Ironically, if he had stuck it out with Subaru for the long haul, he might have done a whole lot better for himself. Our narrative today is of a modern P.T. These are the kinds of people who don't like to be thrown out of bars because it's a loss of valuable drinking time. She claimed that once you knew and understood them, they were not bad cars for what they were. But theres a difference between an easily-repaired car, and one that needs frequent repairs. R/S AUTOLINE INC. (1.3 miles away) 1215 W IMPERIAL HWY, Suite 213, BREA, CA 92821. Dispose of the rest of the car. I initially got a job selling cars, and had access to one for a while. Ah, the quintessential crap car. Unpaid claims included some warranty work done by dealers on Yugos before sales collapsed. But with enough TLC (something the average American consumer wasnt high on), maybe they werent so bad (at least a few of them, anyway). It turns out to be murder and Chief Wyatt Rash (DeVito) must investigate. But youre right that would mean being a business man and not a con-artist. 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. ), it was quite good. 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. Drowning Mona | 2000 | PG-13 | - 5.5.5. } 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. Show more Yugo America. The effort collapsed along with Yugo sales in America. . 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. 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 Germanys. The possibility upsets Ellen, who explains in some of the movie's best dialogue: "I can't marry a murderer. Personally I would have gone for the Skoda. How many remains ??? Found it! The prototypical belt-driven OHC engine Stateside, was the Pontiac Sixand 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. Only other thing it needed to be roadworthy was front tires. It was embarrassing, mother never drove it again. The faded red one in the piece is for sale- $750. I frankly dont know how anything this poor could ever be made. A magazine road test came up with the amusing summary: In the small, white-trash town of Verplanck, N.Y., a loathsome woman named Mona Dearly (a dour and ugly Bette Midler) drives her car over a cliff and into the river. I put about 20K miles on it per year. I wonder if he actually carried that threat out, and if his daughter ever forgave him if he did. Too many people in this country have this mentality that if its cheap, treat it as such and yes, a fulfilled prophesy. Although I tested it in the summer, the car sputtered and hesitated like it was cold. 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). The car she is driving is a Yugo, and the pic's locale is Verplanck, New York (north of New York City), that actually was a test market for the ill-fated economy car in the late 1970's. . 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. 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. 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. Diversity was their strength!!!!!!!!!!! Many years later I saw it, and her, driving down a street near my house. W. Edwards Deming was key in Japans metamorphosis from a backwards exporter of trinkets and junk to a source for amazingly-high-quality automobiles and electronics. 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. English tongues tended to read it JUG-oh not a saleable name. In the beginning they had some brief text ( "Years ago, the Yugo Car Company chose Verplanck, New York, to test market its new breed of vehicle. Nuff said? setTimeout(waitGEO, 200); Thanks for your detailed experience. How do explanations of Zastavas lack of quality control compare to, say, one which could be made to illustrate the reasons of Audis numerous failures? Though set in Verplanck, "Drowning Mona" was shot entirely within an hour's commute of Los Angeles. When a woman drives a car into the river to her death, everyone in town becomes a suspect. I owned two. Serendipity! I remember seeing new Yugos at the (I think 1990) Chicago Auto Show. Assuming the gentleman was telling the truth, this has to be some kind if (window['UnicI'] && window['UnicI'].geo && window['UnicI'].geo !== '-' ) { In the end, its poor management. In a totalitarian state, such as was Yugoslavia, there is no political embarrassment because criticism is a criminal offense. 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. She was given a Yugo that wouldnt runthe fix was nine dollars. Another example of the high cost of low priced objects. Wyatt finds no shortage of suspects. after about 30 years of having the car rust off of the frame. Amazingly, someone got in it, started it, and it ran and drove (more or less) away. The gravity powered it! Me and my friend Jerry (from Sam Bonds) drove a Yugo at a wrecker yard in Coburg some years back. Re: Malcolm Bricklin I do not see him as a crook. But I was unprepared for the panoply of problems that came abouteverything 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. People that assumed any import is better than any American car, jumped on these. Or inherrent underdog status? Even so, Kei cars remain too small to be accepted by American consumers. View Cars. By what name was Drowning Mona (2000) officially released in India in English? Ive always had a soft spot for these little cars from Yugoslavia. Wheel barrow. Dont forget, we had the Czech Skoda Estelle, the Russian Lada and the Polish FSO 125p all competing at the bottom of the market. To see mine riding on a tow truck was so humiliating. I cant recall reading anything positive about the vehicle, anywhere. Yes, a Deer. readyGEO = true; One reason is that lots of people own and drive them and parts are a breeze. Drowning Mona - An explanation informs viewers that the setting (Verplanck, New York) was a test market for Yugos. At the very least, Bricklin didnt end up in a hotel room trying to arrange drug deals. Actions lie louder than words. by Carolyn Wells. 