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mat777
Original Poster
2,975 posts
29 months
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Agem
132 posts
34 months
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I rolled one in 1986 on the way into work, got it back home...Jacked the roof out & skimmed it with filler. Used it for another 8 months, always fired every morning & got me to work on time bar once...
But yes, time moves on.....
Mike
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Balmoral
29,611 posts
117 months
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mat777 said: Wading through the spectacular inaccuracies You aren't kidding, it couldn't be any more wrong if it was done deliberately or they lived in opposite world.
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Marc W
3,488 posts
80 months
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One of the cars pictured (The Cuban one) isn't even a Lada model of any kind but a Moskovitch.
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stuwalsh
223 posts
22 months
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Joke about them or not, but they provided a lot of families with a reasonably reliable new family car. 20 million buyers can't all be wrong!
Also remember, along with Skoda, (who I worked for!), they provided inexpensive and affordable rallying for many enthusiasts.
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MSPV12
118 posts
60 months
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Laugh if you wish, but I had a lada (1978 1200cc Saloon in Beige with red pvc seats) that was 'given' to me go away to college in Scotland with in about 1983. I was upset!
However, because I hated it soooo much, I drove it everyewhere like I stole it. It taught me alot about drifting (although we didn't call it that back then), J-Turns and general car control at the limit. Without that little car I would not have 'honed' my skills so much, through fear of damaging a car I actually liked. Fond memories after all.
Funny thing was, up there at the time, these things were everywhere! I think Scotland must have been their biggest market?!
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hms
115 posts
67 months
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When I was living in Russia, I bought a 4 wheel drive Niva and picked it up from the factory in Togliatti, now Samara.
Horrible thing, I daren't go above 60 mph in it!
Ended its life in Moscow, Drove it to Moscow from the Ukraine when I moved there, after I arrived Peristroika happened, USSR broke up, Russia became Russia, Ukraine became Ukraine etc., and I ended up with a Ukrainian registered car that had been illegally imported into Russia that I couldn't register or insure!
Probably still sitting under a pile of snow somewhere in Moscow!
h
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boyse7en
79 posts
34 months
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My Dad bought a second-hand (R-Reg) Lada 1200 Estate in 1981 that managed to haul 6 people (4 adults, 2 kids) from Devon to Marseille and back for a camping holiday. It wasn't fast, but it chugged its way there and back OK.
Eventually a drunk driver wrote it off when he collided with it in his Fiat 128. The Fiat was completely mangled. The Lada had a buggered front wing, headlamp and bumper. Unfortunately that was enough for th insurance co. to write it off!
The main thing I remember it for though was the black vinyl seats burning the back of my short-clad legs in the summer.
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Decky_Q
788 posts
46 months
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My mum traded her triumph tr6 for one in the early 80's, because the triumph was old and the lada was new  Went on a holiday to Cork from Northern Ireland before motorways etc here so good few days travel there and back, with my mum, aunt and 9 kids in the back of the lada and my mum bought a fecking dog when we were in Cork! was some good memories but mental by todays safety standards!
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Balmoral
29,611 posts
117 months
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The Riva was made from virgin steel, very heavy gauge too compared to European cars of the time. If the car had, or was given a rustproofing treatment from new, they would last a very long time. The odd car that you see now, with a Ziebart, are generally rust free and completely solid. They actually went quite well too, the 1.3 not being too far off the pace of say a 1.3 Escort or Meastro. The worst bit was the steering, which was worm gear, rather than rack and pinion, and the Soviet plastics of course, the door cards and dash were like creosoted cardboard, all slimy to the touch. I had one when I sold them for about a month, a Riva 1.3GL, which was a demo car, in beige, on a 'B' reg. If truth be known, I quite liked it, and was nicknamed 'Boris' 
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Vince70
1,175 posts
63 months
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I was made redundant in the early 90s and had to sell my xr3, and a friend of mine had a 3 year old lada riva with a years mot and tax for sale for a £100, I snapped it up as I needed cheap transport and Have to admit although slow it did prove very reliable. It cost me £75 to insure and didn't spend a penny on the car it was great and I don't. Think I ever locked it up. I sold it a year later for £75 to some  s and can honestly say it was the cheapest trouble free motoring I ever had. Although by the time I sold it the clutch had started slipping as the hand brake snapped 6 months earlier and I didn't want to splash out money on repairs. But mine was very upmarket as it had checkered Lada seat covers and when it ran out juice you had a manual primer on the fuel pump which came in useful.
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iSore
752 posts
13 months
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I spent the summer of 1983 working as a car cleaner for a Lada Garage (Peaches near Newbury) as a nipper. The Riva hadn't come out yet and Ladas were simply Russian made Fiat 124's (1200 and 1300) and 125's (1500/1600).
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heightswitch
3,412 posts
119 months
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Back in younger days I remember the ultimate Lada Mod..take one newish Lada Riva 1200 costing next to no pounds...Take one rotten 131 Arbarth with its 2.0 twin cam and 5 speed box...Combine the best bits of the 2 and enjoy one of the best bolt in sleeper conversions ever dreamed up!!!
It was hilarious destroying the very best that germany could come up with with an eastern block car!!!
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exitwound
348 posts
49 months
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I well remember what a great car the Fiat 124 Special T was..
We honed our cornering skills on exciting cars like that. Sorely missed like the Mirafiori!
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LuS1fer
28,475 posts
114 months
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iSore said: I spent the summer of 1983 working as a car cleaner for a Lada Garage (Peaches near Newbury) as a nipper. The Riva hadn't come out yet and Ladas were simply Russian made Fiat 124's (1200 and 1300) and 125's (1500/1600). Not exactly. They used their own versions of the engine and threw away the only good bit.
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rumple
2,501 posts
20 months
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Liked the look of that Lada C concept, as for the rest, great sheding.
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