I don't think the Dairy Board had a lot of choice about accepting the Russian cars for their milk powder debt - it was that or nothing.Originally Posted by AMCO72
Another swap deal I was told about, when I worked for the NZ Dairy Group in Hamilton, was that the old Meremere powerstation was swapped for milk powder after WW2.
John, I believe you when you say Ladas survive well in Russian conditions though I dont know why. I would have thought things would be pretty tough on cars there, and not just the weather. I always had a sneaking admiration for Skodas, imagining the unfriendly conditions they had to put up with in their country of origin, even though we/I thought they were a bit odd!!!!
One of the teachers at Cambridge High School bought a Lada car, new, the one based on the old Fiat 125, and he thought it was the bees knees until it started to go wrong with about 6000 miles on the clock. He was a very gentle fellow, who I imagine looked after the car and certainly wouldnt have flogged it in my opinion. It went from being the bees knees to the biggest heap of junk he had ever had, hence my comment in my first post.
I have to say that the car that the Lada replaced was a Triumph Herald, a machine that had a very leaky gearbox, which was topped up on a regular basis, like every afternoon when he left for home.......home being Raglan, a delightfull hilly 50 km drive from Cambridge, which must have tested the Triumph gears, 'lubricated' as they were with cooking oil, a supply of which was in a drum in the boot. When I suggested to him that 'real' oil would probably be cheaper, he said, well what he was using was the reject oil from the cooking vats at the local fish & chipper!!!!!!!! cant beat that I'm afraid.
I think the biggest problem with the Lada, apart from the dodgy motor was the electrics, and I dont think he got to the bottom of the problems. He left the High School not long after this, so dont know what the next vehicle in line was.
Having spent time in Dniepropretrovsk, Odessa,Carparthian Mountains, Crimea, I can tell you that the only vehicle that I was in that broke down -brakes-was a bus from Latvia.When you are in the snow, ice -40c and the Lada starts you are grateful. Air conditioning in 40+ in Crimea was not efficient.
Best sight was a 35 kg blonde girl, extremely tight white transparent pants in 6 inch heels push starting 2 guys in a Zaparozhits-Ukrainian Hillman Imp.-in the snow.
Most roads there are 2 deep ruts in the road.You can set the manual throttle and climb in the back for a sleep or some romantic time and the car literally steers itself.
Maybe the extreme temperatures solved the electrical probs- always trouble when you copy an Italian car.
Last edited by John McKechnie; 02-18-2013 at 06:34 AM.
What the hell is a.........God I cant even pronounce the name......Hillman Imp?????????
Yes fullnoise68...... just like the cars we are discussing!!!!!!
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