trabitom99 wrote:

Hell Driver wrote:... in countries where a simple, easy to fix car is still appreciated.

Exactly, it's easy to knock these cars with our well-kept streets, but for a Romanian farmer, a Dacia is the perfect car.



Tom

Is it just me or does that one look like a slammed Saab 900 Turbo

magnumpi wrote:

trabitom99 wrote:

Hell Driver wrote:... in countries where a simple, easy to fix car is still appreciated.

Exactly, it's easy to knock these cars with our well-kept streets, but for a Romanian farmer, a Dacia is the perfect car.



Tom

Is it just me or does that one look like a slammed Saab 900 Turbo

True!
If you squint.
But thats the ONLY angle it looks like anything other than a horrible pile of renault.

R12 did look sad and tired car even when new, add to that 200kg of hauling potatoes for 20 years and you get Romanian Dacia look

But I believe it was mostly looks and good road performance/handling that were not so good in that car, cheap to run and service, does not need lot of parts, those were perhaps always good points in that car.

70&80's were different times for many countries, here Triumph were luxury car that only very rich could get.

We don't have too many Ranges either, them being out of reach to all but most wealthy.

In Romania things have been even worse.

BTW when I did born my family did have R5/R4 (can't remember which, they look same) it was replaced by R6 and that by Ford Escort Mk1 wagon, many others did have Ladas

Certainly all those cars would been very nice to put up in storage as they all are very rare these days.

Beautiful fencing and buildings in those pics from Romania, here we used to have such beautiful countryside too, but it is almost lost tradition now, effective boring styling has taken over, also electric cattle fencing has replaced beautiful old beautiful wooden fences.

It is progress that comes with stress and rush, when before people had time to make such fences now there are no time, magic box at corner of room consumes all time saved with more efficient methods, people are not so much together, working together without pay is something nobody will do anymore.

In Romania that is perhaps soon reality too, it is last times to see those beutiful places and old Dacias travelling without hurry, respecting horse wagons.

Hi,

Hell Driver wrote:Atroch, love that photo of the Dacia lined street I assume Dacia has got a bit of a monopoly in Romania ?

Thanks.
Yes they do, same as volvo in Sweden, take a look:

jtbo wrote:Is Trabi near to size of 66? I think that 66 or DAF 33 would be as usable for you Tom?

edit: BTW, I think that something like Trabi with electric motor would be one of most economical and well useful to majority of drivers here as majority drives something like 10-20km around big cities in a day. Then is rest of country where lives many people, but not majority and it is not uncommon to see 100-200km a day.

You're right Jani, a 66 would be pretty good for going around town too ... The thing is knowing me I'd probably bung it in a garage and only use it in sunny weather, which kind of defeats the object of having a rainy day car In all honesty, a Trabi is cramped, loud and smelly - but it's smaller than a 66 still, and thus perfect to park. A Smart car? Urgh - and only two seats. A Toyota IQ? Way out of my price range, and no boot. The Trabi electric car? Maybe, if they keep the size, and adapt the design a bit ... (pretty ugly right now: http://www.speedheads.de/artikelbilder/ ... t_nT_2.jpg)

The only problem is, as of 1.1.10 we've got one of these infernal "Umweltzones" in my town, that means I can't drive straight into the city centre and need to walk another 6-8 mins. Defeats the purpose of a rainy-day car again I suppose ... And it's another 10 years until the Trabi gets it's "classic" exemption plate by which time it's probably turned into a pile of rust and Duroplast.

jtbo wrote: In Romania that is perhaps soon reality too, it is last times to see those beutiful places and old Dacias travelling without hurry, respecting horse wagons.

Romania is a cool place to visit. But not for long, things are developing at an alarming rate. Good for the people I guess, not so good for the tourist who wants to experience something different in the middle of Europe.

Speaking of which, did anyone see Top Gear 14x01?

atroch wrote:Thanks.
Yes they do, same as volvo in Sweden, take a look:

Tom

trabitom99 wrote:Speaking of which, did anyone see Top Gear 14x01?

Oh yes. Been to Stelvio (and back!) - and that Romanian mountain road seems mighty interesting. It's just a bit hard to access, really.

But why not? I've done silly things before. Actually going through Passo Stelvio was one of them. How to get from Friedrichshafen to Nürnberg with the most interest in driving in between? Well... me and a friend were on the road, in a rented car (which happened to be a Mercedes A-class ) but we went for Austria... Flexenpass, been there, done that. After that, we decided to go for Italy. So we ended up having pizza at the top of the Stelvio pass. After that we couldn't return the same way we came from, so it was down the Italian side of the mountain roads... And we never regretted our choice. It was quite a scenic route. And we were back at our Nürnberg hotel at something around 2 AM... tired but happy.