As mentioned in the earlier Peugeot 404 article, the local auto club is auctioning off two cars this coming weekend. In addition to the Peugeot, there’s this, a 1987-model Lada Samara 1300 that is going under the hammer and sickle on Sunday.

In the true spirit of перестройка, the Lada was reformed after spending five years immobile and stangnant in a barn, covered in dust and cack. It also received some mechanical sprucing up these past couple of weeks, so that it could return to the streets.

Resembling a Yugo but a size bigger, the Lada Samara was co-developed in the early Eighties with Porsche’s engineering division. It’s not something Porsche like to make a too big fuss about, but the presence of a Lada in the Porsche Museum tells something about the project. The Samara also bears a significant resemblance to the mid-1970s Porsche FLA concept, which was an affordable hatchback designed for a long life. The 1985-unveiled Samara is still in production, albeit modified somewhat.

This one is one of the first-generation cars with the original plastic nose treatment, which got toned down later.

The Samara spent its time in the same barn in which I winter-stored my Sapporo. I never gave it too much attention, as it was overly dusty and had a lot of stuff inside it. But just a couple of weeks ago it was dragged out of the barn and loaded onto a trailer, and with some Mercedes W124 300D power it made it to the garage. Slowly, though.

The Lada wears bespoke and period-correct Melber wheels, imprinted with the Samara logo. A neat touch. The tires are de-studded Michelin winter tires, and frankly hopeless.

The plastic nose cone would be a challenging thing to polish. The colour was fading, and the scrapes and scratches were going to stick there.

The interior wasn’t too dirty, but the seat covers were manky and the dust everywhere made the horrible quality dashboard look even worse. The rear seat had two seat covers on it, and an inexplicable accordion resided there.

Towed to the garage, the Samara could begin to be worked on. The major issue with the Samara was that the ignition barrel was dead. With some persuading with a hammer, the old ignition lock came off and could be replaced – but not before undoing some GDPO fixes done years ago. The plastic on the steering column was so brittle, that it couldn’t be manhandled too much.

After replacing the ignition lock and fiddling with the carburetor, the Samara sprung to life after numerous attempts.

A quick power wash removed most of the accumulated cack, but it was still time to detail the car better.

The engine bay received a powerwash as well. It didn’t exactly run any worse after being washed, on the contrary. On the left, you can see the block heater socket, and the oil cap was mentioned to be straight from a ’60s Fiat product.

The horrible seat covers came off to reveal intact seats with no rips, and a little hoovering and cleaning made it a little bit nicer inside. Nothing in the cabin is very high quality, and the ergonomics are at least questionable. But it all works, sort of.

The manual (of course!) gearbox is a 5-speed, so theoretically it’s bearable on the highway.

A couple days later, armed with a bag of polishing products, I went to town on the paintwork. Cheaply bought paint reviver, hand-buffed, together with some bumper blackener turned the Samara closer to presentable.

After that, the Samara was attempted to get through inspection at the nearest inspection station. Brake and idle issues have still prevented it to reach road legal state, but it’s possible these will get sorted out before the auction.

You know, cleaning up the Samara and to see it get a pulse again sort of made me get all attached to it. It’s basically worthless: while the RWD Ladas are liked and cherished, no-one really cares about the Samara at all. But this example is practically rust free, has only 84 000 km on the clock, and looks somehow likeable in an underdog way. I really wouldn’t mind doing my grocery runs in it, when it’s road legal again. If it receives no proper bids at all, I sort of almost could even snap it for myself. Watch this space.

[Images: Copyright 2013 Hooniverse/Antti Kautonen]

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Remember the GAZ 3110? Of course you do, it’s the taxi that was hooned by Jason Bourne in the second installment of the Bourne trilogy. And thanks to that film, millions of people got to see what they thought was a Volvo 240 with a weird front fascia. Truth be told, the GAZ dates back to a time when the Volvo 240 series was barely in the works, which should give you a good idea as to the mechanicals underhood. And now you can even have the 3110 in 1:43.

