Communist cars on their own turf

Tailhappy · 07-05-2008, 13:54

Anyone here taken a trip to the Eastern Bloc and experienced what it is like to drive over there? Please do share if you have

! My feelings are below.

I have visited that area a good few times, and using a genuine (80’s) communist car on the old 'A' roads through the towns and villages is an experience well worth having. Driving in the UK is OK, but the Cyrillic signs, slightly bumpy roads, fast driving and unusual views make Eastern Europe well worth the effort. Sadly, the real old crocks are less common now, but they are still there if you look – rust holes and bald tyres included.

Seeing a Lada Samara police car at full speed chasing down a Lada Riva 1200 was better than any high octane ‘Gone In 60 Seconds’ type of chase. There are roadside shacks that will give your car a quick spray over and tart up for around £30 and the smell inside those old cars when they are left in the sun is something else – recycled rubber, vinyl and hot oil. Being that motorways are still rare, a 1 litre car is all you need. Leave it in top, lift off in the town and pedal to the metal when the sign with the cross through it arrives (end of town). Three speed gearboxes are best for this style. Something like a Zaporozhets with the air cooled engine in the rear is great – a whine mixed with thrashing when at full chat. A couple of photos I took are below. When the weather it warm like today it has me wishing I was there now.

anewman · 07-05-2008, 14:47

I saw an L reg Lada Riva here in the UK a few weeks back parked. Had a good gander and couldn't spot any rust, probably had cavity wax or something.

tik · 08-05-2008, 12:17

I was in the former DDR about 8 years ago and there were a lot of modified Trabants around. One of these tore past me at over 120mph on the autobahn when I was in my highly-modified 205 1.9 Gti. I simply couldn't catch him. Goodness only knows what engine was in that thing.

KenONeill · 08-05-2008, 13:08

I'm not claiming what engine was actually in it, but I once saw a Trabant 603 labelled "Trabbi Twin Turbo Intercooler Water Injection 16 valve" in an Autobahn service area.

Tailhappy · 08-05-2008, 14:51

Never been to the DDR sadly - missed the boat on that one

. After seeing 'Goodbye Lenin' I wished I had gone while it was still under communist rule.

I will add that in East Europe, speeding is very common, but also very well policed - you can be pulled up in a flash and the fines are hefty. The new motorways are swift, but are plied by the ubiquitous 1990's BMW's and Mercs. Not very interesting. Some 'off limits' areas seem to have no speed limit as such - the road from Kiev to Chrenobyl (after the radioactivity contamination control checkpoint) is one I remember - as fast as your car can go or you dare is fine

. 20 miles of guaranteed empty and winding road and no lifting off the gas!

Jaymz · 15-05-2008, 08:35

my parents used to have a lada apprently alot of peple used to make fun of them

simonlb · 15-05-2008, 12:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by anewman

I saw an L reg Lada Riva here in the UK a few weeks back parked. Had a good gander and couldn't spot any rust, probably had cavity wax or something.

The later ones weren't that bad for rust TBH and were pretty nippy with a twin-choke Weber carb fitted.

gcr31463 · 28-05-2008, 23:42

There's a couple of lonely Barkas vans I see on my travels in the exDDR & they keep giving me that, take me home look.
Although I'm definitely not allowed them.

As Oscar Wilde said ... "I can resist everything except temptation"

Grubtraw · 30-05-2008, 10:29

I visited Poland in 1984 as part of a touring party and was fascinated by the unfamiliar cars among the more recognisable Skodas, Polski-FIATs and Ladas (and Volga taxis in Warsaw). Unfortunately photography was strictly controlled but I know now that most of the others were Warszawas and Syrenas.

My first experience of driving on Communist bloc roads was in the former East Germany in 1992. Although post-unification there was still a noticeable difference in road quality after we drove through an old border post, complete with a Trabant estate spending its retirement as a greenhouse. The boneshaking effect was magnified as I was driving a Messerschmitt bubble car but that's another story.

