Adrian_pt

Yes - one in as-new condition, unregistered since new, Suffolk IIRC, and another in the Highlands in dire nick. Another minibus recently died a death. 
They were actually imported (like the AROs) in two goes - one in around 1975 and the other from 1979 till around 1981. Not popular!
Interestingly* the UAZ was being imported at roughly the same time, known as the Trekmaster. 

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

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

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

Yes - one in as-new condition, unregistered since new, Suffolk IIRC, and another in the Highlands in dire nick. Another minibus recently died a death. 
They were actually imported (like the AROs) in two goes - one in around 1975 and the other from 1979 till around 1981. Not popular!
Interestingly* the UAZ was being imported at roughly the same time, known as the Trekmaster. 

Yes - one in as-new condition, unregistered since new, Suffolk IIRC, and another in the Highlands in dire nick. Another minibus recently died a death. 
They were actually imported (like the AROs) in two goes - one in around 1975 and the other from 1979 till around 1981. Not popular!
Interestingly* the UAZ was being imported at roughly the same time, known as the Trekmaster. 

Yes - one in as-new condition, unregistered since new, Suffolk IIRC, and another in the Highlands in dire nick. Another minibus recently died a death. 
They were actually imported (like the AROs) in two goes - one in around 1975 and the other from 1979 till around 1981. Not popular!
Interestingly* the UAZ was being imported at roughly the same time, known as the Trekmaster. 

Yes - one in as-new condition, unregistered since new, Suffolk IIRC, and another in the Highlands in dire nick. Another minibus recently died a death. 
They were actually imported (like the AROs) in two goes - one in around 1975 and the other from 1979 till around 1981. Not popular!
Interestingly* the UAZ was being imported at roughly the same time, known as the Trekmaster. 

I wouldn't quite say "Highlands", its 5 miles south of @Saabnut.
Some of it might still be there, that photo is about 10 years old.

Yes - one in as-new condition, unregistered since new, Suffolk IIRC, and another in the Highlands in dire nick. Another minibus recently died a death. 
They were actually imported (like the AROs) in two goes - one in around 1975 and the other from 1979 till around 1981. Not popular!
Interestingly* the UAZ was being imported at roughly the same time, known as the Trekmaster. 

Yes - one in as-new condition, unregistered since new, Suffolk IIRC, and another in the Highlands in dire nick. Another minibus recently died a death. 
They were actually imported (like the AROs) in two goes - one in around 1975 and the other from 1979 till around 1981. Not popular!
Interestingly* the UAZ was being imported at roughly the same time, known as the Trekmaster. 

Yes - one in as-new condition, unregistered since new, Suffolk IIRC, and another in the Highlands in dire nick. Another minibus recently died a death. 
They were actually imported (like the AROs) in two goes - one in around 1975 and the other from 1979 till around 1981. Not popular!
Interestingly* the UAZ was being imported at roughly the same time, known as the Trekmaster. 

Yes - one in as-new condition, unregistered since new, Suffolk IIRC, and another in the Highlands in dire nick. Another minibus recently died a death. 
They were actually imported (like the AROs) in two goes - one in around 1975 and the other from 1979 till around 1981. Not popular!
Interestingly* the UAZ was being imported at roughly the same time, known as the Trekmaster. 

Speaking from a Polish perspective, he nostalgia for stuff like the Polonez is very much picking up, although mostly among the younger generations - you know, people who rode in the back of their parents' Polonez as kids in the 90's or early 00's. People born before the mid 80's or so, who actually got to live in and remember communism tend to be much less keen on cars from that period.
More and more kids these days are even starting to claim that stuff like the Polonez wasn't nearly as terrible as everyone says they were. I imagine they're only saying that because they've never driven one.
As far as other Polish cars go:
- the FSO Warszawa is now a full blown classic, doesn't matter which flavour one wants - they're all expensive.
- early 125ps are also genuine classics by now, to get one from before it got hit with with the ugly stick you're gonna be spending a lot of money. 80's cars are also quite expensive atm, but I'm not entirely convinced that's warranted. Cars from the tail end of production (~1988+) are a bit of a joke, they were put together with precision to the nearest foot and I wouldn't wish one on an enemy.
- the FSO/FSM Syrena is also a full blown classic by now, although it's never lost its reputation of being a bit of an unfunny joke on wheels. They're not easy to keep on the road.
- early 126ps are definitely considered classics by now, late ones not so much, but prices are rising. I reckon we'll reach a point when even late ones are pretty desirable because they offer a very similar experience overall. It's probably most fondly remembered of Polish cars and an easy way to get into classic car ownership.

