The Lada Riva comes from an illustrious bloodline. It all started
with the Fiat 124, which was Car Of The Year 1966...
...and spawned its virtually identical twin the Fiat 125, which was good at racing and jumping through the air.
Fiat built the Spider on a shortened Fiat 124 floorplan. This is the Lada's long lost cousin...
...and here's Auntie, the Fiat 124 Coupe. The lowering springs on my Lada were made for one
of these.
And the story didn't end there. Fiat let lots of other people make the 124/125, and so we got such all time
greats as the Turkish Murat 124...
...and the Polski Fiat 125p made by FSO...
...and the Zastava 125PZ (sorry no picture yet)...
...and the Seat 124...
...and the Asia Motors Kia 124...
...and the Seat 1430...
...and of course a variety of Ladas...
...and guess what lurks under the skin of an FSO Polonez (couldn't resist the stretch)...
In a final twist of irony, Fiat let the design be copied by ... Fiat. This is the Fiat Premier 118NE, on sale
in India until very recently. Black paint and whitewalls - that'll never catch on.