There were plenty of DDR and other Eastern bloc cars around in 1992 but their numbers declined noticeably over subsequent visits in 1994 and 1996, although I did see a beautiful EMW on the road in Eisenach. We visited the Wartburg factory shop there, which was like a Halfords for DDR cars, and bought a load of stuff from a scrapyard which had a 1960s Skoda put aside for preservation. Happy days!

gcr31463 · 30-05-2008, 11:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grubtraw

There were plenty of DDR and other Eastern bloc cars around in 1992 but their numbers declined noticeably over subsequent visits in 1994 and 1996, although I did see a beautiful EMW on the road in Eisenach. We visited the Wartburg factory shop there, which was like a Halfords for DDR cars, and bought a load of stuff from a scrapyard which had a 1960s Skoda put aside for preservation. Happy days!

There's a quite good motor museum on one of the Eisenach Motor Werk sites now,
the other site being a GM plant for Corsas.

There's quite a strong interest in classic cars or "old timers" as the Germans call them,
I've had a guided tour of one of the local clubs warehouse & it was quite a collection.
Must post some pix up, when I get an hour or two!!

I'm off over again in 2 weeks to a show in CZ at Tabor between Praha & Ceske Budejovice.
Yipee, can't wait!!!

Grubtraw · 30-05-2008, 12:00

Pictures would be excellent. There was a car museum in Eisenach when I was there but it was shut, as were the J.S. Bach museum and the Wartburg castle.

Way off topic here but does "gcr31463" indicate an interest in D5830? If so you can call me "b&kr126413".

favguy · 30-05-2008, 16:11

Oh, I just love that "everything grim, grey and knackered" look of eastern block countries, I've spent 6 weeks in Novokuznetsk, Siberia, Russia over the last 2 years and loved it, however, speeding there does get you stopped, but telling the russian wife to stay quiet and acting like a dumb foreigner with a "ya nye punyameyoo russki!" (I don't understand Russian!) and then offering the policeman 10 dollars with a friendly smile and handshake works everytime in Sunny Siberia! You get a friendly "ochen horasho, spaziba" (Very good, thankyou) and the officer is on his way.

Sometimes, we reverse it with the wife doing the talking, making out hubby is an idiot, lots of fluttering eyelashes, 10 dollars again, and we're off.

oh if only you could do that here in the UK... so much more civilised

Tailhappy · 30-05-2008, 16:21

You have to go there to fully appreciate it don't you? The smell of the apartment blocks, the tufts of grass throught the tarmac and sandy dust blowing in the wind that sweeps across that vast continent is very memorable. Things seem more ornate, yet somewhat sloppy - an unusual, yet addictive combo. White painted, but slightly corroded 'sunburst' grilles over the windows seem very widespread there too. Saving up to go again soon

.

Ian

anewman · 30-05-2008, 16:31

Just had to mention I saw a back street garage today (in lockups under a railway bridge in Leeds) and the sign said "Lada Specialist" - have to wonder how many Ladas the garage sees these days.

devonutopia · 30-05-2008, 17:11

Well, there's been 2 trips to Czech Republic done on Briskoda. Although Czech is not quite as bad, some areas are still akin to some of the photos above.

Plenty of old skool skodas running about happily.

Richard Black · 31-05-2008, 21:08

My wife's from Georgia, former USSR, and I've been over there to visit the outlaws a couple of times. The only car I've driven myself was a nearly brand new Opel or something, modern and boring, but the cars there are a right old mix, everything from upmarket Beemers and Mercs down to absolutely disgraceful old Ladas and Moskvitches. How some of the motors keep running is beyond me. Mind you, the roads are dodgy so the guys who are really laughing are the ones with a Volga - Soviet-era Ford Granada-alike, really tough old bird with suspension that can handle a few potholes. One of the wife's relatives is a businessman with a bit of disposable cash who, instead of buying a modern motor, decided to get an old Volga pimped just a little. It's an absolute beaut, though of course it handles like a piece of soap in a wet bath.

The trucks are really something else - plenty of them are old petrol-engined things, mostly converted to run on LPG, chundering along at 25mph.

The last time I was there the laws had been significantly toughened up and driving was a bit more like UK style, but on my first visit it was a whole other world. Not one bod did I see with a seat belt on, red lights were purely for decoration and the phrase 'devil take the hindmost' was almost literally applied. One relative, Soso, took us for a drive along the main highway down the centre of the country (it's much like a UK B-road) and we came across a police roadblock. He simply swerved round the cops (who were carrying guns) and kept driving. They chased us down (that wasn't hard, we were in a seriously sick Fiat Uno), Starsky-and-Hutched us, and took a 5 lari (about 2 quid) bribe. Soso got back in the car with a shrug and said, 'well, it was worth a try, they would only have asked us for that if we'd stopped anyway'. Amused the hell out of me!

