HELSINKI, Finland

RISTO NYKANEN’S Russian wife hates his hobby. She came from Leningrad, in the old Soviet Union, before its name reverted to St. Petersburg.

Mr. Nykanen’s hobby? He gathers and restores old Ladas, the boxy Soviet automobiles that were once the family car of Finland, but have become collectors’ items — for contrarian collectors.

“Whatever came from Soviet Russia, all this is crap,” said Mr. Nykanen, 47, explaining why many Finns, and not just his Russian-born wife, loathe the Lada. But for Mr. Nykanen, a Finn who runs a machinery import business when not buying and restoring the Russian clunkers, the cars represent a bittersweet chapter of his nation’s history.

Built starting in the early 1970s, based on the already dated design of the Fiat 124, Ladas are emblems of the Cold War, when Finland sought to strike a delicate balance between the Soviet Union and the West.