What was this Lada?

[benjo]

Just a sighting today.. Never seen one before in my life, don't even know if it's classed as retro (sorry about black and white, wrong camera setting)



Mini and a Triumph parked up next to it

[arthurbrown]

Niva 'cossack', the russian land rover (i.e. great off road, sh1t on it!!)

[Bioshock]

Rust usually kills em
Can be Awesome off road!

[briandamaged]

I had an early Niva (they were sold over here from 1979 to 1996, ones before about '84 were converted from LHD), as pogweasel says they are fantastic off-road (centre difflock means they will go just about anywhere) but only 1570cc of Fiat-derived petrol engine means they are woefully under-powered and really hard work on tarmac.

Live rear axle, independent front with the front diff hung off the side of the engine and coils all round give fantastic axle articulation and short overhangs front and back means they will climb virtually anything.

Unfortunately most of the suspension/steering components seemed to be made of Play-Doh so I remember spending hours bashing stuff straight again after going 'laning.

Rot killed most of the early ones off, when Lada stopped selling cars here in 1997 most of the parts supply dried up with it, so late Nivas (if you can find one!) are pretty cheap....but are a nightmare to fix when they go wrong (which happens often!).

[benjo]

Ah right

Well this one looks in pretty good condition, but i'm not sure how old it is really. I'll take a look next time it's there

[skoda_norman]

I really really want one

[rmad]

[Czechered Flag]

rmad said:

curse word!!!!!


Someone's already done my vision for 1

[reanimation]

Ooooofffs all round that red thing is crazy! and the regular one, yeah i'd love one, but i have been slightly put off by this thread so maybe they wont rocket in price. prefer the older ones by far, never been a fan of half arsed modernising, although its interesting i ssuppose. Cool!

[twinspark]

Of course, the advantage of them having a Fiat derived lump is that they'll take just about any Lampredi twin-cam.... up to and including the 16v Integrale lump.

[avtovaz]

thing is, if you don't look after any car they will deteriorate...

engines are a little underpowered, but you can tune them quite easily, best mod is to deck height the block and that will give it some oomph, but make sure the cars are working, the second barrel works off vacume, and sometimes jusit dosnt work at all...


if you go offroading, and you havnt a special landy, don't even think about following a niva )))

[bryn]

My most mechanically unsympathetic mate owned one for two years and never killed it. In that time I had the hairiest off-roading moments ever with him and it never failed us... I'd have one in a second

[reanimation]

^ ok i want one again!

[jettadeluxe]

Is that red bodydropped one in the UK!?!?!!?

[trg1984]

i remember seeing one as a kid in abersock (sp?) that place in wales by the sea . love em lots.

that red one is fantastic would love more info on it

[monzaiain]

There is a Niva up here in the Glasgow area on a 'Y' reg......and I mean a 2001 'Y' !! LHD so its presumably a import....

[Czechered Flag]

I've got new visions of 1 slammed to the floor, running wide steels, and a highly tuned Fiat/Lancia/Alfa twin cam. Can they be run with the front prop removed to make 2wd/rwd?

[avtovaz]

monzaiain said:

There is a Niva up here in the Glasgow area on a 'Y' reg......and I mean a 2001 'Y' !! LHD so its presumably a import....

is it green?

[grizz]

Yep, reanimation.... you do want one.
They were sold in South Africa, and guys really did try to kill them and never really succeeded.
Bit like the old Suzuki SJ's

[twinspark]

havefunskomad said:

I've got new visions of 1 slammed to the floor, running wide steels, and a highly tuned Fiat/Lancia/Alfa twin cam. Can they be run with the front prop removed to make 2wd/rwd?

Erm, the Alfa twin-cam is a completely different lump.

Fiat introduced the 'Lampredi' family of twin-cam engines back in the 1960s, these were used right up until the Coupe engines were replaced by the new 5-pot 20v lumps. Lancia also adopted the 'Lampred' in the 1970s after being bought up by Fiat.

This means you can take your pick of 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0 litre normally aspirated lumps as well as supercharged and turbocharged. Normally aspirated and turbo lumps came as 8 and 16v versions (the 16v famously used in the Integrale Evo and early Fiat Coupe Turbo).

Alfa also introduced a twin-cam lump in the late 50s / early 60s - this was a completely different engine to the Fiat engine and was significantly more advanced. It was only ever available as an 8v, but could be had in various capacities from 1.3 to 2.0 litre. Later versions gained multi-point injection and variable phasing on the inlet cam. As used in the 75 TSpark. This all-alloy engine was replaced in the mid 1990s by the Fiat / Alfa / Lancia 'modular' engine which was an iron block, but could be made in capacities from 1.6 to 2.4 litre, with 4 or 5 cylinders and was usually made with a 4 valve head - although diesel versions also came with a 2 valve head.......

So, to sum it up.

You can use any Fiat or Lancia 'Lampredi' lump, but old Alfa TSparks / Twin-Cams won't fit, neither will the later Alfa TSparks or Fiat / Lancia lumps as they're based on the newer 'modular' block.

Hope that clears things up......