BUT! Go to Georgia if you can. Admittedly there's a bit of a language barrier (they speak Georgian, it's unrelated to anything else in the world and has its own, completely unique, alphabet) but the food and wine are to die for and they're hospitable to a fault. You don't know what fruit, wine and cheese can taste like until you've been there. Beautiful place, too.

gcr31463 · 01-06-2008, 00:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grubtraw

Pictures would be excellent. There was a car museum in Eisenach when I was there but it was shut, as were the J.S. Bach museum and the Wartburg castle.

Way off topic here but does "gcr31463" indicate an interest in D5830? If so you can call me "b&kr126413".

Got it in one matey ...
It's in Rothley shed at the moment having some overdue body work & repaint done.
I'm assuming that's the Swindon DMU at the Bo'ness & Kinneil,
I really must go there again, for some more excellent type 2 trash!!!

Back on topic ... Eisenach ...
I'm surprised Wartburg castle was shut,
quite a lot of American tourists get there.
However the car museum moved a couple of years ago (I think)
I went in January this year & it's quite good.

I'd say it's better than the Simson motorbike museum in Suhl
(although I'm no fan of bikes really)
but the my favourites are ...
the August Horsch museum in Zwickau &
on the Island of Rugen the Eisenbahn & Tecknik museum at Prora.
Which has bizarrely a Sheffield fire engine in it's collection,
a 6 wheel Trabant & some massive Russian steam locos,
although the V200 diesel kept me drooling, shame it was just stuffed & mounted.

cheers ... Darren

Grubtraw · 02-06-2008, 14:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by gcr31463

Got it in one matey ...
It's in Rothley shed at the moment having some overdue body work & repaint done.
I'm assuming that's the Swindon DMU at the Bo'ness & Kinneil,
I really must go there again, for some more excellent type 2 trash!!!

Yes indeed, the Swindon DMU is finally nearing the end of its extensive restoration. The next Diesel Gala is on 27th and 28th September. No doubt the Type 2s will be out in force; not sure about plans for the DMU yet. I spend most Sundays working on it in the Bo'ness museum workshop. Please say hello if you're ever there.

Thanks also for the museum information. Automuseum Story, near Bockenem, acquired several eastern vehicles around the time of my visit in 1992.

Just been reading about your 1965 and 1971 Skodas on another thread - fantastic!

07-05-2008, 13:54	#1
Tailhappy Briskodian Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Hemel Hempstead Posts: 244 Thanks: 19 Thanked 16 Times in 9 Posts	Communist cars on their own turf Anyone here taken a trip to the Eastern Bloc and experienced what it is like to drive over there? Please do share if you have! My feelings are below. I have visited that area a good few times, and using a genuine (80’s) communist car on the old 'A' roads through the towns and villages is an experience well worth having. Driving in the UK is OK, but the Cyrillic signs, slightly bumpy roads, fast driving and unusual views make Eastern Europe well worth the effort. Sadly, the real old crocks are less common now, but they are still there if you look – rust holes and bald tyres included. Seeing a Lada Samara police car at full speed chasing down a Lada Riva 1200 was better than any high octane ‘Gone In 60 Seconds’ type of chase. There are roadside shacks that will give your car a quick spray over and tart up for around £30 and the smell inside those old cars when they are left in the sun is something else – recycled rubber, vinyl and hot oil. Being that motorways are still rare, a 1 litre car is all you need. Leave it in top, lift off in the town and pedal to the metal when the sign with the cross through it arrives (end of town). Three speed gearboxes are best for this style. Something like a Zaporozhets with the air cooled engine in the rear is great – a whine mixed with thrashing when at full chat. A couple of photos I took are below. When the weather it warm like today it has me wishing I was there now.