Can't speak for the other countries but in Romania Audis, VWs and Beemers rule the roost. If you're skint you have an older one, or a Dacia Logan. Communist-era cars (including the Dacia 13xx series, made up to 2004) are very thin on the ground - they tend to be owned by eccentric pensioners in town, and poor people in the countryside, plus a growing number of collectors. Their status kind of depends where you are. 
When I'm over there, I live in a relatively poor county, so tend to get pitied for driving a 1984 Dacia - lots of comments along the lines of "Well, if it gets you from A to B...". But the car is normally kept in neighbouring Iasi, which is prosperous, and there it gets grins, waves, and photos wherever it goes. So people do remember them fondly, but it requires a degree of distance, plus the comforting insulation of something reliable and German in the garage. From recent travels I get the impression it's the same elsewhere in Eastern Europe - the richer the country the more affectionately they look back on their motoring heritage.
One of my favourite Dacia moments was when going to an extremely snooty country house restaurant. The guys at the gates saw the ageing Dacia pootling up the drive and decided this was the sort of clientele they could do without, so promptly shut the gates. Which was funny for us, but mildly embarrassing for them when it emerged that not only did we have a booking, but we were also reviewing the place for a reasonably influential site. (Review was eventually published with the headline along the lines of "Should have taken a Porsche")
 

Yep - the further away from Western markets you went, the rarer they would be - but they existed.
Romanian still has the old fashioned phrase "to stare [at something] as if at a foreign car". 
The below were all privately owned cars in Communism. Other interesting vehicles were owned by the state (as official or rental cars) and by foreigners resident in the country. The Ceausescus had a few cars too, though the luxury ones tended to be for official use:  in private, Elena Ceausescu had a Renault 16, her daughter Zoe a Mercedes 350SL, her son Valentin a Triumph Spitfire (which still exists) followed by an Audi 100 coupe, and her other son Nicu another Renault 16 and a Ford Sierra. 
 

In Romania a Dacia 1300 was 77000 lei and a normal monthly wage was 2000-2500 (admittedly after tax). Pricey but there wasn't much else you could spend it on. In the late 60s you could get Western cars new - Fiats and Renaults plus a tiny handful of VWs and Fords. The state lottery memorably offered a Volvo Amazon as the top prize one year. If you had the cash, a Western vehicle was not unusual till about 1978 ,when import duties were considerably increased - that, plus the difficulty of getting spare parts, meant that most were swiftly taken off the road. Those who could, not just senior Party members but musicians, actors, sportspeople, doctors etc, had some pretty interesting cars - there were Range Rovers, E-types, Maseratis, Mercedes SLs, and even a drop top Rolls registered in Communist Bucharest. Some interesting cars had also survived the war, but the border was porous and a lot managed to trickle out of the country; one elderly couple I knew were offered a brand new Fiat 124 Coupe by Italian tourists in exchange for the elderly pre-war cabriolet they used as a daily driver in the 60s. They laughed as they did the deal and it was decades before they kicked themselves for having flogged a ... Bugatti.
 
