the Lada.
There was a far right cult here in Chch who had serious issues with this vehicle. Eg
Ha! I live in Christchurch too and remember them too - "Zenith Applied Philosophy." Eccentric but sinister right-wing nutters.
They decked out a Lada with slogans like "Russian slave labour car" and would park it in the Square.
They would "approach people on the street shouting about unions, or democracy, or bang on the roofs of Lada cars berating their owners for driving a communist car."
One of the more bizarre cults in the Western world. Lead by a chap called "John Ultimate" who had been kicked out of Scientology.
Totally controlled his daft followers and took all their money. Ran many businesses and scams around Chch.
Famously dodgy property developer David Henderson (he who sold millions of dollars of dud buildings to the City Council) was one of their leading lights. The Zappers had Henderson buy up fast food outlets around Chch and that's how he started his business career. Source of profit for John Ultimate.
Henderson a decade ago conned people into feeling sorry for him over some conflict with IRD and had some suckers make a feature film about him with the main guy from "Packed to the Rafters" playing him (former Chch actor Thomson).
The former ACT Party vice-president was also a member.
John Ultimate died in 2001 and his widow lived in a multi-million dollar apartment in the Heritage Hotel in the Square.
Many interesting details here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenith_Applied_Philos...
Hilarious times:
http://www.webcitation.org/5aUmAvO4Q
"The early years of the movement were wild times by all accounts. The founder, John Dalhoff, formerly of Golden Bay and whose parents were from Denmark, claimed to have mastery of the physical universe and at one time asserted he had absorbed a Wellington earthquake which would otherwise have cracked open containers hiding Soviets ready to take over the country. He expelled two followers whom he accused of being aliens. He called himself John Ultimate. His house at 193 Clyde Road was declared centre of the universe..
...Dalhoff would participate in the gatherings but only by way of an intercom. He had become morbidly obese and seemed to have an aversion to meeting people face to face although he would telephone adherents. The meetings continued for 10 years, during which time attendees did not see him once..."
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