AB car pix
Posted a lot
Car mag' snapper
Posts: 1,337
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One FSO Polonez?! I have meories of my Aunt trading in her mint 205 for a brand new Polonez when they appeared on the UK scene in the late 80s. (Don't think they were around before that?). Even then everyone knew it was a bad buy, and her A reg 205 actually outlived the FSO with its next owner! Was really cheap and nasty all over, stupidly noisy, and ridiculously rolly..... Looked identical to this:
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1979 Chrysler Horizon 1.3 GL 1980 Ford Granada 2.8 Ghia 1985 Ford Sierra 3dr 1985 Ford Escort Mk3 1988 Ford Sierra Sapphire Cosworth 1989 Ford Escort 1.3 Popular 1995 Volvo 960 1996 BMW 525i 1998 BMW 323i 1999 BMW 530d 2003 BMW 530i . www.facebook.com/ABCARPIX
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Our neighbour had an old FSO in red to replace some banger he had that had gone bang. I don't remember the FSO lasting long and I think it was replaced with a brown Austin Princess wedge... the man had interesting (or desperate) taste in cars. He never had a good thing to say about the FSO, I know that much.
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chevazon
Posted a lot
1939 Chevrolet 2 door coupe, `67 `Zon estate, `87 Ragtop Cavalier, 4 x 800 Drifters,(!) 1500 Drifter
Posts: 2,259
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I can remember in the day our Traffic Dept had a couple on test. The guys thought they were one of the worst cars they had ever driven.
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My brother had one for a brief period. It only had 1st, 2nd and 5th gear.
I feel sorry for the poor git that still has one.
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Last Edit: Dec 3, 2011 12:43:42 GMT by quattroste
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I feel sorry for the poor git that still has one. I was thinking the same thing. No matter how bad life gets, at least I'm not that bloke. A taxi company in the town I grew up used to run them right up until the early 90s when the Caro model came out. There was a dealer somewhere in Fife, in a really rural bit. Loads of farmers and the like had the pick up version of the Polonez and Caro. It looked proper home-made but lasted forever. Also in the town I used to live, a boy my Dad knows ran a couple of Solaras as taxis and had a Tagora as his own car until comparatively recently (last five years or so?). I remember they were really comfy, you totally sank into the seats, and they had a bonkers one-spoke steering wheel with buttons on it.
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Served my time as an apprentice mechanic on FSO's in the early 90's, we used to have to pull engines out of brand new ones and rebuild them, cranks would be rumbling and the pistons slapping in the bores as they were driven up the ramp into the workshop, we were constantly rebuilding gearbox's, got through so much instant gasket trying to cure oil leaks we started using shower sealer from B&Q, rear axles used to rumble too, they were bad for water ingress, always a few in the workshop with stripped interiors trying to trace leaks, they were utterly curse word through and through.
Was'nt all bad for me though, later went on to a Rover garage where most of the mechanics had never seen inside a gearbox or engine (mostly changed the whole units if needed)
The FSO dealer went bust after a few years, recon he was loosing money with the huge amount of warranty work, he was doing pretty well as a Skoda dealer before the switch to FSO's too, should have stuck with Skoda.
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72 Pontiac Firebird Formula 400. 95 BMW E34 525i Manual. 80 Lotus Elite, sold 86 Mk4 Escort RWD V8, sold
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,263
Club RR Member Number: 170
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Extinct on our roads?ChasR
@chasr
Club Retro Rides Member 170
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A lot of the issues with the DVLA records are down to interpretation. I remember an XJ40 XJR I once owned. On the logbook it was down as just a Jaguar (no model designation!) with a 3980cc engine. The dealers recognised it as a FAB (Factory Assembled at Bloxam) car with JaguarSport parts. Plus unless it was owned by a master forgeman (to change pretty much every aspect of a normal Sovereign etc.) I doubt it was a fake (I still miss that car ). The fact that it had 5 private plates (according to the HPI) probably did not help with the identity.
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Last Edit: Dec 4, 2011 0:31:08 GMT by ChasR
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