New owners of the legendary Turkish TOFAS' 'Bird Series' cars

TOFAS, the only automotive company of Turkey that produced cars at that time, was founded in 1968. Especially with the ‘Bird Series it produced in the 90s, it achieved a historical sale success. Due to high car prices of other brands, this new cheaper car with cheap spare parts and withstanding the conditions of Turkish roads, consumers loved these cars. The factory, which was established in 1971 in Bursa, first produced the "Murat 124" model. TOFAS, which produced 134 thousand 867 units from these cars until 1976, ceased the production of "Murat 124" in 1977 and started to produce the 'Bird Series' which achieved great commercial success. TOFAS started 'Bird Series' first by producing Sahin (Hawk). Kartal (Eagle) and Dogan (Falcon) in 1981 and also with Serce (Sparrow) in 1983 continued production of these series. TOFAS has achieved historical success by producing and selling 1 million 257 thousand 651 units of "Bird Series" cars from 1977 to July 1, 2003.
Nowadays it is still possible to see these cars on the roads of Turkey. In particular, young people between 20-35 years from low socio-economic situation have great interest in these cars. The fact that these cars are “Rwd (rear-wheel drive)” is another reason to prefer them which makes it easier to perform actions such as drift. They buy these cars and make various modifications. Illegal modifications such as air suspension, audible exhaust are the most popular ones. However, due to these modifications, they may have to pay traffic fines up to 5000 thousand Turkish Liras, (900 Dollars). Especially in Istanbul, their biggest problem is not to drive freely in the traffic. Due to the continuous growth of the city, there is no area where they can drive out of traffic. That's why they meet at certain locations out of the city on weekends and evenings.
They say that this passion for TOFAS cars will continue in future generations.
Oktay Bektas: 'I never understand people's prejudice against Tofas. This passion will continue in the next generation because it is a love that comes from the early ages. I've never dreamed of buying a BMW. Even if I have a lot of money, I prefer to get an original TOFAS again.
The cops never understand us. Although, all the aspects of our cars (traffic insurance, car inspection, documents ect.) are ok, they stop us arbitrarily and write a traffic fine. I want to ask to these police officers, “Haven’t you ever loved something in your life? We love these cars. We have passion for these cars. But they act as if we're terrorists. Once a police fired with gun to my friend. He had no right to do that. We are aslo exposed to such situations. We have the minimum wage salary. It's like 2000 Turkish liras (350 Usd). But last week I paid 1000 Turkish liras (175 Usd) traffic fine for changing lanes on the road.”
Another TOFAS driver Omer Parca says: 'I'm so sick of people's prejudice against TOFAS cars and drivers. That's why I'm trying to drive my car without disturbing anyone. I mostly shoot videos for social media in my car. Some videos of my car have been watched over millions of viewers. Some of them are the videos which the Romanian singer INNA got into my car. And in one of my videos the Australian social media phenomenon Supercar Blondie has driven my car.'