Designed as a family-friendly car, the “1300” stands for the engine displacement. The first Dacia 1300 left the assembly lines on August 23rd, 1969 being promoted as a big achievement of the Communist industry – even though it was just a licensed product of the French Renault 12 car model.
Romanian engineers needed a car that was cheap to make, consumption-efficient and large enough for the whole family. Dacia became a sweetheart not just with Romanians. It managed to find its way as far as South America, Canada, China or North Korea, but also Great Britain or the Netherlands. Such features as air conditioning, airbags and ABS or MP3 players were never offered. Also, the right-side mirror and the radio were luxury options, and so were the safety belts!
Ironically, Dacia 1300 and later 1310, the emblematic car of the Romanian communism, had been the childhood family car of choice for the generation who got rid of the Romanian communism, such bringing its life as a car model to an end!
Several lift-ups were made during the years, but all of them reflected the stage of the Romanian economy, racing from the early, promising days of socialist industrialization to the later days of socialism decline and sheer poverty. The final result, step by step, was that all the lift-ups had a negative impact on quality and placed the model farther away from its inspiration: Renault 12. Just before its 35th anniversary, the last Dacia 1310 (sedan version), number 1,959,730, came out of the gates of the Mioveni (near the city of Pitești) production facility.
My name is Malvina and I am a glorious child of Romanian socialism. I was born in June 1984 in Pitesti and I have 1,953,730 sisters. I spent my childhood in Romania’s wineland – Vrancea.
Here we had over 7,600 kg of grapes per hectare which makes it a happy land…and its inhabitants sometimes tipsy :). This is where my love for long drives over grape-covered hills comes from. Even if I am not the strongest or largest of vehicles, I am a hard worker and a pride for the father Communist Party. I do not know how many tons of grapes and wine I helped carry in Vrancea, but for sure I didn’t get tipsy.
I was actually happy when I retired – because I am a Certified Historic Vehicle – and now I only carry people. Unlike grapes, people are interesting. Please pardon me if I am not as agile as 30 years ago or as comfortable as new cars. I promise I am hard working and reliable. I only ask you to have fun and be nice to me! I joined The Red Patrol in 2018, at 34 years old when I had driven 140,000 km in Vrancea County.
My name is Domnica and I am one of the last of my kind. I was born in June, 1989 with only 6 month before communism fell. I was born in Pitesti, but I grew up in Sector 2 of Bucharest.
We are around 1,953,730 sisters, but not all were as lucky as me. I have lived all my life in the capital. Everybody here admired my blue paint exterior and blue vinyl interior. Sometimes I am sad I didn’t feel Communism but they say it was bad.I do not like mud, dirt or being overcrowded. The times were blue and so was I.
I am a cheap gas girl and am used to change. I am also a very, very fast Dacia. I can reach up to 90 km/h. In 2019 I became a Certified Historic Vehicle like my sister, Malvina. Congratulate me! I joined The Red Patrol in 2018, at 29 years old when I had 42,000 km on the run.
My Name is Letitia and you should know that it is not a coincidence that I am as red as blood: I come from the land of Dracula. My hometown is Transylvania, the city of Sebes in Alba region, more exactly. I came into this world in November 1977. It was the year of the great earthquake and of the red Dacia cars.
I never met my sisters as not many of us stayed behind. Most went to bigger cities or abroad. Before becoming a RedPatrol star, my previous owner put me to carry very heavy things like my sisters did: from potato sacks to sheep, because Alba is full of sheep on the fields.
Nowadays, after my complete rejuvenation, it would be a blasphemy to put stuff like this on my lovely 70’s black leather seats! In Bucharest I am surrounded by many people who love to touch me. I love to take pictures but hate to be touched. I am temperamental but always help when needed. I joined The Red Patrol in 2019, at 42 years old when I had around 400.000 km and became a Certified Historic Vehicle .
