The only good thing that seems to have come out of many non-capitalist countries is their weaponry. MAny uniqe and interesting guns have come from this part of the world. As for Greece, Italy, and the others, there is a reason they are about to all go bust. Venezuela’s experiment with socialism worked real well. They are so broke they don’t have money to print money to keep up with the hyperinflation!
Either way, these may not be great cars but they are way better than the cars of past like this such as the Yugo, older Fiats, and the like. Parts don’t just fall off these days.
A guy I went to school with used to buy those Alfa Romeo’s from the 1980’s for cheap. He would just run the balls off one until it quit and then park it in the yard. Sometimes he would get another but he would often just combine two or more junkers in his yard to make another working one. He was originally from Alaska and a free spirit (things are different there). I never saw his place but am sure it was a hoot. He never seemed to have a spare parts problem either!
@cwatkin Yes, the AK47 is every terrorist’s favorite weapon. It fires clean or dirty, un like the US M16 which is very accurate and lightweight, but needs to be kept lean.
Russian products I would buy are vodka and caviar, and not much else.
When In Peru in the 80s I had a choice of flying in a Russian helicopter. I chose not to and flew in a French one.
“I had a choice of flying in a Russian helicopter. I chose not to…”
That was probably a very wise decision on your part!
A friend of mine, who is much more widely-traveled than I am, had occasion to visit Russia (or, perhaps it was still The Soviet Union), back in the '80s. He took a number of flights within the country, and aside from the filthy conditions that he encountered on those planes, he was really disturbed by the fact that he could feel the floor panels flex, and “give” under his 140 lb weight when he walked around those Russian-made airliners.
He said that he was never more in fear of his demise while in a plane as he was while flying in Russian-made airliners.
My wife ended up in a clinic in St. Petersburg one night for a severe case of strep. The guy cured her but it was a little bit of an experience. Why she had to get naked for a full physical for a throat problem is of some interest. Plus 500 Euro for the visit, cash. At least they didn’t quarantine her there so she’d miss her flight back to the US. Then I would have had to play Cotton Malone and go get her. To get back to cars, it was a bus tour.
Yes, the AK47 is every terrorist's favorite weapon. It fires clean or dirty, un like the US M16 which is very accurate and lightweight, but needs to be kept lean.
The first M-16’s were very very prone to misfiring when dirty. By the time I got to Nam…that generation of M-16’s fired very well even when dirty.
I like the Chi-Com SKS too over the AK-47 as they are more accurate. I have never fired what most would consider to be a really good AK-47 thought. There were more Chinese SKSes made than all the other variants combined. I got my hands on an Albanian SKS once. These are rare. It was also in very good shape which is also rare for these. Someone offered to trade me a pickup truck for it so I went for it. Then he sold it off and it went away which is too bad as it was a neat rifle. The truck is a 1997 F250 Light Duty and although I have it running well now, this was probably not the best trade. I would NEVER pick this model/year of Ford again!
“I had a choice of flying in a Russian helicopter. I chose not to…”
“That was probably a very wise decision on your part!
A friend of mine, who is much more widely-traveled than I am, had occasion to visit Russia (or, perhaps it was still The Soviet Union), back in the '80s. He took a number of flights within the country, and aside from the filthy conditions that he encountered on those planes, he was really disturbed by the fact that he could feel the floor panels flex, and “give” under his 140 lb weight when he walked around those Russian-made airliners.”
The Volga cars were quite the luxury transportation (not)! Some had a reputation for being poorly assembled, large gaps between body panels, and not much for passenger comfort, as they were very noisy, had a very poor ride, and enormous wind leaks, and a gasoline odor.
When Viktor Belenko defected to the U.S. in a Mig-25 “Fox Bat” we got a close look at one. It was quite a surprise to find out that most of the aircraft was made of steel, with very little titanium, which was necessary in extreme heat areas! It did have awesome performance, though.
I wonder if those airliner floors were thinly rolled steel? CSA
Let us not forget about the tiny Zaphorozhets!
That one was even more down-market than the Volga, and it had truly appalling handling characteristics, as well as so little power that it would be pointless to even try to drive on a superhighway.
The only interesting feature of the Zaphorozhets was the removable floor panel that was supposedly included so that owners could go ice-fishing from inside their cars.
It’s hard to believe that the Lada, based on an Italian Fiat was the best popular car the Russians ever produced and the only one that was “exportable” to Western countries! Even then it was the butt of many jokes!
Cubans to this day prefer 50s US cars to the Ladas Castro imported from the then Soviet Union.
@“common sense answer”, I’m not at all surprised about the MIG-25. The Cosmonauts used pencils to write in space despite particles generated that could get in their eyes and possibly electrical components (graphite is electrically conductive). I’ve read that US Astronauts complained that MIR smelled Really Really Bad.
Actually, I always though the Lada was neat. Tractor-like performance…but (going from what I’ve heard) when you absolutely needed it to start at -30C, it would; even had a hand crank if the battery died! Ditto if you had to do your own maintenance with minimal training and tools; you could own a Lada in places you flat-out couldn’t own a (say) Prius, or any other modern electronic-laden car.
I’ve always had a soft spot for brutally simple (but solid), rugged machinery, and the thought of a car built to the same NVH standards as a combine is intriguing. And if I’m not mistaken, they made an “offroad” versoin that was actually pretty capable.
@meanjoe75fan We had a local Lada dealer here in the 70s and he promoted the heavy gage sheet metal and simplicity of the car. The weak link was poor electrical and electronics. Also anyone with breathing problems would get sick from the cheap industrial (garbage can quality) plastic of the interior.
One feature I liked was very Russian; the large & deep sloping “glove box” which could house two bottles of Vodka.
On a trip to Bolivia I met with the manager of a refinery who had a Lada Niva with over 300,000 kilometers on it. He said it was reliable, but admitted he had his own “residential” mechanic and machine shop on the company payroll.
Some of these Ladas sound like old Jeeps or the Ford 300 straight six. I am not familiar with them at all but it sounds like they have their place in Siberia and such. It sounds like they are nothing fancy, super simple, and easy to work on.
The Ford 300 Straight 6…one of my all time favs… Along with Chryslers Slant 6… Something to be said for each of them.
What with the way we used to “trade” secrets back then…who knows how many of our engines were in Russian Hands. Look what they did when they got a hold of BMW Motorcycle engines…
