Cheap runabout.🙂

Greenpeace

Greenpeace

Well-known member
1000+ Posts
Fellow Frogger
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Qld
The last one of these I had I paid $600 for, '91 model, same colour, immaculate and only had 13,000 kms on it. Maybe I should've hung onto it?😉
The FSM connoisseur would notice the non factory gear knob.🧐

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it's just a "log in to facebook" page. I'm not a facebook user.
Can you copy/paste a photo?
I assume it's a Niki - are they fun to own?
 
simca1100 said:
it's just a "log in to facebook" page. I'm not a facebook user.
Can you copy/paste a photo?
I assume it's a Niki - are they fun to own?
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It was, unfortunately the listing has now been removed, and it was only put up a few hours ago.🤷‍♂️
It was a very clean, red, '89 model with 52K on the clock.
I sent the link to my son as well, as he had one for his first car, he had a look at the ad about 2 hours ago.
Just for clarification it was listed at $14,500, my boy said he had seen another one advertised not long ago for $12,000.😳
They are fun little cars, top out at about 105kph and use fuel at around 4L/100kms.
I just don't know if they are $14.5K of fun though.🤔
I guess an immaculate 2CV of a similar age would be in the $20K plus range.🤷‍♂️
Maybe I'm getting old, I remember the Nikis sitting in the local dealers for $3990 when they were brand new, and they were having trouble moving them out the door at that price.
 
I remember O'Briens in Ballarat importing a shipment of little Subarus early 1960's. They cost around 600 pounds, got good reviews and nobody bought them. Sat gathering dust in the back of his showroom for years. I don't know what happened to them but the showroom was eventually knocked down.
 
Russell Hall said:
I remember O'Briens in Ballarat importing a shipment of little Subarus early 1960's. They cost around 600 pounds, got good reviews and nobody bought them. Sat gathering dust in the back of his showroom for years. I don't know what happened to them but the showroom was eventually knocked down.
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I recall watching a show on the gullwing Bricklen SV1 and it's creator Malcolm Bricklen was the original Subaru importer into the USA. Apparently there was a loophole for cars weighing under 1000 lbs not requiring federal compliance, so he started importing the Subaru 360s and selling them for $1297 without have to do any changes or upgrades for the US market.
He is known as the PT Barnum of the US auto industry.🤷‍♂️
 
Greenpeace said:
I recall watching a show on the gullwing Bricklen SV1 and it's creator Malcolm Bricklen was the original Subaru importer into the USA. Apparently there was a loophole for cars weighing under 1000 lbs not requiring federal compliance, so he started importing the Subaru 360s and selling them for $1297 without have to do any changes or upgrades for the US market.
He is known as the PT Barnum of the US auto industry.🤷‍♂️
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I'd never heard of a bricklen until this ...

 
Niki, best part was the heated rear window, to keep your hands warm when pushing it :)
 
What came first the Lada jokes or the Skoda jokes?🤔

Funnily enough I've had a Niva, a Samara and two Nikis and other than the float fractured off the float arm once on one of the Nikis, I never had a problem with any of them.

Maybe I should buy more lotto tickets.🤷‍♂️
 
Lada jokes were originally Skoda jokes. The East European socialist industry was a thorn in the side to the British makers with a small but significant market share. The British makers alleged dumping but that didn't work because Skoda proved they could sell cheap because they had better productivity than British makers. Ridicule, making the brands unfashionable, was better. When every wanker in the pub makes jokes about your new car you need a thick skin. For the record Chris DeFraga published RACV breakdown stats for the early 1990's. Lada was slightly better than Holden and way better than Peugeot. I have the list somewhere. Japanese makes were top and BMW bottom. Main problem mentioned with Niki was an optimistic fuel gauge that led to people running out. The East Europeans were mostly no better or worse than their western counterparts but heavier duty and older designs.
 
Loved my slightly tuned Skoda 120L ( Wetczech - leaked a little oil).
Snap oversteer was sooo much fun! Road holding/handling was actually quite good for the times.
Another plus - nobody was pushy compared when I drive a new car or ‘good’ car.
 
