Welcome to the Big Car channel where I explore the history of your favourite cars from the past fifty years in fun, engaging videos. Come on in!
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Can remember reading auto trader and the free ads in the mid 90s and seeing lots of Fso’s for sale for less than £500, some were only a couple of years old, then 5 years later they were all gone
I worked as a mechanic for an FSO franchise in 1985. Build quality very poor. We had to FIX broken parts on brand new cars on pre-delivery inspection! Interior door handle escutcheons were particularly bad, and electric front windows inoperable, missing clips on door cards as if they've already been removed at the factory. Also door winding handles, and once an electric rear window demister. They were horrific to work on. When you got back into an Astra it was an absolute joy. Amazing they sold any at all.
My dad bought one of these cars when i was a kid for £50 with tax and MOT while he was waiting for the insurance money to come through for the Ford Fiesta XR2i we had stolen from us, He only drove it one time and said they should change the name of this car from FSO to FSA and my mother said what does FSA stand for then? and he said Fucking Stupid Automobile LOOOOL
I was born in 1979 and I remember these cars very well. I have also driven many of them since 1996, when I have got my license. I like the first model the most, it was a really one handsome car. It was called "Borewicz" because it was one of those, that the hero of the popular detective series "Calling 07", lieutenant Borewicz, drove.
Would be intreasing to know more about Volvo 960's Executive Version - Royal, It seems that I could not find alot of information about it and you probably don't know it.
Thanks, they always seemed to be playing catch up with the rest of Europe, yes probably quite good for their domestic market, but here in the UK, they were always considered a bit rubbish. UK cannot claim too much superiority either with rubbish such as the Allegro, Marina etc all with their ageing engines. Mind you ,look at Skoda, once considered the biggest joke in the UK, think Jasper Carrot, and now a superb car.
I owned one of these back in the day, the most fun thing was the 1/2 turn steering…before the front wheels actually responded to the input & the gearstick which I could wiggle in gear more than most cars wiggle in neutral. It was an ‘interesting’ drive and ride, but I can attest it was sturdily built when I reversed into a brick wall, it knocked the wall down with absolutely no damage to the car whatsoever! Ah, fond memories 😂😂
Nicely done, nicely done! Polonez was not exactly a beloved car back here in Poland. It was always a cheep car, and a 125p in disquise. My Dad had two of them the early model, and the akwarium. Both bought and sold for a profit. The car my dad fell in love with was the car he had between both of those FSO products - Mercedes W123. After the second Polonez he swithed to Ford Sierra for quite some years, and eventually came back to Mercedes, this time W124. In XXI cet all swithed to Japanes cars, and now we mailny drive Toyotas and Subarus. Cheers from Kraków!
never knew Ukraine got Infinitis earlier than the EU! My school in Kyiv was just across the street from an Infiniti dealership. I remember 10 year old me sometimes gazing into the windows and dreaming about a car like that :D
I had one.I was 19 and Polonez was 18.My first car. History of this car -It was rebuild after crash and fire in local dealership called "Polmozbyt" (crash was before i was an owner).So i had body from 90' but all mechanical parts ware old 4 speed manual,engine with low number (45 and something K) Orginal body (and whole car) was bild in second year of production 1980.Regards from Poland.
I did'nt realise the Polonez stayed in production for so long I remember it at Earls Court in the late 70s, early 80s. I seem to remember a huge steering wheel and check straps for the doors but it did offer a lot of car for the money. Also I think there may have been a "Rallye" version at one tme with wheel arch extensions attached with exposed pop rivets. As Shania Twain once sang, "that don't impress me much".
I just dont see how Fiat's steel-deal with Russia would affect the Alfasud when Alfa Romeo was not a part of Fiat until 1986. I dont think there is any Russian steel in Alfa Romeos. They just did not build them very well.
@ big car I had a FSO Polonez myself. I think it was 1979 but it could have been 1980 when I bought it. I live in the Netherlands. First you compare the Polonez to an Opel Kadett but it was much bigger, more the size of an Opel Rekord. They used the Fiat 1500X engine that produced 85 HP. It was not sluggish with that engine, nor was it very fast. Later I had an Opel Rekord and the passengerspace was slightly better in the Polonez and the trunk was pretty much bigger in the Opel Rekord. The Opel with it's 2.0 L 90 HP was sluggish.
the Polonez was designed in ITALY. There is a video on the original prototype, while the same as the production model, many details were lost on the production model. Jangarbacz filmed the original Polonez prototype offered to FSO by Turin. The official prototype was named the Polski indeed, and it was way more stylish, especially inside
