Jump to content
Model Cars Magazine Forum

1/43 Lada Taxi: How Fail can you get?


Faust

Recommended Posts

Anyone who knows me knows that I love loser cars, obscure cars and just plain weird cars. If it was a failure, flop or just ugly and reviled, chances are good that I’m going to want a model of it. Sometimes, though, you just can’t win. Some things there just AREN’T models of, or if there are, I haven’t come across them.

It’s at times like this that I’m really thankful for die cast replicas! There are some truly odd diecast cars out there, and I can’t help but think that this one, the VAZ 2101, known to many as the Lada, is among the most weird and loserish.

I dug this little beauty out of a flea market about a year ago. Check out my 1/43 die cast Lada taxi and tell yourself that this isn’t something you’d like on your shelf beside your Franklin Mint replicas!

https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/cool-stuff/143-vaz-2101-lada-1200-taxi/

 

 

 

Edited by Faust
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I enjoyed your assessment of this third world people mover!  That was the downfall of the communist regimes.. their cars really sucked!  I know you are Canadian and I believe I have some Canadian market brochures for the Lada.  I don't believe we ever sold the cars here in the USA, and we were probably ticked off at Canada for allowing them on our continent!

I will say that as big a laugh the Yugo was here, again they were a cheap no frills car that would soldier along if you were nice to it.  My back door neighbor had a Yugo that he came into under unfortunate circumstances.  Back then they were advertising them for $99 a month five year leases.  He co-signed for the lease on one for his daughter's shiftless boyfriend, under the promise that he would use the car to get and maintain a job.  That didn't work out all that well, and our hero soon repossessed the Yugo from now ex-boyfriend.  He did mention that he'd rather pay the $99 penance than have that guy around, so I guess it was cool.

So once having possession of this little turd, he decided he had to drive it to get his money's worth.  And drive it he did, as his daily commuter car.  He admitted that it did the job for the five years of ownership without major mishap or breakdown.  He said he actually got to like it.  Then the lease was up. The leasing company first offered him the car for a large amount and he declined. He told them to come and get it.  They reduced the price several times and he still didn't want to actually own this car.  Then it happened... the lease company actually abandoned the car.  They never picked it up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, having a bad auto sector is not only bad for the long-term economy of a country/regime/empire, it's also bad for the morale and ability of your people. Moving about, taking advantage of opportunities... that's what cars are all about. Not a surprise they're not a Communist invention, I guess.


That's a hilarious story about the Yugo. I've never seen one, but two of my friends' parents had Ladas when I was a kid. one was blue/rust, the other was lemon yellow/rust. I think the "rust" was standard. the blue one soldiered on a long time. The yellow one might have, but the guy bought a Renault Alliance when it came out, and traded in (?) the Lada for it. They are ugly, but kinda in a  cutely deformed way. 

How on earth did you come by Lada brochures? That's awesome! I think WE should be ticked we let them in, personally! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well I'm going to put my foot in it here on two fronts. First that Lada has Militsia on the side of it. Police. So it's actually a cop car not a taxi although why it's yellow I have no idea. In reality cop cars are all white in Russia. Second, I happen to own a 1997 Lada Niva 4X4 with the GM single point injection and GM direct Fire ignition. I've had it since 2002 and nothing major has gone wrong with it. Before I bought it when people heard I was thinking of buying one they all laughed and told me I'd have a POS, worse than a Jaguar they said. It'd always be in the workshop and bits would always be falling off it. None of that has happened and she's still my daily driver for around town driving as she's somewhat more economical than my Holden Adventra which I use for longer trips and long distance travelling. The Niva is a bit noisey and it does have a vibration at certain speeds but there are cures for those issues. We don't put salt on our roads here, even in winter so she's pretty rust free. I'll take some good photos of her and put them up in the 1:1 section. I use her sometimes to go bush and get photos of places that are inaccessible to 2WD cars although the Adventra is AWD it's a lot heavier and heavier on fuel in those situations. I can get any part I want from a fellow in Ukraine. There is a parts importer here but he charges like a wounded bull and his range is decreasing all the time. I can get most parts from Ukraine at about 1/10 the Australian cost  and that includes shipping. Do I think Ladas are losers? Only in some peoples' minds they are. A Niva will go anywhere any other 4WD will and some places some of the others won't. Other than the Niva we only had the Samara here in 2 and 4 door forms. We didn't get the RWD sedans or wagons but I believe New Zealand did get some of the RWD wagons and called them Cygnets. Most dead Nivas got that way becasue young people could afford to buy them but then couldn't afford to maintain them. There is a fellow a couple of suburbs away from me who has about 6 of them including a very rare (for Australia) utility. He swears by them, not at them.