In the file of things that didn't happen - the new Skoda front drive was type approved and ready for Australian release in 1990 when the socialist system collapsed so nothing happened. Zetor in Port Melbourne were handling the project.
The Lada importer brought out a Fiat based station wagon for assessment in 1987 and were going to sell it for $8000. When Dreyfus took over the operation they scrapped the project. I tried to buy the car but it had to go to the crusher.
Skoda (like Rootes) made a fundamental error in picking a rear engined format as the future of small cars. The oversteer was fixed by a new rear suspension design but only on the Rapid coupe.
 
Except for the people who made a living from selling and servicing the cars. Frankly I've always considered people who repeat formula jokes about blondes/ethnic groups / things they know nothing about to be of limited intelligence and easily manipulated. The really clever joke is subtle and hits a nerve based in fact not a repetitive formula pushing a line that needs a laugh track to back it.
 
Russell Hall said:
Except for the people who made a living from selling and servicing the cars. Frankly I've always considered people who repeat formula jokes about blondes/ethnic groups / things they know nothing about to be of limited intelligence and easily manipulated. The really clever joke is subtle and hits a nerve based in fact not a repetitive formula pushing a line that needs a laugh track to back it.
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That's how the logo FIAT was invented. Definitely nerve based.
 
I have always chuckled at Skoda/Lada jokes, some of them are a bit clever, but never believed them. I have always had a soft spot for oddball and unloved cars, and can usually see the good in them. We had a 1991 (?) Lada Niva and it was a fun little car. We had it serviced by a really nice Russian-born mechanic who was very enthusiastic about them, and it was pretty reliable, though caused some severe headaches at times. We had trouble with it not trying to start (no starter motor action) and Yurek removed and rebuilt the starter motor, all the repair bits were available but not a whole starter motor. It was a cow of a job because on right hand drive Nivas the steering box is in the way, so he had to dismantle so much to get it out. Of course it still did the same, so the starter motor came out again and was re-re-built. Still no better. We asked to buy a whole new starter motor but they were not imported. Eventually I found the problem - part of the "Australianizing" of the cars, done when they arrived in Australia, included fitting a relay between the ignition switch and starter solenoid - to make it more reliable... The relay was a local Aussie addition, so wasn't mentioned in the repair manual. (Genuine factory manual.) It was up in an awkward spot behind the radio. It was an Australian made Bosch relay and had become dodgy - a new relay and all was well.
We got it to 135000 km and it was absolutely pampered, including being garaged at night and waxed every six months, but rust was breaking out everywhere and we were fixing things that had already been done a couple of years before, like the water pump. So my partner declared it had to go. We enjoyed it while we had it, but never again. Traded it in on a SB Barina which was a delightful car, another model that people say was an unreliable dud but ours was like new after 280000 km, and it was a gem to drive. We traded that in after about 12 years ownership on my partner's current car, the Skoda Fabia. The Barina would have been a great cheap car for somebody, but we checked up with VicRoads and it appears to have never gone back on the road after we traded it, it probably went to the wreckers because it had high km and the model had a bad reputation, but it was immaculate, mechanically perfect and had the full service history with it. A crying shame.
People rave about their reliable Toyotas but I have never driven one that I found remotely pleasant to drive.

I toy with the idea of buying some unloved model older car and a Skoda 120L is high on the maybe list. (It would have been a P76 but look at the price of those now...) All the worthless orphan oddballs I'd love are becoming valuable, bugger it.

Russell, I wonder if I saw that Lada you mentioned? I lived in North Melbourne for about 18 months in the 1980s. There was an importer there who dealt with Russian farm equipment (from vague memory), they had a beige/mustard coloured Lada in the showroom and I saw it on the road once or twice, possibly on trade plates? I can't remember now if that one was sedan or wagon, but it caught my eye. This was before Nivas were being sold here.
 
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