During the Cold War anything from Eastern Europe was slammed by the west. (Propaganda coming hard and fast from both sides.) Ladas were called terrible cars by the automotive press, but gained a reputation among "those in the know" as being tough little cars that would last for quite some time if given regular routine maintenance. (And, with a few mods - mostly Fiat parts - they could be fun to drive.) Cars by Moskvich were also slammed, but in this case most of the criticizm was valid.
The history of this car is somewhat confusing, as the same basic car was sold under several different names. It started life in 1964 as the 408. In 1968 AZLK (the Soviet maker of the Moskvitch brand) introduced the 412, an upmarket 408. In 1976 AZLK started calling the car the 2140 SL when selling it in Eastern Europe and 1500 SL when selling it in the west. (Variations of this car were also sold as 2136 and 2138 models.)
The 412 / 2140 / 1500 was not built for performance. The 1500cc engine ("based" on an older BMW engine, but BMW had nothing to do with that) was not a high performance engine and it took almost 20 seconds for this car to hit 60 MPH. The car's handling was not good and its build quality left a lot to be desired.
The styling is similar to most European sedans of the 1960s. It's boxy and practical. It even appears to be fairly roomy. Although not introduced until 1964, AZLK started designing this car in the late 1950s and it has little tail fins. An interesting design touch is the turn signals located on the fins. This car is being sold by a place called Dezer Collection Museum and Pavillion. They give no history of this car or any written description of its condition. (The text in the ad is essentially a Wiki article.) It looks like there is some rust on the lower rear quarter panels and the engine compartment is not as clean as the rest of the car. I don't know enough about these cars to know if the hose sticking out of the firewall went to the heater core or if it's some sort of drain hose. (Although it would seem odd to route water into the engine compartment, so I suspect it's from a disconnected heater core.) The trailer hitch is a bit scary, too. A 1500cc engine that can barely move the car should probably not be pulling a trailer. You can e-mail or call Dezer for more info.
The folks at Dezer say this car is appraised at $11,000.00, but they're offering it for $9495.00. That's a lot of money (Or maybe... "that's a Lada money" - Sorry, I couldn't resist) to pay for this car, even if it runs and drives perfectly. However, if owning something unique is important to you, it doesn't get much more unique than this in the US. (I spent about a half an hour looking at the pictures, just because I've never seen one of these before)The Dezer Collection Museum and Pavillion is located in North Miami, FL. You can find the ad for this car here.
