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I admit to a soft spot for bad cars - not dangerous cars, poorly engineered or egregiously maimed designs, but bad cars. These cars don't do anything really wrong but they advance nothing, handle turns reluctantly and generally represent too much compromise in design, manufacture and purchase.
So I tip my cap to any enthusiast of the Lada, the Fiat-derived car of the Russian masses, which is now destined to end its production.
The Lada was based on a Fiat design, which in turn will look awfully familiar to devotees of the Fiat 124 in the USA: square and boxy. While the car had a commendable engine and transmission in the Fiat iteration, the Russian parent of the Lada altered the drivertrain for the more primitive conditions and layout of the Russian road network.
With a majority of the cars exported around the world a Lada's deficiencies became well known but tolerated due to a low purchase price and generally simply mechanicals that could be repaired anywhere. As a Finnish enthusiast noted in this story in The New York Times, the car did come with a blast furnace of a heater.
Off road fans might remember the Lada Niva, which emulated the Subaru lineup with 4x4 vehicles.
A tip of the cap to Ben Gribbin, Yorkshire, England, for his entertaining blog, FunRover.com .
Ben has a graphic's designer touch which makes his site enjoyable to view, and a writer's skill that makes it fun to read.
His site, Facebook and Twitter feeds are UK-centric but that only adds to their appeal to US Land Rover fans.
Back in 2011 he posted some nice ideas about making the Defender replacement look, well, more like a Defender. Click here to enjoy his recommendations.
I fear that another interesting car might disappear from the automotive landscape. Lotus Cars, now owned by a Malaysian company called Proton, again faces financial problems as the Malaysian government looks to sell its stake in Proton. That might mean shedding Lotus - which in turn means it could go the way of Saab.
Lotus, founded by Colin Chapman in the 1950's, began as the manufacturer of "club racing" kits, lightweight cars with terrific balance, excellent suspensions, and easily available engines from Ford, Coventry Climax, and later Rover and Toyota.
The Lotus Seven could be purchased as a kit or as an assembled car. This model still continues today as the Caterham, the name of a former dealership that bought the rights to the Seven model.
The "achingly pretty" Lotus Elite moved Lotus away from the space frame chassis to the "central backbone" chassis with a bonded fiberglass body. The car's lines seduced many buyers who overlooked the questionable build quality in favor of its fabulous handling. Electrical gremlins were common as fiberglass makes for lousy electrical grounds.
When "The Avengers" captivated American television viewers in the late 1960's, Diana Riggs' Emma Peel tooled around in a Lotus Elan, the first convertible model since the Lotus Seven.
Lotus then jumped aboard the mid-engine bandwagon, using a Renault engine, with the Europa - the first car really designed for a world-wide market.
Lotus would join the "wedge" revolution in the 80's, using Oliver Winterbottom's radical designs [even a 4-seater!], and then continue into the 21rst century with the Exige. All the Lotus cars have kept light weight and superb handling as their focus. Drivers love them and enthusiasts admire the laser-like orientation of the Hethel, Norfolk, UK company.
These are exciting cars that offer something really different in the automotive market. There needs to be a place for these automobiles - don't let Lotus go the way of Saab!
Kim McCullough is the Brand Vice President for Land Rover North America, a post she assumed recently. Her presence does assure that Land Rover seems to have a genuine enthusiast in its executive ranks.
At the off road course set up off 10th Avenue in New York, Kim brought her 86" Series I to the event. Initially it seemed to be for show only, but with some urging from Bob Burns, Land Rover's Special Events coordinator, she took it onto the course. Kim stated that she had never received instruction in off roading so Bob used the opportunity to teach her the basics.
For the hundreds of people watching from the ground, to the hundreds watching from the Chelsea High Line above, the Series I proved its mettle.
Land Rover NA has taken a parking lot on 10th Ave in lower Manhattan and transformed it into an off road test track to show off the new and the "heritage" Land Rovers prior to the New York International Auto Show.
"At 7:00 am this morning," said a Land Rover PR staffer," this parking lot was empty. The sand trucks, bulldozers and backhoes transformed the parking lot into a side slope, hill ascent and descent test track. It reminded me of the old Land Rover Centres' test tracks required at those dealerships in the 90's.
Camel Trophy/Land Rover Experience instructors Jim Swett, Tom Collins, and Fred Monhess are serving as instructors on models new and "heritage" - in this case, an '87 Range Rover, a '97 Defender 90, a '66 Series II-A, and a '93 Defender 110 used on La Ruta Maya of 1994.
The course looks like fun; I'll have a turn this morning!
Happily I'll be off to the New York Auto Show tomorrow and it looks like it will be a fun event to cover for Rovers Magazine.
Once again, the Editor must shoulder this heavy load...sigh.
On Monday I'll be participating in the Land Rover Off Road Driving Course, run by instructors from the Land Rover Experience centers all over the northeast. I know for certain that some of Josh Williams' crew at Land Rover Experience/Equinox [VT] will be there.
Land Rover will have a Camel Trophy Discovery on display [maybe for a drive?] and likely, even a Series II-A [maybe for a drive?], as well as all the new LR4 and Range Rover models.
On Tuesday Land Rover will celebrate their 25th corporate anniversary of "Land Rover North America." On Wednesday, the Auto Show press conferences will be held at the Javits Center; Land Rover is scheduled for that afternoon.
The floor plan layout online shows Land Rover sitting right alongside Bentley, Maserati, and other luxury brands. It will be fun to see the vehicles. If the "atmosphere" is as enticing as the Salon d'Auto de Geneve last month, I will be in heaven!
It doesn't seem that long ago but Land Rover returned to the US market 25 years ago, in 1987, when they formed a new entity then called Range Rover North America.
17 years after its creation the much-sought after Range Rover made it into the USA. Oddly, when you look at the first ad brochures in the UK for the car, you find that it references work on "ranches," implying that it was destined for the USA.
Land Rover seemed to sell every one of them they made; indeed they were back ordered at the Solihull factory for quite a while. Maybe that's one reason they didn't need to export them into the increasingly fussy US market. The other was likely the price point to luxury ratio. By the time you converted the cost in British pounds to dollars, you wound up with a fairly steep price. So Land Rover had to wait until they brought the vehicle upscale in terms of American expectations. When they did create the four door model and laid down carpeting, gussying up the interior and practicing with the Vogue editions in the UK, they deemed it ready for the US.
It arrived with the kind of advertising campaign that quickly restored the British to leadership in refreshingly enjoyable advertising.
I have to remember, too, that while enthusiasts paid attention to Land Rover, most of the US market only knew the marque from old safari television shows and movies, bad experiences from British Leyland dealerships, or as "old cars" you might see in rural settings. The MSRP sticker number would seem high to Americans who did not identify the Range Rover as a premium automobile.
Geof Miller, one of the engineers who helped create the Range Rover, spoke about the experience at the 1998 Land Rover 50th celebration at Eastnor Castle in England. He told us of the time that a skeptical German importer scoffed at the ["No one will pay that much money for a Land Rover!"] asking price while taking a ride in the new Range Rover. Geof claimed the driver said," why don't we go this way?" and pointed the car into a field. As it bounded along at full tilt the German held on in amazement. When they drove out onto the paved road, he declared himself ready to bring the Range Rover onto the continent.
Land Rover bought a '88 Range Rover in California, bought a lot of parts from Rovers North, brought Pete Janney from Badger Engineering to help refurbish the interior, and will show it off at the New York Auto Show in April. I'll be there to join the celebration!
Congratulations to Land Rover North America - I look forward to the 50th!
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