I bought my 86 Skoda 130GLS in 91 for the princely sum of $500 because it had a burnt exhaust valve and was running on 3/4 of it's intended cylinders. A new valve and head gasket were under $20, tax included, and I had it running like new in under 4 hrs.
It was rear engine, RWD with a 1.3L water cooled slant 4. Pipes ran the length of the car to the rad up front and, heat transfer being what it is, the climate control was somewhat less than ideal in winter. Especially with the way the vents on the hood liked to pull in cold air, and the internal vent system liked to leak. There were scoops on the hood you could turn around backwards, but eventually the cardboard came out and they got covered up, making it only slightly better.
The purple seats were only marginally comfortable, and only for a short time. And while fuel economy was quite good, and the car very reliable, output from the leaning tower of Czechoslovakian power was such that with the family in the car, any hill would present an opportunity to practice your shifting, gearing down, sometimes to third, in a vain attempt to maintain highway speed.
Like most of the girls I've dated, it was quirky, and odd looking, but I loved it. The trunk, complete with side opening hood, was in the front, and like most, mine also sat high there. So I pulled the springs, cut them and lowered it reversing the rake making it look just about right.
Around once a year I'd get the rubbing compound out and clean up the burgundy paint. It generally took 6-8 months to go from nice, shiny, sexy burgundy, to totally flat red primer .
The entire time I owned it, I only ever had one problem. Shortly after doing a tune up it broke down on us during a summer evening drive, out to get ice cream. I got it running, brought it home and retraced my steps through the tuneup. It took about 15 minutes but I found it. I'd gapped the plugs a little too wide and the points ignition system didn't have enough jam to reliably jump the .035" gap. I didn't know whether to praise the simplicity, or curse the inadequacy, so I did neither and we got that ice cream.
The funniest thing about the car was, I had debadged it. And with it being lowered, and the wider and lower profile than stock rubber,, it looked pretty good, at least I thought so. And when people would ask me what it was I'd tell them, with a straight face, it's an old Alfa Romeo, and nobody ever questioned it.
The dealer was a small repair shop that sold them as a sideline, and the owner, who really liked the simplicity of the cars, was very helpful. After Volkswagen bought Skoda and they were no longer selling them in Canada, he started selling Ladas. I was very close to buying a new Samara at the time, but was concerned with reliability and bought a used diesel Rabbit instead. It turned out to be the worst, most unreliable car I've ever owned.
I was once pulled out of a ditch and up a snowy hill in my 74 Regal by a Lada Niva. The owner of said Niva lived at the bottom of the hill and charged $10 to pull you out/get you to the top. The Niva was surprisingly capable and he was a busy guy some days.
