<VV> The Last Word on the Lada!

[peter koehler]

Since my Canadian buddy Garth's initial post generated 
some interest on this forum I thought it proper to relate 
 the final words on my rare (in the US) Lada Niva. I 
bought it after I returned to the US from a 3-year 
assignment in Canada with General Motors. I has observed 
many little Nivas (not the Fiat 131 clone Lada - this one 
is a mini-SUV) on Canadian roads but none in the US. That 
is because the car did not pass our emissions requirements 
(mine was a 1987 model and it had a carb and a manual 
choke - from the factory!) The car was built in Moscow and 
had both  Fiat and Lancia bits. The engine was a 1.5 litre 
Fiat "truck" engine. The way the car ended up in the US is 
an interesting story. It may be a story as it was related 
to me by a used car salesman... The Canadian owner of this 
particular Niva had crossed over to Michigan by driving 
North on the Ambassador Bridge from Windsor, Ontario. The 
story goes that he got into a bar room brawl somewhere in 
Detroit and ended up cooling his heals in a Michigan jail 
for 30 days. Since his Lada Niva was left at the scene it 
was towed and impounded. At the end of his incarceration 
he split town and headed South back to his native Canada 
and left the Niva in lockup. After a Sheriff's auction 
this used car salesman picked it up and the State of 
Michigan issued him a legal title. The documentation was 
transferable so I became the owner of the only known 
"legal" Lada Niva in the US. I did buy it with Larry 
Claypool in mind but he turned it down. It languished in 
several storage places for the next ten years or so until 
I found a guy who was crazy about anything Russian. We 
traded and now I have a really cool 1974 Camaro street 
racer that is ready for the 2005 edition of the Woodward 
Dream Cruise. Look for me and buddy Clark Hartzel spinning 
the tires and making much noise on the week of August 16th 
-20th on Woodward Avenue in the Motor City. - Lucky Pete 
in PA