine ats some point in its life.
During the RAI (Dutch international motor show) we as enginering students got free tickets to attent the show.
Just after the fall of the Iron curtain those former other then Lada eastern block cars were way more exotic to us then Italian sportscars.
The trabant with a VW polo engine, Polonez with a 16v Rover K engine, Skoda Rapids in special rally trim.

[KonstantinosKandiliotis]

We owned a 1987 FSO Polonez 1.5 SLE (two mirrors, adjustable steering column, 5speed, full instrument panel etc), and honestly this car was a workhorse. Spacious, solid, super reliable, comfortable, it offered us the most an Eastern European car could offer (it was very cheap in Greece) and despite it's rear solid axle with leaf springs it handled really well. The only drawback but that was common during those years, was the heavy steering especially during parking manoeuvres. But that was literally nothing compared to it's overall performance. I really miss it.

[darrenwilson]

Former brother in law bought a Lada Riva 1.3SL brand new in the early in the 80's followed up after 3 years by a 1.5 Polonez - both agricultural and crude but as a mechanic he had the tools and knowledge to maintain both. His verdict? The FSO was the winner.

[vwestlife]

The tube camera streaking effect on the clip at 13:43 is glorious!

[iana]

Ah, the Polonez - my uncle had one of these many years ago. He invariably described that thing as a "tank" but it took whatever he threw at it. I remember how every time my cousins got a lift into town in it, they'd ask to be dropped off fairly far from where they wanted to go just so their mates wouldn't see them getting out of the back of the FSO. It was barely one step above a Lada in their eyes, I guess! I also remember getting a lift in a Caro, one of a few sold in the UK with the 1.9 PSA diesel motor.

[cwshtygriff]

I used to sell new FSO’s during the 80’s and 90’s . They were surprisingly reliable and pretty tough! They suffered with electrical gremlins’ but otherwise a good car and value for money.

[mdbaewy]

My father had a 125p from 1979, the year I was born, until 1993. Our best friends had a Lada and I have fond memories from both. At the same time there was one single Polonez where I grew up and, as I was riding past it with my bicycle, I always thought it looked like a spaceship, compared to our 125p. I was happy to see many 125p in Poland and a 125p Story would be a dream!

[ronaldderooij]

The first generation Polonez was still the most beautiful, I think. I also loved the dasboard with gauges galore! But yeah, I was only 14....

[welshskies]

I've had an Opel/Vauxhall/Buick/Holden Cascada, since 2013, a Polish made posh convertible sold all over the world and I love it. I'd have no hesitation buying a Polish made car.

[peterpodgorski]

For anyone curious, FSO stands for "Passenger Car Factory" and FSM was "Small Engine Car Factory". Yeah, they were incredibly creative.

[MrAuriga]

I had a 1994 FSO Caro 1.9 GLD Was a great car, easy to work on, and never let me down. I loved driving it especially with rear wheel

[romanpaladino]

Love that intro!
"The back sofa didn't decompose" 🤣🤣

[piotrmalewski]

This is extremely well researched, given how much confusion and inaccurate information there in Polish publications about the car, but I'll still give a few info and corrections if I may:
1:53, the original 125p looked differently than this facelift model shown here. Mechanicals from the 1300/1500 is generally correct, however there were some modifications to the engine and the brakes were from the new 125.
2:27, the 1, 3 Coupe from 1974 had nothing to do with 125p. It had centrally mounted drivertrain from Fiat 128. It was mid engine.

3:00. The 1, 3 and 1.5 push rod-engines were intended to be replaced from the very start. They were only supposed to be used in Polonez for the first few years and quickly replaced with a new family of SOHC engine of 1.6 to 2 liter capacities. Based on this idea FSO also worked with Ricardo on 2 liter diesel engine, and made 60 units before the project was cancelled.

7:50 - this is in an official version, but probably the whole contest was faked. Besides, rapid change of names from Polski Fiat to FSO was a shot in the knee, and on some markets like Finland the name Polski would remain.

9:38 - Turning circle was 10, 8 meters which was less than Passat B1. Also, as it turned out, it could have been lowered be changing placement of front brake calipers, which was done in I think 1994.

10:41 - the lever was designed this way so it could be connected directly to the gear selector without any linkage and thus remove the need for adjustments and replacements.

