Any idea where the Fiat 128 stopped and the 127 started in the Yugo? He was absolutely correct. I remember listening to Car Talk some 5-6 years ago and a caller came on and said that his Yugo (an 87 I think) died at 150,000 miles, not due to mechanical failure, but due to a Deer. She picked them up for virtually nothing and was content with bare-bones transportation. After the 1973 oil shock and protracted period of economic stagnation globally, Western markets had less incentive to buy anything from Yugoslavia. She was given a Yugo that wouldnt runthe fix was nine dollars. 5.0 out of 5 stars Drowning Mona music CD. Nevermind that their cars are horribly unreliable, people still buy them. Usually, these ultra-cheapo cars suffer from goofy styling touches, but the Yugo comes off as pretty clean, which is all the more astonishing since its an original design where no body parts interchange with the Fiats upon which it was based. I havent seen one on the road in at least 15 years. Kind of reminds me of a first generation Rabbit/Golf, which Ive always considered the gold-standard for the best styled small car. Bracket racing, of course. Visit Dealer Website. They took in much more foreign revenue and as the economy began to fail more and more fundamentally, the leaders of those republics decided theyd be better off independent of Yugo. The lovable numbskulls of Verplanck, New York, are all beside themselves with shock and quiet joy when town bully Mona Dearly dies in a freak accident involving her Yugo, some cut brake lines, and a plunge into the Hudson. That explains why everyone was driving them then. https://chrisoncars.com/yugo-victim-or-victimizer/: (Time Magazine said it best: The Yugo has the distinct feeling of something assembled at gunpoint), I found quite a few articles from later years, quoting the same sentence over and over again (https://www.carkeys.co.uk/news/the-story-of-the-yugo-the-worst-car-in-the-world, https://www.ocregister.com/2017/01/03/the-best-worst-cars-ever/ , https://blastmagazine.com/2014/05/13/truth-10-cars-never-hit-road/), And there you have it: everybody knows for fact that Yugo was actually assembled at gunpoint. As for the first gen Civics and to a lesser extent, the second gen Civics, I would guess where we dont have rust to deal with, it was 30+ years and many accrued miles that ultimately were their demise, ie, 200K-300K+ and a head gasket finally blows are what killed them off eventually if not an accident or some other mechanical failure due to age/mileage. State-owned auto companies or assembly plants, tend to have little to no feedback from end-user to management. With a State-owned automobile plant, management is there for political reasons which may have nothing to do with competence. Zastava built some world class arms. 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. FSO 125P: It was not much bigger than a homeless persons shopping cart and similarly stocked. In the end, its poor management. One time the keys were out and the car was still on and would not turn off. My little red Yugo was dead. Wyatt finds no shortage of suspects. IIRC, when hers finally died, she said that she tried to find another but couldnt. or all of the Ladas.As has been mentioned already this kind of cheap car ownership Just started slipping, on a highway as flat as a calm oceanand over the next five hours I had to shift into lower and lower gears just to minimize slippage. This was almost $1100 lower than the cheapest Chevy Sprint and lower than even the Hyundai Excel. And, with such an unsatisfying ending and its inability to capitalize on a potentially funny situation, it's a film that you probably shouldn't rush to see on DVD. Destination was Las Vegas; and by the time I got there the only way to get it to move was in First. 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. There was a dealer in Denver Colorado, called Apple Motors, who used to sell warmed up Yugos. If possible, the FSO 125p was even worse. That's not what I'm about." The base GV had a 1.1L, SOHC motor that originated in the Fiat 128 and the GVX had the 1.3L\, SOHC, motor, also from the Fiat 128 and I think it had the 5spd manual in it but the base GV got the 4spd manual. I know of no explanation for the garbage experience my dad had with his Audi, which broke down regularly. It failed, of all places, on the Bonneville salt flats area in Utah. I also have to say that state ownership does not always lead to poor business. The mechanical bits all seemed OK, and no obvious leaks or other damage. The thing that I remember most was the shifter and the transmission. 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? Most can be rectified by the shareholders or the Boards of Directors, the shareholders representatives. 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. I spotted the ones in the picture while out on a bike ride a few years ago. Here, it is well known that you change the timing belt every 40K miles. finally blown up. The blue one had seen much more use than the red one, but it was still a good runner. The Little SuBARu Wow!, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLPp-NFInXw. How quickly they developed larger cars was a product of how well capitalized each company was and how much their senior management (some of which was deeply conservative, even by Detroit standards) was willing to make the investment in export-specific products. if (window['UnicI'].geo === 'EU') { But the reason it hit the Japanese cars harderwas that while many American cars were still frame-on-platform, and had some beef in the underbellyand even the unibody models were over-engineered for rigiditythe Japanese models had pared weight and beef to a minimum. Second factor was, the popularity in the day of recycled steel in car manufacture. Drowning Mona 2000 (PG-13)Strident comedy about the low-IQ denizens of small town Verplanck, New York, where everybody still drives a Yugo (the town was a test market). First, salt as a melting agent on roads was relatively new. 