Rushin' Motors: Stratopolonez

The Stratopolonez - A purely mad three-car Polish mash-up monstrosity from the Soviet era.

Poland was revered as having one of the least oppressive regimes in all the USSR. This becomes rather evident when you hear the story of how this bizarre rally one-off was created.

In 1977 the son of the Polish Prime Minister himself, Andrzej Jaroszewicz, was Poland’s representative in international rally. He competed in the Malboro Arctic Rally and Rally Poland in a Lancia Stratos HF. We assume thanks to his 'party connections', he also happened to be head of the FSO research and development centre during the '70s.

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Jaroszewicz' crashed Stratos in 1977. (image credit: Abarth Squadra Storica forum)

His position made it very convenient when, in 1977, he crashed his Stratos into a tree. Rather than let the Dino Ferrari-derived components go to waste, a spur of ingenuity and good-old-fashioned Communist-inspired panic of losing the only source of joy you have in this world gave birth to this thing.

Now this is a People's Republic motoring icon I can get behind.

‘Wait, didn’t you say he crashed a Stratos?’ Yep. Underneath this 1977 FSO Polonez body is most of the drivetrain, chassis and suspension components of a Lancia Stratos HF.

The chassis of the Polonez was almost completely removed and replaced with Lancia components and, in almost Delta Integrale style, the Dino V6 became mid-mounted in the little hatchback, with cooling components from a Polish STAR truck packed in the front. The ridiculous flared arches in the rear were tacked on to the Polonez body to accommodate the wide underlying Stratos rear-track. Needless to say, only one was ever built.

The huge rear-wheel arches make the hatch look aggressive and goofy at the same time...

This car’s official name is the 'FSO Polonez 2500 racing', but its nickname of ‘Stratopolonez’ is way better. At the time, the FSO Polonez had just been released, and we can only assume this ridiculous project was signed off by party members thanks to its use as a marketing tool (that the Polonez hardly needed, apparently there was a waiting list of up to 10 years.)

Fittingly for its ridiculous, hobbled together design, the Stratopolonez underwent virtually no testing prior to its first race in 1978. Allegedly, the notoriously sudden and violent handling issues from the original Stratos were not only maintained, but likely made worse due to the more upright body - the car fully spun no less than three times during the race, then continued on to win anyway.

The tweaked Dino V6 made the car very quick despite terrible handling issues.

The car’s 0-100km/h time was reportedly less than six seconds, and the Dino V6 was tuned to produce an extra 25hp, boosting total power to around 213kW.

The Dino V6 packed in the back. (image credit: Retro Rides)

Somehow this car stuck around, at least in the Polish motorsport scene, until 1985. Well beyond its welcome considering the advent of Group B rally internationally. Upon its retirement, the Stratopolonez was lovingly given a full restoration and now sits in the Warsaw Museum of Technology… A surprisingly happy ending.

If you, comrade, could build a three-way rally car mashup, what three cars would it be?