Post by marius on Sept 28, 2011 11:51:09 GMT 2
Dear LOCSA Members
LOCSA expanded rapidly over the last year or so and has now grown to 270 members. Largely thanks to the power of the internet, a significant number of our new members joined from far and wide over the globe and LOCSA has now unwittingly become a benchmark in the world wide Lada Niva community. This is truly a remarkable feat, considering that not so long ago LOCSA was virtually dead and buried!
We all love our Nivas, but one of the major drawbacks is that replacement parts can be hard to come by or very expensive at times. LOCSA has started to address these issues.
The first significant step in this direction and one of our biggest milestones so far, was when the first batch of suitable replacement tyres for the standard 16” rims arrived in Cape Town on the 28th of April 2011. On the 10th of May 2011 I got my biggest birthday present yet, when the first set of Nankang FT-7 195/80R16’s was fitted on our Niva!
The second significant step came when it was discovered that Autozone stocked a suitable water pump for the Niva at a very affordable price. However it did not take long after this bit of good news for the stock to disappear from their shelves, but we are now in discussions with Autozone to import another batch of these water pumps into South Africa. To take this matter a huge step further, discussions progressed to the point where Autozone is now seriously considering importing certain fast moving parts for the Lada Niva. We hope to share some good news with you in the coming months!
Another very significant development was when a third spare part supplier was “discovered”, or rather rediscovered, in Pietermaritzburg in Kwazulu Natal and it did not take too long before a fourth supplier of spare parts opened his workshop in the Kraaifontein area in the Western Cape. All this has greatly improved the supply line of spare parts in South Africa.
In this regard the internet also played a major role in that we now have access to a virtually unlimited supply of spares at very affordable prices from other countries like Russia, Ukraine, UK and other countries in the EU.
Indeed the future of the Niva in South Africa looks very bright!
However, as can be expected, there were some hiccups along the way and a very recent and scary one at that, was the deletion of both the LOCSA forum and the website from the internet. That came as a huge shock for all of us, and for a moment it looked as if it was all over. However in true LOCSA spirit it quickly became clear that many of our members were outraged by this callous and senseless act and support for our unexpected crisis came from far and wide.
Many of our members became actively involved in salvaging the LOCSA forum and within a couple of days the wonderful people from Proboards Support recovered the forum and we were back online! Soon afterwards we thankfully also managed to recover most of the content of our website.
This horrendous incident made me realize how important LOCSA has become to the worldwide Niva community and I would like to thank each and everyone for their support in what may well have been our darkest hour.
Kind regards
Marius van Rensburg
LOCSA Chairperson
LOCSA expanded rapidly over the last year or so and has now grown to 270 members. Largely thanks to the power of the internet, a significant number of our new members joined from far and wide over the globe and LOCSA has now unwittingly become a benchmark in the world wide Lada Niva community. This is truly a remarkable feat, considering that not so long ago LOCSA was virtually dead and buried!
We all love our Nivas, but one of the major drawbacks is that replacement parts can be hard to come by or very expensive at times. LOCSA has started to address these issues.
The first significant step in this direction and one of our biggest milestones so far, was when the first batch of suitable replacement tyres for the standard 16” rims arrived in Cape Town on the 28th of April 2011. On the 10th of May 2011 I got my biggest birthday present yet, when the first set of Nankang FT-7 195/80R16’s was fitted on our Niva!
The second significant step came when it was discovered that Autozone stocked a suitable water pump for the Niva at a very affordable price. However it did not take long after this bit of good news for the stock to disappear from their shelves, but we are now in discussions with Autozone to import another batch of these water pumps into South Africa. To take this matter a huge step further, discussions progressed to the point where Autozone is now seriously considering importing certain fast moving parts for the Lada Niva. We hope to share some good news with you in the coming months!
Another very significant development was when a third spare part supplier was “discovered”, or rather rediscovered, in Pietermaritzburg in Kwazulu Natal and it did not take too long before a fourth supplier of spare parts opened his workshop in the Kraaifontein area in the Western Cape. All this has greatly improved the supply line of spare parts in South Africa.
In this regard the internet also played a major role in that we now have access to a virtually unlimited supply of spares at very affordable prices from other countries like Russia, Ukraine, UK and other countries in the EU.
Indeed the future of the Niva in South Africa looks very bright!
However, as can be expected, there were some hiccups along the way and a very recent and scary one at that, was the deletion of both the LOCSA forum and the website from the internet. That came as a huge shock for all of us, and for a moment it looked as if it was all over. However in true LOCSA spirit it quickly became clear that many of our members were outraged by this callous and senseless act and support for our unexpected crisis came from far and wide.
Many of our members became actively involved in salvaging the LOCSA forum and within a couple of days the wonderful people from Proboards Support recovered the forum and we were back online! Soon afterwards we thankfully also managed to recover most of the content of our website.
This horrendous incident made me realize how important LOCSA has become to the worldwide Niva community and I would like to thank each and everyone for their support in what may well have been our darkest hour.
Kind regards
Marius van Rensburg
LOCSA Chairperson