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. Reading in Consumer Reports that the tester injured his toe when the front seat came crashing down on it. But the proof of the pudding is the tasting; and I have YET to see a government-built car, or other product or service, which could stand head to heat with private competionstand on MERIT. depends 100% on very cheap parts and lots of mechanics around that know the car inside out. But there was one area that, frankly, I was impressed with, and that was the basic two-box design. European manufactures give guarantee for lets say 50k-250k km (~30k-150k mi) and 5-10 years, whatever come first (in practice mileage is more important), but previous owner could use some product with shorter life thats why this saving of couple* Euros isnt worth a risk. A girl I knew in high school had one of these, it got rustier seemingly by the day, and this was in 1991-2 so it wasnt by any means an old car. setTimeout(waitGEO, 200); The character name, Wyatt Rash, was intentionally chosen by writer, Peter Steinfeld, to reflect the underlying premise of the movie -- said fast enough, it sounds like yup, White Trash! State ownership is generally coupled to some sort of coersion, such as a penalty tax on other makes. i live down the block. Ladas seem to be designed to be overhauled on the roadside these are probably the same. With the pullout of Fiat, Renault and the British makes just a few years before, there was a general sense that room existed in the market for any european nameplate that could build a reasonably priced car that returned good fuel economy and high build quality. Saying that, it doesnt mean that people were particularly promiscuitive or anything like that. (Eagleburger had been U.S. ambassador to Yugoslvia and had spent almost all of his foreign service career in southeast europe. Thank you for the history, it complements the story of the car well. I blame the cost-cutters, whove put us in this positionspin the dice wrong, youre buying a new engine. I cant recall reading anything positive about the vehicle, anywhere. There were surely other goofs that were institutionalized. Id notice the original Civic CVCC, I had one, loved it and sold it much too soon. A 2000 American crime comedy film directed by Nick Gomez that has a police chief ( Danny DeVito) investigate the death of a woman named Mona ( Bette Midler ), an abusive and spiteful woman who was hated by everyone who knew her. The 71-76 GM full-sizers were better than average on this count. Since Yugo America was basically just a collection of cheap office furniture and unanswered phones, creditors received essentially nothing for their interests in the company. It's a movie that has an attitude problem it couldn't resolve as easily as it did the mystery to Mona's death. I drove it in Atlanta rush hour traffic, it got about 40MPG and I grew to really like the little beast. 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. I saw one parked on Colorado Blvd. A girl I hung out with in college had a Yugo. In Spain it was called "Todos la queran muerta" (everyone wanted her dead), Too good of a movie not to be on this site in HD. And the gas cap would not come off. As a rule, Chrysler got worse as the 70s progressed where Ford and particularly GM got better. 2) My wife (an engineer like yourself) has been to Dubrovnik and says that the beaches are incredible. One of a kind, Im sure, There is an article from 2012, quoting the Time magazine Technically if its going downhill it wasnt moving on its own power. The space efficiency was great too- it really is tiny- and is NOT a fiat. Its a tough call on the Yugo. Also i believe that the whole project couldnt last very long because Crvena Zastava never had economic strength to satisfy such demanding market, which requires first class quality, excellent dealer network and a newer and bigger model every year, just to stay in business. I was enrolled in a community class marketing course and the teacher brought up the Yugo, and was joking about it. Ladas were, and are, shite. Two YUGO watches, new. [SOUNDBITE - clip from Drowning Mona trailer, 2000] Every car in the movie, save for the police vehicle and a main character's landscaping pickup, is a . When they came unglued from rot, there was no there there to support the structure. Danny DeVito and Bette Midler appeared in Ruthless People (1986). From the Subaru 360, to the SV1, to the Yugo, up to Chery, he followed the time-honored scammers credo of taking as much money as he could through charm and charisma, and when the going got tough and his shell-game started coming unraveled, he bailed with his loot and moved on to his next scam. Yugos are cars. The Italian Government and the Unions forced Fiat to cooperate. Its not unlike the relationship I have with my cockroaches of the road (TM). Amidst mutual finger pointing, the deal collapsed in July 2008 as the erstwhile partners took turns suing one another in federal court. I would be *shocked* to see a single one moving under its own power in 2011. But after that i didnt have much trouble with it, ride wasnt too bad for such small car, power was adequate for normal driving (in fact, compared to my fathers beetle with 1200 cc and 34 HP, Yugo with 55 HP and such goodies like 5-speed gearbox and brake booster feels pretty quick). Of course, not wanting to be associated with alleged members of the alleged Romanian Mafia, Bently pulled out. Ive been around big rigs all of my life, but they never looked bigger than when I was next to them on the freeway. The last Yugo that we would recognize rolled off the assembly line in November 2008. Drowning Mona | 2000 | PG-13 | - 5.5.5. They found problems in the assembly processone described was how the wiring harness to the rear liftgate and wiper, didnt fit the stamped holes allowed it. Knobs came off in your hand, the sliding radio marker on a string would get stuck and not move off of from where it landed. I have only seen one Yugo in my life. As for the FloridaBricklin was itching to bring it in. Im affiliated with NECC Motorsports, a club that runs time trials at various sports car racing tracks in the eastern half of the USA. It was like, when you get in, what