Found This on Wiki: In 1988 approximately 6,000 Lada Samara's were modified by Peter Brock's Special Vehicles operation who had previously made high performance Holden Commodore's. The cars would be known as the Lada Samara Sedan Brock Delux and included a few subtle suspension tweaks to improve the cars low speed ride devised by Brock himself and cost about A$3,000 more than the base model Samara.[5]
While initial sales were promising, reports of poor quality and reliability issues soon began to take their toll and by 1996 sales had dwindled to under 100 units. It is believed that Ladas had not been imported into Australia since 1994, but it took two years to sell the remaining stock; 1996 was the last year Lada sold vehicles on the Australian market.
Samaras are still made, I found this ^^^when going through STUFF Motoring. Panelvanner.
the-lada-dude,
Dec 8, 1:15pm
AHHCOMRADE, every lada is special. and I drink from bone china, and not porcelain !
splinter67,
Dec 8, 1:20pm
That just shows how bad they really are even Brockie couldnt help them
rsr72,
Dec 8, 1:25pm
Someone will eventually realise the Brock name will add $30,000 collector's value to 'em, one day.
panelvanner,
Dec 8, 1:30pm
Aww, man, I missed the GT-HO boat as well, Where do I buy one!
franc123,
Dec 8, 1:30pm
I knew PB was marketing Samaras with local appearance and handling mods at that time but had no idea so many were sold, he was engaged in a few surprising activities during his divorce period with Holden. The thing to have done would have been to get hold of the rotary powered Russian police pursuit version and enhanced that instead lol.
joanie32,
Dec 8, 1:33pm
guy hadno shame modifying ladas and Holdens. ewwww
panelvanner,
Dec 8, 1:39pm
Yes, franc, the Lada Wankel had an astonishing (for the day) 143hp, compared to the std 1.6, 91 hp! Panelvanner.
elect70,
Dec 8, 1:41pm
I wonder if any NZ farmers still have any ladas .Sold via Dairy Boadrd as payment for butter to russia in70 s . rellies in NP had 1a SWused it on the farm till it rusted away & used as landfill .
franc123,
Dec 8, 1:47pm
Theres no doubt a few still being used rurally, pretty rare sight on the road now. The Niva was a better offroad vehicle than many people realised. A flatdeck ute version of the Niva was sold in about 1991 which was actually not bad value for money at the time, called Taiga or something similar.
rsr72,
Dec 8, 2:02pm
Niva, a great car and a great collector's car, after you whack a Toyota engine in.
may be they should have put one of those magic black boxes that Peter brock was trying to con Holden in to putting into their red VL GRP3s
gunsmoke4,
Dec 8, 4:48pm
i knew Brock went mental, didn't realize he lost the plot that badly that he tried to make ladas go fast
chook90,
Dec 8, 8:06pm
Not sure if the collectible value is there on a Lada no matter who contributed to its performance increases. On a side note a Brock Falcon sold for some seriously big coin in melbourne a few weeks back, $125k and change.
franc123,
Dec 8, 8:34pm
Wow, that was the Mobil1 Falcon that was a 3.9 manual S pack EA that he put his signature on! Cripes the worlds gone mad.
chook90,
Dec 8, 9:04pm
Yup, EA Falcon. Maybe them Samaras are worth something after all.
chebry,
Dec 8, 9:37pm
Lada Samaras were the greatest heap of shit ever released onto the Australian market worse than the EA Brock had been dumped by GMH so predelivery fettling of Samaras was at least employment for his workers but the cars fell apart anyway
stacie_nz,
Dec 8, 9:41pm
theres some on here for sale
the-lada-dude,
Dec 9, 6:15am
panelvanner wrote: Yes, franc, the Lada Wankel had an astonishing (for the day) 143hp, compared to the std 1.6, 91 hp!
Panelvanner.[/quote 1.6 .91 hp !my ol lada is quoted as 75,
nightboss,
Dec 9, 8:43am
Peter Brock also developed an Open Manta (Manta B2) when Holden stopped 2dr Toranas. Had a 308 V8.
When the old man sold his Niva, the service agent reckoned the reds were buying them back. Like taking coals to Newcastle.
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