Polski Fiat 125p | 1976
«Tylko 10 000 samochodów» (Only 10,000 cars). In July 1976 this ad offered readers of the Polish monthly Magazyn Rodzinny a Polski Fiat 125p with fast delivery. The catch was in the small print: you paid in Western currency or in vouchers from Bank PKO SA.
The 125p was built in Warsaw by FSO, the Passenger Car Factory, under licence from Fiat. The first one left the Żerań plant on 28 November 1967. It combined the body of the Italian Fiat 125 with the mechanics of the older Fiat 1300/1500, hence the «1500» in the ad.
In this ad we can see a strange invention of communist Poland: «internal export». The state sold its own goods at home for dollars, through Pol-Mot and the Pewex shops, to earn hard currency. Anyone with dollars from relatives abroad could skip the waiting list, which for a car could last years. Everyone else waited.
In the early 1980s Fiat withdrew permission to use its name, and the car carried on as the FSO 125p until 1991, after more than two decades on Polish roads.
Did someone in your family wait years for a car?
Text in the ad
POLSKI FIAT 125p/1500
TYLKO 10 000 SAMOCHODÓW przeznaczono do sprzedaży w ramach eksportu wewnętrznego z szybkim terminem odbioru w roku 1976.
Bliższe informacje oraz wpłaty w walutach wymienialnych i bonach towarowych – we wszystkich placówkach Banku PKO SA na terenie całego kraju.
POL-MOT · Przedsiębiorstwo Handlu Zagranicznego · Biuro Eksportu Wewnętrznego
Translation:
POLSKI FIAT 125p/1500
ONLY 10,000 CARS have been allocated for sale through internal export, with fast delivery in 1976.
Further information and payments in convertible currencies and goods vouchers at all branches of Bank PKO SA throughout the country.
POL-MOT · Foreign Trade Enterprise · Internal Export Office
- Brand
- Polski Fiat
- Year
- 1976
- Decade
- 1970s
- Country
- Poland
- Medium
- Magazine
- Themes
- Cars
- Original publication
- Magazyn Rodzinny, 1976
