What Simons done is to pull some of that technological curiosity into the Eastern Bloc to create one of the very few bagged Rivas in existence.Its peculiar to think of a country of such unutterable vastness hiding so many secrets: how many Russian artists can you name, or movie stars, or bands, or comedians The nation was late to show any interest in globalisation, because they didnt need to, so the snowy colossus remains an enigma.The mighty, unstoppable Lada, which you may also know as the VAZ 2101 or a variety of other names, was essentially a lightly reworked Fiat 124, although whereas the 124s production run lasted eight years in Italy, its Eastern Bloc counterpart soldiered on in increasingly (but not radically) updated forms right up until 2012.And perhaps whats more unexpected is that theres really quite a lot of Fiat in there too, which has a certain historical appropriateness.
Ive always been a bit obsessed with cars, and my first one a Mk1 Fiesta is still an unfinished project that my dad and I started back in 1997, he explains. I also had a Mk1 Golf that evolved over eight years of ownership, and after that came my first Fiat Coupe 20VT that ended up too fast for legal fun on the roads though, and was followed by my Mk1 Escort which I still have. It felt faster than the Fiat but at half the speed Then there was a Mk2 Escort, and a variety of other 20VT Coupes diverse indeed, but where did the idea of a Lada come from. Apart from a few tweaks (and a Fiat Coupe drivers seat) the interior remains how the Russians intended. We have to agree One-off Mk2 Golf grille keeps the people guessing. I had a notion for a Fiat 131 or 124 but they seem to mostly have vanished and any survivors are too expensive or too rusty. A Lada 2101 would have been my ideal choice, but they all seemed to be LHD, so I started looking at Rivas. I bought this one unseen on eBay, under the description a DIY mechanic could get it through an MOT with less than a weeks work. No chance. So the idea of getting back on the road pretty much evaporated, but Simon wasnt downhearted. Hes a tenacious type, you see, and he was starting to form a vision for just how cool this austere Communist-era motor could be. Some practical, some fun its good to maintain a healthy balance and job one on the list was to tweak the gear shifter a bit. Seems like Lada left the gearchange set up for LHD, it was easier for the passenger to change gear than the driver, he recalls with an amused grimace. With Simons history of 20VT Coupes, it was perhaps inevitable that hed have a few spare bits and bobs lying around the first of which was a leather drivers seat, which found its way into the Lada owing to the original item having been destroyed by a previous heavy owner And then came the tail lights, which really set the cat among the pigeons. Any third-party praise may be considered a pleasant but non-essential bonus. Almost everyone whos seen it in the flesh seems to like the lights, he says. The wheels you see here, banded for muscular girth, originally called a VW Polo home, the baby G60s widened to 6.5 and 7.5-inch respectively. But the most obvious VW influence is staring you right in the face from that radically reworked nose. The inspiration behind the round headlights was actually the original Lada 2101Fiat 124 design, before it was all squared off and in my opinion ruined when they went to the Riva, says Simon. I wanted the car to look like a more natural evolution of the original design, but keep the unmistakeable three-box silhouette of the Riva. The lights chosen for the job are a set of Mk2 Golf crosshairs, and naturally the most logical addition to these would be a complementary Golf grille to keep it all looking at home. The Lada, however, is somewhat wider than the Golf, so this actually involved plastic welding two hacked-up grilles together, with the ends remodelled to suit the wings.
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