Morris Minor Owners Club

why do they do it smash up 2 perfactly good cars.i was saddened last night, i know the lada was a bit of a joke and the marina used to rust out,but any 70s car did because the metal was poor quliaty.the marina looked a good example and looked like it went well.i know it makes for funny tv but why smash up 2 perfactly good cars,especially when the numbers on the road are decreacing.i just think its senceless

keeps clarkson in a job the marina looked very good,definatly to good to damage,,grandad

yea i hate it when a nice classic is destroyed. top gear australia drowned a mint looking mini moke on the first episode. didnt give me good first impressions. if you wanna see cars being wrecked watch that. they played lawn bowles with brand new astras and had races in sand dunes in brand new suvs. they damage them every time

hello who pays for the cars that they wreck i expect joe licence payer does.another thing that gets up my nose is thrashing very expensive cars round a track but silly me its called entertainment,, why cant they put some of the daytime programs on at night i dont watch during the day but bits i have seen appear to be better programs, got to go now going to wreck a caravan,,,grandad

at the risk of being shot at, I will put my neck on the line a bit and say: I know Top Gear is sensationalist and silly at times but it is damn good entertainment. I wouldn't miss it.

I didn't think there were any ladas left as most of them around here were getting sent back to where they came from. I heard stories about them being loaded on to ships and dismantled enroute with unwanted bits being thrown over board.
My mate got a good price for his from some Russians.
They really were a terrible car though, so no loss another one being destroyed.
Was a bit sad to see the Marina wrecked though - they weren't as bad as folk make out, and certainly no worse than their competition at the time.

Pete

yes y r Marinas critisised? up until a year ago a Marina was the only 70s car that remained on the roads in Malta! unfortuntly due to stricter regulations and higher tax on diesel engines I think 99% of them are now scrapped but their competitors are long gone!

They really were a terrible car though, so no loss another one being destroyed.

Don't say that to the Lada fans though!
Yes - many have been bought for spares to be used in Russia. Russia itself is a booming market for new car sales, and unlike western Europe their sales are up this year. AvtoVaz really could do with some more modern cars to compete with everyone else though!

As for the Marina - unless people buy them to restore, they will continue to get scrapped. Many in reasonable condition are still being scrapped because there are still more cars than people who want to actually own one. Part of the reason is the (daft) cut off date for free car tax so all mid 70's cars are under threat of extinction in the UK.
The Marina was launched with poor suspension geometry - and was very quickly updated. However the motoring press (and folklore) decided not to change their anti-Marina attitude. It's definately a long running British disease to be absolutely over critical of anything British made.

Ray, should that not be Lada fan - singular
I stand by what I said - my mate brought his brand new Lada round for me to 'admire' on his way back from the garage in 1985. He gave me a drive in it, and to say I was underwhelmed was an understatement - parcel shelf fell off during this experience.
Still, it was slightly better than the FSO pick up my brother had - again new, you had to guess with side to compensate for when going over a bump, and again when braking. Only eastern block car worth bothering about was the Skoda, and how many jokes do you want about them. If they still made minors they would be a luxury car in Russia - but possibly too reliable.

Pete

superchargedfool wrote:at the risk of being shot at, I will put my neck on the line a bit and say: I know Top Gear is sensationalist and silly at times but it is damn good entertainment. I wouldn't miss it.

BANG BANG!
Unfortunately, we seem to be a very impressionable bunch nowadays and the tendency, at least round here, is for all the little darlings in their silver fiestas to go straight out and copy what they see on the telly. At this very moment there's one flying up and down outside, drifting in the damp...just waiting for the crunch.

At this very moment there's one flying up and down outside, drifting in the damp...just waiting for the crunch.

that's nothing new though is it... ;-)
How many 2 door Escorts (Mk1 and Mk2) do you remember seeing in the 80's with 'Mexico' stickers? I'd guess it was 20 times more than the number of Mexico's made.

I think u in the Uk are missing the Escort Mk1s and 2 as you're buying all our Mk1s and 2s!!

The worst (and funniest) drving experience I had was in a Lada Samara courtesy car loaned to my wife.


Brakes were wooden blocks, steering like tugging on the QE2 mooring chain and gearchange like stirring a box full of waterpumps.

Isnt it time this rubbish was taken off the TV?

A typical script,

1, See which one of the presenters can drive from A to B the fastest.

2, Get someone famous to drive a car round a track.

3, Smash up some caravans, buses or old cars.

4, Tell the viewer that the new BMW is brilliant and show a racing driver going round a track in it.

This was funny for a while but is now just irritating immature nonsense that has passed its time.

The answer to that is "why don't you turn off your tv set and go and do something more interesting instead"! Remember the children's programme

regaliaqueen wrote:The answer to that is "why don't you turn off your tv set and go and do something more interesting instead"! Remember the children's programme

Thats exactly what I do!

But isn't the (square boxy) Lada a successful product of its time and market? Built cheaply, crudely and simply to be serviced with basic tools by its owner and cope with rough Russian roads?

According to Wikipedia, 18.5 million produced and still being made somewhere.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lada

I'd actually liken to something like the Hindustan Ambassador which is still in production for similar reasons and is still servicable by shadetree mechanics.

Not having a TV Arial* I had a looksie at the offending Top Gear on iplayer; it looked like their normal fare really - it was sad to see an apparently good condition Marina destroyed... but not surprising :-/

I used to have a colleague who worked in Russia for a long time and he put great store by Ladas - yeah they're heavy and their brakes are awful, but if you want something that will start in that kind of cold every day, and which will be reliable in that kind of weather, a Lada's the thing.

I have to say my ratty Yugo 45 was the easiest car to start in the cold and had a stunningly effective heater. Awful to drive, but reliable (ran all the way from Newbury to Eastbury with no coolant at all after the water pump failed and dumped the whole lot) - and then ran just fine when topped and with a new pump





*Ask me why I pay a licence fee, go on

Use to take the mick out of Lada's like everyone else till I went to Latvia in the early 1990's.

It's the classic case of the right tool for the right job. If you live in suburbia then buy a Volvo, if you lived in the Eastern block then a Lada was the perfect vehicle. Tough, easy to work on (no one used a garage they all seemed to work on their own cars) and would start and run in seriously cold weather. OK they looked ancient but if it starts in -40°C and drives across roads that we would use a tractor on then who cares.

Oh and they considered the 2wd's suitable for off roading, a distant relative of mine drove 3 of us down a mud track that I would have had trouble walking down. All the time he kept a running commentry up (shame I could'nt understand a word of it) while looking for a tape in the glovebox and lighting a ciggy. I guess he gave the road about 10-15% of his attention and still managed to control the car with oppposite lock when required.

Oh and we won't even mention the Vodka breaks

But isn't the (square boxy) Lada a successful product of its time and market? Built cheaply, crudely and simply to be serviced with basic tools by its owner and cope with rough Russian roads?

Compared to a Minor on bumpy dirt roads the Lada is a dream!