http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/wannabe-warhol?page=0, I have two things to share concerning Yugos, Bette Midler drove one in the movie Drowning Mona. Actually, from my experience with Yugo monocoque, four doors would have crushing effect on rigidity:). And this works both ways after war ended in ex. Just as quickly as the Yugo ascended to number two in european import sales, the car plummeted back to earth and never rose again. Anyway, the employee joked that it even had the rear window warmer to keep your hands warm when pushing it. I recall seeing the garage full of yugos being worked on when Id take mine in and I recall seeing them dead on the side of the road everywhere. I wonder why they used the Yugos, To show the towns Quirkyness? When a woman drives a car into the river to her death, everyone in town becomes a suspect. Otoko wa tsurai yo: Torajiro wagamichi wo yuku, Otoko wa tsurai yo: Naniwa no koi no Torajir, http://www.highwayone.com/Classifieds/Yugo/GreenYugoCab.html, I'd like to own a yugo some day. But of course, a parking lot fender bender would be enough to total these cars. Its hard to pinpoint a weak spot on a Yugo because every system in the car was so badly designed and assembled that the whole car was a no contact accident. Yes it was 3990 excluding transmition and tax and delivery charges. So it worked pretty well in the domestic market, but USA is another story. finally blown up. Further, it was the only small car of the era that could be genuinely fun to drive. Make and modelMake and yearYearCategoryImportance/RoleDate added (new ones first)EpisodeAppearance (ep.+time, if avail. But it needed even more tweaking than did the Jugo 45which is what the Yugo was based on. Last Update: . Our Mr. Bricklin also had an idea to start up another company fed by Zastava, this time to be called ZMW. I was only ten, but knew they were junk. I ask because I wanted to make a comment in the article about the C3 Audi 100/Audi 5000 about how much of a disaster my fathers ownership experience turned out to be, but I figured itd make an interesting point of comparison. I blame the cost-cutters, whove put us in this positionspin the dice wrong, youre buying a new engine. But the Japanese companies focused; and today its almost unheard of to find a Toyota or Honda ruined from corrosion. I wonder if he actually carried that threat out, and if his daughter ever forgave him if he did. I drove it in Atlanta rush hour traffic, it got about 40MPG and I grew to really like the little beast. When the nastiest resident (Bette Midler) of a white-trash Westchester suburb is killed in a suspicious accident, everyone Only with the threat of armed intervention by Nato and the UN is an uneasy peace maintained. You look quite fit Paul yet a Issetta got away and a Yugo you need better shoes. The class all came out to look at it in the parking lot, Yugo was an exercise in marketing magic, and an exercise in embarrassment. The real reason why Crvena Zastava went into this adventure was that they were desperate to get some foreign currency to keep assembly lines alive. I took all of the fun stuff off of the red one (Italian Cromodora wheels and the AM/FM Cassette) and put it on the blue one. I know this is hardly the point of your blog entry, but as someone with a passionate interest in the region, Im compelled to mention that Yugoslavia broke apart mainly due to its heavy debt burden. During the time the clutch cable was dying, I broke the shifter mechanism, due to the clutch cable dying. Modern kei cars are dimensionally similar to the old sidevalve english Fords tall and narrow hopefully they dont fall over as easily I see lots of elderly people driving used import keis here. Thank you for the history, it complements the story of the car well. I see one maybe twice a year. Holy mackerel, Goe, what a story and experience! The first Mazda was also a kei-car, the R-360. -Because they have already been through hell. *cough cough*, Malcolm is now wanting to import Chinese cars. I know of no explanation for the garbage experience my dad had with his Audi, which broke down regularly. Zastava built some world class arms. I think we need to re-evaluate the Yugo against 1986 standards instead of 2011 standards. At my brothers wedding this weekend, what did I see right across the street from the Germanic-American Institute on Summit Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota? Mine was 5 years old and had like 40K miles on it. The last ones left in my hometown got a stay of execution when the city received a good number of Bosnian refugees in the 90s; many of them bought Yugos and got mobile for next to nothing since they knew how to keep them running. You could disassemble the whole car with like 5 Allen keys, three sockets and two Phillips-head screwdrivers, if you were inclined. Malcom Bricklin The twice bankrupt Bricklin has resurfaced periodically over the years, always pushing the latest crack