The boxy cars thread

[Roadkill]

you know what, If I was working and all that shit and wanted a lol car for cruising the streets of SE London , I would seriously consider get one of these. I remember back in teh 80s/early90s it was virtually impossible to get s/h spares for them as every trashed Lada was stripped and take off to either USSR/Russia on trawlers or to Jamaica

Oh yes, I remember that. I don't know if there's any truth in the bit about sending them to Jamaica, but there was a thriving business in sending them back to Russia again. They were brought into the UK through Hull. There used to be - maybe still is - a weird shop near the docks called A1 Soviet Spares, which specialised in bits for Eastern Bloc cars. No doubt Yugo, Skoda and Lada bits were in reasonable demand in the 90s, but although it advertised them I can't believe it sold many parts for Wartburgs, Moskviches or Trabants! Anyhow, this shop used to buy up old Ladas and send them back to Russia on the same ships that brought the new ones out. British ones were in demand over there since they had features the domestic-market ones didn't have and were generally better finished. Reputedly, the really tatty ones were stripped of usable parts during the voyage and the remains chucked over the side. Top Gear did a feature on it in the mid-90s. Quentin Willson bought a Lada and drove it to Hull, being very rude about it along the way, and took it to A1. Initially the owner denied any such thing was going on, and then wilted before Willson's mighty investigative skills and bought the car off him live on TV! There were rumours that elderly Ladas weren't the only part of the deal and black-market fags were also involved somewhere, which is maybe why they tried to keep it a bit quiet...

On a related, boxy note, the Skoda Estelle:

I actually want one of these. The few that are left, that is...

 

[Roadkill]

I like those things. They were proper Citroens - i.e. before Citroen went all conventional and dull!

 

[lefteri]

I think they had a plastic bonnet - haven't seen one in the wild for a while though

 

[steeplejack]

The Yugo 45A- the original 'smart car'. I had a decent one of these until about two years ago, which replaced...

I had two of these Yugo 311 / 513 types, driving the first one across Europe (it pretty much died after returning to the UK), the second one I used as a daily driver for two years. The arsehole that bought it from me then wrote it off.

 

[steeplejack]

more 70s / early 80s boxy-chic:

The Talbot Horizon. At one time a common sight, like the Alfasud terrible for rust however, and the few left have led sheltered lives at the hands of old ladies.

The first Hyundai that came to Europe- the Pony. At the time seen as only marginally better competition for the Lada. Bit of a clunker by all accounts.

speaking of Ladas and re-cycled Fiats from the 60s:

The Polski Fiat. I would defend the Lada, rear engined Skoda and Yugo as fairly workable examples of Communist motoring, the FSO is a struggle to defend even for the Soviet bloc motoring enthusiast.

Lastly, people may think SUVs with spray-on mud are a modern invention. Not true. This was, alongside the Lada Niva, one of the first SUV-type cars on UK roads at the end of the 70s: the Talbot Matra Rancho. Hardly any left now, rust being the cause again.

 

[yardbird]

M
My first ever car - now that's boxy!

 

[Roadkill]

more 70s / early 80s boxy-chic:

The Talbot Horizon. At one time a common sight, like the Alfasud terrible for rust however, and the few left have led sheltered lives at the hands of old ladies.

Oh yes, and on a similar note, the mighty Talbot Samba:

I owned one of these back in the 1990s. Not a bad little car, actually, but pretty flimsy and most of them have long since rusted away.

*edit* Jesus! I've just looked at howmanyleft. There are 34 Sambas on the road and another 70-odd SORNed. In 1994 there were 24,000...

 

[steeplejack]

The are about eighty Yugos left on the road now, of all kinds. Over 70,000 were sold in the UK in the 80s.

The Skoda Estelle 105 I think has the distinction for the most scrapped car in the last twenty to thrity years. There are a few Estelles still about, but very few of the 105 (the most basic model) left.

 

[silverfish]

Mmmmmm

had one of these once. 300 Diesel auto. Slower than a glacier but nice.big leather seats. mmmmmmm

Whats your favourite boxy car?

