Ah, that's what I thought. I don't recall much from their later years, except that sales fell off and they stopped selling them in Canada.
It's not really a surprise that their sales fell off as the car already felt old when it was new. The Lada Signet was basically an older Fiat 124(?) with some changes done along the way. I recall reading that Lada basically purchased the drawings and rights from Fiat to produce this car under their own brand. When I drove them at Autoport, they felt really crude compared to the other current vehicles I was moving around, but they were cheap which is why people bought them, I think. Also, I believe that was the time that Hyundai made its way to the Canadian market, offering a new cheap car (the Pony, which was essentially an old Toyota under the skin) that seemed better than Ladas (though I recall Hyundais fell apart eventually as well). I think the difference is that Hyundai evolved, offering newer updated cars (that have actually improved immensely since then) whereas Lada was much more stagnant during its sales tenure here.
I also remember reading, when they were introducing Lada to the Canadian market, that they had extra rust protectant features built into the cars but given the way they rusted I can't see that whatever they did was overly effective.
I don't remember much more about them at Autoport, but I was only there for a brief time and it was a long time ago.
Wouldn't surprise me if they did, may have had a hand choke too.
MC, what I also had heard was after sitting 3 years, the motor mounts were rusted off and the motors would dislocate themselves. May be true, when was the last time you saw a used Lada moving? I don't even see them in junk yards. Wiki says they sold 12,000 cars a year here starting in 1979 for about $3600.
A Russian built car designed in Italy, what could go wrong?
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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC. 1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada
Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
Wouldn't surprise me if they did, may have had a hand choke too.
MC, what I also had heard was after sitting 3 years, the motor mounts were rusted off and the motors would dislocate themselves. May be true, when was the last time you saw a used Lada moving? I don't even see them in junk yards. Wiki says they sold 12,000 cars a year here starting in 1979 for about $3600.
A Russian built car designed in Italy, what could go wrong?
I don't know - motor mounts are pretty robust in general, so I doubt that a piece of steel with that type of thickness and no actual salt exposure (through driving on the roads) would actually break in 3 years. That sounds like more of a 6 - 10 year failure to me. However, I'm far from being a Lada expert, never owned one nor had a desire to, so I may not be the right one to answer the question.
In terms of them still being on the roads, it could just as easily be a factor of being a cheap undesirable car with no dealer support and therefore no parts supply, and age. If they last sold in the 1990s, normal attrition would play a part but be accelerated by lack of parts and no motivation due to the value of the vehicles. Why try to hunt down or try to make parts for an old Lada when you could buy a cheap Cavlier or Corolla with parts available everywhere?
How many 25-30 year old cheap cars to you see on the road today? Suzuki Swifts? Yugos? Skodas? Or even Hyundai Ponys for that matter. Lots of Mustangs, Camaros and Firebirds, but people cared about them. Ladas? Not so much.
I remember working for one of the first Hyundai dealers in Langley BC back in early 85 I think? Mostly just washed them for the first couple of weeks, then they got a shipment in and we spent an entire shift driving them from some big storage lot to the dealership. there were only two models, the Pony, and the Stellar. I drove a half dozen of each that day...and at the end of the shift my boss asked me what I thought of these.
I told him being a young guy that I had driven a lot of junk, but these new Hyundai's were easily the junkiest cars I'd ever driven so far. He didn't seem to appreciate my candor and invited me to not come back to work ever again. lol
I was never an import fan, and at the time Hyundai was only sort of better than Lada. or Skoda. Terrible, terrible cars.
Anyone know how many 2drs were made in the Iraqui taxi?I bought one in 1988 a 2dr 1981 Malibu,gold body with tan interior,v6 and 3 speed standard.It was all original with air cond but no other options.All Info I can find only mentions 4drs,strange.
Anyone know how many 2drs were made in the Iraqui taxi?I bought one in 1988 a 2dr 1981 Malibu,gold body with tan interior,v6 and 3 speed standard.It was all original with air cond but no other options.All Info I can find only mentions 4drs,strange.
To the best of my knowledge none of the Iraquibus were 2 doors, at least none of the ones I saw in the compound back in the day. Sounds like yours was just a base car with few options... probably special ordered?
However, in the world of cars I've learned to never say never - there could have been a few in the deal that weren't commonly known about.