As to a country's motor industry setting the tone for the country I don't believe that. Here we are about to lose our motor industry because the current Government will no longer support it. Ther are many reasons for this which I won't go into here. There are 13 motor manufacturing countries in this world and they all to one extent or another support their motor industries. Come to think of it this Government has thrown the baby out with the bath water as far as manufacturing is concerned. a very short sighted policy IMHO. Try getting Holdens into Japan and see how you go. I wonder if any of you have seen the latest Ladas. Even the new Niva? And I'm not talking about the Chevrolet Niva. They're pretty good cars these days and the old 2101-2107 are no longer made. The only car they make that isn't FWD is the Niva and they all now have Bosch multipoint injection and some form of direct fire ignition so they've come a long way in the last 20 years. It's pretty obvious that I'm a fan of Ladas and I think they are a much maligned brand. My apologies for the rant. I'll keep my Niva as long as I can because I think it does a great job and doesn't cost me much to run and register/insure it. As to being ugly the 2101 were a Russian built version of the Fiat 124 and later versions (2107) were the Russian 125. Were they ugly cars? The Niva has been called the Range Rover of the Russians. Nowadays many Russian drivers are going back to Russian cars because they can't afford the imported parts to keep their American/Japanese/Euro luxo bins going. So perhaps they know better than others what are the right cars for them.

 

Regards,

RHB.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ross:

You're right about the car being a non-taxi. I'm surprised at it being yellow as well, though. I did put a correction on the article, but I decided to leave it as it was because a.) I had fun writing it thinking it was a taxi and b.) my remarks are applicable to the taxi, of which there is a toy, but this just isn't it. 

I'm astounded by your experiences with the Lada and how well your Niva has hung in there. I know those are cult-ish vehicles, at least in North America. They do have a following that's "an inch wide but a mile deep", so to speak. You know what, if it's working, then you're right to keep it! There are some brands that get tarred and feathered when they may not deserve it, I agree. It sounds like Lada might well be one of them!

I think we're on the same page with the auto industry, though. You say you don't think it sets the tone for the country, but then say how bad it is that the Gov't down there isn't supporting it. We have the same problem in Canada. The auto industry supports a lot of jobs and its fast-paced, "lean" approach to doing things is, to me, and indication of how well a country can 'keep up'. There's a lot of high-tech in auto manufacturing. I work in a transmission parts plant - we make what amounts to metal flowerpots with teeth. The tech we use is amazing, much of it patented by our company. We're growing every day, and we're helping to keep the economy going doing it.

I feel for you. Australia losing its car industry is short-sighted AND will see a massive loss, in the long term, of industrial and design capability. It's like what happend to Canada's aviation industry. Look what happened to Britain when its car industry imploded. They've never been the same since. 

I will miss Falcons and Commodores. For a while, I was hoping Ford would bring the Falcon to North America to fight the Commodore that was brought here first as the Pontiac G8 and now as the Chevy SS. Heck, I like Aussie cars so much I went and bought a G8. Best car I've ever had. Then GM nuked Pontiac, and how they're nuking Holden. Weak.

