(first posted 10/10/2011) Every once in a while, a visionary, iconoclastic automotive pioneer bursts on the scene and, bucking the long odds and naysaying “conventional wisdom”, delivers a disruptive new line of cars. Frequently, that new model sets the status quo on its ear and forever changes the way we think about (and react to) our transportation needs. Those brave revolutionaries almost single handedly redefine their market segment and leave an indelible mark on the industry itself. Today’s story, though, has nothing to do with anybody like that. Our narrative today is of a modern P.T. Barnum and the circus freak show that he brought to America in the twilight of the Reagan years. The man is Malcom Bricklin. The car is the Yugo.
It’s well nigh impossible to understand the Yugo episode without understanding the guiding hand behind what is generally considered to be the worst car ever offered for sale in the U.S. Malcom Bricklin had been knocking around the car industry for over a quarter century when he spotted a Yugo 45 on a London street in 1984. Unfortunately, Bricklin was smitten by the car’s simple mediocrity and, just like a cartoon character with outsized dollar signs for eyes, he began the process for bringing the homely little car to the states. At that time, Bricklin was probably best known for the eponymous car that he launched amidst much fanfare in 1974.
The Bricklin SV-1 was remembered for several interesting features: lurid (“safety”) colors , no cigarette lighter (Bricklin was a rabid non-smoker) , and most importantly, the ability to vacuum piles of money from the gullible government of New Brunswick, Canada. With an estimated cost of $16,000 each to build against a selling price of around $5K, Bricklin’s SV-1 was a blast furnace that no amount of subsidy could fully quench.The maritime province had sunk over four and a half million taxpayer dollars into the scheme since its beginning, and slow sales (along with numerous engineering problems) cost no small number of politicians their jobs. The New Brunswick government pulled the plug in September of 1975 and the Bricklin was finished.
But before Bricklin made a virtue of safety, he all but made a mockery of same just a half decade before. In 1968, Bricklin thought that what America needed was an air cooled two cylinder car that could make zero to sixty in thirty seven agonizing seconds. Thus American drivers were introduced to the second worst car ever sold- the tiny, dangerously underpowered 360 from Subaru.
To say that the 360 was unsuited to American driving norms is to wildly overpraise the car. With just 25 horsepower (at a cacophonous 5500 RPM), the elfin 360 was the type of cynical exercise that would define Bricklin’s career in the car business. Introduced at an offer price of just under $1300 , the little Subaru made much of its over 60 MPG fuel economy and low cost of ownership. 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.
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 . His shaky little import business was marketing Bertone X/19’s after Fiat said arrivederci in 1982, but the end of that venture was in sight. With no new product in the pipeline, Bricklin would either have to find another car to flog or get an honest job, so there was a mutual meshing of interests when he arranged a visit to the Red Banner Factory in Yugoslavia that turned out the new apple of his eye in 1984.
What he saw was an operation that turned out a car designed (and abandoned) by Fiat years before. The Yugo was based on a mash up of models 127 and 128 built under license by a wildly unproductive workforce in an obsolete factory with assembly quality that made real mid 70’s Fiats look hand built. At first glance, the car looked up to date- Front wheel drive, rack and pinion steering, decent mileage. But the little Yugo turned out to be a lot less than the sum of its parts. Quality (or a lack of same) would ensure that the car could not survive in a competitive marketplace. The running gear would be the 1.1 Litre straight four that Zastava had learned to build from Fiat and the transmission would be a truly nasty four speed manual. An automatic wouldn’t 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. Lack of an automatic would hamper the car during all but the final year in the states. But Bricklin assured his erstwhile investors that the car could be made ready for the U.S. market with some minor tweaks.
459 tweaks (and 18 months) later, the Yugo was almost ready for launch. Bricklin had formed Yugo of America to import the car and as was his custom, financial shenanigans were part of the mix. Bricklin used franchise fees to run the company (a major accounting no-no) while the car was being modified for safety and emissions certification in the U.S. and dealerships were sold, territories assigned. 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.
Well, as they say, two out of three ain’t bad. The Yugo’s bait was a stunningly low MSRP of just $3990. This was almost $1100 lower than the cheapest Chevy Sprint and lower than even the Hyundai Excel. The Yugo became the default entry level car for people that knew the price of everything but the value of nothing. Even though the price was a come on (dealers larded as many options onto the car as they could get away with, see below), America was hooked. When the Yugo GV was finally offered for sale in September 1985, (as an ’86 model) , initial orders looked promising. But after a slow start because of supply problems, the car began selling in volume during year two. Maybe Bricklin had caught lightning in a bottle.
Or maybe not. As the pride of Serbo-Croatia hit the streets of America, reports of slipshod assembly began flooding back to the company’s Upper Saddle River , New Jersey headquarters. Substandard seatbelt anchors, collapsing seats, hard starting, no starting, the list was endless. It’s 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. Warranty claims were dreadful. Sales quickly slowed when word of the myriad problems began to circulate in the media. Bricklin’s old nemesis Consumer Reports weighed in on the cars many shortcomings in its February 1986 issue and refused to recommend it at any price. Motor Trend reported that their hand picked press ringer broke down during testing.
Just as quickly as the Yugo ascended to number two in european import sales, the car plummeted back to earth and never rose again. By May of 1988, Malcom Bricklin needed a lifeboat and he found it on Wall Street. A minor investment bank salvaged Bricklins investment in the venture in a complicated deal that settled some of his stale old debts and sent him far away from Yugo America. Bricklin wisely took the first offer and netted about $20 million for his trouble.
The car itself staggered on until early 1992, with steadily declining sales and a dealer network that was slowly (and then quickly) going bankrupt. Sales ended in the U.S. that year when a recall was ordered by the feds over emissions issues related to faulty carburetors.
There are lots of related legacies connected with America’s brief, mad affair with the Yugo. Before we wrap, let’s sort them out.
Zastava– Zastava made Yugos even after they stopped selling in America. By third world standards, the Yugo was not a terribly bad car and sales continued even after its mother country began breaking up in the early 90’s. The last Yugo that we would recognize rolled off the assembly line in November 2008.
Yugoslavia– The “Land Of The Southern Slavs” went to war with itself in late 1991 and essentially spent the next 17 years shooting, ethnically cleansing and generally behaving like it had before World War I. After the death of Marshal Tito in 1980, long simmering Balkan feuds became a way of life and continue there to this day. Only with the threat of armed intervention by Nato and the UN is an uneasy peace maintained.
Yugo America– The importer of the eponymous car that had been the talk of the industry just a few years earlier filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in 1991. 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. Unpaid claims included some warranty work done by dealers on Yugos before sales collapsed.
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. His last notable brush with the automotive world (in 2004) involved a vague alliance with (uh-oh) Chinese auto maker Chery. Amidst mutual finger pointing, the deal collapsed in July 2008 as the erstwhile partners took turns suing one another in federal court. Bricklin is still nominally involved with a venture called Visionary Vehicles and appears on its website today.The end of his Yugo adventure left him short of funds to repay an impressive list of creditors, investors and employees and even the IRS took its pound of flesh later on. He lost his house, his fortune…And the dozens of Yugo GV’s that he received as part of his settlement with his bankers.
So we come to the end of the Yugo saga in America. I would venture to guess that there are fewer than 500 running condition Yugos still on the road in the U.S. (most of which “need a little TLC”) Anybody that ever owned one of these little mobile gulags will tell you that there was nothing loveable, cute or endearing about them. They were an object lesson in the old adage that you get what you pay for. It’s unfortunate that the vast majority of Yugo owners didn’t even get that.
It is the cheapest person that spends the most.
Just finished Drowning Mona and came here for background. The Yugos are a literal running joke throughout the movie. Very entertaining.
I know this is hardly the point of your blog entry, but as someone with a passionate interest in the region, I’m compelled to mention that Yugoslavia broke apart mainly due to its heavy debt burden. The country was communist, but with good relations with the US and a cosmetically overhauled version of socialism, the idea was the Yugoslavia would compete in Western markets and as a result, the country took on a lot of debt throughout the ’70s to update its capacity for making consumer goods, among other projects. After the 1973 oil shock and protracted period of economic stagnation globally, Western markets had less incentive to buy anything from Yugoslavia. And the opening of China and competition from S Korea in a way ate Yugo’s lunch in the global market. A revised constitution in the mid ’70s turned the country into a loose confederation and as Croatia/Slovenia were more developed due to being part of Austria Hungary, there was only so much that approx thirty years of prosperity after WWII could reverse. They took in much more foreign revenue and as the economy began to fail more and more fundamentally, the leaders of those republics decided they’d be better off independent of Yugo. The collapse of Communism removed any perceived legitimacy left in the public who thought their future under capitalism would reflect a standard of living like W Germany’s.
