Eastern Bloc cars seem to grow more popular by the day. I have been writing them about them for many years now and I even come to own a Lada. My Lada has been converted into a Lemons car some time ago and it even won the overall grandest prize, the IOE. But I want to bring it to a higher level – I want to make it better, faster, safer, greater. Given its condition it’s a rather easy task as making it worse would be quite challenging. 
In my research of Lada racing, parts, history, and everything, many times I have come upon Lada VFTS cars. VFTS, Вильнюсская фабрика транспортных средств, was a small repair shop in Lithuania (part of the Soviet Union back then) that transformed factory Ladas into proper rally cars. A total of about 30 cars were made and they competed in the ever awesome Class B in the 1980s. But they resurfaced in the 1990s in Hungarian rallies. Many of those were replicas of those VFTS cars, as is the one for sale here.

From the ad:

Lada Vfts rally race car /one and only in the U.S – $40000 (Wellington)

Lada VFTS Gr.H rally car for sale with Florida title. Manufacturing year 1987 Brand new building (03.2016). Lightweight body (less than 1900 lbs) New 2000ccm engine, double 48mm Weber carburetors, running on racing fuel only,Ross racing pistons and rings,Ross connecting rods, Schrick valves, Schrick camshaft, Schick titanium valve plate, stainles steel 60 mm racing exhaust, 4-2-1 rost free 60 mm racing exhaust, new homologous 5 speed dogbox, new diffs with runninggear, big bilstein shock-absorver,WRC racing seats and Sabelt belts, plexiglass, certified 16 points rollcage, big front brake, new Speedline Corse magnesium wheels.Its a race ready car.its absolutely collectible and the one and only Lada Vfts in the U.S
If you have any question please contact with me!
It’s for sale cash only!!!!
I might consider trade for similar value car!

From the pictures, it looks fantastic, a very cleanly built racer. Over time I have seen all these parts for sale and all the things on this car seem to be top quality. None of that is inexpensive. Great execution. But there are a few things that stand out to me. First, the pictures seem to indicate that the car is not in Wellington, Florida, as stated in the ad but rather somewhere in Europe. I know this because each year I spend time in Wellington and that is not how the town looks like. I actually plan on being there later this year and I will contact the seller about looking at this car. 

Price is the second thing. There are still plenty of Ladas on the road but finding a clean one can be challenging. Still, they are priced extremely low. I’m guessing that there is no more than $12,000 in parts here between the suspension, engine, cage, wheels, etc. There is a lot of labor involved, however, but finding someone capable for a fair price in eastern or central Europe is possible. Costs to ship it to North America are between $2000 and $4000. Some may say “yea, but it is a unique vehicle, a one of a kind…” True. But it is also a twenty year old car with probably around 150hp. For $40,000 one can build a WRX that will run circles around this Lada. 
Still, great looking vehicle and I really hope that it is in the United States and that it will go into the right hands. I was actually thinking of making my Lada look like a road version of a VFTS car instead of a typical Lemons theme bullshit. 









Source: Miami Craigslist