Add Some Color to Your Life
Founded in 1946 France by a son of a Polish enterpreneur (who unfortunately was murdered by the Soviets during the war), Cossack Motors launched their first car to the market in 1948. Their designs initially focused on affordable utilitarian vehicles, but slowly spread out to cover more market segments as the economy healed.
1975-1983 Cossack Flavo
2000-2011 Cossack Piros/Piros Carrier
The Flavo marked several milestones for Cossack Motors. It introduced the D series engine, Cossack’s first non-OHV engine (an 8-valve SOHC). The engine was a full-aluminium design as well, and its variants were still used in the budget offerings as late as early 2010s. It also was the first Cossack to have a proper, non-alphanumeric soup name, starting a tradition of giving color-themed names to subsequent Cossack models. (“Flavo” is Esperanto for “yellow”, in case you’re wondering.) It also was the first Cossack to be sold in the US.
Every Flavo has a galvanized steel monocoque chassis, McPherson strut suspension in the front and semi-trailing arms in the rear. Each Flavo is also FWD.
The base model of the Flavo, 1200 was the only trim version not to be powered by the D-series engine. Instead, it was powered by the A12-75 engine, a descendant of the engine powering the first Cossacks ever made. With 33 kW (45 PS), this 1201 cc engine can accelerate the car to 100 km/h in just 19 seconds, and gets the car up to 133 km/h, all while achieving 6 liters per 100 kilometers of fuel consumption.
To make this car attractive to the budget demographics, this car was ridded of features deemed unnecessary, such as power steering, three point seatbelts, collapsible steering column, or passenger-side side mirror.
The upper tier trim of the Flavo was powered by the D16-75 engine, a 1610cc engine capable of making 57 kW (78 PS). It can get up to 151 km/h, and accelerates to 100 km/h in 12.7s. It also included the features mentioned as not being included with the 1200.
The sporty trim of the Flavo had a 1998cc variant of the D series engine, the D20S-75. Upgraded with slighly reworked cams, 4-barrel carburettor, and a tubular exhaust, the engine was capable of making 77 kW (105 PS) of power. This was enough to get the car to 100 km/h in just 8.70 seconds and achieve a top speed of 180 km/h.
It also had such extras as alloy wheels and 2 individual rear seats (as opposed to a 3-seat rear bench) which made the car lighter and more agile without that much of a loss in practicality.
A lot of work had to be done to make the car suited to the US market. The manual transmission gave way to an automatic one which, since Americans liked their engines to be bigger, was coupled to the D20-75 engine, similar to D20S-75, but less sporty. (The D20-75 made 65.5 kW, or 89 PS) This combo got the car to 100 km/h in 11.8 seconds, and had the top speed of 169 km/h.
The car’s externals were also modified to make the car compliant with the US regulations. The 5mph bumper regulations, and the outdated headlight regulations, both infamous for their effects on imported cars, took their toll on the Flavo as well.
Surprisingly, other than the questionable body restyling brought on the Flavo by the US regulations, the US spec 2000S does not differ from the Euro-spec Flavo at all. It even kept the manual.
Good to see those designs! 
Also, someone with a similar company idea to mine, huh.
Looks nice. I dig the wide variety of colors it comes in as well!
Cossack Motors had a long tradition of van manufacturing, and the 2000 Piros continued that tradition. Piros Carrier, a Piros-based people carrier, was sold alongside the cargo version and featured an unusual, rear facing third row of seats which could only be accessed to via the tailgate.
Each Piros and Piros Carrier has a galvanised steel monocoque chassis, with McPherson strut sustpension in the front and a solid leaf-sprung axle in the rear. All Piros’, and most Piros Carriers were front wheel drive.
Oh, and if you are curious, “piros” is Hungarian for “red”.
The base variant of the Piros was powered by the D20-100 engine, a member of the D series of engines, first debuting in the 1975 Flavo. Fitted with modern fuel system and valvetrain technology, this 1998 cc powerplant developed 82 kW (111 PS) of power resulting in a 11.3 s of 0-100 km/h acceleration and a top speed of 166 km/h, and achieves the fuel consumption of 8.1 L/100 km. While it was not nearly as brisky with heavier loads, it was cheap and reliable enough to gain popularity amongst commercial buyers, especially those who could not afford to buy or maintain a 3000 trim.
Now, in many regards, the Piros 3000 was not that different from the 2000. Except for the most important part of course - the engine. The F series of engines first debuted in the 1989 Cossack mid-size sedan (/which is not made yet) and were Cossack’s first V engines in production (V6s, to be exact). The variant used in the Piros, the F30U-100, was of course fitted with modern fuel systems, and tuned to deliver more low-end power than the usual F series engines.
Though more expensive than the 2000, it became popular for heavier deliveries, thanks to its power of 123.5 kW (168 PS). It stayed somewhat economical, burning 8.7 l/100 km. It can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 9.06 seconds, and gets up to 190 km/h. The wind noise gets rather unbearable at that point though.
To be fair, the Piros Carrier 2000 was not the best design. The engine’s power was already on the lower end of usable spectrum for this kind of car, and the extra seats, safety equipment not present in cargo Piros, and being coupled to a 5 speed automatic gearbox as opposed to a manual, only pushes the engine into “too underpowered category.” The acceleration went up to 14.2 s, and the top speed fell slightly to 165 km/h.
However, there was a goal to the Piros Carrier 2000. You see. it shares almost all of its parts with either the cargo versions or the 3000 trim variants of the Carrier. Meaning it adds little engineering work. Not only that, it is the cheapest Carrier. This means that Cossack Motors could eke out money from some of the people with no money to spend on more expensive variants, without paying much themselves. That and it allowed the Piros Carrier 3000 to be perceived by the buyers as the “reasonable middle option”
So yeah. It does have place in the line up, even if it’s less “passion” and more “calculated business decision.”
The F30U-100 engine used in the Piros 3000 also found its way to the Piros Carrier. Not only did its performance become adequate, with 10.3s spent accelerating to 100 km/h, and a top speed of 186 km/h, it also had a better quality audio system, with more speakers and so on.
Cossack Motors began experimenting with AWD in the late 80s. The top of the line Piros Carrier was equipped with such a drive system, as well as leather seats and steering wheel and other extras. The performance was actually worse than that of an ordinary 3000 - the engine stayed the same while the weight increased, but the AWD proved useful in low-traction environments, drawing in some of the utility-seeking folks, and the interior extras drawn some of the people looking for comfort, who also found the 3000 AWD to be better insulated from the wind noise.