 

In Romania a Dacia 1300 was 77000 lei and a normal monthly wage was 2000-2500 (admittedly after tax). Pricey but there wasn't much else you could spend it on. In the late 60s you could get Western cars new - Fiats and Renaults plus a tiny handful of VWs and Fords. The state lottery memorably offered a Volvo Amazon as the top prize one year. If you had the cash, a Western vehicle was not unusual till about 1978 ,when import duties were considerably increased - that, plus the difficulty of getting spare parts, meant that most were swiftly taken off the road. Those who could, not just senior Party members but musicians, actors, sportspeople, doctors etc, had some pretty interesting cars - there were Range Rovers, E-types, Maseratis, Mercedes SLs, and even a drop top Rolls registered in Communist Bucharest. Some interesting cars had also survived the war, but the border was porous and a lot managed to trickle out of the country; one elderly couple I knew were offered a brand new Fiat 124 Coupe by Italian tourists in exchange for the elderly pre-war cabriolet they used as a daily driver in the 60s. They laughed as they did the deal and it was decades before they kicked themselves for having flogged a ... Bugatti.
 
 

In Romania a Dacia 1300 was 77000 lei and a normal monthly wage was 2000-2500 (admittedly after tax). Pricey but there wasn't much else you could spend it on. In the late 60s you could get Western cars new - Fiats and Renaults plus a tiny handful of VWs and Fords. The state lottery memorably offered a Volvo Amazon as the top prize one year. If you had the cash, a Western vehicle was not unusual till about 1978 ,when import duties were considerably increased - that, plus the difficulty of getting spare parts, meant that most were swiftly taken off the road. Those who could, not just senior Party members but musicians, actors, sportspeople, doctors etc, had some pretty interesting cars - there were Range Rovers, E-types, Maseratis, Mercedes SLs, and even a drop top Rolls registered in Communist Bucharest. Some interesting cars had also survived the war, but the border was porous and a lot managed to trickle out of the country; one elderly couple I knew were offered a brand new Fiat 124 Coupe by Italian tourists in exchange for the elderly pre-war cabriolet they used as a daily driver in the 60s. They laughed as they did the deal and it was decades before they kicked themselves for having flogged a ... Bugatti.
 
 

Yep - the further away from Western markets you went, the rarer they would be - but they existed.
Romanian still has the old fashioned phrase "to stare [at something] as if at a foreign car". 
The below were all privately owned cars in Communism. Other interesting vehicles were owned by the state (as official or rental cars) and by foreigners resident in the country. The Ceausescus had a few cars too, though the luxury ones tended to be for official use:  in private, Elena Ceausescu had a Renault 16, her daughter Zoe a Mercedes 350SL, her son Valentin a Triumph Spitfire (which still exists) followed by an Audi 100 coupe, and her other son Nicu another Renault 16 and a Ford Sierra. 
 

Can't speak for the other countries but in Romania Audis, VWs and Beemers rule the roost. If you're skint you have an older one, or a Dacia Logan. Communist-era cars (including the Dacia 13xx series, made up to 2004) are very thin on the ground - they tend to be owned by eccentric pensioners in town, and poor people in the countryside, plus a growing number of collectors. Their status kind of depends where you are. 
When I'm over there, I live in a relatively poor county, so tend to get pitied for driving a 1984 Dacia - lots of comments along the lines of "Well, if it gets you from A to B...". But the car is normally kept in neighbouring Iasi, which is prosperous, and there it gets grins, waves, and photos wherever it goes. So people do remember them fondly, but it requires a degree of distance, plus the comforting insulation of something reliable and German in the garage. From recent travels I get the impression it's the same elsewhere in Eastern Europe - the richer the country the more affectionately they look back on their motoring heritage.
One of my favourite Dacia moments was when going to an extremely snooty country house restaurant. The guys at the gates saw the ageing Dacia pootling up the drive and decided this was the sort of clientele they could do without, so promptly shut the gates. Which was funny for us, but mildly embarrassing for them when it emerged that not only did we have a booking, but we were also reviewing the place for a reasonably influential site. (Review was eventually published with the headline along the lines of "Should have taken a Porsche")
 

Yep - the further away from Western markets you went, the rarer they would be - but they existed.
Romanian still has the old fashioned phrase "to stare [at something] as if at a foreign car". 
The below were all privately owned cars in Communism. Other interesting vehicles were owned by the state (as official or rental cars) and by foreigners resident in the country. The Ceausescus had a few cars too, though the luxury ones tended to be for official use:  in private, Elena Ceausescu had a Renault 16, her daughter Zoe a Mercedes 350SL, her son Valentin a Triumph Spitfire (which still exists) followed by an Audi 100 coupe, and her other son Nicu another Renault 16 and a Ford Sierra. 
 