So there you have it. It wasn’t ancient ethnic hatreds, it was more a perfect storm.
Honestly, I think Zastava should be commended for the amount of engineering they were able to do independently, modifying and developing Fiat cars. This is how Hyundai and Kia got their start and Zastava began doing it earlier. The next Yugo we were to get in the US, the Sana/Florida, showed even more independent development of a Fiat design by the Yugoslavs. It’s so interesting to think of how things could’ve been different if the country survived Communism’s collapse in one peace.
No argument with the political details of your well made point. In fact, if anything, America’s foreign policy in the 80’s encouraged Yugoslavia to manufacture and export finished goods to pay its debts. (We also wanted to stick a finger in the eye of the USSR, which was at odds with Yugoslavia anyway).
My point is more that while suited for its home market, the Yugo was a cynical attempt by its promoter to make a quick buck by appealing to the most fickle, least loyal of all purchasers-the price shopper.It is only coincidental that the car was built in Yugoslavia. In fact, as it became evident that the Yugo was heading toward failure, Bricklin tried to modify and import the Proton from Malaysia to take advantage of low wage rates and favorable exchange valuations that would have made that car an asian version of the Yugo.
The Proton is only a Malaysian Mitsubishi exactly the same awful car Hyundai built as trhe EXCEL
Same thing was sold in the US as the Precis.
Those Protons were actually a decent car. Yes they were cheap, but it was a proper car, built properly. A Mitsubishi in all but name, Proton wisely didn’t 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. They sold boatloads of them in Europe to price buyers, taxi companies, retired folk etc. It was mainly low used values (the proton badge had no ‘snob’ appeal) and apathy that saw them scrapped rather than any major fault of the car. They probably would have found a customer base in the U.S.
Thank you for the history, it complements the story of the car well.
Diversity was their “strength”!!!!!!!!!!!
Possibly most accurate and realistic analysis I have heard yet regarding what happened in ex-Yugoslavia.
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.
As my old profesor of economics said:” War is the best economic valve”… Unfortunately, I’ve learned that from personal experience…
As for Sana, it even worse than Yugo! 🙂
Also, this post made me curious: how did Subaru make the transition from dangerous sardine can to granola FWD/AWD family compact in the US?
In 1969, Subaru started producing a larger, much more traditional (well, mostly) car, the 1000. It began the use of the FWD, horizontal boxer engine which carries on in Subarus to this day (albeit in a modern form). In 1975, Subaru began offering AWD. But even before then, Subarus had features that endeared them to snow-belt climates, like dual radiators that got the car to warm up quickly.
This was enough to keep them afloat (even with such strange offerings as the BRAT and XT) until 1989, when they really hit their stride with the introduction of the Outback and the successful Paul ‘Crocodile Dundee’ Hogan marketing campaign.
Another factor was that Subaru managed to kick Bricklin out on the street and take over distribution and marketing before he ran it into the ground.
Malcolm Bricklin was one of those guys who is the quintessential P.T. Barnum, “There’s a sucker born every minute” con-artist. From the Subaru 360, to the SV1, to the Yugo, up to Chery, he followed the time-honored scammer’s 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. Ironically, if he had stuck it out with Subaru for the long haul, he might have done a whole lot better for himself.
Of course, as pointed out, it was more probable that he’d have put the company out of business, too.
It’s the manifestation of the postwar Japanese industrial culture…predicated on continuous quality improvement; and with the use of statistical controls to produce ever-higher quality items with fewer deviations from specification.
W. Edwards Deming was key in Japan’s metamorphosis from a backwards exporter of trinkets and junk to a source for amazingly-high-quality automobiles and electronics. He was a statistician in the War Department who became interested in using statistical controls to produce higher-quality manufactured goods.
Trouble for him was, the rest of America wasn’t interested in postwar America. So, with connections, he was brought to Japan for a series of lectures; and if America wasn’t interested, Japan was very much so.
The early Japanese cars were not that different from the 360: Junk. They didn’t always start, and they DID always rust away. It took time, development, persuading of management that there WAS a problem (not an easy task in the Japanese culture) but bit by bit, the problems were resolved.
I remember, as a teen…Japanese cars had fit-and-finish second to none; they started and ran smoothly with the primitive emissions controls of the time; but boy, did they rust. But the Japanese companies focused; and today it’s almost unheard of to find a Toyota or Honda ruined from corrosion. Generally what kills them is the cost of major systems repairs, to where it’s not economically justifiable.
Subaru was just a little behind the curve in terms of design and safety…as befits a smaller company.
In regard to that old devil corrosion, an honest question: were there any cars of the seventies that DIDN’T rust like mad? I assume some were worse than others, but I’ve heard this complaint levied against such a broad range of cars (American, Japanese, Italian, British, even German) of that era that I have to wonder if there was some sort of fire sale on water-soluble steel.
The U.S. stuff was bad enough in that era, but the European cars were (by and large) even worse and the Japaneese were worse by orders of magnatude. It is difficult to overstate how rustprone 1970s Japaneese cars were. Even those of us raised on rusting U.S. cars from the 60s were surprised by how fast the Japaneese stuff vaporized. Worse, it was not just fenders and rocker panels that looked bad but did not affect the way the car drove. The worst of the Japaneese cars would rust in structural places that would make the car unsafe.
Actually, the GM B body starting in 1977 was very, very resistant to corrosion. The 71-76 GM full-sizers were better than average on this count. Also, the GM Colonades from 73-77 were pretty rust resistant as well. Ford was really hit and miss – the Granada was horrible, but the Lincoln Town Cars and Mark Vs were pretty good against the tinworm. The Mopar fuselage cars were not too bad, but the 71 on up B bodies were not so good. As a rule, Chrysler got worse as the 70s progressed where Ford and particularly GM got better.
I know of a 1979 Datsun pickup that completly rusted out in 6 years
Ive got a couple of rusted out British cars one of which I repaired The rust was caused by poor window sealing on both water rusted it way out however the spares one was driven full of rust which spread it all through the unpainted box sections. Japanese rust problems are designed in the cars are only meant to last 6-7 years and were poorly protected in the factory. Much embarrassment was caused to Toyota when it was found domestic panels had been mistakenly exported to NZ for local assembly we keep cars forever and these rusted out under a year on local limestone based and cowshit covered roads.
Regarding the rust: It was a myriad of factors. First, salt as a melting agent on roads was relatively new. 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. It would take about eight years from apparent problem to engineered fix to failure of the fix and another engineered solution. AMC, in its last years, went so far as to have Ziebart license its procedure for use in the factory.
Second factor was, the popularity in the day of recycled steel in car manufacture. It cut costs, and as was the concern then (as now) it was “Green” – using the parlance of today. But recycled steel, for whatever reason, is overly prone to corrosion.
But the reason it hit the Japanese cars harder…was that while many American cars were still frame-on-platform, and had some beef in the underbelly…and even the unibody models were “over-engineered” for rigidity…the Japanese models had pared weight and beef to a minimum. When they came unglued from rot, there was no there there to support the structure.
This, the paring of weight, was even evident in Japanese trucks. Had a Datsun King Cab twenty-odd years ago…and I went parts-shopping in boneyards. Saw a lot of Datsuns with the box off, and the tiny size of the frame on those things…they were half-ton trucks only by extreme optimism.
But for all that, and with weight today an even greater issue…our Asian friends seem to have licked the corrosion problem. Detroit, also, but not so much.
In the early 80’s many of the domestics ‘suddenly’ found they could use galvanized steel for body panels, and inner fender liners and other rust proofing methods, (better drains, etc.) after about 30 years of having the car rust off of the frame. It was amazing (to me) how they found a solution so quickly…
Those methods have contributed to rust resistance that we have come to expect from modern cars. I really don’t think that anyone has a competitive advantage in rust resistance any more.
Even here in the Land That Rust Forgot, I rarely see anything from the ’70s. I’d notice the original Civic CVCC, I had one, loved it and sold it much too soon. I see one maybe twice a year. Likewise the Toyotas and Datsuns. By the ’90s Japan had it totally nailed.
In the ’70s when I lived in Boston, I worked with a guy whose 5-year-old Pinto had big holes in the doors. That salty New England slush had its way with everything.
MikePDX,
As for the first gen Civics and to a lesser extent, the second gen Civics, I would guess where we don’t 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.
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. Hell, he only paid something like $500 for a beater commuter car and this was in the late 1990’s.
The 360 fit in with the type of Japanese car that was (or would become) the Kei car class, which continues to this day within tightly-defined parameters. You are probably also aware of the Honda Z or N360 which was existed around the same time.
