I remember the Lada very well. The cars were Russian-built versions of the obsolete Italian Fiat 124, dating from 1966. After Fiat introduced a new model, the 124 production line went to Russia, where it was seen as an ultramodern car and very desireable. I just looked it up..... the russians produced 18.6 MILLION of them!!!! Here in Britain they were one of the cheapest cars you could buy... other than Skodas, which were obsolete renaults built in Czechoslovakia. The joke that accompanied both was "How do you double the value of a Lada/Skoda?- Fill the fuel tank!" or "Why do Ladas have heated rear windows?- So your hands stay warm when you're pushing them!"
The jokes were mostly unfair. Quality control was never much of a priority in the former soviet countries, but the cars were competent, if drab. I travelled considerable distances in Iceland's interior on 'roads' that were marked on the map as "impassable without four-wheel drive, road only passable in june-july", in a 4wd Lada Niva. In the middle of nowhere, we met an east-german Trabant, rattling along in a cloud of stinky blue oil-smoke. How a cardboard car got there beats me.
I would still be driving my Lada Samara if it hadn't been shmucked. Great little car if you can take the ribbing! Everywhere we went an Eastern European would comment "They made that part in my town", kind of like the Oshawa - Windsor corridor but spread over several countries. Cuba never received that model (the deluxe) and hasn't had a new part delivered since 1991. Of course that's 30 years newer than their American counterparts! They even had 'stretch' Ladas in Havana. What a sight! They thought us very strange to have one by CHOICE but they know what to do with the odd part I find and take down there. Your diversity is one of the reasons I love your blog.
I remember the Lada very well.
ReplyDeleteThe cars were Russian-built versions of the obsolete Italian Fiat 124, dating from 1966.
After Fiat introduced a new model, the 124 production line went to Russia, where it was seen as an ultramodern car and very desireable.
I just looked it up..... the russians produced 18.6 MILLION of them!!!!
Here in Britain they were one of the cheapest cars you could buy... other than Skodas, which were obsolete renaults built in Czechoslovakia.
The joke that accompanied both was "How do you double the value of a Lada/Skoda?- Fill the fuel tank!" or "Why do Ladas have heated rear windows?- So your hands stay warm when you're pushing them!"
The jokes were mostly unfair. Quality control was never much of a priority in the former soviet countries, but the cars were competent, if drab.
I travelled considerable distances in Iceland's interior on 'roads' that were marked on the map as "impassable without four-wheel drive, road only passable in june-july", in a 4wd Lada Niva.
In the middle of nowhere, we met an east-german Trabant, rattling along in a cloud of stinky blue oil-smoke.
How a cardboard car got there beats me.
I would still be driving my Lada Samara if it hadn't been shmucked. Great little car if you can take the ribbing! Everywhere we went an Eastern European would comment "They made that part in my town", kind of like the Oshawa - Windsor corridor but spread over several countries. Cuba never received that model (the deluxe) and hasn't had a new part delivered since 1991. Of course that's 30 years newer than their American counterparts! They even had 'stretch' Ladas in Havana. What a sight! They thought us very strange to have one by CHOICE but they know what to do with the odd part I find and take down there. Your diversity is one of the reasons I love your blog.
ReplyDeletePost script - a comment after your PhD post said it better "a miscellany of topics"!
ReplyDelete