Lada comeback

colm_mcm

Were Ladas actually sold here in the late 80's 90's. In the UK they sold Protons and Ladas, but I can't remember any dealers in this country.

BrianD3

There's an 89 Lada Samara in that scrapyard in Kildare that has been discussed here a few times. Original looking plate with a lowish number, no EU symbol on the plates etc. I''d say it was sold here rather than imported.

colm_mcm

I'm sure they could be sourced new then though, the same way as you could get a dealer/trader to source you a perodua or proton new from the UK/north now.

I remember a few locals having Proton saloons (think they were the same as 80s Mitsi Galant or Lancers) back in the 90s

BrianD3

I did a search in the Irish Times archive for "Lada". Without a subscription (10 quid) you won't be able to see the full articles just some headlines and snapshots. I don't think they'd be talking about Lada unless they were officially available through dealers here?

Ad for a Lada


Here's one from 1987 entitled Climbing the Lada


Low Cost motoring


£5795 hatchback

Jimmy Garlic

The Lada Priora and the Kelina don't look too bad, very basic, low spec, plasticy interiors but other than that not too bad. It will boil down to reliability safety and price. If they can manage to sell a safe reliable car cheaply then they will do well. Car snobbery is fading away, people want a good deal now.

colm_mcm

I think they'd have to be a good bit cheaper than the established and now proven budget cars like Kia and Hyundai. the fact that they're an unknown quantity and the Lada stigma would be a lot to get over.

Skoda is an exception, the finish of their cars and the halo effect from VW, combined with the fact that the Felicia didn't really have any proper competition when it came out gave them a headstart.

TomMc

I cannot think of any Lada dealers in Ireland in the past 30 years but I'm sure there were a few. The only cars of that ilk that I do remember a dealer for was FSO with the Polonez, that was back in the late 80's.

TomMc

IN THE BEGINNING

In 1966, an agreement between Fiat and the Soviet Government was signed, so that a new car factory could be built some 600 miles south-east of Moscow beside the river Volga. This site is now the world's third-largest motor-manufacturing complex with 90 miles of automated assembly lines and a shop-floor area of 22.5 million square feet. The factory was built in less than 4 years, by over 45 thousand workers at an estimated cost of some £820,000,000. The site has it's own hotels, test-track and R&D department. (The hotels have now been sold off).

This mammoth scheme was part of a much larger program for the area, which included the building of a hydro-electric power plant, the Lenin Dam on the lower Volga, and the building of Togliatti, a new town on the banks of the river replacing an earlier settlement called Stavropol which was inundated by the reservoir. Togliatti was the name of the then chairman of the Italian Communist Party. He'd led the Italian resistance during World War 2, and had played a key role in the negotiations which had led to the sale of the Fiat plant to the Soviet Union. Part of the negotiations was the agreement that the Soviet Union would give steel to Fiat for use in it's manufacturing.

THE LADA

The Lada 1200 Saloon first appeared in the UK at the 1973 Motor Show, causing quite a few raised eyebrows because of it's extremely low price. As Satra Motors LTD, the concessionaires said, "For a new car, the Lada looks and sounds strangely familiar. From it's no-nonsense, clean lines to it's pedigree 1198cc engine, capable of speeds up to 90mph And since this is a speed one is rarely allowed to reach, the Lada is never strained. It's also surprisingly gentle at the fuel pumps. Inside and out, there's very little about the Lada that you don't already know. The only thing that will surprise you is the price. It's much less than you'd expect. You don't meet many cars like that nowadays". It was equipped with fully adjustable reclining seats, four speed synchromesh gearbox, two speed wipers, luxurious vinyl upholstery, comprehensive toolkit, and more. "And none of these extras cost more money. Because we think the ex-works price should be where your spending stops, not where it begins."

About four years later, carpets were fitted. (Over the top of the factory-fitted rubber matting) and reversing lights added. Further modifications followed and the Riva has been updated regularly ever since. The body line must surely now be considered a "classic".

April 1994 saw the introduction of the Lada 1200 Saloon and Estate joined later by the 1500 Estate, sharing the 1200 body shell. The 1500 Saloon followed in 1976 and in 1978 appeared with the 1600 engine, and was the up-spec-4-headlamp leader of the Lada range.

In May 1983 the Riva appeared with a 1300cc belt-drive engine, followed in 1984 by the 1200 Saloon and in 1985 by the 1300 and 1500 Estates. Various specification permutations followed, some of which had 1600 engines - these having a higher body line and squarer grille.

The front-wheel drive Samara hatchback powered by a transverse 1300cc engine was unleashed upon an unsuspecting British public in 1987 with a price tag of £5053 inclusive on the road!! Other versions followed, five door hatchbacks and four door saloons being revamped with different body styling kits and the addition of 1500cc and 1100cc engines. In August 1996 the Samara was released with a General Motors fuel injection on the 1.5 engines. During this time the Riva range was whittled down to the 1500 Saloon and Estate with two trim variations.

The third member of the Lada family, the 4-wheel drive Niva, appeared in 1978 in left-hand drive form and two years later in right-hand drive. The Cossack variant with smart interiors, alloy wheels and ironmongery began to appear in 1986, though the Cossack trim had been available as a range of optional extras prior to this. The latter part of 1995 saw the introduction of the Niva Hussar and Cossack fitted with a 1700cc engine with GM fuel injection.

THE END?

On Thursday, July 3rd 1997 MVI, the present Lada importers announced that "No more new cars would be imported, but Lada owners, thought to number about 100,000 will still get parts and service through UK dealers. The difficulty in obtaining an American-made part to enable Lada's to comply with EEC Emission Standards has meant that Russian manufacturer AvtoVaz could no longer supply cars to the motor-vehicle imports based at Carnaby near Bridlington". Auto distributors have now taken over the franchise.