brained scheme to sell a car that would occupy the place that his Yugo once did- the bottom rung of the American market. console.log(window['UnicI'].geo); UK Yugo dealers were often small garages in small towns, who really tried to do the prep work to get the cars out well. For the rest of the scene, he is dry from the waist up. I think that its important to remember that Subaru (Fuji Heavy Industries) itself didnt try to push the 360 into the American market-It was Bricklin looking for a lottery win and the little 360 was his ticket. The two-door chassis is, I understand, a 127. It wasnt ancient ethnic hatreds, it was more a perfect storm. The civil war in the former Yugoslavia was the finishing blow, but wasnt the reason it wasnt brought over. The New Brunswick government pulled the plug in September of 1975 and the Bricklin was finished. My best friend had for a brief time, a rusted 1980 Civic DX hatchback that ultimately blew out its 2 upper gears in the 5spd manual tranny that did it in even though his mechanic could not get the bolts out to replace the clutch due to rust. Seem like this article is just a mishmash of old articles written by people who never owned a Yugo, dont know anything about yugos, or who designed its engine. I would like to add that once money was in short supply, it was easy to lay a blame on the other side, to stir old misunderstandings and conflicts, send kids to London or USA and start profiting from the war. } Damn that X1/9 still looks beautiful just like mine the 81 behind the new Abarth. Based on the slightly larger Fiat 125, it was everything bad about a lada, but somehow worse. We learn that Verplanck was selected as a test market when the Yugo was being introduced to the United States. I have often wondered why Bricklin didnt try to make a ploy for the tooling to be set up in a higher quality shop. Drowning Mona is one of my favorite comedies, and its currently available on YouTube for free. The sexy Marsha Brady girl with the bellbottoms in the Subaru commercials is unforgettable. They start, get you to your destination in the dry, and thats about all you can saytheres no enjoyment in operating it and build quality was a joke. State ownership is generally coupled to some sort of coersion, such as a penalty tax on other makes. Not sure they sold very many. Agree with this last. One time the shifter came off in my hand. That brochures more collectible than its car. Lucinda (Kathleen Wilhoite), the local garage mechanic, checks out the death vehicle and confirms the sheriff's suspicions: The car was rigged. Drowning Mona is a 2000 American 'comedy' film starring Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Jamie Lee Curtis, Casey Affleck, Melissa McCarthy, Brian Doyle-Murray and box-office superstar Will Ferrell . "Drowning Mona" is a frustrating comedy. In my Country was make an attempt to import the Yugo Cabrio,rebadged as Innocenti Koral Cabrio,but homologation fiche wasn't approved for Italy,but if car was tested by Italian motor magazines(Italy will import Yugos twice,1986 to 1987 with origin name Zastava Yugo and 1990 to 1992 as Innocenti Koral 45 and 55--that rebadged for our Country), I like this movie. After the wars, Zastava redesigned their cars with help from Fiat and Citroen, and gained new technologies to have them compete with other European cars. The faded red one in the piece is for sale- $750. Thank you for the interesting history. Only other thing it needed to be roadworthy was front tires. Its not unlike the relationship I have with my cockroaches of the road (TM). Appologies for not-nice-said, but there is no other way to do it. At inopportune times. -You know why Yugo drivers go to heaven? var readyGEO; As I understand it, Zastiva had the Yugo designed that way as its plan was, from the beginning, to export the car. Film Focus: Drowning Mona. Many years later I saw it, and her, driving down a street near my house. And that, sadly, is the point and the problem. Also, the GM Colonades from 73-77 were pretty rust resistant as well. Every vehicle in town that is not a truck is a Yugo, except the police cruisers, which are Plymouth Horizons. A Mitsubishi in all but name, Proton wisely didnt fiddle around with it much meaning you got a reliable Pseudo-Japanese car for your money, not a cobbled together lash up like the yugo was. Or maybe not. Japanese rust problems are designed in the cars are only meant to last 6-7 years and were poorly protected in the factory. Americans are a funny lot.I am not sure what $4000 in 2016 money equates to but you can these days get plenty on the used car lot if you look carefully for roughly the same money as anything in the light car class or it can be can be a car you dreamed about when it was new but couldnt afford at the time.We Australians never saw the Yugo but $12,000 before you factor in things like automatics and on roads plus good condition gets you better than most of these cars from foreign lands and brands which