Description
The 1987 Tavria replaced the rear-engined Zaporozhets – a family of cars that had been affectionately derided throughout 44 years of production at the Zaporizhia Automobile Factory, Ukraine. The Tavria shared nothing with its ancestors. It had a sharp Italian-looking hatchback body and an all-new overhead cam straight-four engine driving its front wheels.
Tavrias were among the cheapest cars available in the former Soviet Union and almost instantly achieved banger status, aided by the short half-life of the materials used to make them. So when a rare pristine example with 1564km on the clock appeared on a Russian website, I couldn’t resist pursing it. My friend Vladimir bought it and arranged transportation to the UK; I arranged customs clearance and took delivery at Dover. It still had factory-applied protective wax smeared over its beige body. I spent many sticky hours swabbing it off with a paraffin-soaked T-shirt.
All this was in 2015 and I haven’t really done anything to it since. It’s in basically as-new condition, with the exception of some mysterious rust in the engine bay (must’ve been left standing with the bonnet open for quite some time, I guess?). The interior is absolutely immaculate. It runs and drives, but some recommissioning – or, indeed, commissioning – work will be required.
It’s Russian registered. Duty was paid on import to the UK.
