Lada Riva 1600 SLX
Built for Russia, driven in Ayrshire
David Milloy
Think about it, when did you last see a Lada on the road in the UK?
If your answer to that was some time in the last six months, the chances are that you’ve seen Kid Thomson’s Lada Riva prowling the streets of Ayrshire. Having grown up in a family that was involved in both motorsport and the motor industry, Kid inherited a love of angular, boxy-looking cars, particularly Fiats, from his father. So when he got the chance to enter an online raffle run by Retroshite* to win a car that’s both boxy and based on a Fiat, he jumped at the chance. Much to his surprise he won the raffle, thus becoming the proud owner of a 1987 Lada Riva 1600 SLX.
But how did a car based on a Fiat come to be produced in the Soviet Union during the Cold War?
The story starts in 1966, when Fiat introduced their new small saloon (it was later also built as an estate, coupé, and convertible), the 124. It was well received by both the public and the press and went on to be awarded the prestigious title of European Car of the Year 1967.
In the same year that the 124 was launched, Fiat entered into an agreement to build a car plant in the Soviet Union. The result was the Togliatti car factory, named after the former leader of the Communist Party of Italy, Palmiro Togliatti. A new state-owned company, VAZ, was created, and a deal was struck with Fiat which allowed a re-engineered version of the 124 saloon, known as the VAZ 2101, to be built at the plant.
The VAZ looked like a 124 but had a Russian designed and built engine, a strengthened chassis, and increased ground clearance amidst a raft of other changes from the Fiat original. It sold well, with production at the Togliatti factory reaching a high of 750,000 vehicles a year in the mid-1970s.
Exports to western Europe, where it wore a Lada rather than VAZ badge, began in 1974 after Fiat ended production of the 124. As time passed, the 2101 was treated to upgrades and a facelift, eventually giving rise to the 2107 model, which was sold in western Europe as the Lada Riva.
First imported in the UK in 1983, the Riva’s simplicity and low price tag appealed to UK car buyers. So much so that annual UK sales hit 30,000 in 1988. It continued to sell reasonably well until more modern budget cars from the likes of Kia, Proton and Hyundai eroded its market share in the 1990s. Lada withdrew from the UK market in 1997, and in the years that followed many UK-registered Rivas ended up being shipped back to Russia, where it was in great demand due to a shortage of affordable used cars.
So much for the Riva’s history, what’s Kid’s car like?
“It came to me with 31,000 miles on the clock,” he tells us. “It’s had several previous owners, some of whom seem to have been kinder to it than others, so it wasn’t exactly in time-warp condition. It was structurally sound, having been welded before delivery to me, but it needed some tidying. Quite a bit of tidying, in fact.”
Fortunately, Kid loves working on cars so he was able to clean up the paintwork, restore some missing chrome, and underseal the chassis to combat rust. He’s the first to admit that there’s still plenty of work to do but in the meantime he’s enjoying the thrill of driving around in such a rare car. And it is rare, with fewer than forty Rivas still on UK roads. Indeed, the 1600 SLX model is rarer still, with just two still on the road in the UK.
Apart from its rarity, Kid loves its shape, its simplicity (it’s a car that you can work on at home), and the feelgood factor that comes from driving a car that’s likely to be greeted with a smile rather than a scowl by other road users. His two children love it too. “They call it ‘Dad’s rusty Russian car’,” laughs Kid.
The Riva may be motoring at its most basic but its lack of electronic gizmos means that there’s not only less to go wrong but it’s also cheap and easy to repair. It’s a tough old thing too, built to take the worst that the Russian winter can throw at it. And if you want further proof of its credentials, just ask 2007 World Driver’s Champion Kimi Räikkönen. His first car was a Lada and he still speaks highly about its reliability today. And if it’s good enough for him, well…
Yes, that is their real name!
We love interesting and unusual cars here at AM, so don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you’ve got one that you would like to see featured in the mag.
