10x10 - FSM Syrena 105L

[bunniefuu]

This time on Wheeler Dealers,
I'm in Poland looking for a

car that's buried deep in the
hearts of the Polish people.

Well, I've gone and done it. I've gone and
bought myself my first proper Polish car.

But it's a car that's almost
unknown outside of Poland.

Does it run alright? Does it drive okay?

Well, the steering is a
bit wayward, the gearbox

is a lottery and the
battery keeps going flat.

Alright then.

I'm hoping its rarity
will be its value. But

first, we've got to
get it running properly.

And with a non-existent parts
supply, that could be quite a challenge.

Now, what do you think of them?
Have you ever seen them before?

No.

I do the deals on classic
motors past their prime.

Ed provides the necessary
skills to fix them up

and then we sell them
on, hopefully for a profit.

Long since discontinued,
the Serena was the car

the Polish people
aspired to in the Soviet era.

Admittedly, there wasn't much choice.
There were some rebadged Fiat's,

but the Serena was one of the only
cars Poland built and designed itself.

That means this little car has a special
place in the hearts of the Polish people.

It's powered by a tiny two-stroke three-cylinder
engine, which was originally derived from a water

pump and generates less than 40 brake horsepower,
making the car slower than a continental drift.

But the quirky Serena has
enormous charm, which means prices

of good ones are rising as
nostalgic Poles snap them up.

I need to jump in quick
before they're all gone.

I've come to Warsaw in Poland.

Now, my plan is to buy a car in
a place where you can find them

and take it to a place where
you can't and they're really rare.

That's the UK.

And that rarity, that translates into cash.

Now, here in Poland
on the Internet, I'm

finding cars at a different
end of the spectrum.

For example, there's a car
here for a thousand zloty, which

is a few hundred pounds,
and it's an absolute rock box.

And at the other end, there's this.

It's a pristine example
of what one of these

Serenas could look
like once it's tidied up.

But the price?

Thirty thousand pounds.

What that does tell
me is that there's a

really healthy market
out there for a good one.

Time for some coffee,
because finding a suitable

Serena is going to
take some serious work.

So after a lot of searching and a
lot of coffee, I think I've found a car.

There's one here that looks
like it's had good ownership.

Because the first picture
of this car is in a garage.

The second picture, they've
taken it out the garage,

and then they've taken a
load of nice detailed shots.

And it looks all right.

In fact, it looks really good.

So without further
ado, I hope it's still for

sale, because I'm going
to give the owner a call.

Hello? You speak English?

Ah, the slight snag for me is the
seller speaks very little English.

But hopefully, using the
international language of

the car, we'll be able to
understand each other.

Bye-bye.

Well, there is a little bit of a
language barrier problem there,

but the car's still for sale,
so I'm going to hit the road.

I'm off to Rudaslaska, three
and a half hours south of Warsaw.

Now, I bet you're wondering
who on earth is going

to want to buy an
ex-communist runabout in the UK.

Well, do you know what?

If we can find a solid car
and give it a modern twist with

a funky paint job, it could
be the coolest car in town.

Because you're unlikely to see an FSM
Sirena coming at you in the other direction.

You're more likely to see a car like a
McLaren F1, because the Sirena is rarer.

And do you know what?

People pay a lot of money
for that kind of exclusivity.

Well, if I'm not mistaken,
this looks like the car.

Isn't it a cute little thing?

Look at that.

Ah, hello.

Are you Christophe?

Nice to meet you.

I'm Mike.

Well, I've come a very
long way to see this car.

All right, so have a look inside the trunk.

Oh, nice.

It looks quite straight inside as well.

No, no smash.

Okay, that's good.

It's nice and solid.

Let's have a quick look underneath.

No signs of any rust.

Rust protection.

Yeah, I can see that.

Can we get under the bonnet?

And, um, Christophe, can you start it up?

Love that.

Goes in there.

Yay, it works. Fantastic.

Very strange little engine, isn't it?

It hasn't got a distributor
cap like a normal engine.

It's got three coils.

Oh, look at it inside. It's amazing.

What I'd like to do is
take it for a... Is that okay?

Fantastic.

All right.

What, the seat?

Get out of the way in the back.

No way.

Look at that.

How good is that for engineering?

You want to move the seat back?

You just lift the seat.

That's incredible.

You lift the seat up
and... That is fantastic.

Okay, super.

Ooh, it fits.

Very nice.

Brilliant.

Right, well, here we go.

My first driving
experience in a little Sirena.

Fantastic.

It's hard to find a gear in that gearbox.

This is probably not the best
environment to test a car in.

It's snowing, the roads are
compacted with ice, so it's a bit slidey,

but I need to put this car out on
the road to make sure it works.

This is one of those cars
that sort of changed the nation.

This one got Poland moving.

But it's never going to
win any speed records, this

car, because it goes
from 0 to 60 in 36 seconds.