dont exist anymore.I suppose the modern day equivalent of this would be something like a Suzuki Celerio or a Mitsubishi Mirage in my part of the world new,used equivalent buying gets you a three year old Corolla or Pulsar or one size smaller a well kept Yaris or Mazda 2. I spotted the ones in the picture while out on a bike ride a few years ago. He was absolutely correct. As for the FloridaBricklin was itching to bring it in. Yep, the N and Z360 from Honda, but when they made them for export, they dropped in a 600cc motor into what was essentially the same car so what we got as did Europe was the N and Z600 with a 600cc motor instead of the 360cc motor, which was the utmost limit in displacement for a Kei car then, and I think now. Our narrative today is of a modern P.T. Yes, even a Saturn will rust in Detroit, but in less harsh climes, Yugos tend to last well. The little cars--all Yugos--are almost identical; they only differ in color, and Rona's has a sunroof. But what about quality disasters in a different scenario? (https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2009/jan/14/cover/#) Of course, not wanting to be associated with alleged members of the alleged Romanian Mafia, Bently pulled out. I drove the blue one about three more years, but it did have some issues. Both were sold for more than I paid. Once the carb was replaced with a Weber instead of the Zastava kinda sorta copy with 3 miles of vacuum hose it ran and started a lot better. At first glance, the car looked up to date- Front wheel drive, rack and pinion steering, decent mileage. 2. France, to use your example, had a protected market with tariffs on American cars (disguised as a horsepower tax). Anyway, you got 2 I think 6.5 door speakers standard and an option for 2 46 oval speakers, mounted in the rear cargo covers side panels for a total of 4 speakers and an optional AC unit that replaced the console stack, just below the heater and the floor and it I think augmented the weak heater in these things. Blue in color. But then my wife (of all people) found a Yugo for $800. Ladas were, and are, shite. My mother drove it to work at the high school one time. The Italian Government and the Unions forced Fiat to cooperate. Those methods have contributed to rust resistance that we have come to expect from modern cars. Amidst mutual finger pointing, the deal collapsed in July 2008 as the erstwhile partners took turns suing one another in federal court. Especially on economy cars- Yugos often sold to High School girls, who would just turn up the stereo when their failure to add oil led to rod knocking. He regaled us with stories of his work at Yugo and claimed that the factory started to develop (or adapt) an automatic transmission for the market in the USA. Possibly most accurate and realistic analysis I have heard yet regarding what happened in ex-Yugoslavia. It was as if the Yugo was being promoted as crap, but SUPERIOR crap. And was thus more expensive. of record for a Yugo. Mona Dearly: Yeah? That salty New England slush had its way with everything. or all of the Ladas.As has been mentioned already this kind of cheap car ownership There was a guy that was racing a Yugo in SCCA competition, but thats been a long time ago. Why did Yugos have standard rear defrost? Ive been around big rigs all of my life, but they never looked bigger than when I was next to them on the freeway. Nevermind that their cars are horribly unreliable, people still buy them. Every vehicle in town that is not a truck is a Yugo, except the police cruisers, which are Plymouth Horizons. Purchased one year old cars for less than $1500 while attending college. Kathleen Wilhoite (Lucinda) and Melissa McCarthy (Shirley) appeared on Gilmore Girls (2000). I test drove one of these brand new when they hit the market. I was scarred for her to be driving it. Im pretty sure that she kept her clothes on. Japanese cars generally started out small, usually around 800cc in the mid 1950s and grew with the prosperity of the country and desire to chase export markets. In the end, its poor management. If possible, the FSO 125p was even worse. I think that for a 1992 car (perhaps it should be a Serb-o? This was almost $1100 lower than the cheapest Chevy Sprint and lower than even the Hyundai Excel. Almost everyone in town is a suspect. Id notice the original Civic CVCC, I had one, loved it and sold it much too soon. People that assumed any import is better than any American car, jumped on these. Parts are no problem, because it is basically a FIAT. People who took care of some basic maintenance and corrosion protection could see 10 to 15 years of service without too much trouble. You mentioned this before; itd make a great article. Which, actually, was a very good little car . What I know is that people explain such quality failures as Zastavas being due to a different culture in worker managed firms, etc. We heard of the Yugo here far away in South Africa, but now I know how it all came about and fell apart. 