11:27 - actually 90 miles an hour is a figure for fully loaded car. In reality those cars could do about 110 but it varied a lot on quality of each unit and wether or not carburettor settings were right.
The engine mostly lacked low end torque for a car that heavy though, which also contributed to lifespan issues.

12:00 - actually the doors on the three door were same as in any car of the kind, that is: much longer. I don't think this version was ever seriously considered as a mass volume car, since the production line was not programmed for 3 door types and they were largely welded manually. Apparently there were some thoughts of turning them into GT or sports cars. Not just because of 2000 Turbo prototype rally car, but also because they were offered with very high trim levels and various modifications like shorter main gear, or 2 liter engine. The 2000 Turbo was extensively tested and competed in all rounds of National Championships, so should the situation not been as terrible as it was, they would have made at least several hundreds of 3 door 2 litre turbos.

13:41 - to my best knowledge no improvements or changes have been done to suspension untill 1993 when it was widened front and rear, received stronger shock absorbers and thicker springs at front. There could have been some variation on the thickness or the number of leaf springs though.

17:43 - actually early 90s and transition to market economy caused huge unemployment and deterioration of life standard for many people, however the economy also began to grow rapidly and Polonez being not much more expensive Fiat 126p and cheaper than Fiat Ciqnquecento effectively helped to do it because it big and hefty enough to do anything. For years to come those cars would go around loaded to the roof and pulling trailers of goods for sale on street markets. Not everyone wanted pickup truck, and hatchback Polonez would be as much of a family car as a substitute of a truck.

18:22 - a lot of these options were available back in 1980s, just not in domestic market. As for Caro, it even had an option of the inner part of light alloys to be painted in body color. There were also 3 different steering wheel patterns and 4 different types of seats to be chosen, the standard ones, and 3 'Inter Groclin' types; air cushoned, hard bucket, and 'Akupresura', a type of soft bucket seat.

20:58 - there was absolutely no changes to the front suspension at this point. It could have been easily modified to provide more grip, since double wishbone is a very flexible setup when it comes to choosing different settings, but this would have made a live axle car aggressively oversteer, so this was never done outside rally cars. The belief that anything changed was probably coming from the fact that at this point the negatives at the factory were worn out, and all cars had slightly twisted front which requred very uneven number of washers under upper suspension arm mountings in every car, and thus repair books give slightly different wheel angle tolerances.
If you're mentioning all those details, I'd have rather mentioned introduction of new Lucas braking system as an option in 1993 and making it standard in 1995. However, while an improvement, the braking was long in comparison to newer competitors.

The real strenght of this car was that primitive high clearance suspension and standard steel skidplate made it resilient to the terrible shape of the Polish roads back then.

Beginning and this: 24:21 - Polonez was actually hated for many years. Initially because there was a misconception that only communist party members would drive i and in the 90s because it was often someone's first car, not properly mained and to tell the truth, production quality had dramatic fluctuations from unit to unit so those cars deteriorated rapidly and people thought of it as something they wanted to get rid off.
Those cars only got some positive recognition in the last 10 or 15 years because of nostalgia and various internet publications. For example it's safety provess was never properly marketed. Nobody ever had an idea to take let's say BMW E36 and crash it against Polonez. People only learnt how well Polonez' body was designed after it vanished from the market and articles from crash tests and street images and news of people driving Polonezes surviving horrible crashes have circled the internet. It makes you thinking when when you see in crash tests and images from real street crashes that Polonez' cocpit would almost never give up, while even BMW E36 would collapse in standard crash test and A pillar stab the driver.

[davidparfitt]

I won this car in a Sun newspaper competition in thelate 70's, the same colour as the thumbnail. Nice car let down by quality issues, i wound down the drivers window and when I wound it back up, the window rubber followed, also the battery shorted out on the bonnet. But it plenty of extras not seen in other cars of the day.

[monikaitomekszul]

Many thanks for bringing back memories from my teen years. Who didn't dream about Polonez back then in Poland? Congrats on your acting skills in the intro! Well done!

[andrewfoster]

hooray the fso polenez i had 1 in 1985 second hand on b317 mnr from swithland motors owned by gordon banks. i loved it was my first car when passed my test. went every where i had my cb radio in it was freedom. great video