I think my kettle boils faster.

I love the sound that comes from that.

Straight-free, three-cylinder engine.

Almost sounds like half a Porsche 911.

It's charming, actually.

And I like the way this car feels.

You know what?

It's a small car, but it actually
feels remarkably big inside.

It sort of reminds me
of an old Morris Cowley.

But there are a few problems with it.

The steering is all over the place.

I know it's icy outside, but
the steering wheel is off-centre.

When you accelerate, it pulls left,

and then under braking, it pulls right.

And there's a weird vibration
coming up through the

transmission and then
steering as you pull away.

It almost feels like it's
got a bent driveshaft.

Plus, I'm driving along with the lights on,

and every time I slow
down, I can see everything

start dimming, which
means that there's a problem.

And this car has got
a dynamo and not an

alternator, so it's not
charging the battery up.

So that's another thing that
needs doing on this old car.

So the question is, do I want to buy it?

Well, at the moment,
Christoph is asking 9,000 zloty,

which is around £1,850, and
that's not too much money.

This car's never going to break the bank.

But I do feel that
this is a car that could

have a little profit in
it because it's so rare.

So if we can get it for the right
money, I know that once we do the work,

there'll definitely be a little
profit in it for me and Ed.

But even if there isn't, at least we
can say we've owned the Sorena.

That's good?

Yeah.

I like it, yeah.

It's a very characterful
little car to drive.

Problem is, there's just too
many things to do on this car.

for the money that you want.

You want too much.

You want 9,000 zloty, which is £1,850.

It's too big.

I think 6,000 zloty.

A bit more?

8,000 zloty.

8,000?

Still too much.

If we can make, in the
middle, 7,000 zloty, that's it.

7,000.

Come on.

Yes?

Yes.

Thank you very, very much.

I just bought myself a Sorena.

I've come a long way for this
motor and paid £1,400 for it.

It's a rare car that oozes charm.

But underneath that cute bodywork,
there's some serious challenges for Ed.

Not at least getting hold of the parts for
a car that's unknown outside of Poland.

Let's hope I've made the right choice.

I've been to Poland searching for something
truly original and I think I've found it.

Well, I've gone and done it.

I've gone and bought myself
my first proper Polish car,

this little Sorena 105.

This is a whole new experience for me.

I've never driven one of these
cars before, let alone own one,

and I'm beginning to
think it might be a bargain.

I'll tell you what, it wasn't
gear, was it, at £1,400,

but it feels like a lot
of car for the money.

Now I've got to think about ways we
can earn money out of this little Sorena,

and I know with a little bit of
fettling from Ed's fantastic spanners,

we can get this car singing and
dancing all the way to the bank.

Well, hopefully.

We can change the steering
box, make it a bit more sharper,

do something about this
wobble on the transmission,

maybe give it a modern paint job.

What we need to do is
to get this car fighting fit

so it can compete with
modern traffic in modern roads.

Now, the more I spend
a bit of time in this car,

I'll start to notice some
of the quirks it's got.

For one, this gear knob is a bit bizarre.

I just wonder what Ed's going to
make of this when I roll up outside.

OK.

Hey, how you doing, buddy?

I'm all right, that's quite smoky.

I've done quite a few
miles in this little car,

and I'll tell you, a lot of
people here in the UK.

haven't even seen one,
let alone heard of one.

But it's a Sorena, isn't it?

Oh, except for you.

It's all right, isn't it?

I'll tell you, it may look like this car

was designed back in
the 50s, it probably was,

but this is quite a
later one, this is 1983.

Wow, with all the mod cons, obviously.

Yeah, it's got everything going
for it, including a very keen price.

OK, come on, how much do you pay for it?

I give 1,400 of our
Queen's Pounds for that.

I guess that's probably not a bad
price, as long as we can sell it again.

Oh, of course we can sell it again.

First of all, let me
give you a guided tour,

have a look at this wonderful interior.

OK.

It's very tidy.

Does everything work?

Yeah, everything works, it's lovely.

I love the red interior.

Yeah, it's lovely seats, actually.

Doesn't kind of match the door cards.

Yeah, maybe because it would be nice if
it all kind of tied together a little bit,

but it's all right, it's all kind of,
it's just very, very simple, isn't it?

It's good, isn't it?

Yeah, it's a look under the bonnet.

See, I knew you'd like it.

Right, now this is the exciting bit.

Well, there you go,
you can take it all in now.

That is mad, it's a very
mixed up arrangement, isn't it?

Certainly is, yeah.

It's three cylinder, two stroke,

and a whole 39 horsepower.

As much as that.

I think your hairdryer actually
has more horsepower than this car.

Radiator's in backwards, it's
got three coils, bit weird, isn't it?

It is really mad.

The steering box is on top of the gearbox.

It's running a little what
looks like a dynamo.

That's fantastic.

So does it run all right?

Does it drive OK?