The GAZ 3110 came out in 1997, and essentially represented yet another facelift of the GAZ 24 which premiered in 1970, retaining its basic midsection and architecture. The GAZ 24 model line diverged a bit in the early 1980s with the release of the upmarket 3102 and no-frills 2410, and the 3110 traces its lineage to the basic 2410 model. And yes, these numbers are a pain to keep straight, but just wait till you talk to someone who actually knows all the different engines that went into the GAZ cars, because they have even more complex index numbers. 

The 3110’s main claim to fame is that the poor GAZ plant managed to get this thing out the door in the first place. The Gorky Automotive plant in Nizhny Novgorod, formerly a city closed off to foreigners, suffered quite a lot in the 1990s. First up was the wholesale implosion of its new V8 AWD sedan, the 3105, which almost nobody bought (something like 120 examples were made, and promptly used up by government institutions). Then came the financial crisis of 1998 and months of cash shortages.

The 31029 model, which itself was a facelift of the 2410, came out in 1992 and managed to stay in production till 1997. Not that many examples of the 31029 are in use now, because they’ve all rusted or have fallen apart. And then in 1997 the already aging 3110 replaced the aging 31029, debuting a “new” fascia and some marginally different body panels. The greatest thing about the 3110 is that the department that designed the interior finally got the memo that the 1990s had arrived, and this is where the car received the most changes.

The whole GAZ 24 line of cars suffers from a number of things really, chief among which is the perception that they’re all facelifts of the same model dating back to 1970. And to a large degree this is very much true. We’re accustomed to treating the Volvo 140 and 240 series cars as being totally different things, but the GAZ line of cars received a far greater number of changes over its complicated lifetime than the 140/240 series.

The GAZ 3110 and its successors (oh yeah, it’s been facelifted a few times since) are perhaps the closest thing that Russia had to a Ford Crown Vic – a model that has been rendered obsolete many times over, but managed to stay in production due to its simplicity, durability, and ease of maintenance. And now you can buy it in 1:43 and make people guess what it is.

The eBays are of course the best place to get these, and you shouldn’t pay more than $18.00 for this particular spiffy version of the GAZ by scale model manufacturer IST, though some others like the 24 and the 2410 by IXO/DeAgostini can be found for even cheaper as they don’t come with a jewel box.

[Images: Copyright 2013 Hooniverse/Jay Ramey]

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In all the hoopla presently surrounding Tesla, what with it paying back its government loan early, Consumer Reports dreamy-eyed review, and sales supposedly beating the gas-powered competition – for a single news cycle at least – very little has been made over the fact that people are calling the front cargo hold on the Model S the Frunk. I think something needs to be done about that.

There are a whole bunch of automotive nicknames that have stuck – three on the tree, broadie knob, dagmars (go look that one up, growwwwl), and the Hofmiester Kink among them. All of those have rightfully earned their place in the automotive lexicon. And although Tesla seems to be on a roll of late, I want to make sure that the Elon Musk-founded company fails on one point, and that’s bringing ubiquity to the term frunk.

First of all, the Model S isn’t the first car to have a trunk in its nose. In fact, one of the most popular cars on the planet, the Porsche engineered, built for decades Volkswagen Type 1 put its engine in back and its secured storage under its curvaceous front boot lid. Others, Porsche’s own 356 and 911, Chevy’s Corvair, Simca Imps, Fiat 500s, 600s, 750s – hell, most of their older number-based models – all kept their junk in the trunk. . . in the front.

None of them anointed this feature the frunk, and I am thankful for that small favor. Frunk you see, is not a good word. Trunk is a good word – it has precedence. Boot is a good word should you live under the watchful eye of the British Monarchy. I wonder, had Tesla seen its fortunes rise on the British Isles rather than the far sunnier climes of California, would proponents call the forward storage compartment the froot?

Here’s the thing, I’m sure you share my distaste for frunk and would like to see this particular portmanteau follow other recent attempts at expanding our global vocabulary such as Shizzle, Cray, Pronado, and Justin Beiber into history’s dust bin. All it takes is a concerted effort on all our parts to never use it again. 

