The Syrena 105 is a small-engine passenger car manufactured between 1972-83. Along with the model 105L and derivative versions – the R20 and 105B commercial vehicles – it represents the last development stage of the Syrena, which had been in production since 1957.
The history of the design goes back to the 1950s when the Presidium of the Polish government decided that Poland needed a small engine car in addition to the Warszawa that was already in production. The design work was commissioned from the Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych (FSO) in Warsaw. In 1953, a team of designers headed by Karol Pionnier and including Kazimierz Dębski, Fryderyk Bluemke, Stanisław Panczakiewicz, Jerzy Werner, and Kazimierz Studziński, commenced work. Four years later, on 20 March 1957, production of the vehicle began – the first Syrena was marked as number 100. It is widely considered to be the only Polish-designed passenger car to be mass produced after WWII. In reality, the vehicle copied solutions from the German DKW cars from the 1930s and was already outdated by the time mass production began. Subsequent stages in the car’s development were the Syrena 101, Syrena 102, Syrena 102 S, Syrena 103, Syrena 103 S, Syrena 104, and the Syrena 105 described below.
The design of Syrena 105 and 105L was created in the Passenger Car Research and Development Centre of the Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych in Warsaw as the startup model for the Fabryka Samochodów Małolitrażowych in Bielsko-Biała.
The Syrena 105 can carry four adults. It has a body-on-frame design and a two-door sedan body. The car is propelled by a three-cylinder, two-stroke engine connected to a four-speed transmission that drives the front wheels. The front suspension is of a link design with a transverse spring. In the rear suspension, a transverse spring and a rigid axle are used. Telescopic shock absorbers provide vibration damping. All wheels are equipped with drum brakes. In comparison with the earlier 104, the modernisation of model 105 mostly involved changing the direction of the door opening and the adaptation of some parts, e.g., locks and door handles, from the Polski Fiat 125p.
The nickname of the Syrena comes from a joke: the car ran on a mixture of petrol and oil that emitted blue smoke with a characteristic, unpleasant smell. For that reason, the vehicle was widely known as the “sock”.
In total, 347,648 units were built of the Syrena 105, 105L and R20, and 105B commercial vehicle variants.