John's Lada Info
Lada History
The Lada was first launched in the UK in 1974. Based on the Fiat 124, the Lada was powered by a 1198cc engine, and offered low cost motoring in a rugged reliable package. In 1976 the 1500cc and estate models were launched. In 1977 a 1300cc was launched, and in 1978 we got the raw power of the 1600cc model. In 1983/4 the basic Lada was relaunched as the Riva, with a slight facelift and some mechanical changes.

Lada's ceased to be imported into the UK a couple of years back, and since then most UK Ladas have been sent back home - an MOT failure in the UK is still a decent car in mother Russia.

My Lada is a 1986 Riva 1200. It was meant to be a parts chaser and general runabout while I put the Mini back together again, but the Mini got sold and I kept the Lada. I grew to like it more than I thought I would. It's economical for getting to work but a bit slow. The car only had 22,000 genuine miles on the clock when bought, and was sound inside and out.

The first job after buying the car was to lower it 40mm on Fiat 124 springs from Spax. I also removed the bumpers and mounts, debadged the rear end, painted the wheels red. After driving the car for a year and putting 12,000 miles on it, I sprayed it black. I think the black body and red wheels make the car look older, which is just what I wanted. I've recently added whitewall flaps from Bravado Automotive - credit goes to Mark as I copied his idea, and they look fantastic! The original plan was round headlights, new back lights, new grille, chrome bumpers and a black paint job with flames. Also a really long gear stick with a skull on the end! Since then I've gone off the idea of flames, as I don't think they're right for this car. Stay tuned to see if I carry out the other mods!

Lada Links
Lada UK Ltd Info, mail order, discussion forum
Lada Klub Modified Ladas from Hungary
Beardmore Brothers Great modified cars, including a Lada
Lada Racing Good modified Lada site
Daring Dantes Magnificent stunts in Ladas!
The Ultimate Lada The most modified Lada pics ever!
Estfield Estonian Lada-based kitcar
Street Racing Videos of Lada V8 in action
Autosoviet Lada Page Interesting pictures and variants
Rupert White's Page Lots of pictures
AvtoVaz The company that makes Ladas
Lada Riva Club UK Not sure about this one
Ladamania Great name!
Darrell's Classic Lada It's a classic
Showbiz Goss Pop band in Lada crash shocker
Lada trick driving video Broadband required
Lada Lowrider Its a video

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