Well, the steering is a bit wayward.

OK.

The gearbox is a lottery.

Right.

And the battery keeps going flat.

All right, then.

So just a few bits and pieces to fix.

Yeah.

So it may be an alternator, and again,
I mean, the steering's easy to get to.

The gearbox not so much, but that's fine.

But I mean, do you have
like a master plan for this car?

I do, yeah.

Let me shut this, because my idea.

is to totally transform
the look of this car.

What we need to do is to make
sure that this car appeals to people,

and I can see already
you're falling in love with it.

Absolutely, yeah.

I'm charmed by this car, and
we need to make sure that we

find somebody out there
that will also fall in love with it.

Who do you think we are
going to sell this to, then?

Somebody so cool and so trendy,

they just want to be seen to
be driving something different.

Yeah, or even somebody with
a really good sense of humor.

A sense of humor would help, yes.

So there you go, Edward.

Shall we get it in the workshop?

Absolutely, but that's mad.

It's great, isn't it?

I quite like it.

Our little Polish Serena has a
great trump card, which is its rarity,

but that brings with it a bit of a catch.

In the UK, the Serena is
almost completely unknown,

and rare cars mean rare parts,

which can make
restoring them rather tricky.

Let's start with the mechanicals.

Mike said the steering was rather
vague, so I'm going to look at that first.

Now, unlike modern cars, which
are fitted with steering racks,

our little Serena is
fitted with a steering box.

Now, those parts do the same job,

but unfortunately, the steering box is
slightly more prone to excessive wear.

So if I now turn the steering wheel,

nothing's actually
happening at the road

wheel, which means
when you're driving along,

it's going to have this
horrible wayward feeling,

and in fact, really isn't going to give
you any confidence behind the wheel.

So, clearly, something has to be done.

To get the steering box out,

first I have to release
the steering column,

which begins by
taking the indicators off.

Make sure you make a
note of which wires go where,

so that you know how to
put them back together again.

Might even be worth taking a
quick photo, just for reference.

There are two bolts under the
dash that release the steering column.

The steering box is under the radiator,

so I need to drain the radiator,
disconnect the pipe work,

undo a couple of retaining nuts,
and then the radiator simply lifts out.

The split pins are removed
and the castle nuts undone.

I then use a splitter
to separate each joint.

Once the steering rods
and wiring are released,

the steering box can be removed.

So, having got the steering
box and the column out of the car,

now I need to look deep inside,

to try and work out if anything's
salvageable or repairable.

To do that, of course,
you need to take it all apart.

Unlike a modern rack and pinion system,

the Serrano has a steering
box, which uses a worm gear

and a roller to convert the
rotary motion of the wheel

to a lateral movement of the steering arm.

It's a simple system, but not
known for its precise steering feel,

and it's prone to wear.

So, finally, we now have our worm
gear and our little roller follower there.

Let's have a little look here,
and I can see, as we suspected,

there's loads of wear
on these centre gears,

in fact, actually, all the way to either
side, so it's not looking very healthy.

If we now look at this as well,

you can see there's actually
quite a nasty shoulder on there,

and also the metal's
kind of shiny and quite

polished, because,
again, it's quite worn.

So, unfortunately, it could be
possible to repair these, which

can be very difficult, but, of
course, the other problem is,

it can be very difficult to get
hold of these parts altogether,

so I now need to make a few phone
calls to see if I can find anything at all

and see what we need to
repair, what we need to replace.

I am just looking for a
steering box for a Serrano.

It's an 83.

I know they're pretty much all the
same, I guess, all the way through.

You've got nothing, so you
don't do anything like that.

After a bit of phoning around Eureka,

I managed to source a new old
stock steering box... Thanks very much.

..which I get sent over from Poland.

Now, going by the number of phone calls
I had to make, this could be the very last.

new old stock Serrano
steering box in the world,

so we're very lucky
to have got hold of this.

We're less lucky, because
somebody's taken it upon

themselves to actually cut
the steering column in half

just to get it into the
packaging, presumably.

Now, the thing is, we've got all
these lovely unused parts here,

but, of course, we've
got a perfectly good

steering column there
with our warm parts on.

So I think rather than take
our new steering box apart

and risk damaging it, I
think the easier thing to do

is actually just take the sleeve off,
which I was going to have to do anyway,

do a bit of measuring,
and then maybe sleeve

and then weld the steering
column back together again,

and then that way we end up with a pretty
much brand-new undisturbed steering box.

This work might seem simple,

but it's got to be accurate
to the very last millimetre.

Otherwise, the column
won't fit back in the car.

We also need to be very sure that it's
strong enough once it's welded together.

Of all the things that
could break on a car,

you don't want the steering
column to be one of them.

So now I need to weld our existing
shaft onto our new steering box.

So I can't just butt weld it in place.

It's not very strong weld, for starters,

but also it's got to be
exactly dead straight.

Otherwise, we're going to end up
with a kind of wobbly steering at best,

but at worst, it could just kind of jam
up when you try and turn around corners.

So what I've done is
I've actually pre-made.

a little bit of tubing that's
going to pop inside like so,

and obviously now,
when I put them together,

that's going to mean it's perfectly straight,
perfectly in line, which is excellent.

But then just to be on the safe side,

I'm also going to go belt and braces and
put a little bit of sleeving on the outside,

which should still fit inside
our outer sleeving, if you like.

And the idea is that I'll plug weld that

so a couple of holes fill it with weld,

and that way there's no way
this is ever going to break.

I chamfer both ends of our steering shaft

to give the weld a better
chance of penetration,

and then with the inner
tube in place to aid alignment,

I can weld everything together.

I grind off any excess weld
and drill holes in the outer sleeve

so I can plug weld
through to the joined shaft.

I've tied everything up
with a coat of black paint.

With the outer sleeve replaced,

the steering box and column are
now ready to go back into the car.

Well, before I bolt too much more on,
I thought I'd just try the steering wheel

to see if this steering box is
as good as it's supposed to be.

Now, look at that.

A direct response from
the movement of the

steering wheel to the
movement of the wheels,

which means we no longer
have any slack, which is fantastic.

Unfortunately, I noticed
something else wrong

with this car while
I've been doing this job.

The Serana runs basic
drum brakes all round,

and they're leaking
fluid, which is not good.

We're now going to take all this
apart and see exactly what's wrong.

I can see that there is
moisture on the back plate,

which is indicative of a failed seal

or perhaps a damaged
sl*ve cylinder inside the drum.

So, as I suspected, the sl*ve
cylinder is leaking brake fluid,

and unfortunately, not
only is that going to have

to be replaced, but also
these brake shoes as well

because this fluid has
contaminated the friction material.

Now, these aren't going
to be easy to get hold of,

and to be honest, I
think it's a job for Mike.

Our Serana is one of
the rarest cars in the UK,

and for that reason alone,
you can't just pop down

your local motor spare shop
and pick up the spare part.

Now, Ed's told me that the brake
shoes on our car have worn out,

and I can't track down
any replacement parts,

but what I have found
is a firm in Sheffield

who reckon they can
refurbish them for us.

Right, here we go.

These are the offending
brake shoes off the Serana,

and this is the company.

Let's see what they can do.

Hey, up. I'm Mike.

How are we doing, Mike? Simon.

Simon, nice to meet you.
Now, what do you think of them?

Ever seen them before?

No.

Okay, well, they're off a
little car called a Serana.

It's from Poland, and the problem I've got

is finding the brake lines for the shoes

because you can't go to
a shop and pick them up.

But no problem here.

We can realign these and
make them look brand new again.

You can?

Yeah, no problem.

Okay.

The original liners would
probably have been made of

asbestos, but they were
something of a health hazard.

Our replacement ones are made of much more
environmentally friendly synthetic fibres.

The old liners are removed
by pressing out the rivets.

All done?

Yeah, all knocked off now, Mike.

What's next?

Just to stick these brake linings on, then?

No, we've got to clean
them up in this bead blaster.

Do you know what?

Bead blasting is one of my
favourite things, and I can do this.

Can I have a go?

Yeah, of course you can.

Is that mine?

No.

These are gloves.

They're bead blasting.

Basically, it's a high-pressure g*n.

It's usually about 80, 100 PSI.

It's like a fine medium,
like a sand or a grit,

and it just strips away
and cleans absolutely

everything, and it's
really, really good to do.

I enjoy this.

There's one done.

Once they're cleaned up,

the shoes and the linings
are painted with glue.

While they go tacky,
Simon fires up the oven

and then carefully applies the newly cut
liners before putting them into a former.

Put a spreader in.

Ah, and push them apart.

I see.

To create a lot of pressure.

Yes, got to have a lot of pressure.

Oh, I can do this.

That's going to be a
bit of spannering work.

I'm quite good at this.

Then into the oven.

There's a flame-thrower in there.

That's fantastic.

The brake shoes are baked for an hour,

and then the edges are sanded down,

ready to fit into our Sirena.

English engineering
heritage is alive and well,

and it's kicking in Sheffield,

and it's £64 for a complete
set of realign brake shoes.

That's a bargain.

Right, let's get them back to the workshop.

So the brakes didn't break the bank,

and Ed's hard work has got our
Sirena heading in the right direction.

But can we Polish up our Polish
car and sell it on for a cool profit?

I've been to Poland and bought
myself a piece of Soviet history,

an FSM Sirena 105.

It was only built in 1983,

but it looks like it comes from 1953.

It has no power.

And loads of problems.

The steering is a bit wayward,

the gearbox is a lottery,

and the battery keeps going flat.

But outside of Poland,

it's rarer than a McLaren F1,

and I'm hoping that
will translate into cash,

just so long as Ed can work his magic.