Japanese cars generally started out small, usually around 800cc in the mid 1950’s and grew with the prosperity of the country and desire to chase export markets.
The first Mazda was also a kei-car, the R-360. 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.
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. Some Japanese automakers seem to have been surprisingly resistant to the latter; that was a major complaint of Yutaka Katayama at Nissan.
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.
The displacement limit for kei cars was increased to 550cc some years ago.
The sexy Marsha Brady girl with the bellbottoms in the Subaru commercials is unforgettable. “The Little SuBARu – Wow!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLPp-NFInXw
I guess I’ve been mispronouncing ‘subaru’ all these years.
There was nothing inherently wrong with the 360, and all the other Japanese manufacturers had a car at the time with more or less similar features. The 360 was a “Kei car,” which took advantage of reduced taxes and insurance rates in Japan for cars less than three meters long with engines no more than 360cc in displacement. The Kei cars, like European microcars in the 1950’s and early 60’s, made car ownership possible for the masses. Kei cars still exist, but the engine size and dimensional standards have been increased somewhat, and the newer Kei cars tend to be very tall, boxy affairs to create the maximum possible cubic footage of interior room within the package limits. Even so, Kei cars remain too small to be accepted by American consumers.
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.
“how did Subaru make the transition from dangerous sardine can to granola FWD/AWD family compact in the US?”
I think that it’s important to remember that Subaru (Fuji Heavy Industries) itself didn’t try to push the 360 into the American market-It was Bricklin looking for a lottery win and the little 360 was his ticket. Fuji was pretty well aware that the car wasn’t suitable for America circa 1969. It was 10 years old in Japan at the time. As a Japanese kei class car,it was pretty good for crowded streets , expensive gasoline and as a motorcycle (or scooter,which Fuji also built) alternative.
Ah, the quintessential crap car. IIRC, David E Davis even tried to help move these things by stating in Automobile that he was going to send his daughter off to college in one. I wonder if he actually carried that threat out, and if his daughter ever forgave him if he did.
I think I remember this! The poor gal, if I remember, was named Lelo. She wrote something like, “How cute, I’ll be Lelo in her Yugo.”
I paid a lot of attention to new cars back then, and even then I don’t know if I ever saw one.
I test drove one of these brand new when they hit the market. (At the same dealership on the window sticker above,actually). The salesman was vaguely aware that they were built somewhere in Europe,but he was cagey about just where. The car itself rattled and shook upon starting. The interior squeaked everywhere that it didn’t rattle. The carpet was very loose fitting and curled up in spots along the edges.
The thing that I remember most was the shifter and the transmission. To this day I have never felt a more imprecise,balky shifter. I had been driving a Datsun 200 SX and the 5 speed was like silk. This car didn’t want to go into reverse at a standstill. It just flat refused. Although I tested it in the summer, the car sputtered and hesitated like it was cold.
I can’t imagine that anybody that test drove one like mine actually laid down real money for one. But they did.
Around the same time we had a similar thing in Australia – the FSM Niki, which was a Polish-built Fiat 126, so a ~700cc rear-engined s-box. One of the magazines rolled one on test, and they had a top speed of around 65mph. But they were cheap! Not sure they sold very many.
I saw one on the F4 so they did sell one.Those were a Polish Fiat 500 updated Just rubbish.
The other Eastern European lemon sold in Australia at the same time as the Niki was the Lada Samara. Even getting touring car legend Peter Brock to put his name to a “Deluxe Limited Edition” wasn’t enough to help sales.
Your story reminds me of this
Put it in H!
Two favorite Yugo memories:
1. Reading in Consumer Reports that the tester injured his toe when the front seat came crashing down on it.
2. Tye Mobile Homes in Tye, Texas using the incentive of “Buy a mobile home at Tye Mobile Homes, get a new Yugo for $1.” No joke.
My favorite memory was the NYC art exhibit where every sculpture was created from the remains of an old Yugo.
I may know the only satisfied Yugo owner in the U.S. I was discussing cars with a woman in my office building one day, when she remarked that she had owned a Yugo, and got an incredible number of miles out of it. I’m trying to remember, she actually, may have owned two of them. She is a bit of a contrarian anyhow, and has a mechanic-relative. She claimed that once you knew and understood them, they were not bad cars for what they were. She picked them up for virtually nothing and was content with bare-bones transportation. IIRC, when hers finally died, she said that she tried to find another but couldn’t.
I have known folks like that too. It’s like almost any car; get to know it’s issues, and if you have the mechanical inclinations to deal with them, they’re pretty simple cars otherwise. It’s essentially a Fiat, and the same thing applied to them.
I know there were folks who collected Yugos for nothing, for running and parts cars. I saw one not long ago on the streets in Eugene, but couldn’t catch it.
“I saw one not long ago on the streets in Eugene, but couldn’t catch it.”
There’s got to be a comeback there! Even on foot…
Maybe it was rolling downhill?
I saw one parked on Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena a couple of years ago. It was not much bigger than a homeless person’s shopping cart and similarly stocked. Amazingly, someone got in it, started it, and it ran and drove (more or less) away.
Me and my friend Jerry (from Sam Bond’s) drove a Yugo at a wrecker yard in Coburg some years back. I’ve got video somewhere. Anyway, the employee joked that it even had the rear window warmer to keep your hands warm when pushing it.
Edit: Gah! Dan beat me to it. *shakes tiny fist*
You look quite fit Paul yet a Issetta got away and a Yugo you need better shoes.
I knew a guy in the 90s, who was very smart (the grandson of a Nobel Prize winner in fact!) who collected Yugos for pennies on the dollar and used the collection as a parts supply to keep ONE of them running.
I know another-a lifelong car nut, married to another can nut. She was given a Yugo that wouldn’t run…the fix was nine dollars. (Cracked distributor cap, IIRC.) Only other thing it needed to be roadworthy was front tires. She put about 50,000 miles on it without a problem-it was scrapped when she got rear-ended by a Camry. Critically, one of her co-workers loved Fiats, and he taught her their quirks-most of which the Yugo shared.
She noted that while it wasn’t much good past 65MPH (no overdrive), it never got less than 30MPG, and it handled beautifully. (Fiat DID design the chassis, after all.)
I bought a used, year-old Yugo. Nuff said? Paid less than a thousand for it, thought at the time it was a good buy.
I knew I wasn’t buying a Lexus. But I was unprepared for the panoply of problems that came about…everything from a latent short or current leak, that would kill the car and prevent starting without warning (to restart, the only way was to pull the battery terminal to let whatever relay was behind it, reset) to binding heater-control cables.
And a failed clutch…I have driven manual transmission cars my whole life. I have NEVER burned out a clutch…except on a Yugo. It failed, of all places, on the Bonneville salt flats area in Utah. Just started slipping, on a highway as flat as a calm ocean…and over the next five hours I had to shift into lower and lower gears just to minimize slippage. Destination was Las Vegas; and by the time I got there the only way to get it to move was in First. I shut it down to call a dealer…and it wouldn’t leave the parking spot under its own power.
Finally…with a new clutch 400 miles old…it tossed the alternator belt. Big deal, huh? Except that the belt managed to get into the TIMING BELT case…and pop THAT off. Yup…and does anyone think Fiat or Yugo engineers thought to make the engine a “clearance” design? Let me disillusion you…I busted a piston crown and bent a valve badly enough to freeze up the camshaft.
Back in another shop (an independent who specialized in Fiats) there was some general loose talk about popping a 128 engine in there; but given a verbal estimate, I cut it off. The Yugo, new clutch, new exhaust, patched wiring and all, went into the trash.
You mentioned this before; it’d make a great article. *cough cough*
Malcolm is now wanting to import Chinese cars. (rolls eyes)
Old joke. Why did Yugo’s have standard rear defrost?
To keep your hands warm while you pushed.
@EdDan: How do you double the value of your Yugo?
Fill the gas tank.
Our Mr. Bricklin also had an idea to start up another company fed by Zastava, this time to be called ZMW. This was before the deal with Chery. But like so much of his other stuff, the deal fell through…
Here’s another one, how to fix a Yugo:
1. Unscrew the shift knob.
2. Dispose of the rest of the car.
3. Install shift knob on replacement car.
I remember seeing new Yugos at the (I think 1990) Chicago Auto Show. I was only ten, but knew they were junk. I actually grabbed a brochure on the convertible as a joke, it was only a single page. I probably still have it somewhere.
That brochure’s more collectible than its car.
Certainly more valuable
Found it! Could not resist seeing what a piece of crap would look like with no tin on the top. I presume the folding roof is there just in case the doors jam shut because of a sagging body!
