Jalopnik: Poland

Polish Choir Bus Tossed Around By Tornado

Ben Wojdyla — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:00:00 EDT

This amazing footage comes straight from Mykanów, Poland, where last Friday a bus carrying 37 members of a choir was picked up and tossed around by a passing tornado. Thankfully, nobody was seriously injured in the incident, but this was the latest close call in a series of storms which have killed three while battering Poland over the last two weeks. No word on the condition of the band's requisite angry little Baba, cursing the storms and the incompetence of the driver with all her might. [Telegraph]

Lodz, Poland To Street Racers: Here, Race On Main Street!

Murilee Martin — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 07:00:00 EDT

Poland's booming economy has doubled the number of cars on the road in a couple of decades, and we don't mean just Polski Fiats here. Hopped-up hot-rod hooligans were hooning it hot and heavy on public roads in Lodz, Poland's second-largest city, so the city fathers decided the only way to stop the chaos was to... buy Christmas Trees and associated timing equipment and organize drag races right through the center of town! [New York Times]

Polish Police Okay Limited Street Racing

Ben Wojdyla — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 08:00:00 EST

Rejoice szybki i wściekły, you now have at least one sanctioned street racing venue. According to our favorite news source ever, Annanova, police in the Polish city of Lodz have defined sections of the city which will be open to no holds barred street racing. This is an attempt by authorities to concentrate street racing in one area to reduce the widespread racing throughout the city. While we like the reasoning and believe in sanctioned and safe racing, we can't help to think since this involves our occasionally ill-advised ancestors, it can only end in multi-vehicle/farm animal pileups.

Polish Homebrew Tractors In German Gallery Show

Ben Wojdyla — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:00:00 EST

Lets say you were trapped in communist-era Poland and needed to do some farming. Waiting for The State to provide you an unreliable proletarian tractor was out of the question. Because, after all, you wanted to be able to actually grow the grain that would get transformed into the wodka that would make your life bearable. So what did you do? Why, you built your own mechanized tiller of the soil, of course. That's just what enterprising farmers did in the pre-Solidarity days. The results of their homebrewed engineering have been cataloged and assembled in a new exhibit at the Zak Gallery in Berlin. "Machines," true to its title, is an exhibit of just that: the contraptions Joe Poland put together in the totalitarian past—and may still use to get things done.

Often cobbled together from bits and pieces of other machines, these things are obviously workhorses, even if they aren't pretty. Some even contain bits from scrapped war machines. We though the Soviet era Belarus pops picked up a while back was crude, but this kind of raises (lowers?) backwoods ingenuity to a whole new level. Bravo, oppressed Soviet Bloc agrarians! [via We Make Money Not Art

How Many Polish Czech Truck Drivers Does It Take To Keep Awake?

Murilee Martin — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:30:00 EST

When you're a diesel demon jockeying 18 wheels on the long haul from ~~Krakow~~ Karlovy Vary to ~~Gdansk~~ Zlín, you need to stay alert. Just honk that bicycle horn when you feel fatigued, and your partner will take the wheel. Ideally, one of you will stay awake... but it's best to have insurance, just in case!

Poland's TruckCar: Mikrusamino!

Murilee Martin — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 16:00:00 EST

The Russians though they had the car-with-truck-bed thing nailed down with the LIAZamino, but don't count out the rest of the Warsaw Pact! Back in 1960, prototypes of the Mikrus MR300 were built by Poland's Wytwornia Sprzetu Komunikacyjnego factory. Now we just need to learn how to yell "Watch this, y'all!" in Polish. [AutoHistories.com]

Only Half of Polish Adults Drive (Insert Punchline)

Matt Hardigree — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:45:00 EST

In Post-Soviet Poland, cars drive... there are... well a majority of people don't drive cars. Almost all of the Polish-Americans we know drive (and living in Chicago, there are a lot) . But according to pollster Estymator, only half of Polish adults still living in Poland engage in the ancient art of driving. The study also indicated that most of the drivers are men, with a mail-to-female ratio of 57/42. The most popular car, making up approximately 25% of the total, is the Fiat 126, also known as the Maluch. A breakdown of the study's findings below the jump:

The more educated you are in Poland, the more likely you are to drive a car. Approximately 65% of the drivers have better than a primary-school education. Most drivers are in their 30s (62%), with 44% of drivers in the 18-29 age bracket. We realize that adds up to 106% of drivers excluding people in their 40s or greater, but that's what it says. [TheNews.pl]

Krakowski! In Poland, Rally Cars Drive Into YOU!

Mike Spinelli — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 10:16:34 EDT

Even if the the clever turnabout in the headline sailed past you like a thrown pirogi, and even if this video's already been on Olbermann, there's still plenty of comedic value to be had. Can you say, "To juz chyba jakas nowa tradycja, rozwalanie szopy pod Limanową" ? We didn't think so.

Hoon of the Day: Maluch Mayhem!