07-05-2008, 14:47	#2
anewman Briskodian Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Leeds Posts: 2,514 Thanks: 987 Thanked 222 Times in 205 Posts	Re: Communist cars on their own turf I saw an L reg Lada Riva here in the UK a few weeks back parked. Had a good gander and couldn't spot any rust, probably had cavity wax or something. __________________ 94 Favorit GLXIe Estate

08-05-2008, 12:17	#3
tik Briskodian Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Dunfermline Posts: 31 Thanks: 1 Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts	Re: Communist cars on their own turf I was in the former DDR about 8 years ago and there were a lot of modified Trabants around. One of these tore past me at over 120mph on the autobahn when I was in my highly-modified 205 1.9 Gti. I simply couldn't catch him. Goodness only knows what engine was in that thing. __________________ 2000 Octavia 20v Turbo: vRS Suspension, Blueflame full system, Panel Filter, Forge Motorsport TIP, Forge Motorsport Closed Loop DV. 2006 Fabia vRS (Standard). 1988 Estelle 120L 5 speed.

08-05-2008, 13:08	#4
KenONeill Briskodian Join Date: May 2006 Location: Normally somewhere in Scotland! Posts: 10,381 Thanks: 56 Thanked 491 Times in 482 Posts	Re: Communist cars on their own turf I'm not claiming what engine was actually in it, but I once saw a Trabant 603 labelled "Trabbi Twin Turbo Intercooler Water Injection 16 valve" in an Autobahn service area.

08-05-2008, 14:51	#5
Tailhappy Briskodian Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Hemel Hempstead Posts: 244 Thanks: 19 Thanked 16 Times in 9 Posts	Re: Communist cars on their own turf Never been to the DDR sadly - missed the boat on that one. After seeing 'Goodbye Lenin' I wished I had gone while it was still under communist rule. I will add that in East Europe, speeding is very common, but also very well policed - you can be pulled up in a flash and the fines are hefty. The new motorways are swift, but are plied by the ubiquitous 1990's BMW's and Mercs. Not very interesting. Some 'off limits' areas seem to have no speed limit as such - the road from Kiev to Chrenobyl (after the radioactivity contamination control checkpoint) is one I remember - as fast as your car can go or you dare is fine. 20 miles of guaranteed empty and winding road and no lifting off the gas!

15-05-2008, 08:35	#6
Jaymz Briskodian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Truro Posts: 395 Thanks: 62 Thanked 11 Times in 11 Posts	Re: Communist cars on their own turf my parents used to have a lada apprently alot of peple used to make fun of them __________________ Pooky Power!!

28-05-2008, 23:42	#8
gcr31463 Briskodian Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 714 Thanks: 19 Thanked 24 Times in 23 Posts	Re: Communist cars on their own turf There's a couple of lonely Barkas vans I see on my travels in the exDDR & they keep giving me that, take me home look. Although I'm definitely not allowed them. As Oscar Wilde said ... "I can resist everything except temptation" __________________ Daily drive; Octy II 2.0 (?Turbo?)DI Plus some stuff in the RWD section. Next trip from Scunthorpe & Doncaster clicky http://briskoda.net/midlands-skoda-m...26-oct/125071/

30-05-2008, 10:29	#9
Grubtraw Briskodian Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 4 Thanks: 1 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: Communist cars on their own turf I visited Poland in 1984 as part of a touring party and was fascinated by the unfamiliar cars among the more recognisable Skodas, Polski-FIATs and Ladas (and Volga taxis in Warsaw). Unfortunately photography was strictly controlled but I know now that most of the others were Warszawas and Syrenas. My first experience of driving on Communist bloc roads was in the former East Germany in 1992. Although post-unification there was still a noticeable difference in road quality after we drove through an old border post, complete with a Trabant estate spending its retirement as a greenhouse. The boneshaking effect was magnified as I was driving a Messerschmitt bubble car but that's another story. There were plenty of DDR and other Eastern bloc cars around in 1992 but their numbers declined noticeably over subsequent visits in 1994 and 1996, although I did see a beautiful EMW on the road in Eisenach. We visited the Wartburg factory shop there, which was like a Halfords for DDR cars, and bought a load of stuff from a scrapyard which had a 1960s Skoda put aside for preservation. Happy days!

30-05-2008, 12:00	#11
Grubtraw Briskodian Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 4 Thanks: 1 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: Communist cars on their own turf Pictures would be excellent. There was a car museum in Eisenach when I was there but it was shut, as were the J.S. Bach museum and the Wartburg castle. Way off topic here but does "gcr31463" indicate an interest in D5830? If so you can call me "b&kr126413".

