Polonez Car ad, Eastern-Bloc Car Ads
1980 Polonez

If you discount our brief encounter with the Yugo brand, Americans have had very little exposure to vehicles produced in what was once known as the Eastern Bloc. Western Europe, however, and even Canada, have had far greater access to such brands as Lada.

As a car guy, it galls me somewhat that our neighbors up north got to experience the legendary off-road-ready Niva, while all we can do is watch YouTube videos of the crude-but-effective tiny SUVs conquering all sorts of brutal terrain.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixb98LN3RaU]

 

Collected here are ten classic Eastern-Bloc-brand car ads, most of which were for vehicles sold outside of the Iron Curtain. Note that one of the Skoda ads below is a solicitation for U.S. distributors—how many were actually signed up we couldn’t say.

If you’ve spent time with any of these exotic-looking rides, please tell us about it.

More classic car ads

 

FSO

1987 FSO Polonez Ad
1987 FSO Ad

 

Lada

1986 Lada Niva Ad
1986 Lada Ad

 

Moskvich

1964 Moskvich Ad
1964 Moskvich Ad

 

Polonez

1980 Polonez Ad
1980 Polonez Ad

 

Skoda

1959 Skoda Ad
1959 Skoda Ad

5 Forgotten Toyota Models

 

Skoda

1960 Skoda Ad
1960 Skoda Ad

 

Tatra

1959 Tatra Ad
1959 Tatra Ad

 

Trabant

1965 Trabant Ad
1965 Trabant Ad

 

Volga

1966 Volga Ad
1966 Volga Ad

 

Yugo

1989 Yugo Florida
1989 Yugo Florida Ad

FCA Just Killed the 200 and Dart. Is the Dodge Brand Next?

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