Eldritch
03-04-2011, 06:17 AM
Lada cars are starting to disappear from Finland’s roads; the decline is also evident also in the Finnish Lada Club’s gatherings
http://www.hs.fi/kuvat/iso_webkuva/1135264138337.jpeg
Matti Mäkelä says that he has attended all but one of the Lada gatherings organised in Finland. Mäkelä has owned four Ladas in his time. The model behind him is from 1996.
http://www.hs.fi/kuvat/iso_webkuva/1135264138685.jpeg[/url
The early 1980s was still a golden age for the humble Lada in Finland. Now the cars are becoming an increasingly rare sight on our roads.
Statistics Finland confirms what anyone with half an eye can see on the Finnish roads and streets: there are not that many old Ladas about any more or on the vehicle register.
For example, of Ladas that were manufactured in the 1970s, only just over 350 are still on the register in Finland.
Of all the Ladas ever sold in Finland, around ten per cent are still in circulation.
Even the ranks of the country’s Lada Owners' Club are gradually thinning out.
Once the total membership was around one and a half thousand, now the figure is less than half of that.
Nevertheless, at Sunday’s traditional Lada gathering in Kangasala it became obvious that as an automobile and as a way of life, the doughty Lada still has strong appeal.
At least 50 Ladas were present at the annual meet of Finland’s Lada enthusiasts.
This was 48 more than in the classic 1995 sketch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3flnklGQczs) from the Finnish TV comedy programme Kummeli, which actually inspired the country’s Lada owners to set up their club.
This year marks an anniversary for the Lada fanatics. Forty years have passed since the first Lada was imported into Finland. The rest is automotive and national history.
It is perhaps time to ask what the Lada’s significance is to Finnish society.
“It was a trade vehicle and its role was significant. It was also one of the best commodities to come out of Soviet Union”, says Lada enthusiast Jussi Kulonen.
By "trade vehicle" Kulonen does not mean a car to go to the supermarket in, but he is referring to the bilateral trading between Finland and Soviet Union, of which only memories now remain.
“Finland would not have motorised so thoroughly without the Lada. It was the first car that suited the northern conditions and that anyone and everyone could afford to buy”, says Lada Club chairman Mika Suomalainen.
“For the price of a Mercedes one could buy ten Ladas. Those ten Ladas would drive you much further than one Mercedes.”
Another Lada devotee, Matti Mäkelä, who speaks with the authority warranted by having owned four Ladas, says that he has attended all but one of the Lada gatherings.
The stickers on the car window testify to this fact.
“The Lada was great on not so great roads, and even in severe frost conditions it would always start.”
With his own 1996 Lada, Mäkelä would still dare to drive to the northern town of Rovaniemi and back any day, even though the car will no longer pass the annual vehicle inspection with anything like ease.
There is some corrosion in the side-panels and over the wheels.
Ensio Paavilainen, in turn, has driven the same Lada already for thirty years.
“In its time it was the best set of wheels available. At least it was durable. Today’s Ladas no longer last as well. With my Lada I have never once been left stranded by the roadside."
After having spent an hour with the Lada enthusiasts, one cannot help but to make an observation: here people do not come to preen and show off their pimped-up cars.
The vehicles are standing quietly in the background with their flanks covered with mud and rust.
Their owners, on the other hand, have gathered together, and are grilling sausages over the fire and laughing heartily.
“We have often been criticised that we are not a proper automobile club. We concentrate on people rather than cars”, says chairman Suomalainen, with just a hint of pride in his voice.
The production of Ladas was commenced in the Soviet Union in 1970.
The first Ladas found their way into Finland in 1971.
Cheap and cheerful, they became an instant hit, though often the butt of jokes like "Lada - Car of the Year. Two years, if you're really lucky".
Lada’s golden age in Finland began in 1975, and lasted for more than ten years.
In 1977 the 4-wheel-drive Lada Niva was added to the range.
In 1978 Lada was the clear market leader in Finland. More than ten per cent of all the cars sold were Ladas.
The year 1984 saw the start of the production of the front-wheel-drive Samara (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lada_Samara).
The Samara's popularity, however, remained a far cry from that of the traditional and boxy rear-wheel-drive Lada models.
The 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union marked the start of the final countdown for Lada.
In 1992 it fell out of the top five most popular car makes in Finland.
The tide turned, and Russians began to buy Ladas back from Finland.
In 2003 the importation of Samaras ended.
In 2010 there were just fewer than 22,600 Ladas on the vehicle register in Finland.
