I drive past this off-white Lada Samara almost every day, whenever I grab my car keys and go anywhere. It’s been sitting at the parking lot adjacent to the railway station as long as I remember, and after I first paid attention to it I don’t think I’ve seen it go anywhere. It’s on summer tires, but those were mounted a good few years ago, I wager.
A car so inherently disposable as a Samara, especially one manufactured as late as 1996 when the competition was quite far ahead of the little Lada, doesn’t really stand a chance of being intentionally preserved. This one will probably sit there until someone tows it somewhere to be cubed.


Finnish small towns are quite deserted, yet well-lit on a late summer evening. You could probably film a zombie film anywhere you’d like, and I wasn’t hassled when I circled the Samara, snapping photos.

Not only is that tire toast, it shows where accumulated rainwater and melted ice has once been. It’s a “Tyfoon”, so nothing of value is lost.


The fuel-injected, 1499cc fourbanger gave you 72 horsepower when new.


At one time, smalltown Finland was full of these things, but they’ve been dying out recently. You don’t really move anywhere from a Samara, unless it’s a car bought for a coffee packet for only one summer.

I will probably continue keeping an eye at the Samara. There’s a traffic light just close by, and I swear it’s red whenever I come anywhere close to it unless I absolutely mash the pedal to the carpet. That gives me good time to see if the Samara’s gone anywhere.
[Images: Copyright 2015 Hooniverse/Antti Kautonen]