30-05-2008, 16:11	#12
favguy Briskodian Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Grimsby Posts: 49 Thanks: 0 Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts	Re: Communist cars on their own turf Oh, I just love that "everything grim, grey and knackered" look of eastern block countries, I've spent 6 weeks in Novokuznetsk, Siberia, Russia over the last 2 years and loved it, however, speeding there does get you stopped, but telling the russian wife to stay quiet and acting like a dumb foreigner with a "ya nye punyameyoo russki!" (I don't understand Russian!) and then offering the policeman 10 dollars with a friendly smile and handshake works everytime in Sunny Siberia! You get a friendly "ochen horasho, spaziba" (Very good, thankyou) and the officer is on his way. Sometimes, we reverse it with the wife doing the talking, making out hubby is an idiot, lots of fluttering eyelashes, 10 dollars again, and we're off. oh if only you could do that here in the UK... so much more civilised

30-05-2008, 16:21	#13
Tailhappy Briskodian Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Hemel Hempstead Posts: 244 Thanks: 19 Thanked 16 Times in 9 Posts	Re: Communist cars on their own turf You have to go there to fully appreciate it don't you? The smell of the apartment blocks, the tufts of grass throught the tarmac and sandy dust blowing in the wind that sweeps across that vast continent is very memorable. Things seem more ornate, yet somewhat sloppy - an unusual, yet addictive combo. White painted, but slightly corroded 'sunburst' grilles over the windows seem very widespread there too. Saving up to go again soon. Ian

30-05-2008, 16:31	#14
anewman Briskodian Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Leeds Posts: 2,514 Thanks: 987 Thanked 222 Times in 205 Posts	Re: Communist cars on their own turf Just had to mention I saw a back street garage today (in lockups under a railway bridge in Leeds) and the sign said "Lada Specialist" - have to wonder how many Ladas the garage sees these days. __________________ 94 Favorit GLXIe Estate

30-05-2008, 17:11	#15
devonutopia Mongreller Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Ooo-ar, Oi be from Devonshire Posts: 29,506 Thanks: 60 Thanked 308 Times in 253 Posts	Re: Communist cars on their own turf Well, there's been 2 trips to Czech Republic done on Briskoda. Although Czech is not quite as bad, some areas are still akin to some of the photos above. Plenty of old skool skodas running about happily. __________________ Jason - Mongrel owner! WOOOOF! Grrrrr Custom Fabia Bonnet Lifter Kits - £45! Click Me. See the mongrel's 260bhp Dyno Video!

31-05-2008, 21:08	#16
Richard Black Briskodian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: SE London Posts: 200 Thanks: 1 Thanked 27 Times in 25 Posts	Re: Communist cars on their own turf My wife's from Georgia, former USSR, and I've been over there to visit the outlaws a couple of times. The only car I've driven myself was a nearly brand new Opel or something, modern and boring, but the cars there are a right old mix, everything from upmarket Beemers and Mercs down to absolutely disgraceful old Ladas and Moskvitches. How some of the motors keep running is beyond me. Mind you, the roads are dodgy so the guys who are really laughing are the ones with a Volga - Soviet-era Ford Granada-alike, really tough old bird with suspension that can handle a few potholes. One of the wife's relatives is a businessman with a bit of disposable cash who, instead of buying a modern motor, decided to get an old Volga pimped just a little. It's an absolute beaut, though of course it handles like a piece of soap in a wet bath. The trucks are really something else - plenty of them are old petrol-engined things, mostly converted to run on LPG, chundering along at 25mph. The last time I was there the laws had been significantly toughened up and driving was a bit more like UK style, but on my first visit it was a whole other world. Not one bod did I see with a seat belt on, red lights were purely for decoration and the phrase 'devil take the hindmost' was almost literally applied. One relative, Soso, took us for a drive along the main highway down the centre of the country (it's much like a UK B-road) and we came across a police roadblock. He simply swerved round the cops (who were carrying guns) and kept driving. They chased us down (that wasn't hard, we were in a seriously sick Fiat Uno), Starsky-and-Hutched us, and took a 5 lari (about 2 quid) bribe. Soso got back in the car with a shrug and said, 'well, it was worth a try, they would only have asked us for that if we'd stopped anyway'. Amused the hell out of me! BUT! Go to Georgia if you can. Admittedly there's a bit of a language barrier (they speak Georgian, it's unrelated to anything else in the world and has its own, completely unique, alphabet) but the food and wine are to die for and they're hospitable to a fault. You don't know what fruit, wine and cheese can taste like until you've been there. Beautiful place, too.

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