A pit-stop on the road through Azerbaijan, time to enjoy wandering amongst the parked cars
In 1966, the Soviet government hooked up with Italian car manufacturer Fiat and the Lada was born. Giving the Soviet Union access to "advanced" car technology. Well Italian technology anyways, hardly advanced by normal standards.
However before it could be used on Soviet roads, it had to be adapted for local conditions. No warm sunny climate with paved roads. This was the USSR.
Russian mechanics had to reinforce the suspension to handle the hardcore and unpaved roads, which quickly turn to a quagmire when the winter months arrive, the car body also had to be substantially strengthened to withstand these harsh winters. As well as extra rust proofing to combat the heavy exposure to road salt, basically turning the humble Fiat into a fucking tank.
But it was an instant success. "Affordable",(to party members) reliable,(really?) and easy to fix,(yup) it became the car of the Soviet people. Wait times stretched to several years unless of course you had "connections" in the government: "Remember comrades all people are equal, just some people are more equal than others."
More than 20 million vehicles have been sold worldwide, and even today, the brand has 20% of the Russian passenger car market.
The ONLY battery you will ever need on a car, let the Internal Combustion Engine do the rest
The first time I ever changed some of those gorgeous spark plugs, on my first car (Ford Anglia 105e) I got the HT leads mixed up! That was fun, the days before the interweb, the Haynes Manual, expensive but it solved the problem, lesson learnt.
I mean come on people, if you can't fix this baby with a spanner and a hammer call in an auto-electrician
