Russian cars...

5SP33DB0X19

5SP33DB0X19

Daily Driver
Wondering if anybody here has an opinion on russian cars. I know common belief is that they're horrid wretched things, but before I bought my X three years ago, my dad said Fiats were junk, yet my X has been the best vehicle I've ever had the honor of owning. So long story short, I don't buy into propoganda. I actually quite fancy a few rusky-mobiles, IE; the lada niva, Moskvich 408/412, the Zaz 968, and of course all of the license built Fiat derivitives like the Lada Riva and the Zastava Yugos. Any opinions on this matter? Am I quite alone in being "crazy" enough to like these things? As if having a Lancia in this country isn't obscure enough, I'd absolutely love to find a Moskvich! Haha
 
I think most would agree that quality control on anything from behind the 'Iron Curtain' might be lagging, but to be fair, my old 1978 Z/28 looked like it was assembled in the dark by some drunk guys trying to get off work 'after this last car', for a week of deer hunting...

I loved that disturbingly missaligned Z though...

And... Someone had a East German Barkas B1000 at Houston's Cars & Coffee this past weekend! (like the one pictured below...)

No idea where you get parts, how readily they are available, etc... but it was a supremely funky cool van. The big 'hinged' instead of sliding side door was a riot too! Powered by a 1000cc 3 cylinder 2 stroke that rev'd right up when he turned the key for us! The little 3 banger sits low between the driver and passenger up front... it's small and doesn't come up into the compartment hardly at all... The transmission sits right behind it... and a long shifter comes up from behind the two front seats, so you can grab it and start banging gears! The bottom picture shows the 'soft' insulated engine cover that lifts off between the driver and passenger, and you can see the shifter poking up where it would be close the drivers hip/thigh!

I love seeing weird stuff like this at car shows..

barkas-b1000-kb-02.jpg


Barkas%20B-1000%20HSU179A%20020.JPG


wartburg__barkas_b_1000_1981_5_lgw.jpg
 
Haha awesome!

I think the van from the movie "the chernobyl diaries" was just like that one.. As far as parts go.. I doubt they'd be easy to source, but if there's a will, there's a way, right? They shouldn't be that hard to regjster since they're left hand drive, and 25 years or older.. There was a Moskvich 412 on ebay not too long ago, right here in Cleveland, as well as a Lada Niva down in Petaluma, CA
 
Short, sharp answer........!!

5SP33DB0X19 said:
..... Am I quite alone in being "crazy" enough to like these things?.....
Click to expand...

....YES!!! :nuts:
Back about 20 or so years ago here in NZ, Lada Niva's were voted the most hated import vehicle in the country!

cheers, Ian - NZ
 
I had an 81 Lada. I drove the snot out of that thing,,,loved it ! As far as I'm concerned if you maintain any car,they will keep goin and goin,,
 
Agreed with Rob..

If maintained properly, there's no reason a car shouldn't operate properly regardless of country of Origin.. But to make this more interesting, I did find a Lada Niva (an 84, I think) for sale in southern cali that had had the original 1.6 litre Lada engine tossed out and been replaced with a 2 litre Fiat Twin Cam from an 81 Spider, complete with L-jet and all.. :)
 
There is a great video on youtube about a Lotus-Lada joint venture by Guy Croft and Lotus on Top Gear,,can't seem to find the original video,but here is a documentary version of it,,,awsome ! [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojJ-j2xio8Y"]GUY CROFT POWERED LOTUS LADA FIAT TWINCAM 2002 - Build & test.VOB - YouTube[/ame]
 
meet Dimitri

This is Dimitri on the outside a mild mannered 2107 lada-swapped bonnet/hood from 2105 for better lines. He started out with 88hp and with a little bit of shoe horning now has a high compression 2L twin cam
that puts out 137hp and 157ft/lbs of torque. He is rust free and I got him for $50 because someone forgot to overfill the gearbox and it literally blew 5th gear out and left a nice 6 inch hole in the gearbox. Picked up another 3 gearboxes for $55 from a wrecker
I have owned a Niva- and one other 2107 both were fantastic cars. The lada wiring is faithful to its Fiat ancestors ie terrible- the original engines are good and the 5 speed gearboxes are fine if you make sure to overfill them.
Dimitri is what you would definitely call a sleeper as many BMW 3 series in the area can tell you

 
I love my Lada!

About 7 years ago, I bought a 1998 Lada Niva and it's been a beaut car.

It was 6 years old, with 120,000km on the clock when I bought it. It had been reasonably well maintained mechanically, but was pretty shabby on the outside. I paid the princely sum of $1500 for it (unregistered) and had it on the road for less than $500 (most of which was a new tail light).

I've now put over 100,000 more km on it and it has never left me stranded. It always starts (barring battery issues) and it just goes - not quickly, or with a great deal of comfort - and it always gets me where I need to be.

Sure, things have worn out and needed to be replaced or repaired, but they've always given me plenty of warning.

Driven sensibly, it's quite well-behaved, and with its coil springs, it's a lot more comfortable than many older 4WDs with leaf springs all-round.

I've done most of the maintenance myself (not particularly religiously, I might add). It's very simple and there's plenty of room under the bonnet. It's been a very cheap car to own. The fuel economy, at 10 litres per 100km is not particularly good, but every other aspect of owning it is cheap.

It's getting old now, and a bit rusty, and I can see it's not going to last for ever. They're no longer available here but if they were, I'd buy another one in a heartbeat.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top