Can't speak for the other countries but in Romania Audis, VWs and Beemers rule the roost. If you're skint you have an older one, or a Dacia Logan. Communist-era cars (including the Dacia 13xx series, made up to 2004) are very thin on the ground - they tend to be owned by eccentric pensioners in town, and poor people in the countryside, plus a growing number of collectors. Their status kind of depends where you are. 
When I'm over there, I live in a relatively poor county, so tend to get pitied for driving a 1984 Dacia - lots of comments along the lines of "Well, if it gets you from A to B...". But the car is normally kept in neighbouring Iasi, which is prosperous, and there it gets grins, waves, and photos wherever it goes. So people do remember them fondly, but it requires a degree of distance, plus the comforting insulation of something reliable and German in the garage. From recent travels I get the impression it's the same elsewhere in Eastern Europe - the richer the country the more affectionately they look back on their motoring heritage.
One of my favourite Dacia moments was when going to an extremely snooty country house restaurant. The guys at the gates saw the ageing Dacia pootling up the drive and decided this was the sort of clientele they could do without, so promptly shut the gates. Which was funny for us, but mildly embarrassing for them when it emerged that not only did we have a booking, but we were also reviewing the place for a reasonably influential site. (Review was eventually published with the headline along the lines of "Should have taken a Porsche")
 

Can't speak for the other countries but in Romania Audis, VWs and Beemers rule the roost. If you're skint you have an older one, or a Dacia Logan. Communist-era cars (including the Dacia 13xx series, made up to 2004) are very thin on the ground - they tend to be owned by eccentric pensioners in town, and poor people in the countryside, plus a growing number of collectors. Their status kind of depends where you are. 
When I'm over there, I live in a relatively poor county, so tend to get pitied for driving a 1984 Dacia - lots of comments along the lines of "Well, if it gets you from A to B...". But the car is normally kept in neighbouring Iasi, which is prosperous, and there it gets grins, waves, and photos wherever it goes. So people do remember them fondly, but it requires a degree of distance, plus the comforting insulation of something reliable and German in the garage. From recent travels I get the impression it's the same elsewhere in Eastern Europe - the richer the country the more affectionately they look back on their motoring heritage.
One of my favourite Dacia moments was when going to an extremely snooty country house restaurant. The guys at the gates saw the ageing Dacia pootling up the drive and decided this was the sort of clientele they could do without, so promptly shut the gates. Which was funny for us, but mildly embarrassing for them when it emerged that not only did we have a booking, but we were also reviewing the place for a reasonably influential site. (Review was eventually published with the headline along the lines of "Should have taken a Porsche")
 

Can't speak for the other countries but in Romania Audis, VWs and Beemers rule the roost. If you're skint you have an older one, or a Dacia Logan. Communist-era cars (including the Dacia 13xx series, made up to 2004) are very thin on the ground - they tend to be owned by eccentric pensioners in town, and poor people in the countryside, plus a growing number of collectors. Their status kind of depends where you are. 
When I'm over there, I live in a relatively poor county, so tend to get pitied for driving a 1984 Dacia - lots of comments along the lines of "Well, if it gets you from A to B...". But the car is normally kept in neighbouring Iasi, which is prosperous, and there it gets grins, waves, and photos wherever it goes. So people do remember them fondly, but it requires a degree of distance, plus the comforting insulation of something reliable and German in the garage. From recent travels I get the impression it's the same elsewhere in Eastern Europe - the richer the country the more affectionately they look back on their motoring heritage.
One of my favourite Dacia moments was when going to an extremely snooty country house restaurant. The guys at the gates saw the ageing Dacia pootling up the drive and decided this was the sort of clientele they could do without, so promptly shut the gates. Which was funny for us, but mildly embarrassing for them when it emerged that not only did we have a booking, but we were also reviewing the place for a reasonably influential site. (Review was eventually published with the headline along the lines of "Should have taken a Porsche")