Modern myths and legends about communist past in Poland

As far as I know, people did sometimes used to joke about the name. If there was a dearth of jokes however, that was probably because Poles knew that Skodas (crap though they were) were much better (or far less bad) than Polski-Fiat.

I don't think you can even register maluchy anymore... I was under the impression that the government wasn't allowing new registrations to phase them out because they're so unsafe..

At least the Polonez is somewhat safer. My cousin had one before he upgraded to a Corvette - quite a big jump. At the time (late 90's) he was one of only 3 people in Poland to apparently own a Corvette. Was probably the nicest car around especially in a **** hole like Walbrzych of all places.

Yes, I always wondered where one of my neighbours got his Fiat Mirafiori car from. :):)

But you omitted some groups: e.g. my classmate`s parents were dentists and they bought a brand new Polonez in late 1970s. An owner of a car service near my house drove another Mirafiori. And so on.


Cheap but with rich equipment - e.,g it had a rev counter, not so obvious in compact cars then.

Yes, my elder sister had a Skoda 125 in early 1980s and they sold it after a year coz the rust damage and mechanical repairs cost them a fortune. That was a wedding present from my parents.


I made it only as a boy. Later it disappeared.


Of course, you can register anything as a vintage car. Then you get yellow plates.

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As I remember, they had steering problems.


That was often why people bought them. A typical FSO Polonez driver in the UK would be a university lecturer or public administrator, not looking for a car as a status symbol. not wanting to get into debt, but wanting something big enough for passengers and reasonably economical on fuel.

Plus thick steel. One of my former school mates refused to buy foreign cars for a few years in 1990s, he only bought Polonezes one after another, claiming they were the safest cars available.

Ladas (and the earlier Polski-Fiats, though they were rarer) used to be built like tanks. They were popular with elderly drivers who appreciated coming off better in a minor accident.

hahaha exactly. Of course, it wasn`t intentional. Accidentally, the technological backwardness of communist steel plants contributed to better safety in cars..

I don"t see the grille. Looks like all-electric car.

The hood with the grill is in the rear.

Poland was first?

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Actually, it wasn`t Poland`s. Communists didn`t have such car stylists and designers. It was an Italian design. Communists later filled it with the engine and other components from old FIAT 125 and so Polonez was born. A hybrid of old and new.

Does system which existed in Poland more than 30 years ago really requires such an exotic name as "communism" or it can easily fit under definition of a "monopolistic governmental capitalism"?

That is an oxymoron if I ever saw one

It wasn`t capitalism coz most industry was owned by the state. There were some private enterprises, and veg and fruit market were largely in private hands, but 95% of economy was controlled by the state.

State capitalism is an economic system in which the state undertakes business and commercial economic activity (i.e. for-profit) and where the means of production are organized and managed as state-owned enterprises.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_capitalism

In my understanding a "communism" is something utopic, which never existed yet. Some hypothetical system under which "everyone contributes according to abilities and receives a share of a total product according to her needs".

Yes, but you are talking in theory now while I thought we were talking about a real system which was/is popular and widespread. So, communist Poland wasn`t a capitalist country neither in theory nor in practice, whether state or nonstate.