The Polski Fiat 125p was made between 1967 and 1991 by Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych in Warsaw under a Fiat licence. It was not simply the Italian Fiat 125: FSO got the body and the brakes of the new car, but the engines and mechanical parts of the retired Fiat 1300 and 1500. To mark the difference, Fiat and FSO brought back the old Polski Fiat marque.
Polski Fiat 125p at a glance
| Maker | Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych (FSO), Warsaw |
|---|---|
| Licence signed | 22 December 1965 |
| Production | 1967–1991 |
| Pre-production | from 28 November 1967; 75 cars built that year |
| Body | from the Fiat 125, with double round headlights |
| Driveline | from the Fiat 1300/1500, with a column gear lever |
| Engines | 1,295 cc, 60 PS (44 kW); 1,481 cc, 75 PS (55 kW) |
| Brakes | disc brakes on all four wheels |
| Safety change | flat fuel tank above the rear axle |
| Estate | 125p Kombi, from 1972 |
| Pickup | shown in 1972, produced from 1975 |
| Total built | 1,445,689 |
| Production ended | 26 June 1991 |
based on one source: the English Wikipedia article on the 125p.
History of the Polski Fiat 125p
Why Poland needed the car
In the 1960s the only maker of passenger cars in socialist Poland was FSO in Warsaw, which built the dated Syrena and the Warszawa, a car whose roots went back to the 1940s. A replacement was needed even by the standards of a planned economy. FSO had been working on its own large car, but the authorities chose instead to talk to Fiat, which was looking for production in the Eastern Bloc.
On 22 December 1965 a licence agreement was signed for a medium-sized car. The model was designed specifically for Poland: it combined the body and braking system of the new Fiat 125 with the driveline and other chassis parts of the retired Fiat 1300/1500. The FSO plant had to be rebuilt for a modern car, so machinery was bought from Western firms, and more than 100 Polish suppliers took part, as did the other Eastern European factories building Fiat licences, Crvena Zastava in Yugoslavia and the new VAZ works in the Soviet Union.
Preparation took almost two years. Assembly of a pre-production series from parts imported from Italy began on 28 November 1967, and 75 cars had been built by the end of that year.
Two engines, many small differences
There were two main versions, divided by engine: the 1300 of 1,295 cc and 60 PS, in production from 1968 into the late 1980s, and the 1500 of 1,481 cc and 75 PS from 1969. The Polish cars differed from the Italian 125 in many details. The most visible were double round headlights instead of square ones, simpler bumpers and grille, orange front indicator lenses, simpler pressings and the old 1300/1500 interior with its column gear lever. Less visible but more important was a safer flat fuel tank above the rear axle in place of the Italian car’s vertical tank on the right-hand side. All four wheels had disc brakes, as on the Italian car.
Estate, pickup and rally specials
Unlike the Fiat 125, the Polish car was offered as an estate, the 125p Kombi, from 1972, and as a pickup developed in Poland from the Kombi after Italian production of the 125 ended. The pickup was shown in 1972 but only went into production in 1975. The estate won the 1978 Estate Car of the Year award in the United Kingdom. A few homologation specials were built with Italian 1,600 cc (125p Monte Carlo) and 1,800 cc (125p Akropolis) twin-cam engines, mainly for rallying, and a small series of lengthened cabriolets with three rows of seats was used by the tourist bureau in Warsaw for sightseeing.
Restylings and the end
There were two updates in the 1970s. In 1973 the chrome grille gave way to black plastic; in 1975 came another black plastic grille, new indicators, larger horizontal rear lamps in place of pairs of thin vertical ones, a new plastic dashboard and steering wheel, new hubcaps, and bumpers with horizontal rubber strips instead of paired vertical guards. Both engines gained 3.7 kW. From 1983 the car was sold as the FSO 125p 1300/1500. In the late 1980s it received the driveline of the FSO Polonez and a new instrument cluster with round gauges in place of the classic Fiat speedometer. The last car left the line on 26 June 1991, when the design was 24 years old and its mechanical parts were essentially thirty years old. In Britain, where right-hand-drive cars had been sold since 1975, the Polski Fiat had long been the cheapest car on the market at £3,099 in late 1991, but its performance and handling were well behind those of the Italian original, and the leaf-sprung rear axle gave a rough ride. Its replacement in the range was the FSO Polonez, which had been on sale since 1978 and lasted until 2002.
Design and features
- Mixed parentage: the body of the Fiat 125 with the engines and chassis of the Fiat 1300/1500.
- Polish front end: double round headlights, simpler bumpers and orange indicators instead of the Italian square lamps.
- Safer tank: a flat fuel tank above the rear axle rather than the Italian car’s vertical tank at the side.
- Disc brakes all round: standard on every car, as on the Italian 125.
- Long life: 24 years of production with only minor changes, ending in 1991.
Polski Fiat 125p versions
- 125p 1300 (1968): the 1,295 cc, 60 PS version, built into the late 1980s.
- 125p 1500 (1969): the 1,481 cc, 75 PS version.
- 125p Kombi (1972): the estate, winner of the 1978 Estate Car of the Year award in Britain.
- 125p pickup (1975): developed in Poland from the Kombi.
- 125p Monte Carlo and Akropolis: homologation specials with 1,600 cc and 1,800 cc twin-cam engines.
- FSO 125p 1300/1500 (1983): the same car under the FSO name after the licence ended.
The larger car assembled in Poland at the same time was the Polski Fiat 132p, and the small one was the Polski Fiat 126p. More cars are in the Polski Fiat collection.
Sources
- Polski Fiat 125p, English Wikipedia: licence, development, versions, estate and pickup, restylings, production total, exports
