Testimony Return to Testimony List Cigany Mercedes A car, which is particularly popular with rural Roma, is the Lada. In fact it is often referred to as the Cigany Mercedes. Romani World decided to find out why it is liked by Roma. Here is a tiny report which, for want of a better location, we have placed here under Testimony. To get a hang of this story we drove out to the Tisza region and then asked in a village if anyone had a Lada and liked it. "Jozsef!" was the answer! But he was at work. But then we thought, no problem we will wait. Finally Jozsef turned up in his working clothes. We explained why we had come and he found that interesting. Smiling broadly he said that he was dirty from work and would be back in a few minutes. Ten minutes later, having had a shower and changed his clothes, Jozsef was ready to answer any questions! RW: "Why is the Lada a good car?" Jozsef: "The Lada is a good car because you can fix anything yourself. Even if you can't find a piece you can always find something that will work until you find the right piece." RW: "What else?" Jozsef: "It doesn't consume gasoline and oil like these big new cars!" RW: "What else?" Jozsef: "In snow and ice it is better up slopes than these big heavy cars. Do you know the engines in these big cars are so big and heavy that if they begin to drift on an icey slope they are lost? Ladas and Trabantes can often just go straight up an icey hill while the others are digging themselves out!" Rw: "Mmm what else?" Jozsef: "The car is really tough and robust, can go over rough ground really fast, for a small car the under clearance is quite large... not like these modern cars." RW: "Aren't spare parts expensive?" Jozsef: "Oh, I have my own supply". RW: "Your own supply! What do you mean by that?" Jozsef: "I have a whole car's worth of spare parts!!" RW: "What, that must have cost a fortune! ?" Jozsef grinned, he was enjoying this interview. He beckoned us to follow. We followed him round behind his house. "There you are!" he said pointing, "my spare parts, they cost me 30,000 Forints!". There by a wall was a another complete Lada minus its wheels. Jozsef really did have a whole car's worth of spares! RW: "How much would you sell your Lada for?" Jozsef replied immediately and with a grin said, "Thank you very much but it's not for sale!!" We thanked Jozsef, but before we could leave he insisted that we have some coffee which his wife served up in small glasses. It was good and strong .. a bit like the Cigany Mercedes. Jozsef is an Olah Cigany from the Tisza region in Hungary