What do you call a Yugo with twin exhausts? Wheel barrow.
What’s terrifying is that a convertible version of this thing – the flimsiest vehicle imaginable – was sold in the U.S.
No flimsier than the Toyota Paseo or Geo Metro convertible.
Or a Suzuki Samurai.
At least a Suzuki Samurai has a separate frame.
Any idea where the Fiat 128 stopped and the 127 started in the Yugo? I had always known these to be license-built versions of the 128. Which, actually, was a very good little car . . . . . . . as long as you didn’t try to get away with ‘normal American car owner’ maintenance.
They’re really a mishmash of the two; with their own unique body. Having had some up-close contact with a 128, I’d say that it’s more 128 than 127. I could be wrong there; but a surprising number of parts, including the airbox and cables, the steering column, the drivetrain, are all direct or modified parts from the 128.
The two-door chassis is, I understand, a 127. Having seen pics of the 127, I can relay that the Yugo body is a complete reskin – no lines or panels are the same or interchangeable.
As I understand it, Zastiva had the Yugo designed that way as its plan was, from the beginning, to export the car. They had other third-world markets in mind.
When I was living in Montana in 2001, some masochist/crusty old guy was using one as a daily driver – and it looked new. I saw it on the Helena streets quite a lot, but it was the only one in the city.
500 left in running condition? I would be *shocked* to see a single one moving under its own power in 2011. I haven’t seen one on the road in at least 15 years.
Moving on it’s own power? Only downhill!
Technically if it’s going downhill it wasn’t moving on its own power. The gravity powered it!
About two years ago there was a Wall Street Journal article about a guy who drag races a Yugo. And often wins. Bracket racing, of course.
First of all, thanks to Perry Shoar for a very well written explanation of the events of the 70’s and 80’s that led to the meltdown of Yugoslavia. Since my father was born in Vukovar and some of our family still lives in Croatia it was of great interest to me. Actually, Perry did a much better job of it than I could have. Many wars (holocausts, massacres) are blamed on religion, I can understand why some people no longer believe.
Secondly, I would be one of those people who had a good experience with a Yugo. I had two of them. Before I moved to Atlanta in the early 90’s, we sold off our other cars before moving. When I got there, my promised job had fallen through and my wife and child still needed a car, and I needed one for working. I initially got a job selling cars, and had access to one for a while. But, I decided that going back into the printing business made more sense to me, so I left the car lot and headed back to what I call work.
Initially, I had my eyes set on a mid 80’s Toyota Celica as the cheapest car I could find. But then my wife (of all people) found a Yugo for $800. There was a cheap-o daily rental car company that had a fleet of them, and they were in the process of changing out the Yugos for Hyundai Precis’. I knew about their reputation, but I really needed a set of wheels that wasn’t going to set me back a couple of thousand dollars.
Since mine had been in a rental fleet, it was actually pretty well taken care of, it had an OK aftermarket radio and A/C. The mechanical bits all seemed OK, and no obvious leaks or other damage. Of course, being that these cars were manual transmissioned cars, I’m sure they didn’t rented out nearly as much as the Ford Escorts and Hyundais that had automatics. Mine was 5 years old and had like 40K miles on it.
No parts fell off of it, the car generally was in good condition (other than some stains on the seats that I didn’t care to speculate about). I drove it in Atlanta rush hour traffic, it got about 40MPG and I grew to really like the little beast. It had a three way folding back seat back that could make multiple level shelves out of itself, you could haul a lot of stuff in that car.
I put about 20K miles on it per year. It eventually developed a bad piston ring(s), and the blow by was enough to clog the carburetor so that it would stop running. Once I figured out what was happening to the carb, I developed an oil trap that kept motor oil from getting past the PC valve and being sucked into the carb. I also started using Restore engine treatment, and that took care of that issue.
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. My little red Yugo was dead.
Of course a $800 car isn’t worth shyte to the insurance company, so they gave me a token $1000 for my time and trouble (another story). As it turns out, the same rental car place was STILL selling surplus Yugos, and I bought a blue one this time.
The blue one had seen much more use than the red one, but it was still a good runner. 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 drove the blue one about three more years, but it did have some issues. There was a short in the headlights, and the switch for the engine cooling fan was broken both of which were easily fixed. About a year or so into owning the blue one, the clutch cable snapped (in traffic, of course). During the time the clutch cable was dying, I broke the shifter mechanism, due to the clutch cable dying. Not too long before I sold it, it had started to develop noisy CV joints, but by then the car was 8 years old and 100,000 miles.
Other than the time the clutch cable broke, and getting the electrical issues sorted out, the car spent no time in the shop. I had very good support for the Yugo as Atlanta is the home of Bayless, which is a big Fiat parts house.
My BIL and I popped out the axles, but that was more of a preventative move, rather than a necessity. I sold the car to a coworker of my BILs, who drove the car another three years before he totaled it. But of course, a parking lot fender bender would be enough to total these cars.
I don’t know if I was lucky (twice) or if my mechanical aptitude allowed me to save the cars I owned. They were incredibly simple mechanically. Like all good European cars used to do, it came with it’s own tool kit and (owner) service manual. You could disassemble the whole car with like 5 Allen keys, three sockets and two Phillips-head screwdrivers, if you were inclined.
To be sure, the car was primitive, even by 1980’s standards. The Tipo 145 was developed in the early 1970’s (IIRC), and it showed. Of course, I was charmed by that, as it reminded me very much of the original A1 Golf, and seemed to share the same utility that the original A1 did. The one thing that the Yugo shared with it’s Fiat ancestry, was the fact that these things were biodegradable in the midwest. I really believe that the cars were treated as disposable, and in that way expectations were met.
I’d actually like to have another one, but beef it up with Fiat parts. There was a dealer in Denver Colorado, called Apple Motors, who used to sell warmed up Yugos. They would swap in the drivetrain from the Fiat X1/9 and put on the wider wheels tires from the X1/9 also. I would love to find one of those. There was a guy that was racing a Yugo in SCCA competition, but that’s been a long time ago.
Thanks for your detailed experience. As I said earlier, this car obviously didn’t meet the expectations of the majority of the American masses, but I know you weren’t the only one who found the Yugo a simple and easy-to-work-on car. But then that’s not what most folks are exactly looking for.
Agree with this last. It WAS a simple-to-work-on car; and in that regard I appreciated it.
But there’s a difference between an easily-repaired car, and one that needs frequent repairs. At inopportune times.
Had Bricklin been a true industrialist instead of a con-man, the winning idea might have been to buy out the Yugo tooling (Zastava was setting up for the Florida at the time, they might have been open to this) and moved the whole plant to a place where workmen were conscientious and quality control accepted. Had the car been screwed together properly, and had there been an engineering department to iron out the bugs, it could have had a long run.
At Zastava, these were foreign. Jason Vuic details this in his book The Yugo – of how management refused plans for premiums for top-grade work or extra effort; of how primitive and shoddy were the paint booths, of how design goofs went uncorrected for years. Had Bricklin given the tooling to the Koreans, and had it built to their standards under contract…he’d have had what he wanted.
Bricklin often says that the first model year or so of production the cars we’re well assembled and then once Zastava saw the money they let things slip. (As you said – JustPassinThru). I have often wondered why Bricklin didn’t try to make a ploy for the tooling to be set up in a higher quality shop. But you’re right that would mean being a business man and not a con-artist.
Holy mackerel, Goe, what a story and experience!
It is my understanding the latter Yugos were much better than their earlier counterparts, but still not up to snuff with the worst(?) other small car offerings back then.
For my family and me back in the eighties, fuel economy was king, so I drove K-Cars and assorted used vehicles that were cheap – we never really struggled, but cash and monetary resources were scarce, hence my missing out on the larger, more deluxe offerings of GM, Ford and Chrysler.
I actually checked out a Yugo about the same time I was looking at Sundances, Colts and similar vehicles and decided: No, I didn’t have the time for the do-it-yourself maintenance it might’ve required – my current cars took care of that at the time!
Good account. As far as ethnicity goes, I’m Russian by birth, Belarus to be exact, and have that somewhat stocky build to prove it!
@Zackman: No the real experience was driving that thing in Atlanta rush hour traffic at 80+ MPH. I’ve been around big rigs all of my life, but they never looked bigger than when I was next to them on the freeway. However, the 67 cu inch motor had plenty of power if you kept it revved, and I never really had a problem keeping up with traffic. I actually grew to like winding the snot out of that motor.
