HOW PORSCHE HELPED THE SOVIETS BUILD CARS DURING THE COLD WAR

The automotive world is full of collaborations: over the course of car history, companies have joined forces to create new models, merged to weather times of economic difficulty, and swapped engineering expertise. While some joint efforts between carmakers have gone down in history, resulting in iconic creations such as the McLaren F1, Pagani Zonda, and Toyota GR Supra, other automotive collaborations are remembered less often.

Throughout the 1980s, at the height of the Cold War, one unlikely automotive collaboration emerged in Europe: Porsche, the renowned German automaker with decades of history behind it, and Lada, the Russian automaker that produced shoddily-assembled econoboxes for the people of the Soviet Union. Let’s explore how this odd couple was formed, and what their joint efforts managed to produce.

Strange Bedfellows: Porsche and Lada

Today, we think of Porsche as a high-end carmaker that has no problem balancing its books; however, in the late 1970s, the company’s financial situation was far less stable. In fact, up until the arrival of the 986 Boxster in 1996, Porsche got through a series of economic ups-and-downs, navigating choppy waters to ensure its long-term survival.

It was in this context that the collaboration with Lada came about. Porsche received a cash injection, while Lada received much-needed expertise that would allow them to build higher-quality vehicles. In 1975, a meeting was arranged between Ernst Fuhrmann, then chairman of Porsche, and Viktor Polyakov, then Soviet minister for the automotive industry.

Up until this point, Lada’s sales had been confined to its domestic market; the objective of the collaboration with Porsche was for Lada to produce cars that could potentially be sold outside the Soviet Union as well. Although the international sales Lada envisioned didn’t quite materialize, the company still received a benefit from its work with Porsche, in the form of increased build quality and even participation in the world of motorsport. Over the course of the three years Porsche spent working with Lada, two models resulted from their efforts: an improved version of the Lada 2103, and the Lada Samara (including a rallying version of the latter).

Making Changes: The Lada 2103

The first Lada model that received some input from Porsche was the 2103. This was also known as the Zhiguli within the Soviet Union, and would later be known as the Lada 1500 in international markets. The 2103 was originally the result of another collaboration, between Lada and Fiat: it was based on the Fiat 124 Special.

However, in order to make the 2103 more rugged and better suited to the harsh weather conditions of the Soviet Union, the team at Lada had stripped down the Fiat 124, taking its mechanicals down to a more rudimentary level. The rear disk brakes used by the 124 were replaced with drum brakes, and an engine crank was added as a back-up measure, as the car’s battery was expected to go flat frequently thanks to the brutal temperatures of Russian winters. In terms of bodywork, the 2103 was 231.5 pounds heavier than the Fiat that had inspired it, as thicker steel panels had been used during its construction.

When Porsche entered the picture, the Lada 2103 had been on sale for three years; it received a number of upgrades, both on the inside and on the outside. On the appearance front, the chrome trim was replaced with body-colored elements; Porsche’s vision included blacked-out elements to be sold as an option. The grille, door handles and window surrounds were also changed to body color, with only the wheel covers retaining their original chrome finish.

An Econobox With The Heart Of A Porsche: The Lada Samara

After the 2103, Porsche had a say in the design of another Lada, this time a new model rather than an existing one in need of improvements. The Samara was produced between 1984 and 2013; the details regarding how much input Porsche had in the design process are fairly vague, though we do know its contribution mainly focused on the powertrain.

Cylinder-head design is one area where Porsche is known to have had a say, but its assistance is understood to have gone further than that. That being said, even the expertise of Porsche’s engineers was not quite enough to turn the Samara into anything remotely palatable for international customers; the car’s record on reliability, comfort, and performance remained far from impressive.

An Unlikely Hero: The Samara Tackles The Paris-Dakar Rally

As improbable as it sounds, the Lada Samara also enjoyed a brief career in the world of motorsport. Not just any kind of motorsport, but the Paris-Dakar Rally, one of the most infamously grueling events in the rallying world. Lada was no stranger to the Paris-Dakar, having entered another one of its models, the Niva, in the event between 1980 and 1988. The Niva had done fairly well for itself, bagging two overall second-place results over these eight years.

The version of the Samara that competed in the Paris-Dakar, dubbed the Samara T3, was mechanically quite distant from the ordinary Samaras that lived in Soviet car parks: both the engine (a 3.6-liter flat-six) and the four-wheel-drive system were borrowed from the Porsche 959. Porsche wasn’t the only company to have input in its design, either: Russian aerospace firm Tupolev helped design its suspension.

The Samara T3 participated in two editions of the Paris-Dakar, finishing seventh in class in 1990 and fifth in 1991. Behind the wheel was none other than racing legend Jacky Ickx, also known for his six Le Mans wins and a 13-year Formula 1 career that spanned across the '60s and '70s. Ickx had previously driven a Niva in the Paris-Dakar, during the car’s final two years in the competition.

Other Automotive Creations With Porsche DNA

The Samara was one of Porsche’s strangest collaborative efforts, but it was far from the only one: over the course of its long history, the German marque has lent its engineering expertise to plenty of other automakers, with sometimes mixed results. Here are some of the weird and wonderful four-wheeled (and, occasionally, two-wheeled) creations that carry traces of Porsche’s input.

Seat Ibiza: a popular city runabout in the European market for the past four decades, the Seat Ibiza started out in life with a contribution from Porsche; its powertrain was designed with help from Porsche engineers, and the engine block even sported a “System Porsche” badge (which SEAT had to pay a small sum for the privilege of displaying).

Studebaker Z-87: If this model doesn’t sound familiar, it’s because it was never actually produced. Porsche was brought in by an ailing Studebaker in the mid-1950s to try and turn the company’s fortunes around, but the Z-87 prototype they designed was never built due to funding issues, and within a decade Studebaker had left the automotive business for good.

Audi RS2 Avant: The car that kick-started Audi’s high-performance RS series, the RS2 Avant was the product of a joint effort between Audi and Porsche which bumped up the power output of its turbocharged five-cylinder engine. The RS2 Avant would remain a rarity, with fewer than 3,000 units built globally.

Mercedes-Benz 500E/E500: A high-performance variant of the W124, the 500E was only sold for five years (between 1990 and 1995). On this occasion, Porsche's expertise was required to fit a square peg (the 5.0-liter V8 engine from the SL-Class) in a round hole (the W124 chassis). The results well and truly speak for themselves.

Harley-Davidson V-Rod: The wildcard of the group, the V-Rod is not a car, but a motorcycle. When Harley-Davidson decided to create a bike that went in a different direction from its more old-school models of the past, Porsche was brought in to help design the 1.1-liter V2 engine that would power the new V-Rod.

Sources: Porsche, Lada, HighMotor, SEAT, GoClassic, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, 360CarMuseum.

2024-12-08T10:12:35Z