Murilee Martin — Fri, 18 May 2007 09:30:50 EDT

Don't think we've forgotten about the HOTD here at the Jalop! We especially like Eastern European hoonage, and so today we present this Polish hoon and his Polski Fiat 12P, aka Maluch. You like helmetless, seatbeltless intentional rolls? Rickety ramps? Victory dances by no-doubt-vodka-lubed hoons? If so, you'll like this hoon. We're deducting 15 points for the horribly bad video quality but giving 15 right back just because the car is a Polish Fiat. Hoon-O-Meter reading: 37 points. – Murilee Martin

Related:
Hoon of the Day: Skoda Jump [internal]

What Might Have Been: Poland's PZInz Lux-Sport

Murilee Martin — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 17:00:08 EDT

Packing a 3.8-liter V8, independent front and rear suspension, and a streamlined body that showed a dash of Chrysler Airflow influence, the PZInz Lux-Sport prototype was gratifyingly fast and comfortable. The plan was to go into production and unleash the Lux-Sport on the world for the 1941 model year, but the German/Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939 put the kibosh on Poland's dreams of global luxury-car dominance. – Murilee Martin

PZInz's 1936 Lux-Sport Prototype [autohistories.com]

Polonez Caro, Delivered Right To Your Picnic!

Murilee Martin — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 18:00:57 EDT

You say you're shopping for a Warsaw Pact Fiat clone but don't feel like driving a Lada or Yugo? How about the FSO Polonez? Basically a rebodied Fiat 125P, the Polonez coupled Italian reliability with Polish styling and was built from 1978 through 2002. Here's a somewhat incomprehensible ad that shows the kind of military hardware packed by FSO dealerships; keep that in mind if you're considering skipping a payment. – Murilee Martin

Lump In Throat, Tear In Eye: Love Your Syrena

Murilee Martin — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 19:25:32 EDT

Now that we've discovered Poland's FSO Syrena, we've again reminded that there's more to the world of rattly-yet-lovable European two-strokers than yer Wartburgs and yer 2CVs. And speaking of lovable, here's a tear-jerking homage to our favorite little Polish car, complete with Polska-schmaltz soundtrack. – Murilee Martin

It Had To Happen: Lowrider Warszawa!

Murilee Martin — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 10:14:32 EDT

'50 Mercs and '51 Chevys are hard to come by in Poland, so any Pole who hankers for the feeling of rolling in a chopped-and-channeled lowrider to see the '59 Battle of the Doo Wop Bands in El Monte is forced to make do with local vintage steel. However, that's a good thing, as shown here by this FSO Warszawa (which is, of course, a Polish-made GAZ M20 Pobeda). It's got hydraulics, it does burnouts, and it's (apparently) available for wedding duties. The site's all in Polish, but that won't matter. – Murilee Martin

Skacz ca Warszawa FSO LowRider [skaczacawarszawa.pl]

Related:
In Russia, Another BMW-Powered Volga, You! [internal]

FSO Warszawas For Victory!

Murilee Martin — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 17:02:41 EDT

Now that we're on the subject of FSO's cars, how about a nice inspiring newsreel trumpeting the glorious FSO Warszawa? The Warszawa was a GAZ Pobeda license-built in Poland by FSO from 1951 through 1973, and they sure look great in May Day parades. Comrade. – Murilee Martin

Related:
Meet Me At The Red Star Drive-In, Comrade! [internal]

More Two-Stroke Goodness From the East Side: FSO Syrena

Murilee Martin — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 16:00:34 EDT

We love us some two-stroke Iron Curtain automobiles here at Jalopy Central, and sometimes we're so enamored of our Wartburgs and Trabants that we forget to give props to the other Warsaw Pact automotive players. Poland, for example. Starting in 1958, the FSO factory in Warsaw started churning out the Syrena, a steel-bodied two-stroker, and they kept buzzing off the assembly line and into the hands of the glorious socialist worker cadres until 1983. There was a super-cool delivery truck version called the Bosto, and it goes without saying that you could get a Syrenamino! – Murilee Martin

FSO Syrena [autohistories.com]

Karol Wojtyla From Beyond the Grave: 'Holy Crap!' Inexplicable Polish Vehicle

Davey G. Johnson — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 15:00:00 EDT

Wow...we really have no idea what to say about this car. It looks like a cross between the Shaggin' Wagon from Dumb and Dumber, the latest iteration of the Batmobile and Jeff Goldblum's The Fly character all came together in a David Cronenberg/George Barris monster-truck mind meld while the two were mainlining a tincture of polonium. Currently at around 1,500 Euros (we think...our Polish is rustier than BP's Alaskan pipeline), it's up on an auction site in the land of Solidarno . Go peek and be amazed. [Thanks to Chris for the tip.]

inna SAM [otoMoto, Poland]

Related:
You Meet the Looniest People On a Tatra [Internal]

The Jalopnik Morning Shift

Ray Wert — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 08:40:23 EDT

• Today's totally a good day. GM only cut 100 white collar workers. [Freep]
• SAIC! We really are gonna build 200,000 cars in China! [Detroit News]
• And here we thought topless car washes were just for plot lines on Skinimax. [ChinaDaily]
• We seriously can't make a line like this up: "Poland's new car sales bounced back sharply in March as Poles rushed to showrooms after the end of the winter season..." Seriously, It's probably not...but why does it sound funny? [Reuters]
• While one of us packs for NYC, let's check out some urban transport options. [gizmag]
• Every once in a while even we need some sizzle with our steak, here's some "models" to whet your whistle with here, here, here, here, and here. [Multiple Sources]
• We're so excited...look, all the steak is covered up...we totally can't wait till the clothes come off. [Edmunds]