I love the Lada Niva. After all it’s a shitbox hatchback with real off-road capability and Soviet charm. The were never sold in the US, but were available in Canada for some time. Unfortunately, this one isn’t as good underneath as it looks on top.
The seller warns this one is good and rusty underneath. Too bad, as it’s a claimed low mileage vehicle that the seller says will start and run (with fuel fed to it). Hopefully, the parts will live on with an owner that can weld up the rusty bits or in another vehicle…
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Kingston, NY
$1,500 BIN or offer
02/19/2014 update: SOLD for $1,500
Interior is pretty awesomely simply, but really not terrible. It looks to be in good shape.
Note the 4WD system controls.
Things don’t look bad under here. Photo backs up the idea that someone got it running with a gas can.
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I’ve listed this as a 1980 model because the E-bay format won’t accept the Russian VIN # that’s required for all vehicles built in 1981 or later. So be aware that it’s actually a 1981 and the VIN # can be found in the photo section. I’m listing this SUV for a friend so if you have any questions about it I’ll check with him and get back to you. But if you found this listing you already know more about it than I do. This is a very rare vehicle in the lower 48. He purchased it new in Canada in ’81 and didn’t use it much. It’s been sitting for the last 20 years. It has just 18,000 km on the odometer. (that’s 11,200 miles for we Yanks) We started it up recently and the engine and drive train are excellent. The fuel line is plugged up as you might expect but when we gravity-fed fuel to it, it ran strong. The seats are in good shape and there are lots of usable parts if you’re restoring one of these. As you can see from the pictures, the body looks fair, But trust me, underneath there’s a ton of rust. If you want it to restore, you’d better be good with a torch. Buy it for parts or it goes to the crusher. It can be picked up at Mark’s Auto Repair in Kingston, NY. Make an offer.