Instead, we need to come up with another, far more acceptable term that accurately describes the forward storage facility of cars like the Tesla. I advocate the portmanteau  Fold – the combining of forward and hold - which I find far more pleasing than Frunk. What do you think, is there a better descriptor than Fold, or, obviously, Frunk? 

Images: CNN Money, TeslaMotorsClub

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If you want to combine your love of British motoring with your need to move small loads, then keep reading.

What we have here is a plucky little Morris Minor; a 1959 Morris Minor Traveller, to be exact.

From the ad:

The powertrain consists of a Datsun A15 motor with a 5-speed synchromesh overdrive transmission (both completely rebuilt) for more reliable power and relaxed freeway cruising.  This is a close cousin to the original motor since Datsun originally built Austin motors under license from England.  The drum brakes have been replaced with disk brakes on the front and suspension has been converted to tubular shocks.  It looks completely stock, but these upgrades make it  reliable and able to keep up with traffic.  It has an alternator electrical system and modern, tri-bar  halogen headlights so you can rely on the electics.  Rebuilt SU-carburetors. 

So far, so good. As restomods go, this is one of the better ones. Other than the wheels, there is little indication that this is anything but a clean Morris. All the upgrades to the engine and brakes are for safety, not outright performance or show.

That is a very clean engine bay. Every wire and hose in its place. I like the placement of the battery, up and out of the way.

The price is not exactly exorbitant, but it’s not exactly cheap, either, is it? However, if you have $12,000 burning a hole in your pocket, you can put it in the bank and worry about it disappearing, or you can put it in a classic British machine, which will certainly turn heads and attract thumbs from all directions. What do you think of this little blue woody wagon?

[Source: Seattle craigslist]

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After years of waiting, Australia’s V8 Supercars has finally crossed the other pond and introduced their fierce touring car series to the US. After a weekend at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas, I’ve had a good taste of the action… but they only teased us.

I don’t want to sound disappointed, because that’s not entirely the case, but I stopped keeping track of how many Australians were apologizing  to me for how “boring” it was. And if you’ve followed any of V8SC’s action and saw this weekend’s race, you may see why. It is to no fault of teams or drivers, they put on a helluva show and on pure style alone laid down some of the most entertaining racing COTA has seen yet. Snarling V8s with shotgun-blast shifting, and no fear of contact or regard for curbs as they flew across COTA on two, and at times even on a single tire trying to grasp the track for grip.

V8 Supercars is well known for their rowdy racing antics in their home races. The combination of relatively relaxed contact rules, course rules (However, they still have tight walls or tire barriers to keep them on course), sturdy race cars, and fantastic drivers culminates into a unique road racing series that doesn’t mind a lot a little bump and grind to make a pass. Part of the reason why people refer to V8SC as an Australian NASCAR is that like NASCAR, contact and crashing is a bit of an expected aspect in the racing. For the Austin 400, things didn’t quite line up to allow for that.

The new course still presents many challenges for teams and drivers, and a decision by V8SC on tires all conspired to deprive the drivers of the setting needed to bring out their aggressive racing. The drivers are deadly consistent with each other, with the top-ten qualifying runs often separated by tenths; when they’re extruded into a line of cars it’s hard for them to bunch back up into a dogfight. But when kept in a large pack, this consistency keeps the racing tight, entertaining, and aggressive; something we saw on race starts and after yellow flags when the cars were regrouped.I believe that course layout and tire choices were some of the factors that kept the racing civilized.  

The new course surface and layout(s) is still proving to be a big challenge to the various series racing COTA for the first time. This is the first time for the short “National Circuit”, which is a short cut that bypasses turns six through eleven from the “Grand Prix” circuit that has been used at every event so far, including the 2012 F1 race, and Grand-Am. The short cut diverts the course in the middle of the s-bends after turn two, and has a very fun looking left-right kink that also kicks the cars up and over the apex which dips in the middle of the kink before taking a quick left and aiming the cars back onto the old back-straight before turn twelve. The section slows down the cars and chokes them down into a single file, even though it was a super entertaining corner as the drivers cut the kink as tight as possible with their cars flying up onto two wheels, and sometimes even floating by with a single tire gripping the road. After riding with Fabian Coulthard during the preview event on the Grand Prix circuit, the long course would have been better for the racing action. The blind left of turn 10 is a test of driver mettle, especially when taken right: flat out. The back straight also provides fantastic passing opportunities, beginning with the hairpin of turn 11, and with the 180 mile-per-hour blast down the back straight into turn 12, the cars have to tank on the brakes hard and dig into the tight hairpin. Turn 12 with the back straight was one of the most exciting corners of Grand Am.