I guess I should note that I owned the cars 20+ years ago, I was a lot more enthusiastic about getting underneath the car for just about any reason. I didn’t mind helping friends and neighbor with problems they had with their cars. Hell, I was 20 years younger, A lot can change in that time. The accident I referenced in my earlier post has adversely affected my overall health (lumbar damage), and I’m nowhere near as ready to slide under a car as I used to be.
That said, the most maintenance I did on the car(s) were oil changes and other mundane regular maintenance. The cars were not labor or maintenance intensive at all, and in fact some things worked better on that car than did my dear old Lancer, like the A/C system. And the A/C system on the Yugo was an add on! I guess the major issue in my favor was the relatively inexpensive parts when I did need them, and the fact that Georgia is semi-arid, so no rust issues.
It’s not unlike the relationship I have with my cockroaches of the road (TM). I don’t buy junk to begin with, maintain them, and only have minimal issues with them. Other folks I know routinely neglect maintenance on some very well regarded cars and wonder why they have such bad luck!
Luck?
It’s not luck…
Just like the Russian Lada its simple and DIY friendly as long as you relise that and dont expect a Lexus. Ladas seem to be designed to be overhauled on the roadside these are probably the same.
Geozinger,
Your experience was exactly what my suspicions were about these cars. Too many people in this country have this mentality that if it’s cheap, treat it as such and yes, a fulfilled prophesy.
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.
Yes, a Deer. He was a priest for several small parishes in the mountains of a N. Eastern state, I forget which and came around a bend to get from one parish to another when he hit the poor animal and it was enough to total that car out but he got that many miles out of it.
The biggest thing I’ve 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 aren’t.
@Jeff Nelson: I think you’re a bit dismissive of Zastava, they have been around for quite some time. They initially started out as an arms manufacturer. During WWII, they built a few Jeeps. IIRC, they licensed Fiat designs in the mid 50’s and in 2008 they signed a Memorandum of Understanding to buy the auto assembly plant from Zastava. GM had tried to buy Zastava in 2007, but the deal fell through.
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. They were not standing still, by any means. But the acquisition by Fiat in 2010 renders all of that as ancient history.
“I think you’re a bit dismissive of Zastava”
Not a bit ! Zastava built some world class arms. A lot of Wehrmacht occupation troops went home in tiny little pieces because Zastava knew what they were doing.
I was listening one Saturday to Car Talk and one of the callers that day to the show was a Catholic priest who drove a Yugo and commented on all the flak he received for his choice of automotive transportation. He was rather sad that after 170,000 miles it had
finally blown up. Assuming the gentleman was telling the truth, this has to be some kind
of record for a Yugo. I can’t recall reading anything positive about the vehicle, anywhere.
I heard a version on Car Talk of a deer that a priest hit and it had 150K on the clock when he hit it in his Yugo.
How do explanations of Zastava’s lack of quality control compare to, say, one which could be made to illustrate the reasons of Audis numerous failures? 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 father’s ownership experience turned out to be, but I figured it’d make an interesting point of comparison.
What I know is that people explain such quality failures as Zastava’s being due to a different culture in worker managed firms, etc. But what about quality disasters in a different scenario? I know of no explanation for the garbage experience my dad had with his Audi, which broke down regularly.
The problems with Audis…are RELATIVE to other brands; and RELATIVE to past experiences.
The problems experienced with Yugos, were unknown to new-car buyers in that era; were entirely avoidable with better assembly and simple correction of design and process mistakes; and were connected to durability related to poor design or engineering.
Audis have been headaches to owners at various times. But is an Audi as bad as a Yugo? NO. Did it even come close? Of course not.
State-owned auto companies or assembly plants, tend to have little to no feedback from end-user to management. And management, often put there through politics, has little interest in learning of customer dissatisfaction. This has been true of:
Yugo;
British Leyland;
Renault in its government-ownership days;
Lada;
Trabant.
And, now, Government Motors, which is thumbing its nose at “old” GM customers who have warranty claims.
The process, alone, of a car manufacturer as a unit of government, is suspect. 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 competion…stand on MERIT.
“But what about quality disasters in a different scenario?”
In the end, it’s poor management. Always. Sloppy or ignorant engineering plays a part most times; but it’s MANAGEMENT that’s supposed to identify problems and stop them as soon as possible.
There are many causes for poor management. Most can be rectified by the shareholders or the Boards of Directors, the shareholders’ representatives.
With a State-owned automobile plant, management is there for political reasons which may have nothing to do with competence. And incompetence does not negate the political reasons, until and unless the failure of management becomes an unavoidable political embarrassment. In a totalitarian state, such as was Yugoslavia, there is no political embarrassment because criticism is a criminal offense.
Back in ’87, a cheerleader at my high school won one of these in a raffle. Many years later I saw it, and her, driving down a street near my house.
Both looked considerably worse for wear.
I have only seen one Yugo in my life. Joe Friday (Dan Aykroyd) had a gold one in the Dragnet movie.
Now I want one.
I was sure you’d have had one. It’s not too late!
The faded red one in the piece is for sale- $750.
Im guessing the sport badging is why the decimal point is so far to the right?
i find it interesting that visionary vehicles still lists 172 duane st. in tribeca as their headquarters. i can’t imagine where bricklin would get the approximately $35k/mo rent. i live down the block. there used to be a sign on the front that said visionary vehicles but that came down at least two years ago. i doubt they are still there. the building is used several times a month for exclusive private hip-hop dance parties. it’s a beautiful nineteenth century townhouse that was redesigned combining the 19th century iron front with a modern glass setback.
i found this article about the space:
http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/wannabe-warhol?page=0
I have two things to share concerning Yugo’s…
Bette Midler drove one in the movie “Drowning Mona”. According to IMDB…”The first thing to appear on screen is a little blurb about the Yugo car company using the town of Verplanck as a test area for their new model years ago. Every vehicle in town that is not a truck is a Yugo, except the police cruisers, which are Plymouth Horizons.”
And lastly, I recall seeing a comedian on TV talking about Yugos. His routine went something like…”The Yugo, what self respecting country would name a car that sorry after itself? Could you imagine if another country decided to do that? If Germany had built it, would it have been called the Germ? If Italy had built it, would it be known as the It??? Ah yes, I can see it now. Soon we would have a whole line of Adams’ Family cars on the road! Yup, I’m gonna go for a ride in my Ford Fester….”
Well, I thought it was funny 😛
I mentioned Drowning Mona below, before I read this. (not the 1st time Ive done this,haha)
I wonder why they used the Yugos, To show the towns Quirkyness? Or inherrent underdog status?
Another movie moment: Nick drives a Yugo in the film _Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist_. Since the film is set in modern, post y2k times, it may be the last one in running condition in the U.S.
No, I don’t know if they used an actual Yugo or just a skinned over FIAT prop, & if they did utilize a Yugo, how many production assistants were tasked with keeping it working… ;-D
Also used for laughs in the Ackroyd/Hanks Dragnet movie.
Another Yugo-trivia moment.
In a recent episode of Top Gear UK the trio were allegedly asked by an alleged high-ranking member of the alleged Romanian Mafia what would be the best luxury car for one of his stature.
So, they set about seeing what was what with a road-trip around Romania in three cars they would be testing. A Rolls-Royce Ghost, a Mercades S-class, and a Bently Mulsane.
Of course, not wanting to be associated with alleged members of the alleged Romanian Mafia, Bently pulled out. Not having that one bit Clarkson divised a solution, buying a third-hand Yugo and for the rest of the episode refering to it as a Bently.
Needless to say, it would’ve been better if Bently had just gone ahead and let them have the Mulsanne.
The last Yugo I saw was 12 years ago, parked by a gas station in Truckee… oh, and a “restored” Yugo was for sale on Craigslist a bit ago… but I figured that would be a bad idea… on the Subaru front: I heard a rumor, years ago, that Fuji bought all the American 360’s and had them crushed… any truth to that?
In defense of the Yugo
I must admit that I own a Yugo. I bought it in January because I figured it would be fun to see just how bad it could be. Now, I live in the UK and have had three ladas, all of which were much better cars than many people give them credit for. The Yugo? I think that for a 1992 car (perhaps it should be a Serb-o?), it was quite good. Sure some of the plastic trim was suspect, but don’t forget that GM was still doing rubbermaid doors then, and the Japanese were still stapling vinyl over cardboard for door trims. The engine in mine was the old ‘fiat 903’ engine that dated back to the Fiat 600 of the 50s. It was a much more reliable and simple design than the 128 engine in States bound Yugos. I did appreciate the way Yugo could make one part do what a western car needed three for. The entire dashboard- I mean the WHOLE thing in RHD versions is a single piece of soft foam. The seats were quite comfy too- firm enough but still soft- and with a cotton upholstery that was miles away from the nylon stuff put in other cars of the era.