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. Money was a problem; but not the root problem. 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. One of a kind, Im sure, There is an article from 2012, quoting the Time magazine I think youre a bit dismissive of Zastava. Several actors in this film have ties to the Batman films. Yugoslavia was in the state of bankruptcy at that time, import of all goods and raw materials was practically halted. Otoko wa tsurai yo: Torajiro wagamichi wo yuku, Otoko wa tsurai yo: Naniwa no koi no Torajir, http://www.highwayone.com/Classifieds/Yugo/GreenYugoCab.html, I'd like to own a yugo some day. (rolls eyes). After the 1973 oil shock and protracted period of economic stagnation globally, Western markets had less incentive to buy anything from Yugoslavia. Yeah, theres no question on really poor build quality. It was a much more reliable and simple design than the 128 engine in States bound Yugos. @EdDan: How do you double the value of your Yugo? 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. I paid a lot of attention to new cars back then, and even then I dont know if I ever saw one. Bowfinger - The main character produced a documentary called The Yugo Story. 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. I see one maybe twice a year. 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. The movie was directed by Nick Gomez, who, in "Laws of Gravity" and "New Jersey Drive," brought a John Cassavetes touch to working-class crime and confusion. Its essentially a Fiat, and the same thing applied to them. It just flat refused. The Little SuBARu Wow!, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLPp-NFInXw. "She's dead," he confirms to Chief Rash (Danny DeVito), who nods grimly and begins a murder investigation. -You know why Yugo drivers go to heaven? Honestly, I think Zastava should be commended for the amount of engineering they were able to do independently, modifying and developing Fiat cars. Appologies for not-nice-said, but there is no other way to do it. We had these in the U.K, I dont 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. Even those of us raised on rusting U.S. cars from the 60s were surprised by how fast the Japaneese stuff vaporized. I was sure youd have had one. Two YUGO watches, new. During the time the clutch cable was dying, I broke the shifter mechanism, due to the clutch cable dying. 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. I blame the cost-cutters, whove put us in this positionspin the dice wrong, youre buying a new engine. 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 Lets Prove It, Your email address will not be published. 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. Sales ended in the U.S. that year when a recall was ordered by the feds over emissions issues related to faulty carburetors. When they came unglued from rot, there was no there there to support the structure. a special for the movie,an extended version,or just my failing memory? I saw one parked on Colorado Blvd. 3. Technically if its going downhill it wasnt moving on its own power. Well, as they say, two out of three aint bad. She picked them up for virtually nothing and was content with bare-bones transportation. A girl I hung out with in college had a Yugo. 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. The Mopar fuselage cars were not too bad, but the 71 on up B bodies were not so good. 5.0 out of 5 stars Drowning Mona music CD. But, its a tough sell to have someone take a car thats running fine, and pay $500 for a maintenance replacement and maybe screw something up in the process. But who? I guess Ive been mispronouncing subaru all these years. Also, the GM Colonades from 73-77 were pretty rust resistant as well. The Yugo, new clutch, new exhaust, patched wiring and all, went into the trash. It was like, when you get in, what is next to give out or give you trouble. Your experience was exactly what my suspicions were about these cars. couple of months ago when I was in Athens. . I think we need to re-evaluate the Yugo against 1986 standards instead of 2011 standards. And the gas cap would not come off. 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. Also, I think that first step after buying any used car in general should be changing of belt. Could not resist seeing what a piece of crap would look like with no tin on the top. The Renault Alliance and 18i were still being sold in 1984-85 when the Yugo debuted. Wait, how am I still driving 24,000 reliable miles a year on a 28 year old yugo, if this article is accurate? . It was owned by a gentleman named Dave Benton who claimed to be the former engineering manager for Yugo North America. So we come to the end of the Yugo saga in America. that stated this town was used as a consumer testing site for the cars. Danny DeVito and Neve Campbell appeared together again six years after the release of this film in another comedy "Relative Strangers "(2006). The sexy Marsha Brady girl with the bellbottoms in the Subaru commercials is unforgettable. And when longtime resident Mona Dearly (BETTE MIDLER) drove her Yugo into the river to her death, no one really seemed to care. But of course, a parking lot fender bender would be enough to total these cars. Its not like Fiat designs were anything special, quite the contrary in many instances. Regarding the rust: It was a myriad of factors. 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. Ive 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 cars run in the US to an end. And parts are a breeze see him as a crook the effort along! 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