2) My wife (an engineer like yourself) has been to Dubrovnik and says that the beaches are incredible. Privacy policy Many wars (holocausts, massacres) are blamed on religion, I can understand why some people no longer believe. View 9 images I must admit that I own a Yugo. Drowning Mona (2000) Trivia Showing all 16 items The first thing to appear onscreen is a little blurb about the Yugo car company using the town of Verplanck as a test area for their new model years ago. I want to say she drove it, but I dont think she actually put many miles on it. It had become commonplace in the 1950s; and manufacturers first tried ignoring the problem; then dealing with it with superficial fixes like Zincrometal body panels. I saw one on the F4 so they did sell one.Those were a Polish Fiat 500 updated Just rubbish. couple of months ago when I was in Athens. depends 100% on very cheap parts and lots of mechanics around that know the car inside out. Subaru was just a little behind the curve in terms of design and safetyas befits a smaller company. I was unaware of the Bricklin connection at the time, and in fact learned about it here on CC, but I remember seeing some Bricklins as a kid, thinking that they were cool looking cars, and wondering why there werent more of them. It was owned by a gentleman named Dave Benton who claimed to be the former engineering manager for Yugo North America. Retrospective - 2000's "Drowning Mona". Also in Drowning Mona's favor, at the heart of the movie, is a genuinely positive character, Verplanck Police Chief Wyatt Rash (Danny DeVito).He's possibly the only principled citizen in town. So, they set about seeing what was what with a road-trip around Romania in three cars they would be testing. In The Film, for some inexplicable reason, everyone who lives in the Catskill area towns seems to drive a YUGO. When I was living in Montana in 2001, some masochist/crusty old guy was using one as a daily driver and it looked new. Saying that, it doesnt mean that people were particularly promiscuitive or anything like that. The biggest thing Ive heard was the timing belts were supposedly good for 30K miles and many owners were caught off guard, mostly due to not reading and/or heeding the maintenance intervals and boom, they croaked as they were not non interference motors like most OHC motors arent. Here is the text that opens Drowning Mona before we see the first shot: The car was a modest success with just under 8000 sold in the first year, but when the 360 was pilloried by Consumer Reports as being unacceptable because of its numerous safety issues, the bottom dropped out of the venture and the last few cars sat on dealers lots for years before they were practically given away. When the coroner first jumps into the water to check Mona's dead body, he is neck-deep in water. But back to the subject, shortage of all kind of raw material was the main reason for poor quality, not drunken workers. The Tipo 145 was developed in the early 1970s (IIRC), and it showed. This doomed script and conventional direction venture for Nick Gomez (" New Jersey Drive "/" Laws of Gravity "), results in a comedy that got by with a few mean-spirited jokes. View Cars. At least in the old days I could see why the industry that does not want a cheap car to succeed, but whats the point now? Ive been toying with seeing if I can find one thats been stored in a garage somewhere and buying it to replace my aging truck that leaks oil and coolant and tide the time before I can buy the new Fiat 500. Bricklin often says that the first model year or so of production the cars were well assembled and then once Zastava saw the money they let things slip. Bricklin was kicked out in the first (of two) bankruptcies, true. In addition, many cars have changed hands by that timeand who knows what the previous owner may have had done? This may seem shocking, but Yugos really dont rust badly. Trouble for him was, the rest of America wasnt interested in postwar America. I initially got a job selling cars, and had access to one for a while. and lso two Horizon ? . I put about 20K miles on it per year. Rather, I see him as an irrepressible optimist who went into his various ventures believing everything would turn out well and he was blind to the shortcomings of the cars he imported. Mine was an 86 and a half Yugo. I knew I wasnt buying a Lexus. (Cracked distributor cap, IIRC.) The Birdcage - Features a yellow Yugo Cabrio in Miami. Did it even come close? Wikipedia says that the Yugo quality was satisfactory at the start but went downhill fast and the factory refused to do anything about it. I actually grew to like winding the snot out of that motor. I cant recall reading anything positive about the vehicle, anywhere. http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_113306-Plymouth-Horizon-C2-1984.html During WWII, they built a few Jeeps. Ah, the quintessential crap car. 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