Little Lada Is Back to Original

Photography by Andrey Razhev

It has been a while since I last saw Sergey, the owner of this handsome orange Lada. His car is different from the last time I saw it, as it is now back to its original condition. I’ve always been interested in what makes people perform this or that mod, so I decided it was time some questions were answered…

Q: It always makes me happy seeing an old car in a mint condition like yours, it looks much brighter now. Tell me, what have you done to the car in the last few months?

A: The most noticeable change is, obviously, suspension. I didn’t have the original suspension lying on a shelf because I modified it, so I had to find some parts. The ride is much softer and more comfortable now, and the difference is night and day compared to what it was. Also, the exhaust was all crushed and rotten due to constantly hitting the ground, and there was no option other than replacing it completely except for the header.

Q: It always makes me happy seeing an old car in a mint condition like yours, it looks much brighter now. Tell me, what have you done to the car in the last few months?

A: The most noticeable change is, obviously, suspension. I didn’t have the original suspension lying on a shelf because I modified it, so I had to find some parts. The ride is much softer and more comfortable now, and the difference is night and day compared to what it was. Also, the exhaust was all crushed and rotten due to constantly hitting the ground, and there was no option other than replacing it completely except for the header.

Q: Was it hard doing all of this yourself in a garage?

A: It was definitely easier than dropping the car. For sure, it required lots of time to replace the components in the suspension but I didn’t have to reinvent the wheel to put it all back. When you are dropping such an old car, it needs lots of attention in different places, including reinforcing some parts. But making it stock again–it was a lot easier. Another issue was finding the original tyres for the car–unfortunately, they are not produced anymore. However, I was lucky enough and my neighbour garagisti had a spare set, and it was only a matter of bargaining to trade the tyres for some rare chrome parts I’ve been collecting over years. I was happy owning those but I didn’t want to sell or use them simply because I wanted to preserve them. Now, the time has come and someone might put them to good use.

Q: Why and how have you come to the decision to bring car to the condition in which it left the factory in Togliatti in 1979?

A: I must have become older, I guess. Nowadays, many young people customise their cars, everyone wants to be different from the other guy. If you take a look at modern cars, they are all different. Someone buys aftermarket rims, the other one opts for a bodykit, those who have some crazy mixture of gasoline and God knows what else running through their veins build crazy track tools. I myself, through ownership, have learned to understand one very important thing–old cars are already different. There is no need to customize them since they stand out in a crowd as they are–stock with a little bit of patina. You just need to keep running them for as long as you can and preserve them for the next generations of Petrolisti.