Αλατοπίπερο™

Underrated cars is just sad...

Take the Smyk for example. The Smyk was a polish microcar, made in Szczecin, Poland, from a manufacturer called "SFM" in collaboration with a company specified in plastics, BKP Mot.

- OVERVIEW -

The Smyk worked under the same concept of the BMW Isetta. Its concept was simple: Relatively comfortable for a Nuclear family, able to reach 70 km/h, and a door at the front to minimize space consumption in parking lots etc.

But here's the plot twist. While the door on the Isetta was hinged on the left (A) pillar, the door on the Smyk was hinged at the front part of the chassis. Or more simply, the door's hinges were at the bottom part of the door itself.

This concept was excellent because upon opening the door, no additional space would be needed, or consumed in parking lots etc. Unlike the Isetta.

To open the door you simply had to unlock it, and push the steering wheel away from you, similar to the Isetta, right? No. The Smyk's door tilted forwards, or away from you. It didn't tilt to the side of the car.

This was considered a huge compromise, regarding comfort upon entrance and exit of the car. Since the door tilted forwards and at an angle of 35°, it could often be difficult to enter the vehicle because of the small opening of the door. You could still enter, everytime, but with a bit of a leap, and a squeeze.

Another thing that bothered people was the way you could reach the rear bench seat. The only way. Because there was only one door on the whole car, and it was located in the front, the front seats couldn't be tilted forwards to reach the rear seat.

Thus, the only way to do so was to get ahold of the front passenger seat, fold its back down, and then lift the seat and tilt it sideways. The passenger seat was hinged on the right side of the driver's seat. By doing this procedure, you had made yourself a small aisle, with enough room to get you to the rear seat.

"It was interesting getting in and out of the Smyk" as one of its designers stated.

- STYLING AND RIDE COMFORT -

Style-wise it was a success. With its two-tone, blue at the bottom-half and white at the top-half paint job, and with chrome lines separating the one colour from the other, it was considered by many people as "The most beautiful small car of its era"

Ride comfort was questionable but reasonable. It was perfect for driving under the road conditions of PRL Poland, and country ones. It could go anywhere.

- SPECS & MECHANICS-

The car was very light, weighing only 470 kilograms and it had an S03 engine, from a Junak motorcycle, 1-cylinder 4-stroke, 11Kw/5500rpm, 349ccm, compression 6.8:1.

Its transmission was interesting as well, with 4 gears forwards and 4 gears backwards.

It's suspension was a Torsion Bar system, similar to the VW Beetle.

Unfortunately, it didn't make it into production, and unfortunately again, the exact number of the copies made is unknown. Some sources say that there were 12 copies, some others say they were 20 and others say they were 25. However the most probable amount could be 20 copies.

The reason why it didn't make it into production was the fact that it was considered underpowered and unsafe due to the fact that the entire front of the vehicle made up for the door.

And now I come and tell you: "So What?" The Isetta worked under the exact same conditions: A door at the front and a motorcycle engine, but the Isetta made it into production and with flying colors. So why didn't the Smyk make it into production as well?

My point, one of my many points, is that the Smyk was an if not excellent, then undoubtedly interesting car, either to look at, or to use one, and still it didn't receive recognition and respect it should have received.

I mean like, the pictures and information shown upon searching "SFM Smyk" or "SFM Smyk B30", which is its full name, is little to none, and 9/10 pictures you will see are completely out of context. No date or place regarding to when and where the photo was taken, no name of the person who took the photo, no anything.

And people really don't seem to care about it. There are countless TV shows that have to do with cars, history of cars etc. But none of them, except "Legendy PRL" in only one episode, have made an episode regarding to the Smyk...

The Smyk should have earned much more popularity, attention and recognition than it has...

Here's some gallery:




At one point there was a facelifted version and generally improved, but it failed as well: (Named "SFM Smyk B31")