1. 1972 Lada 1500 – made in USSR, 75 hp, based on Fiat 124.
2. 1974 Zastava 1100p – Yugoslavian car based on Fiat 128 and made in Poland, 55 hp, sister car to the Yugo.
3. 1970 Wartburg 353 – Made in East Germany, sister car to the Trabant, 58 hp 2 stroke engine.
4. 1976 Škoda 105 – Made in Czechoslovakia, rear engined rwd, 44 hp
5. 1976 Moskvitch 2140 – made in the USSR, 75 hp
6. 1970 Dacia 1300 – Made in Romania, licensed Renault design, 53 hp
7. 1970 Bulgarrenault 10 – licensed Renault design made in Bulgaria, rear engined rwd 59 hp.
by Enough-Engineering41
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27 Comments
skoda 105 s
The Lada 1500 hands down. It’s surprisingly roomy and comfy for short distances.
Lada 1500, mostly due to it having the most HP
Clearly a Dacia. I can then try to apply the Gordini treatment to it based on the ability and contacts i have within Securitate (Romanian KGB at that time)
Either the Lada or the Wartburg, the Zastava is unreliable as far as I know, though the Skoda being so sporty sounds like fun
Funny you mention that you have a “choice”. You were given whatever they wanted to give you and you needed to make sure you were thankful for what you were able to buy
Trabant
You’ll buy whatever’s available. And by “buy” I mean “get put on a waitlist for”
How Eastern? Do I have sit in the car buying license list for 10 years and spend 3000 roubles or do I get to buy one used for 6000? Also, where do I get the money if my salary is only 120 a month?
Also where do I get Playboy magazines (possession of which is illegal) so that I can commit an even graver offence by illegally photocopying them (photocopying is heavily restricted, to not give any media to counter-revolutionaries) so I can exchange the photocopies for driveshaft joints?
If I’m a Nationally Recognized Artist I have no need to buy a car, I can have a Gaz-21 or Gaz-24 Volga of my chosen color.
If I’m a sailor I can buy something from the West and import it into the Soviet Union and also have a better car.
tl;dr – I live in the USSR. I don’t get a pick. If lucky, I’ get to buy a ZAZ965 or a 968 in the 1980s
Wartburg. Better than a Trabant, made by Germans, albeit East Germans.
That Lada. Based on the Fiat 124 and toughened up for Russia was a no frills car. Easy to service, cheap parts, and fairly reliable.
Moskvitch
I’m someone important. I’m getting a real FIAT 124.
Bulgarrentault 💀
gonna go for the Lada
2106 of course. Though I was always partial to the way Skodas looked.
The Lada
FIAT 125p was probably the best
The Skoda by a huge margin, I’ve owned two of that gen (’85 120L sedan, ’86 rapid) and they are absolutely brilliant cars. With the exception of the low horsepower, they are as good as or better than comparable american cars of the era. They ride really comfortably, the seats are very comfortable (the upholstery is crap), best shifter of any car I’ve ever driven, they get pretty good fuel economy. Also the single best designed hood prop of any car, it is integrated into the hood and the bottom of the prop follows a channel that then makes a dip to hold the prop in place when the hood is fully open. No struts to fail, no springs to break, no having to hold the hood up with one hand while messing with the prop.
Only one answer. Dacia
Fiat
Coming from the country that built the Dacia, it would’ve been the Skoda, then the Lada then the Dacia (based on build quality)
BUT, you couldn’t – these were only available to buy in their country of manufacturing (None other than Dacia or Oltcit were available in Romania new, for ex).
Also, it was a wait or 5+ years to get a new one and it would cost 1 year’s salary. Yey communism.
Lada, it’s the best looking and probably the one of the easiest to find parts/service for
VAZ 2105
The Lada 1500 100%. In the Soviet market it’d be known as the VAZ-2103. It’s one of my dream cars and I’ll probably never get one because I live in the US.
The yugo?
No Polonez?
Given the choices, I’d go with the Škoda