Helsinskaja Pravda (English edition) (http://www.hs.fi/english/article/The+Lada+A+joke+that+just+rolls+on+and+on/1135264188489)
http://www.hs.fi/kuvat/iso_webkuva/1135264138337.jpeg
Matti Mäkelä says that he has attended all but one of the Lada gatherings organised in Finland. Mäkelä has owned four Ladas in his time. The model behind him is from 1996.
http://www.hs.fi/kuvat/iso_webkuva/1135264138685.jpeg[/url
The early 1980s was still a golden age for the humble Lada in Finland. Now the cars are becoming an increasingly rare sight on our roads.
Statistics Finland confirms what anyone with half an eye can see on the Finnish roads and streets: there are not that many old Ladas about any more or on the vehicle register.
For example, of Ladas that were manufactured in the 1970s, only just over 350 are still on the register in Finland.
Of all the Ladas ever sold in Finland, around ten per cent are still in circulation.
Even the ranks of the country’s Lada Owners' Club are gradually thinning out.
Once the total membership was around one and a half thousand, now the figure is less than half of that.
Nevertheless, at Sunday’s traditional Lada gathering in Kangasala it became obvious that as an automobile and as a way of life, the doughty Lada still has strong appeal.
At least 50 Ladas were present at the annual meet of Finland’s Lada enthusiasts.
This was 48 more than in the classic 1995 sketch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3flnklGQczs) from the Finnish TV comedy programme Kummeli, which actually inspired the country’s Lada owners to set up their club.
This year marks an anniversary for the Lada fanatics. Forty years have passed since the first Lada was imported into Finland. The rest is automotive and national history.
It is perhaps time to ask what the Lada’s significance is to Finnish society.
“It was a trade vehicle and its role was significant. It was also one of the best commodities to come out of Soviet Union”, says Lada enthusiast Jussi Kulonen.
By "trade vehicle" Kulonen does not mean a car to go to the supermarket in, but he is referring to the bilateral trading between Finland and Soviet Union, of which only memories now remain.
“Finland would not have motorised so thoroughly without the Lada. It was the first car that suited the northern conditions and that anyone and everyone could afford to buy”, says Lada Club chairman Mika Suomalainen.
“For the price of a Mercedes one could buy ten Ladas. Those ten Ladas would drive you much further than one Mercedes.”
Another Lada devotee, Matti Mäkelä, who speaks with the authority warranted by having owned four Ladas, says that he has attended all but one of the Lada gatherings.
The stickers on the car window testify to this fact.
“The Lada was great on not so great roads, and even in severe frost conditions it would always start.”
With his own 1996 Lada, Mäkelä would still dare to drive to the northern town of Rovaniemi and back any day, even though the car will no longer pass the annual vehicle inspection with anything like ease.
There is some corrosion in the side-panels and over the wheels.
Ensio Paavilainen, in turn, has driven the same Lada already for thirty years.
“In its time it was the best set of wheels available. At least it was durable. Today’s Ladas no longer last as well. With my Lada I have never once been left stranded by the roadside."
After having spent an hour with the Lada enthusiasts, one cannot help but to make an observation: here people do not come to preen and show off their pimped-up cars.
The vehicles are standing quietly in the background with their flanks covered with mud and rust.
Their owners, on the other hand, have gathered together, and are grilling sausages over the fire and laughing heartily.
“We have often been criticised that we are not a proper automobile club. We concentrate on people rather than cars”, says chairman Suomalainen, with just a hint of pride in his voice.
The production of Ladas was commenced in the Soviet Union in 1970.
The first Ladas found their way into Finland in 1971.
Cheap and cheerful, they became an instant hit, though often the butt of jokes like "Lada - Car of the Year. Two years, if you're really lucky".
Lada’s golden age in Finland began in 1975, and lasted for more than ten years.
In 1977 the 4-wheel-drive Lada Niva was added to the range.
In 1978 Lada was the clear market leader in Finland. More than ten per cent of all the cars sold were Ladas.
The year 1984 saw the start of the production of the front-wheel-drive Samara (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lada_Samara).
The Samara's popularity, however, remained a far cry from that of the traditional and boxy rear-wheel-drive Lada models.
The 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union marked the start of the final countdown for Lada.
In 1992 it fell out of the top five most popular car makes in Finland.
The tide turned, and Russians began to buy Ladas back from Finland.
In 2003 the importation of Samaras ended.
In 2010 there were just fewer than 22,600 Ladas on the vehicle register in Finland.
Helsinskaja Pravda (English edition) (http://www.hs.fi/english/article/The+Lada+A+joke+that+just+rolls+on+and+on/1135264188489)