After receiving a renovated Fiat 126p as a gift from Bielsko-Biała in Poland, Tom Hanks decided to fund the renovation of another polish-produced car, the Syrena 105, and put it up for charity auction.
The initiative was started by Monika Jaskólska, the head of the “It’s not right to not help” fund which supports the children’s hospital in Bielsko-Biała in southern Poland.
The Syrena 105 will be auctioned in Spring 2020 during a charity ball organized by Jaskólska’s fund. There has been a high level of interest in the event, which is why the fund decided to already present the car.
The money from the ball and the auction will be given to the local children’s hospital.
The car was originally produced in 1980 but underwent a restoration to resemble the car it had been when it originally left the factory. The entire vehicle was taken apart and then put back together using original and unused replacement parts.
Jaskólska emphasized that the car’s renovation took about a thousand hours for the BB Oldtimer Garage renovation team. The car’s original color was white, but the team decided to paint it white and red, the colors of the Polish flag.
The story starts in Hungary
The story started a few years when the two-time Oscar winner posted a photo with himself on social media opening the door to an old Fiat 126 with a Hungarian license plate, subtitled, “So excited about my new car!”
Jaskólska, who had seen the photo, came up with the idea to gift Hanks a renovated Fiat 126p for his birthday and collected funds for it online. The right car was found, and its restoration financed by entrepreneur and racer Rafał Sonik. The car was transported to California and given to Hanks.
As a way to pay back the Poles, Hanks purchased and funded the renovation of the Syrena 105, which he decided to give to a charity auction to support the local children’s hospital.
Hanks has become world-famous for his roles in movies like Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, and Saving Private Ryan. He also had produced a number of movies and series, including HBO’s The Pacific.
