KH-08-2018 FSO SYRENA 104

FSO Syrena, affectionately known as the Mermaid, is a Polish passenger and delivery car, which was first presented to the public in 1955 at the Poznań International Fair. Its serial production was carried out in the years 1957-1983. She gave concerts in the cities of Warsaw (FSO in 1957-1972) and Bielsko-Biała (FSM in 1972-1983). A total of approx. 520,000 copies of this car were produced in the course of production. The Syrena model was designed and put into production as a completely new car "for the people" with the lowest possible production and operating costs, but able to transport up to four people. When designing it, in order to reduce costs, many elements of the M-20 Warszawa car were used, but a new 2-cylinder, 2-stroke engine with a power of 22 HP was created in a team led by Eng. Fryderyk Bluemke, which was later developed. Initially, it was also planned to use as many wooden elements as possible in the construction of the body, but in the end this idea was completely abandoned. Several versions of the Syrena were created in the course of production, with numbers from 100 to 105, the most popular of which was the last one (Syrena 105). They differed from each other in the engines used with different power (up to 40 HP) and capacity, but all of them were produced primarily as a 2-door sedan. There were also vans and pick-ups. In 1960, a prototype of a sports car called Syrena Sport was developed with a new engine and completely new body, but unfortunately it never entered mass production. FSO Syrena was characterized by a simple construction, so that many repairs could be done on your own. The disadvantages include considerable noise in the passenger compartment, problems with the suspension, not very efficient cooling system (especially in the initial production series), as well as metal elements that are not resistant to corrosion.