The space efficiency was great too- it really is tiny- and is NOT a fiat. Although it shares some similarities with the Fiat 127, it is actually based on the much more advanced Autobianchi. Handling is sharp and the engine loves to rev. It really has all of the benefits of an Italian car with none of the drawbacks.
This may seem shocking, but Yugos really don’t rust badly. Yes, even a Saturn will rust in Detroit, but in less harsh climes, Yugos tend to last well. The steel is much thicker than Fiat used, and although fit and finish wasn’t great, it was no worse than on a Fiat.
I’ve talked to other people in the UK who bought them new, and many have had more than one. This is the real reason that Yugo failed in the US- a poor dealer network. UK Yugo dealers were often small garages in small towns, who really tried to do the prep work to get the cars out well. This is the same scenario as Chrysler- My parents always said that if you get a Dodge in town it’ll be a lemon, but in the country, it’ll be a good car because the smaller country dealer relies on repeat business and does a better PDI, ensuring bolts aren’t missing, and both sides identify the car correctly.
LIkewise, Yugo UK supported its dealers well. Parts were cheap due to the exchange rate, so there was not the pressure on dealers to deny problems and warranty claims, like Ford and Vauxhall put on their dealers. 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.
I also have to say that state ownership does not always lead to poor business. Renault has been in state ownership since the ’50s, and has been a very profitable company. Nevermind that their cars are horribly unreliable, people still buy them. Zastava only collapsed in 2008, and its decline was NOT due to mismanagement, but the trade embargo on Serbia, which starved them of devlopment funds. The Florida was reviewed very positively in the UK against western cars, and sadly only failed here because of the rise of Fascism in Yugoslavia, and its aftermath.
I think we need to re-evaluate the Yugo against 1986 standards instead of 2011 standards. The Yugo was a far superior car compared against a Chevette, or first generation Hyundai. Further, it was the only small car of the era that could be genuinely fun to drive. Only the Italians could design a car to be so much fun to drive so slowly.
I think the other reason they were more successful out of the US is that in Europe, people have driven OHC cars since the ’60s. Here, it is well known that you change the timing belt every 40K miles. This was not a design fault, but like the Corvair, the company seriously underestimated the ability of the American motorist to neglect even basic maintenence. 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.
However, these engines have been known to go 200K with little bearing wear if maintained appropriately. Gearboxes on the other hand… well, its a Fiat after all, and it teaches you how to double clutch.
@brian:
The prototypical belt-driven OHC engine Stateside, was the Pontiac Six…and Joe Sherlock, who has a car blog, “The View Through the Windshield” (http://www.joesherlock.com/blog.html) was involved in the development of the initial fiberglass-impregnated belt. He claimed the belt was good for 200,000-plus miles, often outlasting the pulleys. It was only later, when the bean-counters bid out the belts on a cost basis, that they developed a much shorter lifespan.
It’s avoidable with regular replacement, true. But, it’s a tough sell to have someone take a car that’s running fine, and pay $500 for a maintenance replacement – and maybe screw something up in the process. In addition, many cars have changed hands by that time…and who knows what the previous owner may have had done? Because he SAYS he has a new belt on there, doesn’t mean it’s so. And if it WAS done, that’s $500 WASTED.
I blame the cost-cutters, who’ve put us in this position…spin the dice wrong, you’re buying a new engine. Or wasting half a grand.
Also:
“I also have to say that state ownership does not always lead to poor business. Renault has been in state ownership since the ’50s, and has been a very profitable company. Nevermind that their cars are horribly unreliable, people still buy them. Zastava only collapsed in 2008, and its decline was NOT due to mismanagement, but the trade embargo on Serbia, which starved them of devlopment funds. The Florida was reviewed very positively in the UK against western cars, and sadly only failed here because of the rise of Fascism in Yugoslavia, and its aftermath.”
State ownership is generally coupled to some sort of coersion, such as a penalty tax on other makes. France, to use your example, had a protected market with tariffs on American cars (disguised as a horsepower tax). The cars WERE crap, you concede; and uncompetitive in a world market.
Now that it’s privatized, products have risen in quality to what the buyer expects for his money.
As for the Florida…Bricklin was itching to bring it in. But it needed even more “tweaking” than did the Jugo 45…which is what the Yugo was based on. The civil war in the former Yugoslavia was the finishing blow, but wasn’t the reason it wasn’t brought over.
FWIW…”Yugo” wasn’t named for Yugoslavia, but it’s a phonetic of the name “Jugo” which is what the Mediterranean wind is called in their language. They pronounce it “yugo” – and Bricklin’s people realized a car called Jugo would have problems in marketing. English tongues tended to read it JUG-oh – not a saleable name.
Actually, Yugo’s timing belt is ~10$, and pretty easy to change.
Also, I think that first step after buying any used car in general should be changing of belt.
European manufactures give guarantee for – let’s 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 – that’s why this saving of couple* Euros isn’t worth a risk. (* 5-20 for older cars, up to 200 if they have to change water-pump and rollers, new models are more expensive, but 500 – maybe for new BMW).
Serendipity!
At my brother’s wedding this weekend, what did I see right across the street from the Germanic-American Institute on Summit Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota?
Two cars are in the driveway of a glorious but faded Victorian mansion: The Bertone and a Yugo.
They obviously do not run.
What kind of sicko lives there?
Malcom Bricklin ?
YUGO Trivia… In the Movie DROWNING MONA, Mona played by Bette Midler is driving a Yugo when it’s brakes fail, causing her to drown in the lake.
In The Film, for some inexplicable reason, everyone who lives in the Catskill area towns seems to drive a YUGO. There are like 100 YUGOs in the movie, which I think came out around 1998.
I’ve always had a soft spot for these little cars from Yugoslavia. I remember checking them out back in I think 1986 at a local dealer and loved that bright blue they were offering at the time, called Adriatic Blue. Ford uses a similar shade on their Mustangs of recent vintage and still love it even now.
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.
1987 brought about several other trims, the GVL, GVS, GVC,which were very similar other than the door panels and seat upholstery. These cars came with an optional AM/FM cassette deck that was very basic, only 5W total if I recall right, or was that 5W per channel? Anyway, you got 2 I think 6.5″ door speakers standard and an option for 2 4×6 oval speakers, mounted in the rear cargo cover’s 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.
I remember the lights were tied to the ignition switch so if you left the light switch on, they’d go off when you shut down the car, and back on when you started it back up, and that meant headlights and all, ala SAAB.
I remember the shifter being very vague and rubbery but it did the job and the car wasn’t too bad on other respects and I rather liked its styling.
Then again, I’ve always had a liking for the odd car or two over the years.
I’ve heard that by 1989, Malcolm Bricklin was kicked out and Zastava took over importing the cars to the US and made a substantial series of changes/improvements and the cars then came with fuel injection, the GV, GVL, GVC, and GVS and the sportier GVX were combined into one car, the GV Plus fitted with better seats (the fold and slide seats from the GVX), the larger 1.3L 4, the 5spd in a more basic interior and exterior trim package, adding the AC etc and Bosh fuel injection and I hear from Chris Vitale who runs Fiat 500 USA blog who owned a 1991 Yugo with FI until a couple of years or so ago that by then, their warranty claims were very good, but the war took its toll as did the emissions debacle in 1992 brought the car’s run in the US to an end.
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, it’s gotta be a POS and treated them as such so no wonder they didn’t last and I’ve had suspicions that they weren’t all bad as people tended to assume even if they were a bit crude in the refinement category.
I’ve been toying with seeing if I can find one that’s 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 was kicked out in the first (of two) bankruptcies, true. Zastava took over the American company.
But they didn’t have a CLUE. Even in Western Europe, cars aren’t marketed as they are here. Dealers there are order-takers. From the start, Zastava resented the profit dealers made, and thought their expenses exorbitant.
They were true babes in the woods, and they lacked the capital to deal with the investment and the costs of distributing cars.
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. Yugoslavia was in the state of bankruptcy at that time, import of all goods and raw materials was practically halted. I remember that time very well, it was impossible to find coffee or bananas or laundry detergent etc in the stores, and the industry was struggling to get raw materials. I started to work in 1985 as a young engineer in the factory producing electrical equipment for the industry, and was very aware about problems we faced at the time.
(not that I cared that much about it – I was in my mid-twenties and during summer season beaches were full of naked girls….)
But back to the subject, shortage of all kind of raw material was the main reason for poor quality, not drunken workers. But even in those circumstances, the car was not that bad as public opinion in USA about it. Also i believe that the whole project couldn’t 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.