Good point too about how market penetration of foreign cars is sometimes hard due to cultural and living arrangement differences (I don't think Commodores were designed for Japanese roads all that much) , and sometimes its due to logistics. That's why Renault failed in the US. No logistical support. VW got that, and brought a full dealer network. Haven't seen a Renault in ages, but I see VWs all over every day! 

 

Edited by Faust
Spelling
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Adam. I can now see what you meant and I think you're right. When the announcement was made that Holden and then Toyota would pull out and become import and sales only companies the comment was made by a senior cabinet minister that "only 10,000 jobs would be lost." Hullooooooo. One job lost is one too many. He was only counting the direct jobs and ignoring the 250,000 indirect jobs like your own. Now those poor component companies, many of whom are small businesses are scrambling to try to find markets overseas. How do you do that with only a few years notice. It's also a loss to the government. GM-H gives them in one year in payroll tax alone the equivalent of the subsidy to the entire motor industry. Then there are other taxes that the industry gives to the government each and every year. Well over a billion dollars worth of taxes. I don't think GM nuked Holden, the Federal Government nuked the whole industry. I believe that the car industry here is a good corporate citizen, one who pays the tax they should pay and gave a lot of locals and immigrants with no skills a chance of a good dignified living. It's not just the car industry that's suffering from these short sighted policies. I got talking to a man yesterday who had just been made redundant from his job in the defence shipbuilding industry. He's 65 next January and has decided to sell up here and move to a house he and his wife own in Queensland and go on the pension. And why not. He, like many others has paid his taxes for 40 odd years, maybe 50 years and now because of a silly policy he can't even retire with the usual diginity (hand shake and gold watch from the GM of the company in the company of his workmates). That particular company isn't a huge one on the size scale either. They have for 30 odd years been doing excellent work in the naval construction game. Now they have to look for work in the luxury yacht field, a market that is already saturated. On another note it's good to see you supported GM-H from afar. The Pontiac G8 is a great car. Could you put a pic or two of it in the 1:1 section? I own a 2006 Adventra which is an AWD wagon as well as the bespoke Niva. When my cousin's daughter heard I'd bought a Niva she went on the net and found a Russian 1/43 scale Niva, bought it and gave it to me as a birthday present. So now I have 2 Nivas!! Both of them are white! Anyway Adam, I should be doing some work to a Czech Model of a Czech aeroplane. It's a 1/72 Eduard L39 in the colours of the Slovakian Air Force aero team the White Albatrosses. I'm having a few problems fitting the canopies in the open position. Good to talk to you over here as well.

Regards,

RHB.

Edited by RHB785
Typos
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Hey Ross!

Yeah, now we're on the same page. It's funny how two-faced politicians are. If even a small auto-related plant opens, they'll talk about all the "spin off jobs" (the term we use here in Canada) that'll be created, and tout the opening as some big accomplishment for the area, and thus themselves (even though they have lilttle, to nothing, to do with it). However, when a plant closes, it's ONLY 10,000 jobs. What about the spin offs? What you say is exactly right. 

I am angry and offended by your government's decision. What they did to you by nuking the auto industry is essentially, I feel, make you beholden to the rest of the world for your independence. If there is ANYTHING that seems un-Australian, that would be it. It's like what cancelling the CF-105 Arrow did to Canada's aviation industry, but on a much larger scale. Your government is either short-sighted or plain stupid, is all I can say. 

I agree, the G8 is a fabulous car! My other car is a 1980 Trans Am, and I really wanted a family car that was a "4-door, everyday T/A". Well, the G8 is that and more! I love having a 'big' sedan that can completely waste all these ricer/tuner idiots who think they're hot spit. You want to see import muscle? HERE is how it's done! :)

I'll see if I can find any good pics of it to put up. 

Two Nivas! Kick butt! 

Good luck with the L-39. That's a very pretty airplane, and very fun to watch fly. There are a couple that are owned locally around here, so I see one flying quite often!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...