The road surface is still rubbering in, and with the National Circuit there was a lot of playing around with lines to discover the fastest route through the unknown piece of track, something that COTA’s relatively low-danger curbing and run-offs allowed a lot of. Those wide run-offs dropped the element of danger that keeps drivers fighting for position on their home tracks; at COTA any errors put cars gingerly off onto the run-offs and they would calmly jump back into the pack. This is a stark contrast to many of the home circuits with their tightly barriered courses where a little bump and grind will push a few cars into a wall, and into each other. 

The combination of the new surface and still-new layout (regardless of the shortcut) made setup decisions tough for many teams who were fighting various handling problems while dealing with the provided hard-compound tires. With concerns over tire degradation with the technical track, V8SC tested the waters with hard compound tires throughout the weekend. What they learned, however, was that the tires held up much better than expected. With some tire degradation comes opportunities for passing as drivers wear their tires at different rates depending on driver style and strategy. With all drivers wearing tires fairly equally, there didn’t seem to be much of a chance to upset the balanced and consistent field as the races wore on. 

Despite some of these challenges, the drivers put on a wicked show for everyone. What aggression they lacked in fender-into-fender contact, they put into the car and course. They are very keen to find the fastest line possible, even if it means getting airborne. The drivers enjoyed the course’s challenging layout, even if a little frustrated with the road to finding a solid setup for the weekend. “We’ll come back next year,” said Whincup, “We’ll change it up a bit, maybe we’ll throw some soft tires on, maybe we’ll take the mufflers off. It’s a bit embarrassing being so quiet compared to the support categories.  We can do plenty of things to spice it up for next year.”

And at the end of the weekend, that is what the inaugural Austin 400 is: a learning experience. With just under 67,000 in attendance, with about 10% of those being Australians, we had a solid turnout of local race fans. The series has a lot to bring to US race fans. We now know what these Aussies need to thrive, and I look forward to next year being an epic return. V8SC has caught the attention of US race fans who would normally not come to a roadrace, in particular NASCAR fans. With a solid push into US race culture (Like I’ve said before, a Ken Block-style assault into the media) and a few changes to the recipe with the course and tire decisions, V8 Supercars looks to be one of the most fun racing series offered in the US. The teams were awesome to joke with in paddock, the cars are epic to watch fly across curbs, and the drivers are fierce in their racecraft. The perfect storm is brewing, it just needs the right day. 

For now though, here’s some cool wicked photos from the weekend. Hit up my Flickr for higher res photos and desktop-sized goodness. 

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When it comes to pickup trucks, the world is filled with divisions- Ford vs. Chevy, foreign vs. domestic, full-sized vs. compact. Today I want to add to the discordant discourse by finding out which on side of the divide you all stand when it comes to one more aspect of pickup truck preference, that being fenders out or fenders in.

At the dawn of the automotive age, there was no such choice, all trucks – and all cars for that matter had fenders that were separate from their bodies. It was the quest for speed that began in the 1930s that gave aerodynamics a more important role in automotive design, making mono-bodies the norm. For trucks it took almost two decades to catch up, the fiberglass fendered Chevy Cameo Carrier and wagon winged Dodge Sweptside models arriving in the late fifties.

For the next decade and a half the smooth paneled Flareside – or Fleetside, or Styleside if that’s how you roll – seemed to dominate the market. It wasn’t until the mid seventies that pickup boxes without encroaching wheel arches once again seemed to find favor. Today, you’re more likely to see the more aero-shaped smooth sides on new trucks, but plenty of each type are available on the used and abused market. For today’s Hooniverse Asks, I want to know which style is your preference? 

Image: WelcomeToMyYardShow

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