Three points :
1) Wise observation that Yugoslavia needed hard currency (without which it could not import needed consumer or industrial goods) during those years. In fact, it was through the good offices of Lawrence Eagleburger that all of the political red tape was navigated in order to make the project feasible. (Eagleburger had been U.S. ambassador to Yugoslvia and had spent almost all of his foreign service career in southeast europe. He later served briefly as acting Secretary of State during the last months of the first Bush presidency)
2) My wife (an engineer like yourself) has been to Dubrovnik and says that the beaches are incredible. I’m pretty sure that she kept her clothes on.
3) The Yugo has a good reputation in the land of its birth. One reason is that lots of people own and drive them and parts are a breeze. Also, familiarity is important in servicing a car.Lots of American mechanics wouldn’t bother to learn the finer points of working on Yugos because there were so few of them and parts were slow to arrive when needed.
Thanks for your first hand account ! You’re welcome here anytime !
Dubrovnik is kind of old fashion place with somewhat stricter rules about dressing on the beaches and elsewhere. But outside of regular tourist routes and specially on the outer islands, unofficial nude beaches were everywhere.
Saying that, it doesn’t mean that people were particularly promiscuitive or anything like that. Nude beaches usually are deprived of sexual context.
Now they are all scared by digital cameras and this are just some memories from the other side of the iron curtain
@Gnekker:
I would suggest you read Jason Vuic’s book on the Yugo…what he described the Yugo America advance men as finding, had little to do with shortages of raw materials. They found slipshod handling of stamped body panels, and the assembly lines using dirty, even dented panels; he found painting in dusty areas, not the clean, dust-free booths required for good paint covering and adhesion. They even found dirt and rust that had been painted on in the inside of some cars nearing completion.
They found problems in the assembly process…one described was how the wiring harness to the rear liftgate and wiper, didn’t fit the stamped holes allowed it. So on the line, a worker would have to cut and install and tape it, with about a 25 percent failure rate…incorrectly re-connected. Nobody had let management know that the wiring harness as made, wasn’t usable in that part of the car.
There were surely other goofs that were institutionalized. The problem here was, first, poor management, as I noted; second, a workplace culture and a national culture that was absolute authoritarianism.
Money was a problem; but not the root problem. VW, in its first days, had all the same problems as Zastava…but with a product that was continually improved, they overcame it inside of five years.
It wasn’t my intention to advocate poor workmanship on the Yugo, it was all too obvious but i wanted to show that there were also other circumstances involved.
Also in that time, poor workmanship wasn’t exclusively Yugo’s problem.
I also bought a new Yugo in 1989, and had to replace brake master cylinder immediately because brakes would fail after about 10 km on the road. Later I also replaced steering rack under warranty because of some slack inside. But after that i didn’t have much trouble with it, ride wasn’t too bad for such small car, power was adequate for normal driving (in fact, compared to my father’s beetle with 1200 cc and 34 HP, Yugo with 55 HP and such goodies like 5-speed gearbox and brake booster feels pretty quick). Also spare parts were inexpensive and any mechanic and his nephew would fix it. People who took care of some basic maintenance and corrosion protection could see 10 to 15 years of service without too much trouble. So it worked pretty well in the domestic market, but USA is another story. Much bigger players failed on this field, like Peugeot and Renault, while on the domestic market and in the whole EU they are doing just fine.
And this works both ways – after war ended in ex. Yugoslavia, markets in new states opened for foreign cars and some of my friends bought American cars lured by size and luxury, but this love affairs usually ended quickly and costly.
So what’s my point? While poor Yugo certainly was not the best car made, but it was hardly the worst either.
To be said, Jason’s book is 90% about Bricklin.
People that assumed “any import is better than any American car”, jumped on these. The local news interveiwed some and they were going “for $4000 I’d end up with used junk, but now I got a new import!”
I’d love to hear what they thought a year later.
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 couldn’t 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 don’t 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.
“With the pullout of Fiat, Renault and the British makes just a few years before,”
The Renault Alliance and 18i were still being sold in 1984-85 when the Yugo debuted.
You are my inhalation, I own few blogs and infrequently run out from brand :). “Actions lie louder than words.” by Carolyn Wells.
Damn… that X1/9 still looks beautiful… just like mine… the ’81 behind the new Abarth…
You know, we have a joke here in ex-Yugoslavia about Yugo:
-You know why Yugo drivers go to heaven?
-Because they have already been through hell.
After 330,000km with two Yugos, I must be destined to eternal vacation on BOra-Bora 🙂
What a story! Thanks for telling it. We heard of the Yugo here far away in South Africa, but now I know how it all came about and fell apart.
Here in Greece they are still around and not that rare.
I attach a picture of a 1100,the previous model,(5 door too!)that I spotted a
couple of months ago when I was in Athens.
They did not have such a bad reputation,at least not as bad as the rear engined Skodas
or all of the Ladas.As has been mentioned already this kind of cheap car ownership
depends 100% on very cheap parts and lots of mechanics around that know the car inside out.
In the movie”drowning Mona”I remember there was among the many regular Yugos one that had four doors (a black one).Was it
a special for the movie,an extended version,or just my failing memory?
The 4 door one was a dodge omni, think it was a glh.
🙂 It wasn’t four door Yugo, that was Chevy Citation, if I remember correctly.
Actually, from my experience with Yugo monocoque, four doors would have crushing effect on rigidity:)
You are right.I found it here:
http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_113306-Plymouth-Horizon-C2-1984.html
It’s a Plymouth Horizon which,I guess,is the same as a Talbot Horizon.
I recall A caddy dealer in the Cleveland area who gave away a free Yugo with the purchase of a Cadillac!
I owned two. Purchased one year old cars for less than $1500 while attending college. Both were good strong running vehicles and the only thing I remember having trouble with was remedied by tightening up the battery to starter connection on one of the cars. Both were sold for more than I paid. No regrets and better than any $1500 alternatives at the time.
Mine was an ’86 and a half Yugo. Yes you read that right. Yes it was 3990 excluding transmition and tax and delivery charges. Like you can buy a car without a transmition. It was a nightmare. It couldn’t be trusted just sitting in the parking lot. It had nervousness built into it, it made people nervous and it was nervous. It was like, when you get in, what is next to give out or give you trouble. What is the purpose of door release handles if they break right away (they appeared to be bendable plastic molded around a paper clip), and how did they ever get installed in the first place if they didn’t work to begin with? The ignition constantly gave out and so did the clutch. And the gas cap would not come off. No tinted glass or glove compartment. LOL The old fashioned radio was a piece of crap, and the speakers cracked and gave out after very little use. 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. Enterior wall panels were thin cardboard with painted on carpet flecks. Down shifting was scary, sometimes you just had to bypass second, sometimes it refused to even go into gear or it would get stuck in gear. One time the shifter came off in my hand. After highway driving the gear would refuse to shift, like it overheated being in gear so long, it refused to move. You’d have to go from fourth to first gear to come down. One time the keys were out and the car was still on and would not turn off. Going up hill was a struggle, it tended to roll back in reverse because it didn’t have any power to go forward. The interior was fading right from day one. One day I put the key in and nothing happened, it was dead and wouldn’t turn on. The battery required water to be poured into it. Some dinosaur relic, I’d never seen before. I pampered and took extremely good care of it and maintained it very well, it just couldn’t hold up to being pampered either. Early oil changes, followed maintenance schedule. alignments. I recall seeing the garage full of yugos being worked on when I’d take mine in and I recall seeing them dead on the side of the road everywhere. To see mine riding on a tow truck was so humiliating. I went to an auto place for a part, and was so embarassed to even say Yugo to the clerk, that my voice stuttered and I replied Yugee. Children’s toys are more dependable. I recall taking my younger brother out to teach him how to drive. He was scarred sh*tless and begging me to not make him drive it. He sat in the front seat once and never again! Beads of sweat formed on his forehead, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to learn, it was where he was sitting that had him scarred. My mother drove it to work at the high school one time. I was worried that she’d make it. I was scarred for her to be driving it. During lunch the high schoolers came out and lifted it up so the front tires were up on the sidewalk. It was embarrassing, mother never drove it again. I was enrolled in a community class marketing course and the teacher brought up the Yugo, and was joking about it. Mine was still only about a year old, so I was in denial about its performance. The first year all those repairs were paid for, so it wasn’t as miserable then. 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. I frankly don’t know how anything this poor could ever be made. Perhaps they were sabotaged so the poor workers wouldn’t have to slave to make them for america? There was something wrong with every single facet of this car. At only 20,000 miles it was worn out, fading, under powered, rusting, it wanted to die and be buried, it certainly didn’t want to be a car!