I've had two in the W124 younger model, boxy but best cars ever

 

[steeplejack]

There's only seven Moskvitches left in the UK- 4 of them the Estate version, the 427. Would love one of these but pretty unlikely it will ever happen.

 

[Roadkill]

The Skoda Estelle 105 I think has the distinction for the most scrapped car in the last twenty to thrity years. There are a few Estelles still about, but very few of the 105 (the most basic model) left.

It'd be all models rather than just the 105, I think, but yes, I have read that the old rear-engined Skoda is one of the most scrapped cars of recent times. Reputedly VW made parts difficult to get, so as to clear them off the roads quickly as they were considered bad for Skoda's new image, although whether that's true or not I don't know. I think I read somewhere that the Mk2 Vauxhall Cavalier is the single most scrapped car - unsurprisingly, since you never see them these days whereas back in the 80s and 90s they were everywhere. The Ford Sierra can't be far behind it.

 

[tombowler]

is see one or two Moskvitches a week sometimes more, loads of old skodas two and a fair few trabants, but this is the Czech republic, there is a lada dealer in the next town from me too.

 

[Balham]

Austin Cambridge A60, an uncle had one.

Zodiac 6, knew someone that had one of these (friend of parents).

Though I suppose quite a few cars could be described as boxy from the 1970s and before even though they aren't square, just being more upright.

 

[SikhWarrioR]

When it comes to boxy give me my Series 1 SWB soft top Landrover

 

[Favelado]

That Talbot really epitomised the sensuality, tropical climes and sheer joy of samba didn't it?

 

[Favelado]

I would fucking love a bright red Ford Cortina from around 1982. A really square one with a big chrome bumper. I'd wear driving gloves, have a pretend cockney accent and play the theme tune from Minder on its luxury auto-reverse tape-deck.

 

[later]

Boxtastic

 

[ViolentPanda]

I would fucking love a bright red Ford Cortina from around 1982. A really square one with a big chrome bumper. I'd wear driving gloves, have a pretend cockney accent and play the theme tune from Minder on its luxury auto-reverse tape-deck.

Nah, Daytona Yellow Cortina Mk. 3, 2.0L GXL or, if you were a bit tastier than Terry McCann, a Rover P6 3500 in Wine Red. Mark IV Cortinas were rep-mobiles.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Boxtastic

Ah, ye antient Fiat Panda, with ye "sneeze-on-em-and-they-rust" body panels.

 

[Sweet FA]

When I was 11, I thought these were the absolute coolest thing ever. I'd seen one customised (jacked at the back, side exhausts, flames up the side etc) and decided everybody should just stop making cars. Clearly we'd reached the epitome of vehicle construction.

I think I might've been right

 

[Sweet FA]

Anyway, the Mark 4 was way boxier but also looked utterly awesome to my eyes (still does actually);

 

[ringo]

There's been a boxy old Alpha parked on Clerkenwell Green lately, could be one of these. Still looks ugly.

 

[dessiato]

Anyway, the Mark 4 was way boxier but also looked utterly awesome to my eyes (still does actually);

Designed by one of my relatives, who, sadly, died at about the same time as it was launched.

 

[lefteri]

no volvos yet? they wrote the book on boxy,no?

 

[Roadkill]

no volvos yet? they wrote the book on boxy,no?

Two pictures of the ol' Volvo 240 on page 1! Still think it's a handsome old bus. Needs a pair of dinner plate-sized spotlights on the front, though.

 

[lefteri]

I just looked up what it would cost me to insure one - a mere £3300!

 

[xes]

Well, I was going to troll this thread too, but there's no need

 

[Sweet FA]

Designed by one of my relatives

Tbf, it couldn't have taken that long.

who, sadly, died at about the same time as it was launched.

Oh. A little bit too long as it turned out then.

 

[Frumious B.]

I always wanted a Honda Fuya-Jo.

A nightclub on wheels, with bar stools for seats...

....and a mixing desk for a dashboard.

But I had to make do with this:

 

[blairsh]

Triumph Acclaim