Sad news, the end of an era for car enthusiasts....

[tyred]

After 41 years of sturdy service, Lada's iconic Classic compact sedan is set to become history.

The first Classic, then called the 2101, rolled off the line on April 22, 1970, when Russia's biggest automaker, AvtoVAZ, opened a car factory in Togliatti, 620 miles southeast of Moscow. The 2101 was based on the Fiat 124.

The model code today is 2107, but Lada calls it simply the Classic and the car is substantially unchanged from the 2101.

When I visited the Togliatti plant last week and discovered that the car will go out of production at the end of the year, I felt sad.....

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110727/FREE/110729898

 

[Cheddar George]

The old Fiat must have been mid-sixties so the basic design must have run for 45+ years, although this would be mainly due to lack of alternative cars in Russia for most of that time, it is still an incredible production run. I would guess that only the original beetle and maybe the Porsche 911 could make a similar claim for mass production cars. Having grown up during the seventies it does make me feel nostalgic.

 

[Maz]

The 2101 was based on the Fiat 124.

Fiat 124...were those the police cars in the original The Italian Job?

 

[mickle]

I thunk it was the 131, but there you go. I actually so don't care. Horrid shitters the lot of them.

 

[tyred]

Fiat 124...were those the police cars in the original The Italian Job?

I've never actually seen the Italian Job but this is a Fiat 124 -

An Interesting fact is that the original Lada, although it looks the same has sheet metal 3 times as thick as the 124. They did this to make it strong enough to cope with Russian roads, and in the process, the 124, a car noted in it's time for excellent performance and ride/handling was turned into a thirsty, sluggish, wallowing pig of a car with heavy steering due to the extra weight.

They were excellent in banger racing though as they will write of virtually everything else.

 

[Boris Bajic]

Fiat 124...were those the police cars in the original The Italian Job?

I have a feeling the police cars in the film were Alfa 1750 sedans. I may be wrong.

The FIAT 124 was from the same era and was an extremely capable car.

FIAT were very canny at letting manufacturers unlikely to threaten them in export markets buy the tooling and designs for its cars as the approached or reached home-market obsolescence.

The Zastava 750 and 850 in ex-Yugoslavia were modified FIAT 600s.

 

[machew]

According to the films wikipedia page, the police cars were Alfa Romeo Giulia

 

[biggs682]

i served my apprenticeship on Lada's in the late 70's , apart from replacing timing chains and tensioners,camshafts and rear axle seals , they were quite good cars .

even went round donnigton park in a Riva 1600es (wow) we were not allowed to overtake !!!

 

[mickle]

According to the films wikipedia page, the police cars were Alfa Romeo Giulia

Yup. My old man had a Giulia Ti. The polis ones in the film were Giulia Supers IIRC.

 

[asterix]

The only 4x4's farmers use round here are Lada Nivas.

 

[fossyant]

Thank god they have gone. Crap since the first one rolled off the line.

 

[User482]

Thank god they have gone. Crap since the first one rolled off the line.

My wife lived in Siberia for a year, and found a new level of respect for the humble Lada, mainly due to their ability to keep going despite temperatures of -40C.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

My wife lived in Siberia for a year, and found a new level of respect for the humble Lada, mainly due to their ability to keep going despite temperatures of -40C.

Only -40, couldn't she cycle?

 

[Vapin' Joe]

My wife lived in Siberia for a year, and found a new level of respect for the humble Lada, mainly due to their ability to keep going despite temperatures of -40C.

And with a heater built for such temperatures you had no problem keeping warm even in the coldest of our weather.

 

[User482]

[QUOTE 1812784, member: 45"]Mine usually goes to her sister's for support when we've had a row, and is back an hour or so later.

What on earth did you do?[/quote]

She only came back because she's an extractor fan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelyabinsk_Tractor_Plant