The FSO Classics Exhibition is open seasonally and only every other weekend. The 2024/25 season starts on Saturday, September 14 and will definitely last all of next year, and maybe longer.
At the exhibition we will see a lot of cars, motorcycles and bicycles. Most of them are Polish-made, hence – from FSO, but there is also no shortage of products from the "rotten west" or from the brotherly countries of the CMEA.
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The FSO area is currently being given over to residential construction. Most of the area belongs to the Okam company – it is over 60 ha for investment. It must be admitted that the FSO Park project, which will be built here in the next 10 years, is a very interesting proposal, slightly different than usual. There will be buildings referring to the factory halls, the original entrance gate will remain, as well as several of the most interesting and oldest buildings after FSO. In addition, there will be a lot of greenery, and car traffic will be minimized. Unfortunately, many things could not be saved, it is worth mentioning the test track (different owner). Unfortunately, the world does not like a vacuum and the areas after FSO will be built up. And so on this area, the tribute paid to the predecessors will be much more visible than on the remains of Ursus, where apart from street names, practically nothing reminds us of the industrial history of this place.
Paint shop from the Daewoo-FSO era and historical monuments
The exhibition is set up in the FSO paint shop building, which was built in the mid-90s, during the Daewoo-FSO era. This building is in the best condition of all, ideally suited for this type of exhibition
The Ursus C-360 3P still drives around the FSO grounds, taking care of order, photo by K.Pawłowski The organizers of the exhibition, i.e. the Foundation for the Protection of Monuments of Industry and Technology and the Museum I Had One Such (in cooperation with Okam), are not afraid of superstitions and on Friday, September 13, they officially inaugurated the new exhibition season at FSO. After a long break, the exhibition returned to the factory in Żerań. Now, without the entire, extremely visually attractive paint line (which the owner of the grounds scrapped), the exhibition returns, with the same foundation at the forefront and many people who created the previous exhibitions. You can see passion and great commitment in all of this.
At precisely 10:00 the director and content creator of this exhibition, Maciej Bień from the Polish Automobile Club and the Museum I Had Once Such, opened the fourth season of the exhibition. At the press conference, led by Wojciech Jurecki, he was accompanied by, among others, Zbigniew Mikiciuk, former chairman of the Polish Automobile Club’s historic vehicle commission, which opened a similar facility in the former Norblin Factory in Wola in 1991.
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There will be Żuks, Nysas, Tarpans and one Ursus
We won't go into detail about the official ceremonies, because we're interested in specifics. So what will we see in FSO from an agricultural perspective?
Ursus C-360, photo by K.Pawłowski The Ursus C-360 will appear in the area of work vehicles, but this equipment will probably not interest farmers, because in the countryside such machines are still "doing the job". Certainly, more than one farmer will have tears in his eyes when he sees Żuks and Nysas, of which there are really many in FSO. It is worth paying attention to the brigade version of Żuk, which was created as a project in 1972 with the idea of State Agricultural Farms and larger agricultural cooperatives, which somehow had to transport people to the field together with their equipment. The model at the exhibition comes from a newer model year and is in very nice condition.
The prototype of the PW car, or the forerunner of the Honker, photo by K.Pawłowski The exhibition also includes Tarpans. The prototype of the PW car, which later evolved into the Honker Tarpan, draws attention. This is the only example of the prototype PW, or multi-purpose vehicle, from the beginning of the project, that has survived. While the classic Tarpans did their job for agriculture, the Honker was already perceived more as a military vehicle – it was too expensive and too impractical to conquer the wilderness of the Polish countryside.
Lublin with a laminated bed, photo by K.Pawłowski The Lublin of the first series with a laminated van body is certainly an interesting exhibit. Not everyone remembers that when Lublin entered the market in 1993, after almost 20 years of development and testing, it was sold only in a box version. However, the market also wanted to have a van to choose from. The factory in Lublin had such a prototype, but was unable to start production. In order to get out of this situation with face, FSC proposed Lublin with a laminated superstructure made in Ostróda by the Moto-Sport company. It looks crooked, it looks bad, but this version filled a large market gap for the first few years of Lublin production.
FSO 125p pickup in English, photo by K.Pawłowski It is also worth stopping by the FSO 125p pickup in the English version, with the steering wheel on the right side. In the 80s, when FSO products could compete on Western markets only in terms of price, a popular export product was a semi-truck based on a large Fiat. Cheap, quite nice, although outdated and out of step with its times, the vehicle was very eagerly bought by farmers who were looking for a simple and cheap vehicle to transport their crops or tools to the field. Then they tried to continue this small success by offering the Polonez Truck in the West, but there were not so many takers for this vehicle. Although, already under Daewoo's management, the Truck experienced its second youth, among others in Italy and Spain, where quite a lot of them were sold at the turn of the century.
FSO Polonez Analog, photo by K.Pawłowski Another gem at the exhibition are two copies of the Polonez Analog – a prototype of a 4×4 pickup. From a farmer's point of view, the Analog seemed really interesting – tall, with a bed, with four-wheel drive – it could be an interesting alternative to Lublins and other vehicles. Unfortunately, the Analog was only a concept that tested certain technologies for the factory and FSO did not plan its serial production. After the Koreans entered, the project completely collapsed, as completely detached from reality.
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In addition to the vehicles listed above, there is a range of other equipment on display, such as the Fiat Cinquecento, a galaxy of small cars, and the Stary fire truck. Among the Western vehicles, it is worth mentioning the great-grandfather of today's crossovers, the Talbot-Matra Rancho, which was intended to serve farmers, hunters, and fishermen as a cheaper alternative to the Range Rover. It is one of the first vehicles based on an out-of-town lifestyle. Slightly raised, with a larger cargo area, it was to be perfect for residents of large, rural estates.
On the left, the French and cheap answer to the Range Rover – Matra-Talbot Rancho, photo by K.Pawłowski. Right next to it, a real car from the French province was parked – Renault 4. These were the vehicles used in the countryside in the 60s, 70s and 80s. The 4 could go into any terrain, comfortably, with four people on board. The example from the exhibition is interesting in that it was manufactured in Morocco and bought by a Polish doctor who was on a contract in Africa.
SOMACA Renault 4 – Moroccan version of a French provincial car, photo by K.Pawłowski This is just a fragment of what you will see. There are ambulances, police cars, fire engines, Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, pre-war vehicles, Warsaws, Syrenas, Mercedes, Soviet, Czechoslovakian, Swedish and many Polish cars. You will see more in the gallery.