Polski-Fiat 126P: Spotted
Built under license and chronically slow - but a midget gem, too
Generally speaking there are three arbiters we use to assess a vehicle's used value and marketable desirability: model, condition and provenance. And of these three, perhaps the greatest is provenance. After all, such is our modern-day obsession with fame and the famous, how many tired old pieces of second-hand junk have been successfully sold for way in advance of their true worth by the addition of a celebrity owner somewhere along the way?
Indeed the interweb is legion with stories of cars that have fulfilled this brief - and ex-owners who have prospered thus - with the very fact that the Queen's gloved hands or the Pope's pellegrina or Beckham's feet have at some point come into contact with a part of the said car's interior enough to propel prices to the semi-stratospheric.
I have never owned a car that before me had been owned by a celebrity, but I have owned three vehicles that previously belonged to LJK Setright, and in this field - our field, the one you're in now, motoring - he was I suppose something of a celebrity. Alas I never noticed that this brush with motoring fame had any effect on the prices of these vehicles I owned, either in the buying or the selling of them, so perhaps his reputation hadn't spread far enough beyond the confines of our tiny idyll for it to impact on the trade or the public or whoever it is that decides that such associations are good.
It seems to have worked for young Jonny Smith, though, that well-known TV and internet motoring pundit whose Polski-Fiat 126P is up for grabs in our classifieds, and whose ownership of it seems to be very much a crucial factor in the selling of it. Whether or not his name does in fact add extra pounds to the little car's price is perhaps a matter of debate, but £3195 doesn't sound like such a far-fetched amount for something so unquestionably rare and, in its own quirky 24hp, 65mph sort-of way, so imminently desirable. Yes, it may well be a lethargic performer, its rear-mounted parallel twin engine full of character but ultimately lacking in puff, but few cars are as much fun as the diminutive 126; you just have to remember to drive it flat out everywhere.
The 126P was no more or less than a Fiat 126 built under license in Poland, and this wonderfully original 1990 example was brought to the UK for Smith in 2016. It looks pretty immaculate, well, at least on paper it does. Indeed it's described as a cult classic, but whether or not that's referring to Jonny Smith or the car I'm not sure. With a little imagination you can of course seek it out on the internet, and even see the car being driven by Jonny and his 'Smith and Sniff' website cohort Richard Porter. Indeed with that kind of provenance it's effectively had two celebrity endorsements for the price of one. Bit of a bargain then, I'd say.
SPECIFICATION: POLSKI-FIAT 126P
Engine: 652cc, twin cylinder, air cooled
Transmission: Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 24
Torque (lb ft): 30
MPG: N/K
CO2: N/K
First registered: 1990
Recorded mileage: 36,000
Price new: N/K
Yours for: £3195
Mark Pearson
Interestingly, I've been in Italy for the last two weeks. In that time, driving through Rome, Naples and the Amalfi Coast, I've lost count of the number of original Fiat 500s I've seen. Number of 126s? Two.
The survival rate of this car's predecessor seems to be much higher. Values are much higher too, according to a cursory look on eBay Italia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jEZ6o2fMZI
This looks fairly sound but looks can be deceptive, they are easy to work on but you end up having to do a lot of work, I have done pretty much everything on the 500's and know them inside out,the 126 was just a reshell and the running gear is the same, or at least interchangeable and very similar.
They are so painfully slow, in todays world they tend to get on other motorists nerves if you are going uphill and that makes them apt to do stupid stuff to get past, ok on sunny days but wouldnt attempt a commute in one.
I dont hate them, we may get another but be under no illusion they are transport nowadays, the price on this seems reasonable if its as good as it looks as you get the 500 experience but it isnt cute, I personally think they look pretty good and are where 500 prices were ten years ago, they have gone daft as well.
Like the previous poster, week in Italy and saw none at all, lots of stuff with 500s printed on it but not a single car, no exotics either, Italian cars we saw were all generally dull euroboxes, funny as in Italian cities they make more sense, but wonder if the emissions mean they are no longer allowed in cities ?
the third letter has a diagonal line running through it; this means you pronounce it like a W and not like an L
the complete word sounds almost exactly like the Hawaiian island, so... Maui Fiat
and means "little Fiat"
this example looks immaculate and the sort of thing displayed in a museum
but for the same money, you could fly from the UK to any of the major cities in Poland, check in to a decent hotel for a week, and sort your own used Mały Fiat that's not too far off in terms of quality
you might also take in some of the local beauty, as it were (although your interest in a claptrap communist-era "car" will be perceived by many as trite or slumming it a bit, and not especially attractive)
) and drove it flat out everywhere and it could corner well as it was so short, not so good in the wet though.Had no bother selling it either once the charm wore off. Had another about 15 years later and still liked it, sold that easily as well and for jolly good money, a decent profit as the ar was given to me for free
When the body became beyond economical repair he bout one of these (or its original predecessor) that’s engine and box were riveted and engineered the engine from the Carry into it.
Can’t say I ever saw it but I used to hear it from where I lived around the corner, screaming away at around 10k rpm.
Alas it's build quality was poor, it did suffer from rust and while the roll back roof was water proof, the engine bay suffered badly from damp. Also on a drive back from Wolverhampton to Southport, with my father in his car behind carrying my stuff (as I could not fit my junk in the 126) a brake pipe let go resulting in some quick reactions to avoid rear ending a range rover and not being hit by an on coming lorry on the other side of the road.
But this... Revolts me. Not cute, not good looking, slated when they were new. Utter rubbish.
king thousand two hundred of HM GBP's for this piece of st? They were going on ebay for less than a grand not so long ago (for mint examples). The world has gone crazy. What's the best/safest place on Earth to hide before the next financial reset (similar to OZ/NZ last time), something tells me it's going to be a huuuuuuuuge one.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff