A mini car for special tasks, part 2.

       In the previous story I described how the “Maluch” (“Tot”, factory name Fiat 126P) successfully fulfilled the function of a delivery vehicle or a family van. This time our small car turned into... Jeep.

       We were spending a holidays in the Polish mountains of Karkonosze, in the village called Przesieka. Of course, our brave “Maluch” took us there. In my childhood I had asthma with quite an acute course. Mountain climbing, even in such gentle mountains as Karkonosze, could be risky. Parents wanted to go on a trip on the tops of the mountains - the so-called “Friendship Road”, which goes along the border between Poland and the Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia). Unfortunately, to get there from Przesieka, it was necessary to overcome a long, narrow and sometimes steep track to the Karkonosze Pass. On the pass was a mountain chalet (it is still there), so the track was made of tarmac. However, in those days only border soldiers’ off-road vehicles could use the road. My parents assumed that when their asthmatic child climbed this hill, there would be not a possibility of further walk. That's why my mother decided to reach the Karkonosze Pass by car... means our little one. Naturally, the border soldiers had to issue permission for such performance. They agreed, thinking that this challenge was not possible.

         We started in the morning. The engine roared and even howled like a deer during rutting period but our brave car was climbing higher and higher. Anyway, for some time there was no other option than going up. It was impossible to turn back on such a narrow and steep road, running additionally through the dense forest over the cliff. I, as a typical child, was focusing on the view outside the window, unaware of the horror of the situation, while my mother got the steering wheel glued to her hands since they were sweaty with emotions. Slowly but steadily we were climbing up. When we finally reached the summit, every living creature from a border inspection post was out and the border soldiers’ dogs were barking crazily. It is possible that they might have thought that the sounds of our car climbing uphill was a bear attack. The border guards only then admitted that they hadn’t believed that Fiat 126P would climb the Karkonosze Pass and alarmed by the roar of the engine began to admire this spectacle en masse. We parked our bolide near the border inspection post and went along the track running the peaks of Karkonosze Mountains. It was a fantastic trip, but still I got an asthma attack because of pressure changing too fast.

        The turning from the pass was probably even worse than climbing it. When we got to Przesieka village, smoke came from the brakes but today we may talk about such an extraordinary adventure. If Polish and Italian engineers knew what a durable and multifunctional wonder they had created, today on the military missions in Iraq or Afghanistan, not Hammers but Fiat 126P would only drive, and the agent 007 would kick Aston Martin's ass and skipp his deadly actions with the “Maluch” equipped by Q.

Karkonosze Pass, view of the Odrodzenie chalet; photo by Paulina Jarkiewicz