Our Sirena now goes in
the direction you pointed,

but we still have a problem
with our lucky dip gearbox.

It's a bit of a challenge trying to
find the right gear at the right time.

Now although this car is over 30 years old,

and of course the mechanics seem to come
from the Middle Ages, that is no excuse.

I need to get the car
up in the air to look at the

mechanism so I can find
out exactly what's going on.

Shall I reverse a bit more?

This job can be made a lot easier
by using a friend to give you a hand.

In this case, I'm using my
professional gear changer, Paul.

Okay, now try neutral.

After a lot of wiggling around,

I think I found a number of culprits.

First of all, there's this fork
on the end of the gear stick,

and that goes onto this shaft,

and it's held together with this bolt.

There seems to be an
awful lot of slack there.

Although it doesn't seem like a load here,

this end obviously has an awful lot of
influence on the rest of the gear link.

So that needs to be attended to.

Then at the front of the
shaft, things get even worse.

Here, there's a very basic
and frankly rather odd linkage,

where a sort of hammerhead
arrangement terminates inside a metal box.

The box moves a vertical shaft,

which swings over and
attaches to the gear box.

The problem is, there's
loads of slack in it.

And to remove all of the
slack from the system,

all this stuff is going to
have to come off the car.

The first thing I need
to do is disconnect the

gear linkage where it
attaches to the gear box.

Well, I've undone the nut and the
spacer on this selector arm here,

but I now have to
try and pull the lever

off, but it's actually
pressed into position.

So if I kind of give it a bit of effort

with a lever or whatever,
trying to yank it off,

I could actually damage the
selector inside the gear box.

So rather than do that,
I'm going to use a puller

that will actually separate those two
parts without causing any damage at all.

With the gear linkage removed,
the shaft can be twisted,

the little hammer pops out of its box,
and the top linkage is completely free.

Then I simply unbolt the rear linkage
and the whole assembly can be removed.

Right, so with all the mess out of the
way, I can now see exactly what's going on,

and the story unfortunately
isn't looking so great.

There's a lot of metal wear,

particularly on the corners of
this little boxy-shaped unit here,

and then if you look on
the arm, there's also some

corresponding wear there
and two kind of flat spots,

but also a lot of wear on either
end of the hammer as well.

And what's been going on
when it's actually fitting on the car,

it's been spending a lot of time
in these two extreme positions,

and of course that's where all
this wear has been coming from,

but I think that's really
because of all this slop.

Now I could replace it with a Rose joint,
probably one slightly smaller than this,

but this joint, the whole point, you get
loads of movement with no slop whatsoever,

but part of the charm of the Serena is
it's slightly kind of archaic engineering,

so it'd be a real shame
to get rid of some of the

original features with
something a bit more slick.

So I'm actually going to
try and repair what we have.

I'm going to use a bit
of tube as a sleeve over

the hammer to build it
up and then file it down,

so it becomes an almost
perfect fit inside the joint,

hopefully without any of the looseness

that I could feel before.

Now that is looking pretty good.

There's ever such a slight bit of play,
which of course we're going to need,

and let's get it on the car.

With a bit of grease for lubrication,

the hammer fits tightly back in its box,

and that should improve
the feel of our gear change.

So with a little bit of fettling
and some light engineering,

we've managed to remove all
of the slop from the gear change.

We are well on the way to
making the driving experience

of our Serena even better
than when it left the factory.

However, this little car can't go anywhere

until I replace those
leaking brake cylinders

and refit the brake shoes
that Mike has refurbished.

Firstly, I need to wash the brake drums
and back plates with some cleaning fluid.

Now although the fluid itself is safe,

the brake dust it removes is rather toxic,
so wearing protection is still a must.

The brand new sl*ve
cylinder is bolted into

position and then the
shoes can be fitted.

With the new brake parts in
place and the fluid topped up,

I use a clever trigger-operated
vacuum bleeder

to draw any trapped
air through the system.

Well, thanks to Mike's
clever old-school fix,

our Serena's agricultural braking
system is now completely sorted,

and with the rest of the mechanical
stuff pretty much there as well,

I need to start thinking
about the paintwork again.

I just can't decide what we're
going to do with the color scheme,

but as always, I'm sure motor mouth
Mike is bound to have some kind of opinion.

Ed!

You alright, bud?

How's our nice little
Polish pup-pup coming on?

Well, as you can see,
I've made a bit of a start.

The first up was the steering.

Remember, it was really horrible and vague.

Unfortunately, I had to
change the steering box

because I couldn't refurbish the old
one, but it wasn't as simple as that.

I had to do loads of welding and fettling,
but now it goes where you point it.

Fantastic.

So we've got a steerable car.

What else have you been up to?

Well, I've also been
busy with that, you

know, that kind of really
woolly gear change.

How can I forget?

Well, more welding, more
fettling, and now it actually

changes gear better than
when it left the factory.

