A Lotus Lada

I’m sure most petrolheads have heard of MTV’s Pimp My Ride show where they take old junked cars and turn them into bling bling machines. Transformation is mainly in the form of looks and frankly I think some of them are really ugly.

Now this is something in a totally different league altogether.

In this episode of Top Gear, they take an old Russian marque, a Lada and send it to Lotus. The Lada is a pretty old car with faded red paint, and a 1.5 litre Lada engine making a grand total of 35bhp.


Before: Notice even the rear steel wheels are missing it’s hubcaps.

Lotus track guru Gavin Kershaw tested the Lada on the track before work commenced and he mentioned “It’s the worst car I’ve ever driven.”

Can Lotus work it’s engineering magic?

After two weeks, out comes a monster with upgraded brakes, suspension, wheels, and a stunning black and silver paint job. The interior is also touched up with a retouched dash board, RPM meter, gear console, MOMO steering and bucket seats.


After: Add a little Lotus magic and this is what you get!

Powering the hunk of metal is a Fiat/Lancia Twincam engine making 180hp, tuned by an ex-Formula 1 engineer.

Boy, that guy sure is lucky to have Top Gear choose his car.

Video: Top Gear tunes a Lada

Thanks to my blog reader bumboy for this link. Thank you for taking the trouble to upload it to RapidShare to share it with all of us.

Episode Summary

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Paul Tan

After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Comments

  • Wow, they seriously did a good job on the Lada. Not only on the exterior wise but the engine just sound so sweet.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 1
  • wa sea hokkien lang on Jul 21, 2005 at 11:24 am

    wau….. now that is truly a a car dr 'mekanik' do you think malaysian 1 can do that?

    pasang turbo,turbo timer …..cannot say ah?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • Mack: *DROOL*

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Carmen on Jul 21, 2005 at 12:44 pm

    That car is beautiful!! I agree with you, a lot of the cars that come out of Pimp My Ride are ugly. See the one where they put in a fish tank? I probably doesnt smell to great. I can image itd be a pain to clean, too. Anyway, yeah, this car went through a great transformation. Have you you heard of the the Gibb Aquada? Its a sports car they are working on that can go in water:

    Link

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • bumboy on Jul 21, 2005 at 4:41 pm

    that show was screened somewhere end of 2003. I note your evo is WLH, so the evo copied the lada. gasp :)

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • oh! That's what Lotus good at, tune up and cosmetics cars, maybe they did the same thing to our satria gti and etc?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • dando on Jul 21, 2005 at 5:22 pm

    if i'm not mistaken, astro has some plans to do a similar type of program…where they take an old junk car and modify it… but not sure when are they gonna show it

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • I just wonder who pays for the job ?!

    but great job Lotus…… I was laughing when I watch the show !

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • wakjai on Jul 21, 2005 at 7:25 pm

    I think proton pay the make over…. hi hi

    maybe TM can send its Saga for the transformation too… use tractor engine

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • edw: Top Gear paid for it to experiment whether they can turn ANYTHING into a driver's car

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 1
  • daniel on Jul 22, 2005 at 6:53 am

    hoih.. i wanna send in my kancil then.. maybe they will tweak it up to about 250hp? then i can fly.. heh.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • eAthena-Seir3n on Jul 22, 2005 at 8:43 am

    Wow nice and informative , Hope to see MORE of these soon.

    P/S : Any 1 have links for videos such as these? I'm addicted!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • I own a Honda Civic EB 1979. Like to turn it into a hotrod. Malaysian mechanics doesn't have all these skills. They can do minor transformation. Engine transplant from half cut, body kit from fiber glass and + from half cut like they do on kancil, quality is very low. I watched Rides on Discovery Channel. They have passion in doing all these transformation. Have the right tools, right knowledge, right places, right man to do it. They even have the new engine bought from engine makers and tuners. Wow, we have a long way to trail them. 1 hotrod equivalent to USD150,000. Sound profitable. A hobby that worth it.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Rhinoman on Jul 24, 2005 at 12:16 pm

    If you listen carefully when they are discussing the paint job you will hear them mention Sunbeam. The paintwork is in the style of the Lotus Sunbeam from the 1980s

    http://www.sunbeamlotus.com/images/gallerypics/Lo…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • wa sea hokkien lang on Jul 26, 2005 at 6:58 am

    if malaysia got the olny 1 shop can do this then he must be very kaya than 'sugar king'.

    also not 'we' send to transfomation but around south east asia……

    but pity we don't………

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Guy Croft on Aug 05, 2005 at 6:11 am

    Lotus Lada

    Lotus paid for the car work, I paid for the engine myself and gearbox too, Top Gear paid basically got the whole project for fork all. Then the little shit who owned it sold it on ebay for I dunno, £7.5K, pocketed the lot, clever little bunny, I never got as much as a thank you note.

    Television? I wouldn't spit on em.

    Guy

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • engines on Aug 18, 2005 at 6:59 am

    hi

    i want to buy a sport engine to my car so

    send to me the spicifications and the prices of the engines and i will be handel with our company about cash payment and i want know the best of them metalx engines 8 cylender or 6 cylender

    .the forcest engine in my country egypt is 1600 cc 70 ph !!!!!!

    thax for corporation

    wael el sharif

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Guy Croft on Aug 20, 2005 at 12:12 am

    hi

    you need to email me on

    [email protected]

    if you're serious, I need to know the car for a start.

    GC

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • ANG_55 on Oct 07, 2005 at 8:59 am

    WOW

    i came here by a link in a forum

    TRANKS FOR THE VIDEO! =)

    grettings from Chile!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • i have same car in russia

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Akazamabamaboo (Member) on Jul 20, 2006 at 12:27 am

    Lotus, please pimp my ride!!!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • aesthari (Member) on Apr 09, 2007 at 8:51 pm

    Now this is something worth looking at. I detest Pimp My Ride stuff too, just exterior stuff, cincai reweld rusty parts and that's all, still rustbucket inside, most of the cars. It's nice how they gave the Lada a new lease of life here. Hope to do that with my Xantia too years later. C5 suspension, 2.2 turbodiesel intercooled or L4 twinturbo diesel intercooled, maybe 4WD too :P It'll remain a 1.9L TDI FF for now hehe.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • tanasi (Member) on Apr 13, 2007 at 4:16 am

    The same Gavin Kershaw did contribute on suspension tuning on our Waja 1.8, Satria Neo and an upcoming Proton small sedan.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • maibatsu_thunder (Member) on Jul 29, 2008 at 12:37 pm

    Lotus Tiara please!!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
 

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