Tag Archives: Romania

Romanian Renault

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Crappy communist cars such as this, this and this weren’t just made out of old Fiats. No, because there was an exception! Dacias were made out of old Renaults. 

Based on the Renault 12, Dacia produced the 1310 from 1979 until 1999, before Renault took over the company from the Romanian state and, well… just continued making it for another seven years. Small revisions to the design were made over that lengthy production run, although all were somewhat ungainly, with the 1980s example pictured here looking particularly tragic.

Still, when you’re part of a communist dictatorship choice is somewhat limited, and thus over two million Dacia 1310s were sold.

This superb replica of the 1310 is the work of previous (but newly named) bloggee blockostalgia, who has done a tremendous job of recreating the humble Romanian people’s car in brick form. Everything opens, there’s a detailed interior and engine bay, and presentation is top shelf. Literally.

There’s lots more of block’s delightful Dacia to see on Flickr via the link above, and if you’re wondering what became of the brand after Renault’s take-over… well they now make the best selling car in all of Europe.

Do As The Romans Do

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Or, in this case, do as everyone else does. This a Roman SR 113/114 truck, built in Romania in the 1960s, using – as many Communist manufacturers did – designs licensed from Western companies.

Early Roman trucks were clones of Soviet ZIL designs, however by the late ’50s Roman looked west for their engineering sources. Launched in 1958 the SR 113/114 truck used a Ford-designed engine mounted ahead of a French cab, and was available in a tipper, crane, military specifications.

Mercedes-Benz and Perkins engines powered export versions, and the model was built for around a decade before being superseded by designs licensed from West Germany’s MAN.

This excellent recreation of the Roman SR113/114 is the work of newcomer Pufarine, who has captured the classic Romanian truck beautifully. Fitted with Power Functions remote control drive and steering, Pufarine’s model also features opening doors, a raising hood, and a dropping tailgate, and there’s more to see at both Flickr and Eurobricks.

Click the links above to do as the Romans did. Which, as it turns out, was whatever the Soviet Union, America, France, and West Germany were doing.

The Unknown Off-Roader

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Lego ARO 244

Today’s post is a car that we’d never heard of, despite more than 300,000 being produced over nearly forty years and it being sold in over one hundred countries. Back to school for TLCB Team…

This is the ARO 24-Series, a Romanian 4×4 launched in 1969 and sold, after many revisions, right up until 2006 when the company finally folded in rather weird circumstances.

ARO began by building a relicensed version of the Soviet GAZ-69 military 4×4 in the late-1950s before designing their own vehicles such as the 24. The 24-Series was a huge export success; over 90% of production was exported before 1989, with the model also built in Portugal and Italy.

After thirty-five years of production the Romanian government decided to sell ARO to an American businessman who planned to import the 24-Series to the US. He managed to convince 200 dealers to pay $75,000 each for franchise rights, and then pressured them to send more money for vehicles. The dealers refused insisting they pay on delivery, and the venture collapsed.

The Romanian government then learned that the buyer had sold the tooling and assets, and that the documents used to purchase ARO were falsified. They sued in 2006 and the import company fired all its employees, sold its headquarters and disappeared. It was a strange ending to a rather good car, one that was an unusual communist success story killed by capitalist greed.

Today’s creation depicts a second generation 24-Series and has been superbly built by previous bloggee Pixel Fox of Flickr. There’s more to see of his excellent Romanian 4×4 by clicking here, and you can discover his ever-expanding back-catalogue of brilliant mini-figure scale off-roaders by visiting the full album here.

Pikes Peak

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Dacia Duster Pikes Peak

Just like the road car. Wait, no, that’s not right.

Renualt are in big trouble in Europe. Years of making technologically advanced but shoddily built cars, combined with the ongoing Financial Crisis, have left the company hemorrhaging cash.

And yet… their once poor relation, which started making Renault knock-offs in Romania (with even worse build quality than the French managed, which is quite something) is starting to come good. Dacia, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Renualt, are expanding away from their Eastern European roots and giving the big brands a bit of headache. Their cars are so cheap that there’s nothing to drop off, and the good stuff from Renualt (engines and gearboxes) remains.

To publicize their expansion Dacia have done what any good car manufacturer does; built a ridiculous race car and made it look a bit like a car you can buy in the showroom. Their Duster Pikes Peak racer is a formidable machine, and it’s been faithfully recreated in Lego by Eric Mohier. Eric submitted his model to TLCB himself, using our Feedback and Submission Suggestions, and now he’s on the blog front-page! See, we do read your comments!