Perfect.

So what about the color then?

I kind of really like
the idea of going down

perhaps the cowlook,
maybe with a kind of a dark,

Porsche gunmetal,
maybe even a pastel color,

or even could go on a
completely different route

and kind of go down the
Polish flag motif kind of thing

and then have maybe a
factory red, a factory white,

but I just can't really decide.

It's such a difficult decision.

It's one that you're going to
have to make on your own.

Surprise me.

Well, stripping down ready for
the respray is going pretty well,

but I have to stop here
because I need to sort out

something else that Mike
was complaining about,

and that was the fact
that the light seemed

a bit dim and the
battery kept going flat.

Now, the thing that powers all
the electrical systems on the car.

is this little chap here,
and that is the dynamo.

But now I've got all this extra access,

it would seem sensible
to have a look at it now.

To see if the dynamo
is actually working

properly, I'm going to
need to run the engine.

So I'm going to pop the
radiator back in, including coolant.

Like most cars, the Serana
has a 12-volt electrical system,

but let's see how much the
dynamo is actually producing.

So we just rev it up a little bit now.

Look at that.

So really revving the engine
and getting it just over 12 volts,

so you need more than 12 volts
to actually charge up a battery.

So even then, we're just
going to be maintaining charge.

If we now turn the lights
on, let's have a look now,

so we've gone down from
9 volts to basically 8.6 volts.

Not good.

So we rev that again.

So even steaming through
the streets or the motorway,

we're not even actually managing 12 volts,

so unfortunately, it
is going to have to go.

The dynamo wouldn't have been
very efficient even when it was new.

Now that it's old and worn,

it just isn't up to the job of
keeping the battery charged.

So having got our generator
or dynamo out of the car,

you can see how big and
heavy and inefficient it really is.

And unfortunately, that
efficiency is further compromised

by the fact that the carbon brushes
in there will have worn down over time.

Now, the way this works,
it actually produces DC,

or direct current, rather like the
same stuff you get out of a battery.

And the more you spin it
up, the faster you spin it,

the more voltage it makes.

And that's then regulated back
down to the required voltage

by the regulator, the silver box that's
bolted onto the side of the engine bay.

Now at best, this might manage about
25 amps, but that will be at full chat.

So we're going to
replace it with this pretty

much standard
off-the-shelf alternator.

Now, this is going to
produce 34 amps, almost 50%

more, despite the fact
that it's so much smaller.

And the clever thing is, it
can actually regulate its output

by modifying its own magnetic field.
Very clever.

And all the gubbins that does
that is in this tiny little package here.

Now, this costs just 55 pounds.

It's going to produce more than
enough energy to run all of our systems,

and most importantly, it's
going to be able to do it at idle.

Although the body of our new
alternator is shorter than the dynamo,

I'm pretty much able
to use the existing

mounting holes on the
engine to fit it in place.

And while I'm here, I'm going
to fit a nice new drive belt too.

So the alternator is now
in position on the engine,

so what I have to do
next is actually connect

it electrically to
the rest of the car.

Now, unfortunately, the
complicated electronics

inside the alternator
require a negative earth.

But this car came out of the factory
with a positive earth electrical system.

Now, changing it over isn't
as complicated as it sounds.

All I have to do is swap over
the terminals on the battery

and anything else that's
sensitive to current flow.

The first thing I'm going to
do is disconnect the battery,

which will keep the electric safe
while I switch everything else around.

Also, I'm going to disconnect the radio.

Unfortunately, this will only
work with a positive earth.

But changing it is no bad thing,

because it doesn't
look very stock or retro,

and surely we can do better.

Now, I'm taking the
regulator off because it

no longer has anything
to do with the wiring,

and also we're going to have
to get it out of the way for paint.

But I won't throw it away, I'll
just pop it in the back of the car,

just in case the new owner wants
to keep it for originality's sake.

With the regulator removed, I
need to sort out the wiring that's left.

I start by extending the
wire which feeds the charging

warning light on the
dash to the new alternator.

Then I connect the two live red wires
which were attached to the regulator,

and solder them both to the main
power cable which runs from the alternator.

Hopefully that all makes perfect sense.

Next, the coils are
disconnected and rotated,

switching the positive
and negative terminals,

ready for when the polarity
of the car is reversed.

There are three coils on the
Serana, one for each cylinder.

Then you rotate the battery itself,

so that the polarity of
the car is finally reversed.

And just to make sure there's
no confusion between positive

and negative, I use
colour-coded battery connectors.

Well, things are going pretty well.

We now have a shiny new alternator
and a negative earth electrical system,

so I can now take the engine
out, ready for the paint job.

But of course that means
I need to make a decision

on exactly what we're going
to do with our colour scheme.

Now, trying to get accurate information

for the Serana's paint
colours has been quite tricky,

and a lot of those
colours are pretty nasty,

but two that have caught
my eye aren't so bad, actually.

