By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

There’s a lot to be said for making do with what you’ve got. And while this Lada-based Mustang wannabe might hit all the wrong notes, it’s certainly not for lack of trying. See more pics at English Russia, via Carscoop.

Continue reading "Lada Faux-Stang" »

By Ryan Porter

IN-N-OUT Editor

Have you checked out this week’s showoff of the week?  Rob blogged about one of S_Kartuzoff’s other Ladas this weekend. But there is literally so much craziness that I don’t know where to start.  What’s your take on this crazy ride?

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Though I doubt it’s gonna go off road any time soon. See all the pics on Semen’s ride page!

While some people—like, um, me—might think the idea of a Lada supercar sounds totally sketch, you have to admit that anything which might keep drunken Russian billionaires from wrecking Enzos is kind of attractive. More over at Jalopnik.

I wrote about Jon’s Lada rally car last week. Well, the Fast Lane Daily guys loved his car, so check it out, right around the 2:45 mark.

I decided to check back in on Jon’s Lada, which I blogged about back in May. Looks like he got the car sorted out and he even managed to do the Galway-Cavendish Forest Rally last month–finishing 2nd in his class and 14th over all. Not too bad! Lots of pics on page 6 of his ride page.

Russia and the USSR have a long history of motorsport (both rally and autocross). We’ve got professional rally teams, interesting cars, our kids go to carting schools and so on. A couple of years ago I found this short movie, showing Baltic rally-racers driving theirs Lada 1100 (VAZ-2101)–one of the legendary Soviet rides. At the time this clip was taken we’d not even heard the word "drift," but look at those guys! They’ve got a real drift experience!

We featured Jon’s Bug, Crashy, in the blog last year. Now he’s added a cool little Lada rally car to the stable. He’s looking for input on the design, so if you have any ideas, be sure to leave a comment in his guestbook.

It’s Monday, but that’s ok. I know, from experience, that I’m lucky to have a job I enjoy. Anyway, here’s the news:

• The General has seemed to weather the American Axle strike pretty well, but now the UAW has called a strike at a Kansas plant which makes the Malibu. It’s unclear if the motivation for the strike is based on actual grievances or just being used to make the GM help solve the AA fiasco. Automotive News
• Pininfarina has announced that it will dedicate one of its factories to electric car production. The car  hasn’t debuted yet, but the Italian coach builder has said that it will be available in the United States in 2010, and will have 155 miles range. Sounds cool, but I’ll believe it when I see it. AutoWeek
• Most of the time, when you hear a Lada mentioned, it’s as a punchline, or it’s being somehow compromised in a photo lifted from English Russia. But this one is designed to campaign in the WTCC series. Who knew? Jalopnik
• Looks like the shot of the M1 Prototype which was making the rounds on the internet is just a PhotoChop. Kind of a shame, as it’s a really sexy looking car. Hopefully BMW is taking notes. CarScoop

Yikes! This crash test makes the one for the Cherry Amulet look like a birthday party! Editorial hasn’t been able to determine the make of this deathtrap, but we’re kind of feeling Lada. Do you think this is even for real? It seems like structural elements would have to be removed for the car to pancake so perfectly.