Originally Posted By: Rust_Belt_Pete
Originally Posted By: chrisri
Originally Posted By: Rust_Belt_Pete
Originally Posted By: chrisri
No, it wasn't. Car was based on a 124 chassis and shared many components, but they were quite different. Fiat had OHV engine in base trim, and twin cam in higher. Five speed gearbox. Lada had single OHC engine that was Fiats design, but never built in Italy or for Fiat. Gearboxes were different too. Lada had different rear suspension, and drums in place of rear discs on Fiat.
So it's not fair to say they were the same.
You forget that the original Fiat and Lada had OHV engines not a SOHC or DOHC.
Maybe we are confusing each other I am talking about the original Lada, it was called Jiguli. It was renamed into Lada because that word meant something else in your corner of the world
You are probably talking about later models with the sloped windshiled that did not look like Fiat 124.
No, again, even the original Lada that looked like a 124 clone (twin round headlights) was different mechanically. Fiat had in base trim OHV engine, but ALL Ladas were SOHC (Fiat designed engine specifically for Lada). Rear suspension was different, Lada never got rear discs.
Both 124 and Lada was common here, I worked on both.
My family had 2 of them in the soviet union. I am going to go ask me grandpa about the OHV and OHC engine, he worked on them I was just a kid.
How were the ladas as far as rust resistance is concerned compared to germans and japanese?
First Ladas were very well built cars. At that time they were very competitive with western cars- Soviets offered mid size car for a price of small car, and quite advanced on top of that. To be fair it was light ahead of Ford Escorts and Opel Kadetts.
So what happened? Five years later everyone moved on, and Lada was still making same old Lada. It became obsolete. To stay competitive they had to lower the price. With price going down so did quality. Twenty years later they were still producing essentially the same car as in early 70s. Only not as good.