Tag Archives: FSO

Yellow Lines

Lego FSO Polonez

The yellowness continues here at The Lego Car Blog. We’re not sure what’s got into the Elves, but their last five finds have been in this hue. Still, everything (apart from snow) is better in yellow, which means that this hideous FSO Polonez by TLCB regular Senator Chinchilla does at least have one positive attribute going for it.

Penned by the legendary designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, who was responsible for numerous Alfa Romeos, Lancias, Lotuses, Volkswagens, and most recently the Mustang’s return to form, here he was clearly having a bad day.

Based on some mouldy old left-overs from Fiat, the Polonez launched in 1978, with production continuing until a scarcely believable 2002. By that time the Polonez was hopelessly outclassed, but ironically the build quality had at last become acceptable thanks to some input from now-defunct Korean brand Daewoo.

Both FSO and Daewoo cars are now long dead, although a new company attempted re-start Polonez production in 2003 and – thankfully – failed. Senator Chinchilla has successfully added one more Polonez to the world though, and his Model Team recreation – complete with faded paint and rust for authenticity – is a neat build. See more at his photostream via the link above.

Lego FSO Polonez

Blow Me

Lego Polonez Turbo

We’re not fans of Eastern Europe’s communist automotive efforts. Like, at all. But if there’s proof that forced induction, wide arches, and racing stripes can make anything cool, this is it. Raphael Granas‘ ’80s Polonez twin turbo is one of the coolest Lego cars we’ve ever seen. Click above and get ready to want it.

Fiat Sell Out

Lego Technic Supercar FSO Polonez

We found this model too late for Halloween, but it would have been a perfect Frankenstein’s monster for the festival of all things horrible!

Many vehicle manufacturers have sold off their old designs to be re-built (badly) by state-run abominations within oppressive totalitarian regimes. Mitsubishi, Renault, Rover and – most prolifically of all – Fiat, have all seen their retired cars re-borne overseas. Lada, Yugo, Zastava, and FSO amongst others all owe their engineering to Fiat, and they all had one thing in common. They were complete sh*…

Fortunately the people of Poland are now unshackled from both the tyranny of communism and the FSO Polonez they had little option but to drive. The FSO company didn’t last long in the free world after the fall of the Soviet Union, and the factory closed down in the early ’00s.

The FSO Polonez is therefore quite a strange choice for a Lego Technic ‘Supercar’, but that’s just what newcomer Krzysztof Cytacki has chosen to recreate, and in doing so he’s built one of the finest and most accurate Supercars we’ve ever seen.

Underneath the stylish bodywork there’s a perfectly replicated engine, gearbox, interior, steering and suspension system, plus opening doors, hood and hatchback, working windscreen wipers and LED lights. It really is one of the best Technic Supercars ever built.

You can see Krzysztof’s creation in a huge gallery on Flickr by way of the link above – it’s well worth a few clicks.

Lego Technic FSO Polonez

Polish Star

Lego Star Car Transporter

Flickr’s Karwik is a regular here at The Lego Car Blog, with over a dozen of his beautiful Town vehicles featured here since our inception. Today he adds no less than six more creations to his blog-count with this simply wonderful Star C-28 Car Transporter complete with Polski-Fiat load.

Five Polski-Fiat 125ps feature, with three sedans, one station wagon and even a pick-up loaded onto the ZBNS D-91 trailer. All variants were, er… rubbish, but that doesn’t stop them looking spectacular in Lego form with Karwik’s huge attention to detail evident on each one.

We highly recommend a visit to Karwik’s photostream to see more of the Star C-28 truck, ZBNS trailer, and its Fiat 125p load. You can also view all of Karwik’s other incredible blogged creations by typing his name into the search box at the foot of this page (or at the top right for those viewing on mobile devices). Now, time for us to give a very lucky Elf  six Smarties (and possibly diabetes).

Lego Car Transporter, Polski-Fiat

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday!

This little FSO Polonez made by Flickr user r a p h y is a birthday present to his brother, who owns the real-life version of this LEGO model. Talk about original presents!

Using some cool techniques and basic pieces Raphy nails the Polonez look in a tiny scale. Great work Raphy!

FSOh No

Lego FSO Polozez

This fabulous model of a horrible car is the work of TLCB favourite Karwik on Flickr, who has, for reasons unknown to man and beast, chosen to recreate the abysmal FSO Polonez Hatchback, Coupe and Pick-Up in Lego.

Based on the bits Fiat left behind when they couldn’t be bothered to pack properly during their exit from Eastern Europe in the early ’80s, the FSO Polonez became a success in Poland almost purely because import taxes protected it from competition. This privileged position ended when Poland joined the EU and since then the FSO hatchback has been rapidly replaced by more advanced Western machinery.

Lego FSO Polonez

The FSO Pick-Up however, has shown a bit more staying power, due to such merits as its large carrying capacity and being easy to fix. Probably not quite as easy to fix as Karwik‘s version though, of which you can see more on Flickr.

Lego FSO Pick-up

Fiat’s Shoddy Off-cuts

FSO Car

Fast, Safe and Opulent. Wait, no, that’s not right.

FSO, Poland’s answer to Lada, did not make good cars. In fact, like Lada, they made bad cars out of the leftover bits of old Fiats. Bad cars that somehow they managed to sell to countries that really should’ve known better. Still, they’re now dead and gone, so in celebration (probably) Dohoon Kim has recreated one of their more numerous offerings, the simply dreadful Polonez 1500, in our beloved LEGO bricks. Despite the crapiness of the car, the model is rather lovely, and you can see more of it on both Flickr and MOCpages.