The design traces back to the 1966 Fiat 124, and somehow the shape was in production until 2012. The group of vehicles best collectively known as the Lada Riva were a staple of Russian auto manufacturing and is one of the longest-produced vehicles, behind the Volkswagen Type 1 and Type 2 (Beetle and Bus), the Hindustan Ambassador and the Ford Model T. It’s a brick of a car, one of the most square designs you can find, and it’s one of the few Soviet cars we can think of that has a cult following. It’s also, by and large, a world car…many locations got Ladas, including Western Europe and even Canada. With minuscule horsepower ratings and a crash safety rating that can best be described as “miserable”, you’d think that most of the three million units made would’ve been consigned to the scrap heap.
One of the few times we see Ladas in great numbers is at European rally events. It seems that the little machine can actually scream when prodded along, and if it is one of the very rare Lada VFTS rally-spec builds, it will scream. Well, as best as it can, anyways…170 horsepower still seems a bit dinky, but it’s in a car that weighs in at around an even ton. It’s not going to take on other rally machines easily, but the Rally Legend event is more of a showoff deal, so they go for crowd points by getting airborne and pitching the little Soviet breadboxes into the corners in full drifts. You can hear the crowd’s reactions…it works!
That looks like fun.