We've got this kind of greyish-white,

and also this kind of
dark, almost burgundy-red.

And I was thinking, perhaps in
honour of the car's Polish heritage,

perhaps a Polish flag
effect would be rather nice,

so white on the top, and
perhaps red further down.

Ed's been busy with the
Serana's steering, gearbox

and electrics, while I've
helped out with the brakes.

But I'm worried.

We've managed to keep the cost
down so far, but the margins are tight.

If we're not careful, paint and trim
could easily wipe out any chance.

we might have of making a profit,
and I still don't know what Ed's planning.

This time on Wheel Of
Dealers, I headed east.

While I've gone and done it,
I've gone and bought myself

my first proper Polish
car, this little Serana 105.

The car seemed like a bargain for £1,400,

but it came with a host of problems.

Ed's managed to get to
grips with the mechanicals.

But to earn any cash from our Serana,

it's going to need a proper facelift,

and that means a full respray.

That won't be cheap, and
if we get the colours wrong,

we could actually devalue the car.

I hope Ed knows what he's doing.

I want you to just surprise me.

Oh, that's fantastic.

What a cool transformation.

Now, I wasn't really sure
how this was going to come out

because it was difficult to try and
find a right red and the right white,

and then it was a case of whether
they were going to work together.

But it looks fantastic.

It's got that nice
little Polish flag motif,

and it's all looking rather lovely.

And thankfully, the paint
shop have helped me out

with putting a few bits and pieces
on, but clearly it's got loads more to do,

so as always, better get
it back in the workshop.

Now that the Serana has a
brand-spanking new paint job,

it really makes sense to have a go at
making the interior look just as good.

The original door cards on
this car were just way too dark.

They didn't match the rest of the
interior, so we've had everything recovered

and actually some of it being remade,
and now it's a much better colour.

It kind of marries up the interior
colour and also the exterior colour.

Very cool.

The old door cards were pretty much
past it, so rather than recovering them,

I had new ones made from scratch.

But I did use the old ones as templates,

so all the holes and fittings
should be in just the right place.

That's looking pretty natty, but
we're not going to get the full impact

of this sea of vinyl until
I've got the front seats in.

So the last detail for the
interior is a brand-new stereo.

Now, the old one did work,

but of course we swapped
everything over to an alternator

and therefore also changed
the polarity of the car,

so it went from a positive
earth to a negative earth.

And unfortunately, the old stereo
just wouldn't work in those conditions.

And we have managed
to find a retro-styled

version with all the
mod cons you'd expect,

and of course it works with a negative
earth, and even better than that,

it fits in the original
hole in the dashboard.

The replacement radio did cost £140,

but it's one luxury this
car really deserves.

And with any luck, it might
even receive Polish radio.

Right, there we go. Let's try it out.

Ignition on, stereo on.

Very apt. Fantastic.

Well, there we go. That's all sorted,
so now I can get on with the exterior.

The Serana is certainly
not a complicated beast.

Most of the trim is easy to refit,

including the freshly polished grille.

It looks so much better than the
original black option from the factory.

And it also goes rather well with the
chrome bumper that came with the car.

Now, these lovely chrome
bezels actually came with the car.

They go around the headlights.

But the rest of this stuff used
to be a horrible black plastic,

and I managed to find a very clever company
who actually did this rather smart process

using static electroplating
and some vaporised aluminium.

And, of course, the end result, as
you can see, is rather like chrome itself.

And, of course, all these parts are
actually plastic, so it's very, very clever.

And it's going to make all the
difference when they're on the car.

Now, that clever coating
process did cost us £200,

but looking at the overall effect on
the car, I think it's money well spent.

Now, our little Serana takes her name.

from the mermaid that
is a symbol of Warsaw.

And I think finally, after
all the work that we've

lavished on her, she's
now worthy of that name.

She now drives more easily,

she's going to stop better,

she's going to steer better,
and she even looks better.

Let's just hope that Mike can find somebody

who can really appreciate
how special and unique she is.

Ed?

How are you doing, son?

I'm good.

Wow!

Look at our little Serana.

It looks absolutely brilliant.

You've even painted it in
the Polish national colours.

Well spotted.

I was thinking of going really modern,

then thought maybe go cowlook,
but actually I thought it better

just to stay with the car's heritage
and go for this kind of Polish motif.

It's lovely.

Well, it's absolutely brilliant.

It's probably the best one in Europe.

It's almost definitely the
best one in this country.

I think you'll find it's the
only one in this country.

The FSM Serana 105 is a Polish icon,

loved in its home country,

but exotic and very rare out of it.

Do you know what?

This car's rarer than the McLaren F1.

This quirky car came with
a unique set of problems,

not least the fact that parts for
it don't exist outside of Poland.

So you don't do anything like that?

And the parts that we've
managed to get hold

of haven't always been
quite what we expected.

