Adrian_pt

One UK market Duster has survived in .... Murmansk. Apparently imported in around 1990 by a local sailor. Seems to be in nice nick too.

Ladies and gentlemen .. I give you the Dacia Funeral. Made by an East German coachbuilder in the early 80s. 
 
Romania is generally full of shit hearses - just google image "vanzare dric" for some absolute crackers. Best I've seen was on a Fiat 125 base. 

There are three left, which is pretty impressive given only 481 24s made it over. Sadly the guy who  took the photo can't remember where exactly, but there was a lot of interest around it last year. 
Here's the same car in the 80s. 

There are three left, which is pretty impressive given only 481 24s made it over. Sadly the guy who  took the photo can't remember where exactly, but there was a lot of interest around it last year. 
Here's the same car in the 80s. 

Imagine the name had Ghia done it

Bucharest, 1974. Oddly proportioned sedan. I wouldn't be fixated on the Eastern bloc location - literally anything could be found on its streets back then. Opel Rekord perhaps?

Looks like a homemade attempt at an Opel Rekord A to me:

Imagine the name had Ghia done it

Imagine the name had Ghia done it

Imagine the name had Ghia done it

Imagine the name had Ghia done it

Imagine the name had Ghia done it

Imagine the name had Ghia done it

Imagine the name had Ghia done it

Imagine the name had Ghia done it

Imagine the name had Ghia done it

Interesting find! It's certainly not a 'production' car from any country, but whether it's a factory prototype or a homemade car I can't say. I think the latter is much more likely, given the cruidty of the wheelarch shapes and fitment of the glass. I would guess Moskvitch or IZH-based, but I suspect we'll never know the true identity. I can't see it in any of the usual sources for Soviet homebuilds but I haven't looked very hard tbh.

Soviet bitsa. They made lots of them, some stylish, a lot complete lash-ups. Same kind of stuff was going on elsewhere in the Eastern bloc - and indeed in immediate post-war Germany and Austria.
The most bonkers one I've heard of was this, made from two 125 motorbikes welded together with a home-made body up top - at some stage in the 60s it even had a facelift to give it quad headlights. Power came from ... both engines. 
 
 

Soviet bitsa. They made lots of them, some stylish, a lot complete lash-ups. Same kind of stuff was going on elsewhere in the Eastern bloc - and indeed in immediate post-war Germany and Austria.
The most bonkers one I've heard of was this, made from two 125 motorbikes welded together with a home-made body up top - at some stage in the 60s it even had a facelift to give it quad headlights. Power came from ... both engines. 
 
 

Soviet bitsa. They made lots of them, some stylish, a lot complete lash-ups. Same kind of stuff was going on elsewhere in the Eastern bloc - and indeed in immediate post-war Germany and Austria.
The most bonkers one I've heard of was this, made from two 125 motorbikes welded together with a home-made body up top - at some stage in the 60s it even had a facelift to give it quad headlights. Power came from ... both engines. 
 
 

Soviet bitsa. They made lots of them, some stylish, a lot complete lash-ups. Same kind of stuff was going on elsewhere in the Eastern bloc - and indeed in immediate post-war Germany and Austria.
The most bonkers one I've heard of was this, made from two 125 motorbikes welded together with a home-made body up top - at some stage in the 60s it even had a facelift to give it quad headlights. Power came from ... both engines. 
 
 

I daily a B reg, but by daily I mean weekend / skip / shop runs as I'm based in central London. About 5k a year, much more this year as I ended up doing a lot of travelling across the UK. For me it's doable if 1) it's a decently made car in the first place 2) you don't skimp on the maintenance and 3) it has enough poke to keep up with motorway traffic. Smiles per gallon easily offsets  the lack of creature comforts (cold wet mornings are a pain) and the fact that things will at some point go wrong. Had it for 16 years,  no real plans to change - I'll even take the Ulez hit. But I'll be the first to say it's not for everyone. 
I did, about three years ago, have to daily (as in 2000+km a month) a 1984 Dacia for a couple of months...

I daily a B reg, but by daily I mean weekend / skip / shop runs as I'm based in central London. About 5k a year, much more this year as I ended up doing a lot of travelling across the UK. For me it's doable if 1) it's a decently made car in the first place 2) you don't skimp on the maintenance and 3) it has enough poke to keep up with motorway traffic. Smiles per gallon easily offsets  the lack of creature comforts (cold wet mornings are a pain) and the fact that things will at some point go wrong. Had it for 16 years,  no real plans to change - I'll even take the Ulez hit. But I'll be the first to say it's not for everyone. 
I did, about three years ago, have to daily (as in 2000+km a month) a 1984 Dacia for a couple of months...