The place where I used to work was given a Yugo 45. It was so bad we couldn’t even get it to start, so we took a few parts off it and then the scrap yard came and took it away.
Wait, how am I still driving 24,000 reliable miles a year on a 28 year old yugo, if this article is accurate? Seem like this article is just a mishmash of old articles written by people who never owned a Yugo, don’t know anything about yugos, or who designed it’s engine. At least in the old days I could see why the industry that does not want a cheap car to succeed, but what’s the point now?
One of my dad’s friends had one of these. My dad is a bit of a FIAT nut so he would wrench on it from time to time. 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. Various ancillaries like alternators were replaced with real FIAT parts. You had to know FIATS and and what Yugo klooged up to meet EPA regs and how to unklooge it.
Why did so many Fiat designs get recycled and built behind the Iron Curtain? It’s not like Fiat designs were anything special, quite the contrary in many instances. Why Fiat?
The answer to “why Fiat” is that
In the 1970s the PCI (Italian Communist Party) reached its all-time maximum electorally: 34.4% in the 1976 general election (12,600,000 votes, 3 million more than in the previous election in 1972). Membership also saw a similarly sharp increase, with over 1,800,000 in the same year (300,000 more than in 1970).
The Italian Government and the Unions forced Fiat to cooperate.
We had these in the U.K, I don’t remember them being particularly bad, the main criticism was that it was seen as too expensive for what was clearly an Eastern European rehash of a cast off western design. Don’t forget, we had the Czech Skoda Estelle, the Russian Lada and the Polish FSO 125p all competing at the bottom of the market. It was as if the Yugo was being promoted as “crap, but SUPERIOR crap.” And was thus more expensive.
Personally I would have gone for the Skoda. These rear engined devices were a blast to drive, with tail-out shenanigans a-la Porsche 911 being easy to emulate. At least until the inevitable head gasket problems caused by an Iron head and alloy block.
Ladas were, and are, shite. I owned one. They start, get you to your destination in the dry, and that’s about all you can say…there’s no enjoyment in operating it and build quality was a joke.
If possible, the FSO 125p was even worse. Based on the slightly larger Fiat 125, it was everything bad about a lada, but somehow worse. A magazine road test came up with the amusing summary:
FSO 125P:
What’s good- quad headlights
What’s bad. – everything behind them
Sorry, Jeff, but I dare to notice that you don’t know so much about Zastava (factory and cars, their projects and people, its country and history) and dare to write about. Appologies for not-nice-said, but there is no other way to do it.
Someone around my area with a perverse sense of humor drove a Yugo stretch limo for a few years, those being about 20 years ago. Complete with opera lamps and padded roof,
A few things come to mind regarding the Yugo / Zastava Koral (and larger Yugo / Zastava Skala), mainly that it is a pity it never received similar developments such as 5-door hatchback, 2/4-door saloon and 3/5-door estate bodystyles as found on other Fiat 127-based variants like the SEAT 127 / SEAT Frua and Fiat 147 / Fiat Oggi / Fiat Panorama, along with larger 1372-1596cc+ versions of the Fiat SOHC engine. Which together would have theoretically allowed the Yugo to be more successful.
The other being Yugo / Zastava missing out on producing a smaller model based on the Autobianchi A112 as a replacement for the Zastava 750, initially carrying over the existing Fiat 100 Series engines prior to using the Fiat FIRE engines. Since it had the potential to continue the well-regarded reputation of the Autobianchi A112 base car as a small model in markets like the US compared to the SWB Fiat 127 derived car that become the infamous half-baked small Yugo.
There’s a fellow in the NorCal chapter of The Fiat Club – first name’s Dan, I think – who owns a pristine Yugo in a burnt orange color. Very well-maintained.
Re: Malcolm Bricklin I do not see him as a crook. 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. Wikipedia says that the Yugo quality was satisfactory at the start but went downhill fast and the factory refused to do anything about it. Also, the factory refused to make design changes that were obviously needed and would have been simple to implement.
Say what you will about Bricklin he is a man of action. He got two large import operations going and he launched the SV-1. My guess is that many of his critics could not have done as much.
At the very least, Bricklin didn’t end up in a hotel room trying to arrange drug deals…
It’s a tough call on the Yugo. Yeah, there’s no question on really poor build quality. But with enough TLC (something the average American consumer wasn’t high on), maybe they weren’t so bad (at least a few of them, anyway). I mean, c’mon, it’s an Eastern Bloc car. Someone steeped in the maintenace required to keep something like a Trabant running would probably be right at home with a Yugo.
But there was one area that, frankly, I was impressed with, and that was the basic two-box design. Kind of reminds me of a first generation Rabbit/Golf, which I’ve always considered the gold-standard for the best styled small car.
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 it’s an original design where no body parts interchange with the Fiats upon which it was based.
Thank you for the interesting history.
This article, like many here, evoked some fond memories.
A girl I hung out with in college had a Yugo. I want to say she drove it, but I don’t think she actually put many miles on it. She was rather negligent about maintenance, so would have been tough on any vehicle, but her Yugo, like many of its kind, fell apart rather quickly, stressing a budget that was already tight. Another example of the high cost of low priced objects.
She had a habit of parking illegally, and, faced with a ticket and impound bill that exceeded her estimate of the value of the car, donated it to the towing 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 weren’t more of them.
It has been a while since I have seen a Yugo on the road, but a local car wash has one with signs mounted on it. I spotted the ones in the picture while out on a bike ride a few years ago. It seems a good use of them.
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 wasn’t by any means an old car.
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. They dumped ’em, too, as soon as they could afford something, anything, better.
1) Anything assembled at gunpoint tends not to be of high quality.
2) At the 2014 Route 66 Mother Road Festival in Springfield, Illinois there was a Yugo with a Chrysler 426 Hemi (with blower) in the rear of the car (Hemi under glass). On the side fixed windows was lettered “YuGo BIG or YuGo HOME”. Blue in color. It would be interesting to see how the rear suspension was beefed up. One of a kind, I’m sure
1) Anything assembled at gunpoint tends not to be of high quality.
The new myth genesis in the real time 🙂
There is an article from 2012, quoting the Time magazine
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.
And as any living myth, this one spreads into other areas as well:
(https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2009/jan/14/cover/#)
“My cell phone was apparently assembled at gunpoint by drunk Yugoslavians in the year 1984 “
Here’s another shot.
Doug DeMuro joyfully reviewed one a couple of years ago. I can’t think of another car that disappeared off the roads faster.
https://youtu.be/QN4UhS8cFTk
Two Yugo episodes: The first while working on a construction crew in the 1987-’88 period, at a project west of Rochester, NY one morning a Yugo rolls onto the lot, out pops a nervous, typical pocket-protector young engineering type, tells us he is out of gas, could anyone give him a ride to his job….at Kodak! If you’re familiar with the descent of that once-vaunted company into its current sorry state, appears as if they had too many of this type in management.
Second occurred during 1994-’95, having changed employment by then, while driving the 50+ miles each morning, I’d notice Yugos of different colors pass me on the four lane driven by the same fellow. One day a red one, next day yellow, the day after white, he was gathering up the by then give-away bombs that still ran. The best part was they all had the same license plates on them to just have a semblance of legality! He drove them all fast and hard which no doubt shortened their operational life. When they all disappeared, I surmised it was because he had been caught by the police for driving unregistered vehicles…more likely they all just died from their terminal junkiness.
I’ve 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. As to Bricklin, I’ve always liked of liked the SV-1 and wish I’d picked one up when they were really cheap, with the AMC 360 they could be made to really move!
I’m affiliated with NECC Motorsports, a club that runs time trials at various sports car racing tracks in the eastern half of the USA.
At our Year 2000 track day at Lime Rock, one of the entries was a race-prepared Yugo. It was owned by a gentleman named Dave Benton who claimed to be the former engineering manager for Yugo North America. 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. The effort collapsed along with Yugo sales in America.
If I remember correctly, the car was equipped with all the usual goodies – a Fiat engine with dual Webers, full roll cage, sticky racing tires, etc. And it was reasonably fast for a car with such a small displacement engine.
Trivia:
The only car known to have been blown off of the Mackinac Bridge.
This car had one genuine asset: ride quality. I was amazed when I rode in one, expecting a bouncy distaster but encountering a surprisingly supple feel of the suspension.
Jason Torchinsky of Jalopnik had an interesting take on it lately;
https://jalopnik.com/the-yugo-is-not-the-worst-car-ever-and-anyone-who-says-1830229976
“The Yugo Is Not the Worst Car Ever and Anyone Who Says That Is a Lazy Hack So Let’s Prove It”