Somebody's taken it upon
themselves to actually cut the

steering column in half just
to get it into the packaging.

It's been tricky,

but Ed sorted out the
steering, gears and electrics

while I've been able
to refurbish the brakes.

Ever seen them before?

No.

Now with its dramatic new paint job,

the Serana is looking
better than it ever has.

We paid £1,400 for the Serana.

The various fixes weren't too expensive.

But the new trim and
patriotic Polish paint job

cost almost three times
the purchase price of the car.

That means our Serana
owes us just under £5,500.

So we've got to hope
that its extraordinary rarity

outside Poland will translate
into some serious cash.

In a world full of faceless runabouts,
this car's actually got oodles of character

and it's a very unique car to
be driving around London City.

Absolutely. I mean, you're certainly
never going to see another one

of these coming the other
way down the street, are you?

No. It's a really exclusive
car to be in this, you know.

And now that you've done the work on it,

it feels like a wonderful
little car to drive.

So we've got this wonderful city car.

Where are we actually going in the city?

Well, Ed, I'm taking us
right to the top of the shop.

I'm taking us to meet
the Polish ambassador.

Oh, that's very posh.

If we make it there in one piece.

It is London after all.

Hello, sir, lord, your
majesty, your excellency.

This is Ed.

This was a fantastic car.

Ah, this is my Serana.
What do you think of it?

It's a beauty. It's like a Polish flag.

It is like a Polish flag.

We chose these colours and
we hope that you're happy with it.

Oh, I'm very happy with this.

Well, we'd like to take you
for a little drive in it, if you'd like.

Okay, yes, I look forward to it.

I've got a great way for you to
get in and out because this seat.

Yes.

To get in and out.

If you'd like to sit in the back, sir.

Fantastic.

Isn't that good?

That's very handy.

Isn't that really handy?

Very careful.

There and there.

And that's that.

We're off for a drive with
the Polish ambassador.

So for you, your excellency,
I gather you're used to being

taken in more salubrious
cars than this little Serana.

No, it reminds me of my childhood.

Not just for me.

You could see a lot of people
who are here when they see Serana.

This is a cult car, so they
take photos and they smile.

It's the 80s, so it was a
good period in our life.

We wanted to find something that we
could be really proud of, you know, do

a really good job on it, but be really
proud of as well at the same time.

Yeah, I think you've done an
incredible job with this car, and I'm

really grateful for this work that
you have done also for Poland.

Well, it's been an absolute pleasure.

Thank you.

And an honour.

Oh, this was fantastic.

You enjoyed it, did you?

Yes, it was fantastic.

It's been an amazing day,
an amazing experience.

We're very proud of our little
Serana, and we're very proud to

share this moment with you, the
Polish ambassador, so thank you.

Thank you, goodbye.

So, got a nod of approval
from the Polish ambassador.

Now we need to think about selling it.

It's obviously a very special car, so what
kind of money are we going to ask for?

It is a special car, so why don't
we ask a very special price?

Let's push it, see if we can make
some healthy profit, and ask for £9,000.

Nice.

Our Serana is one of
the most charming and

quirky cars we've ever
done on Wheeler Dealers.

It's also one of the rarest.

Now, I was asking for £9,000,
which I know sounds like a lot

of money, especially for a
little Eastern Bloc three-cylinder,

but trust me, to some people,
that just adds to the appeal.

So let's see if I can
put the deal together.

You're having a right good prod
and a poke, aren't you, Paula?

I am indeed.

Do you like it, then?

I think it's lovely.

Do you like the colour?

Yes, brilliant.

One of the things I like are
these stickers, because it's been

all over the place in Poland.
It gives it a bit of history.

It certainly does.

So if you were to buy this
car, what would you want it for?

Well, we've got the Bubble
Car Museum near Boston in

Lincolnshire, and it would
make a really, really good exhibit.

Oh, that's fantastic.

So people can come and
see the car and enjoy it?

Yeah.

So, hopefully, this is
the car for your museum.

As you know, I'm asking a very reasonable
£9,000 for it. What do you reckon?

Well, I think we'd see it as near £8,000.

£8,000?

Yes.

Well, usually, do you know what? I'll argue
with you and try to get you up a bit, but if

people are going to enjoy this car and see it
in an exhibit in a museum, do you know what?

And without your hand, you've
got yourself a lovely little Sirena.

Excellent.

All the way from Poland,
our tiny Sirena has come

a long way, and we've
grown very fond of the car.

But we can't afford to be sentimental,
and now it's time for it to go.

And at £2,500 profit, it's
certainly softening the blow.

Buying an ex-Soviet era
Polish car that not many people

have heard of seemed
like a crazy idea at the time.

But actually, it turned
out to be the perfect plan,

and it put a healthy
profit on our bank balance.

If you want to see more
iconic cars turned around by

me and Ed, join us again
soon on Wheel Of Dealers.

Ta-la!