LADA Saloon to finally be binned
Discussion
Wading through the spectacular inaccuracies in this article:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2130942/La...
It appears that manufacture of the Lada Riva saloon is to finally be culled after 40 odd years of churning out the mobile skips
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2130942/La...
It appears that manufacture of the Lada Riva saloon is to finally be culled after 40 odd years of churning out the mobile skips
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?!
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?!
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!
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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!
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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.
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.
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!
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!
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'
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'
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.
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.
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!!!
It was hilarious destroying the very best that germany could come up with with an eastern block car!!!
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.Gassing Station | Motoring News | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff