Thu Jul 22, 2004 1:37 pm by Indy11
In Romania, the Last of the Ubiquitous Dacia Sedan
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 21, 2004
MIOVENI, Romania -- It ferried brides, transported mountains of cabbages and melons to market and rushed the sick to hospitals. A Romanian man was not considered complete unless he could get one going with a screwdriver.
The last of the iconic Dacia sedans -- boxy, breakdown-prone cars Romanians have loved to hate for 35 years -- rolled off the assembly line Wednesday, ending an era in the ex-communist country.
The Dacia (pronounced Da' cheea) is the most ubiquitous car in Romania. That probably will not change for years to come: with average monthly salaries at less than $200, most Romanians cannot afford new cars.
French-owned Automobile Dacia Groupe Renault says there are an estimated 1.5 million Dacias in this country of 22 million people. The last one was the 1,959,730th made at the factory in Mioveni, 125 miles northwest of Bucharest.
But statistics mean little to sentimental Romanians, who often give their cars pet names and practically consider them part of the family.
"It was a car that attracted all the girls," recalled Gheorghe Stoica, 57, who has owned the same Dacia since 1985. "I used to be embarrassed of taking a girl out if her father had a Dacia and I didn't."
The last Dacia 1300, a replica of the Renault 12, likely will be donated to a museum. Two hundred sedans turned out in the final run were sold Tuesday for $5,040 apiece and are expected to become collector's items.
Emil Ion, 49, who owns a gray 1970 Dacia -- one of the first manufactured -- said he recently received several offers for it.
"I love it as much as my wife and son, and I won't give it up for anything," said Ion, who affectionately calls his car "Daddy's Old Girl."
Renault forged a partnership with Automobile Dacia in 1968 during a thaw in communism, in an era when the average Romanian began aspiring to own a car.
The first Dacia was a replica of the Renault 8. In 1969, production of the Dacia 1300 began.
Romania shook off communism in 1989, and a decade later, Renault bought a 99.43 percent stake in the company.
The Dacia elicits ambivalence, with some Romanians saying it reminds them of communism -- a bleak time when there was little choice for consumers.
"It is a symbol of the communists, just like the Trabant was a symbol for the East Germans," said 57-year-old Ion Maneta, whose family name means "gear stick" in Romanian.
Dacia was to Romanians what the Lada was to the Soviets: not the prettiest of cars but easy to repair, and there were no problems finding spare parts. Every village had a "Nene," an avuncular-type figure who could fix the car.
"You open the hood, put your arm in the carburetor and unblock the fuel pipe," said Traian Negulescu, 30, who grew up with a Dacia.
His father has nursed "Albuta," or "Little White One," since it was purchased in 1979.
"The Dacia is like a beast of burden. You work with it and it's not fussy or costly ... it's not the healthiest thing, but it's always there," Negulescu said.
Under communism, buyers sometimes had to wait two years for a Dacia, and a regular one would cost nearly three years' salary for the average worker.
Even those fortunate enough to acquire one had a tough time enjoying it. The late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu rationed gasoline, and cars were only allowed on the roads on alternative Sundays.
The automaker now will produce the new Logan -- a model Renault will also build and sell in other countries. Locally, Dacia will continue building the Solenza model and utility vehicles.
Sorin Nicolau, who runs an automobile service in the capital, Bucharest, bade the old sedan good riddance.
"For the demands we had then, it was a good car," he said. "But we changed. Now it's outdated. It is not a family car -- it is not good for modern roads, for the comfort we want today."
But company vice chairman Constantin Stroe said the sedan was leaving behind a heady legacy. "Dacia was predestined to make history," he said.
Dacia employee Maria Purcaru said she watched the last one roll away "with tears in my eyes."
