It only sat for 3 months, but it looks like it's been parked for 3 years

". ." (xllx) 03/22/2016 at 12:18 • Filed to: shoebox, blue torpedo

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 > . . 03/22/2016 at 12:22

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Oooh a Polski Fiat. I remember seeing those all over the place in Belarus.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > . . 03/22/2016 at 17:18

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The little Shoebox is a bit dusty! :)

Do you fire it up once and awhile while it’s in storage?

. . > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 03/22/2016 at 17:21

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To be entirely honest, I couldn’t be arsed to drag a battery there to fire it up over the past 3 months. :P

If the weather holds I’ll go and start it tomorrow. I want to get it inspected and ready to drive. :D

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > . . 03/22/2016 at 17:28

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It’s been a little warmer over here in Canada, seeing a few more nice cars out on the warmer days, hopefully the same over there! :P

. . > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 03/22/2016 at 17:31

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We’re supposed to get around 8-12 degrees for the next few days, and more importantly it’s supposed to be dry. :D

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > . . 03/22/2016 at 17:34

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It was very cold here today...mostly due to a huge windchill, but it was sunny and dry. A few flurries this morning and a snowstorm yesterday, but it’s already melting away now....

Do you ever drive your 126 in the rain at all?

. . > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 03/22/2016 at 17:38

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I got caught in a proper downpour once, but aside from that I never did. It was kinda scary actually because it failed to start after I the rain stopped that one time. Luckily, it was the ignition switch (I think I mentioned it breaking at some point), not anything related to water. :D

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > . . 03/22/2016 at 18:07

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Bad coincidence! Something to be said for mechanical simplicity I guess, haha!

. . > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 03/22/2016 at 18:09

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Actually, I think you’d have a hard time finding a non-offroad car that has an intake as high up as a 126p. Proper weatherproof, that car! :D

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > . . 03/23/2016 at 08:50

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True! You’d be proud of me, if you’ve ever heard of the computer game Automation, I just designed a 126 clone that I called the 621 (lawl)....same general bodyshape as the 126 as they have it in the game, but the game doesn’t allow for it to be rear-engined, so it’s front engined with a water-cooled (no aircooled in the game yet) I-4 with a 32hp 658cc engine. :P

I think I’ve managed to make it look suitably ugly/underengineered! :P Plus, look, it’s even hearing-aid beige! :D

. . > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 03/23/2016 at 09:57

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Automation is awesome, been playing it for years now. :D Also, fairly sure the game allows you to make rear engined cars to some extent. No air-cooled montors though. :(

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > . . 03/23/2016 at 12:41

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There are rear-mounted engines, but only in certain bodies, and weirdly, the 126-style body isn’t one of them! :S

. . > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 03/23/2016 at 12:47

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Lame. :(

I guess we’re stuck trying to recreate this model

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > . . 03/24/2016 at 07:26

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Didn’t know about that one! I thought I’d read about front-engined pickup truck versions, but not a front-engined CAR version. I imagine these are quite rare...? Were they designed by FIAT themselves...?

. . > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 03/24/2016 at 07:49

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They were designed by Polish engineers in the 80's as a way to evolve the 126p. Only a few prototypes were made (one of which is in a museum in my city :D) but the idea was dropped after the Beskid showed more promise.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > . . 03/24/2016 at 21:29

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Ah, so a Plksi-FIAT designed car then. Still very interesting! Looks like they actually would’ve had a decent sized trunk in the back with the engine in the front! :) Same engine from the BIS I imagine, or...?

. . > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 03/25/2016 at 04:59

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Actually, it had the regular aircooled engine, they just gave it an extra fan.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > . . 03/25/2016 at 07:45

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Ah, interesting! Same transmission too? I guess they’d have to mount the engine backwards in that case, it looks like!

. . > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 03/25/2016 at 07:51

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It must have been a really hilarious design exercise. The engine got flipped 180*, and so did all the guts in the transaxle (otherwise the car would have 4 reverse gears and 1 forward).

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > . . 03/25/2016 at 14:42

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Still pretty cool that they pretty much used the same stock parts!

. . > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 03/25/2016 at 14:47

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Would have probably been better with a BIS engine though. Shame they dropped it to focus on the Beskid and nothing came out of that.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > . . 03/25/2016 at 15:18

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Am I weird for saying that the Beskid actually looked surprisingly nice considering it was designed in the mid-80's?

Also, doesn’t the BIS engine have far more reliability issues than the air-cooled engine?

. . > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 03/25/2016 at 15:22

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The Beskid definitely looked ahead of its time in 1983.

And yeah, a BIS will generally have more issues than a regular 126, but you have to remember that once they polished that powerplant before putting it in a Cinquecento it was perfectly fine.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > . . 03/25/2016 at 17:26

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Interesting....I thought I’d read that the BIS-engined Cinqs had the same sort of issues. Nice to know they were more reliable though! :)

. . > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 03/25/2016 at 17:39

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They were by far the most common version of the Cinquecento found in Poland.