Rare Russian sighting in Peterhead!

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Tue 2 Sep 2025 18:04
Rare Russian sighting in Peterhead! - badbusdriver

And before anyone panics, i'm not talking about anything military!.

No, what I saw in my local Morrisons car park was a 5 door Lada Niva. Being a big fan of the Niva, I was well aware of the existence of the 5 door, but we never got them in the UK and this was the first time I'd seen one in the flesh. They don't really look like a 5 door version of a 3 door car, more like comparing a Lincoln Town car to the limo version, because there is a big difference in the wheelbase and overall size of the car.

Definitely not going to be to many peoples taste, but I like them!

Edited by badbusdriver on 02/09/2025 at 18:08

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Wed 3 Sep 2025 11:12
Rare Russian sighting in Peterhead! - DieselMan1966

There used to be a private importer for the Niva around 2022, rhink they are still going, after a quick goolge, the website is lada4x4.co.uk

I saw quite a few 5 door Niva's in thier homeland in 2012/13 when I was in Moscow

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Wed 3 Sep 2025 11:14
Rare Russian sighting in Peterhead! - galileo

Many years ago there was a class in Saloon car Racing for vehicles with a list price below £1000.

At the time the most popular cars eligible were 1 litre Minis and Ford Anglia's, however 1,5 litre Lada's also were just under £1000 so one driver took advantage of this and was quite successful thanks to the extra power.

(Not sure but I think it was Tony Lanfranchi who spotted the option)

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Wed 3 Sep 2025 11:59
Rare Russian sighting in Peterhead! - mcb100
‘ Many years ago there was a class in Saloon car Racing for vehicles with a list price below £1000.

At the time the most popular cars eligible were 1 litre Minis and Ford Anglia's, however 1,5 litre Lada's also were just under £1000 so one driver took advantage of this and was quite successful thanks to the extra power.

(Not sure but I think it was Tony Lanfranchi who spotted the option)’

1972 - Lanfranchi won two saloon car championships in the UK in a Moskvich 412, as well as doing the RAC Rally in one.
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Wed 3 Sep 2025 14:04
Rare Russian sighting in Peterhead! - DieselMan1966

I was told a story in the 90's at the hight of the Lada car sales that someone changed and engine from the 1500 to a lancia beta volumex unit with the supercharger, I know the Fiat twin cam was a popular conversion at the time. If it was true, the winner at the traffic light grand prix!

I did have a Samara back in the day, did 78,000 miles in 3 1/2 years with only a fuel pump, window regulator and drivers seat failure under warranty. the latter was down to be being 22 stone at the time!

Edited by DieselMan1966 on 03/09/2025 at 14:04

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Wed 3 Sep 2025 20:12
Rare Russian sighting in Peterhead! - badbusdriver

The Russians themselves experimented with rotary engines in VAZ (Lada) models for the KGB. Unfortunately (but unsurprisingly), due to the poor quality rotor tips, the lifespan of the engine was circa 20k km. First used in 1974, they persisted with then right through to 1990, by which time the rotary engine used in what we knew as the Lada Samara was making a very useful 140bhp (the Lancia Volumex unit made 135)). Though supposedly there were also a few triple rotor cars made for high ranking KGB officers with over 200bhp!

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