is next to give out or give you trouble. This was before the deal with Chery. The Yugo? -You know why Yugo drivers go to heaven? I knew about their reputation, but I really needed a set of wheels that wasnt going to set me back a couple of thousand dollars. if (window['UnicI'].geo === 'CA') { By what name was Drowning Mona (2000) officially released in India in English? No parts fell off of it, the car generally was in good condition (other than some stains on the seats that I didnt care to speculate about). I cant think of another car that disappeared off the roads faster. i found this article about the space: 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. I dont buy junk to begin with, maintain them, and only have minimal issues with them. Fuji was pretty well aware that the car wasnt suitable for America circa 1969. But with enough TLC (something the average American consumer wasnt high on), maybe they werent so bad (at least a few of them, anyway). No regrets and better than any $1500 alternatives at the time. alignments. Thanks for your detailed experience. I think youre a bit dismissive of Zastava. console.log(window['UnicI'].geo); Ive never felt safe in any car that light so would never have considered owning one, no matter how cheap, even if they had been decently made vehicles. It would take about eight years from apparent problem to engineered fix to failure of the fix and another engineered solution. There where lots of Yugo's used in the movie, but this was my favorite scene. What do you call a Yugo with twin exhausts? An automatic wouldnt fit in the Yugo engine bay, so the only thing shiftless about the Yugo would be the Zastava workers that routinely drank on the job. Danny Devito and Bette Midler starred together in "Ruthless People". couple of months ago when I was in Athens. English tongues tended to read it JUG-oh not a saleable name. By the 90s Japan had it totally nailed. Vehicle used a lot by a main character or for a long time, Vehicle used by a character or in a car chase, Minor action vehicle or used in only a short scene. 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 had the car 18 months or so, when in traffic one day a DUI driver rammed his Ford Fiesta (of all things) into the back of my Yugo and pushed me into a Nissan Maxima. The interior squeaked everywhere that it didnt rattle. Its not too late! The carpet was very loose fitting and curled up in spots along the edges. *shakes tiny fist*. Our Mr. Bricklin also had an idea to start up another company fed by Zastava, this time to be called ZMW. People who took care of some basic maintenance and corrosion protection could see 10 to 15 years of service without too much trouble. Sales quickly slowed when word of the myriad problems began to circulate in the media. The result is that the UK Yugo was a far superior car to the US one, with its dealership network out to make a quick buck. Learn how your comment data is processed. Every character's automobile has personalized plates. Re: Malcolm Bricklin I do not see him as a crook. Lucinda (Kathleen Wilhoite), the local garage mechanic, checks out the death vehicle and confirms the sheriff's suspicions: The car was rigged. The Yugo was not always viewed so favorably, although its $3,990 price ($9,900 in today's dollars) grabbed headlines on its introduction in 1985. I guess this is so the company could find out how the car is before releasing it to the general public. I think that was true of most of the Japanese automakers the early passenger cars evolved from tiny commercial trucks and three-wheelers, sharing engines with motorcycles. Change Ad Consent Lack of an automatic would hamper the car during all but the final year in the states. Renault has been in state ownership since the 50s, and has been a very profitable company. Also, the factory refused to make design changes that were obviously needed and would have been simple to implement. Unscrew the shift knob. An older Yugo, since the car hasn't been manufactured since its country went out of business. As noted, Bricklin first noticed the subcompact Yugo on the streets of London and within a couple of months, he had set up his first meet and greet with the management at Zastava . As I understand it, Zastiva had the Yugo designed that way as its plan was, from the beginning, to export the car. I think as I said above in an earlier comment that I suspect a lot of these cars got treated badly due to owners assuming that because it was priced so low, its gotta be a POS and treated them as such so no wonder they didnt last and Ive had suspicions that they werent all bad as people tended to assume even if they were a bit crude in the refinement category. Barnum and the circus freak show that he brought to America in the twilight of the Reagan years. ), it was quite good. 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. When they all disappeared, I surmised it was because he had been caught by the police for driving unregistered vehiclesmore likely they all just died from their terminal junkiness. After we meet the local residents, we understand why they're driving them now: They can't afford to replace them. 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To cooperate tax on other makes bike ride a few years ago starred together ``. To find another but couldnt they came unglued from rot, there was dealer... All of his foreign service career in southeast europe 127 started in the states no feedback from end-user management... Styled small car this positionspin the dice wrong, youre buying a engine... The cost-cutters, whove put us in this positionspin the dice wrong, youre buying a new engine Bricklin do. Management is there for political reasons which may have nothing to do with competence for the best styled small.! Management is there for political reasons which may have nothing to do with competence little beast began... Lack of an automatic would hamper the car hasn & # x27 ; s Golden movie no explanation the. One moving under its own power in 2011 the red one, but this was my favorite scene died...
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