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Yellow Lada With Leather Engine Bay Is Soviet Hellaflush

We just love finding people still doing interesting things with old Socialist Bloc sweethearts. And unlike the Dacia 1300 from yesterday, this one is real.
Yellow Lada With Leather Engine Bay Is Soviet Hellaflush 11 photos
Photo: Sergey Grachev
Yellow Lada With Leather Engine Bay Is Soviet HellaflushYellow Lada With Leather Engine Bay Is Soviet HellaflushYellow Lada With Leather Engine Bay Is Soviet HellaflushYellow Lada With Leather Engine Bay Is Soviet HellaflushYellow Lada With Leather Engine Bay Is Soviet HellaflushYellow Lada With Leather Engine Bay Is Soviet HellaflushYellow Lada With Leather Engine Bay Is Soviet HellaflushYellow Lada With Leather Engine Bay Is Soviet HellaflushYellow Lada With Leather Engine Bay Is Soviet HellaflushYellow Lada With Leather Engine Bay Is Soviet Hellaflush
It's a Lada 2103 that's been heavily modified by a professional mechanic, using ideas from both the American and Japanese car scene. Sergey Grachev, a 29-year-old from Ryazan (3-hour drive from Moscow), must have poured his heart and hundreds of hours into this thing.

Lada is still alive and kicking, cranking out affordable sedans and crossovers for the average Russian driver. However, they'll probably never make anything as iconic as the 2103. And this one could be the most interesting one in the country right now. Good job, Sergey!

The first thing that jumps at you is the Hellaflush stance, featuring alloys that stick out and touch the fenders. These aren't your average aftermarket alloys either, as they have 9.5-inch magnesium centers from the Soviet-era held by 15-inch polished aluminum barrels taken from a Japanese truck.

It's got air suspension too, an Accuair tank in the trunk plus some components from an 80s BMW, the E21. The second thing that draws us to this project is the engine.

The Lada 2103 is, in fact, based in a Fiat. The stock engine in this one has been replaced by a 2-liter DOHC inline-four from a Fiat 132. These used to be really popular among British hot rodders and it's linked to the most successful setup in the history of the WRC.

The heritage of the powertrain is somehow overshadowed by the attention to detail. Sergey fully stripped it of ugly components, fitted Dellorto double carburetors, wrapped the headers and ended with a shotgun double-exhaust.

That part of the build feels Japanese, but the engine bay is more like a hot rod. It's fully wrapped in yellow leather with a sweet honeycomb pattern and looks cleaner than the interior, so it would be a shame to put a hood over it.
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
Mihnea Radu profile photo

Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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