THE FUTURE!

Lada production continues in Russia at a rate of 1 car per 21 seconds supplying the home market and Europe. New models in the pipeline with AvtoVaz looking for support from Western giants like General Motors and Fiat, the future doesn't look too bleak. The cars and their drivers will be around for many years to come.


HISTORY OF LADA NIVA

Firstly, where does the name "Lada" comes from ? In case of the car it means a small, fast sail boat, typical for the river Volga, where the factory is situated. It was also the favorite boat with river pirates, who used to rob commercial ships on the river. The Lada-boat goes back to the vikings, who used to colonize the slavic territory by coming from Scandinavia through the place where St. Petersburg is today and founding a first settlement on the lake Ladoga today called "Starie Ladoaga", Old Ladoga. The where using the vast inland waterways of Russia for trade and soon took over the language, religion and some habits of the slavs but they where actually the founders of the first statehoods that eventually became Russia. As a funny detail of this history and the traveling vikings, the cars made by Rover in England and the ones made by VAZ/Lada in Russia have about the same little ship as a logo.

MORE ABOUT THE NAME

Lada in Russian means "(lovely, little) darling". Before the Togliatti-plant for cars was known as Shiguli factory and the cars were called Shiguli. The Shigulis converted to 'Lada' in late 70's. The name Niva means 'cornfield' in Russian. So our car is 'our darling for cornfields'. First prototypes of the Niva were known in 1974 and the series started 1976 with a 1.3l and a 1.6l Version...


All from here - http://www.lada.co.uk/

Gael23

Wasnt the reason they were all exported because of the emissions out of them?

colm_mcm

I may be wrong here, but I think the Ladas were made from scratch in the factories, as in everything was made in house.

alias no.9

colm_mcm wrote: »

Were Ladas actually sold here in the late 80's 90's. In the UK they sold Protons and Ladas, but I can't remember any dealers in this country.

Reens in Rathmore, Co. Kerry were a Lada and Daihatsu dealer back in the day, they've been Peugeot for a long time now.

http://www.reenscarsales.ie/contentv3/

101sean

The Lada Niva had a bit of a cult following among some off roaders back in the 80/90s, especially if you ditched the original engine and chucked in a Fiat twin cam . It was claimed that the best thing to sort out transmission noise and vibration on them when new was to loosen all the gear and transfer box bolts, drive for a couple of miles at 60 and then tighten everything up again :rolleyes:

The appaling Dacia Duster 4x4 was imported in to the UK in the late 80s, they rotted faster than a Lancia (the FSO Polonez wasn't far behind)

James May is a fan of the Dacia Sandero, reckoned it is what a car should be for the masses.

Wasn't it only pensioners that bought cars with a poached egg for a bonnet badge?

Redderneck

Had a Niva as a company motor for a few years when working abroad. Nothing but good things to say about it. Did what it said on the tin. Never broke down, covered a lot of miles on very dodgy roads, on long journeys, in all sorts of weather and never missed a beat. Anything fancy would've been a target for theft and/or made me a target for theft, so quite happy to blend in and bumble about.

drakshug

I had a samara. Drove it across Europe and it survived a good few baltic winters. Only problem was airlocking in the carb at a few hundred feet (Scottish Highlands) but this was sorted by fitting an original solex.
Living over in Lithuania made me appreciate the bloody things. There are ones from the early seventies still going strong there and absolutely anything can be fixed on them. Only real prob was the keys would snap in the ignition.
Basic but rugged.

pcardin

landyman wrote: »

Who knows if the new lada will be rubbish? Its a bit presumptuous to say so at this stage?

They are rubish. Trust me! I'm going to Russia quite often and have seen all of them - from the oldest model till very recent. Driving around in every major city/town there you can see a Lada parts shop almost on every street. They do brake down as soon as they off the conveuir line.

pcardin

Aidan_M_M wrote: »

Some Ladas are cool... they made great little rally cars... here's one I re-painted earlier .

I remember some of these had a 1.3l vankel engines. Experiment in the late 80ties.

Tabnabs

I thought it worthwhile to bump this old thread instead of making a whole new one.

Lada have signed up Volvo's head designer.

http://translate.google.ie/translate?sl=sv&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.automotorsport.se%2Fartiklar%2Fnyheter%2F20110926%2Fsteve-mattin-ska-leda-designarbetet-hos-lada

(via google translate)

With Renault and Nissan taking an interest, it may yet come to something.

kermitpwee

Yes there were Lada dealers, one in mayo actually.

MetzgerMeister

BX 19 wrote: »

I seem to remember that skoda had the same reputation....... Just look at them now!

Tell that to EPM

Blue Punto

Tom Walsh Motors in Baldoyle and George Cosgrave Motors were Lada/Proton Dealers from 1987 to aprx 1990 in the Dublin Area

pmac086

Blisterman wrote: »

Was in the suburbs of Sofia in Bulgaria, and every second car was a 1980's Lada.

I remember mid 90's, there were tons of Lada jokes around, and yet I very rarely saw anyone driving one.

Yar, late reply to this thread, , in 1990 and couldn't get enough of them as the price was 3 K for a new car, in 1990 we sold 1500 of them. break your heart though, basic Fiat 124 built badly

pmac086

Blue Punto wrote: »

Tom Walsh Motors in Baldoyle and George Cosgrave Motors were Lada/Proton Dealers from 1987 to aprx 1990 in the Dublin Area

Yep, Paddy Lumley ( RIP) and Mark Dennis ( of HB Dennis , now gone ) were dealers as well

pmac086

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Tell that to EPM

only because Volkswagen bought them out and put the 1.9 red eye into the octavia.
Imagine if Audi bought Lada and gave it the A3 body and engine