Japanese Cars Living and Dying in Poland – Part 3

Going back to the communist times, the few cars that were available to the people of Poland were of Eastern Bloc production: Polish Fiats, Ladas, Skodas, Wartburgs, and many others that we have covered here before. They had a few traits in common, specifically that all were poorly made, were very small, inefficient, and frequently unreliable. But most Japanese cars were the exact opposite of that, with a bonus of a reasonable price. Buying a Japanese car in communist Poland was not an easy task, but once the Wall came down, the flood-gates of car importation have opened.
This is our third, and last, time looking at what older Japanese cars are currently living and dying in Poland. As always, all pictures have been provided by the faithful readers of zlomnik.pl (thank you), a page which has since undergone a complete makeover. Grab a beverage and enjoy!


I’d rip out the front seats and drive from the back seat. Let’s see someone try to run to my window in a midst of road-rage!

These always looked weird to me, as if two different people designed the front half and the rear half, and then just welded them in the middle.

Look how angry that BMW behind is!! Why is it so angry!? What has that little… uhmm… whatever it is, done to it?

I always thought that front-end seemed a little heavy, droopy, sad. Like Eeyore from Winnie-the-Pooh.

Mad tuning potential, y0! Oh wait, that’s not a Toyota. Never mind.

They straight up copied Zil!

Those were so cool. And so was the first Previa, so spaceship-y.

Lets take a quick break and remember the other posts in this series:

American cars living and dying in Poland

American Cars Living and Dying in Poland (part 2)

American Cars Living and Dying in Poland (Part 3)

West German cars living and dying in Poland

West German cars living and dying in Poland – Part 2

East German cars Living and Dying in Poland

Japanese cars living and dying in Poland

Japanese Cars Living and Dying in Poland – Part 2

Italian cars living and dying in Poland

Italian Cars Living and Dying in Poland – Part 2

French Cars Living and Dying in Poland

French Cars Living and Dying in Poland – Part 2

French Cars Living and Dying in Poland – Part 3

Soviet Cars Living and Dying in Poland

Czechoslovakian Cars Living and Dying in Poland

Swedish Cars Living and Dying in Poland

Polish Cars Living and Dying in Poland

Obscure, weird, and random cars living and dying in Poland

The Museum of Communist Polish Cars in Krakow

Those hubcaps! So moon-y!


A good friend of mine had one like that, turbo 5-spd, in college. Such a cool car.

Look how big that MINI looks next to it.

Mint-y!

That rear window must offer some amazing visibility. Still, very cool and I guess rare?

OMG OMG….. Must… Import… and… Put… In… Bubble.
I wonder what the country of origin was. I don’t think Integras with that front-end ever came in the left-hand-drive variant.


Do you just want to hug it?

World needs more 4WD minivwans. With forward controls.


C’mon, you know they were cool in 1992.




My Zlomink friend tells me that all Land Cruier-ish Toyotas are very pricey in Poland, especially the older ones.

A see a lot of western car influences in this.

Hmm, those are not Polish license plates.





What? That pile of junk?

More furious.

Sedans-turned-two-door-hatchbacks… Encyclopedia Hoonatica topic?

I guess those came in different wheelbase lengths, but still 2-doors?









I don’t think that’s a factory bumper.


Those veedubs tho!




Type R!

These things are dying all over the world.

Nissan used to give us the Pulsar. Now we have the Juke. Ugh.






What is this? Is is even Japanese?

The end!