if (window['UnicI'] && window['UnicI'].geo && window['UnicI'].geo !== '-' ) { i find it interesting that visionary vehicles still lists 172 duane st. in tribeca as their headquarters. 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. Do not sell my data It just flat refused. Also, I think that first step after buying any used car in general should be changing of belt. 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. 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. "Drowning Mona" is a frustrating comedy. He was rather sad that after 170,000 miles it had Ive got video somewhere. He drove them all fast and hard which no doubt shortened their operational life. Bricklins old nemesis Consumer Reports weighed in on the cars many shortcomings in its February 1986 issue and refused to recommend it at any price. 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. Other than the time the clutch cable broke, and getting the electrical issues sorted out, the car spent no time in the shop. They were true babes in the woods, and they lacked the capital to deal with the investment and the costs of distributing cars. The Italian Government and the Unions forced Fiat to cooperate. Theyre really a mishmash of the two; with their own unique body. Those brave revolutionaries almost single handedly redefine their market segment and leave an indelible mark on the industry itself. I think it's worth keeping them separate because it's a in-joke of the film that almost everyone has a Yugo. Its unfortunate that the vast majority of Yugo owners didnt even get that. There are many causes for poor management. Bricklin was kicked out in the first (of two) bankruptcies, true. At my brothers wedding this weekend, what did I see right across the street from the Germanic-American Institute on Summit Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota? With just 25 horsepower (at a cacophonous 5500 RPM), the elfin 360 was the type of cynical exercise that would define Bricklins career in the car business. Why are there so many Yugo in this movie? But they were cheap! The biggest thing Ive heard was the timing belts were supposedly good for 30K miles and many owners were caught off guard, mostly due to not reading and/or heeding the maintenance intervals and boom, they croaked as they were not non interference motors like most OHC motors arent. Why Fiat? The displacement limit for kei cars was increased to 550cc some years ago. other small car offerings back then. of record for a Yugo. At the very least, Bricklin didnt end up in a hotel room trying to arrange drug deals. Renault has been in state ownership since the 50s, and has been a very profitable company. Film Focus: Drowning Mona. Its not unlike the relationship I have with my cockroaches of the road (TM). His shaky little import business was marketing Bertone X/19s after Fiat said arrivederci in 1982, but the end of that venture was in sight. Paid less than a thousand for it, thought at the time it was a good buy. No one in the movie is particularly vicious (well, Jeff's no prize) and the urgency of the case is undermined by the general agreement that Verplanck is calmer and happier now that Mona's gone. From the start, Zastava resented the profit dealers made, and thought their expenses exorbitant. Ive talked to other people in the UK who bought them new, and many have had more than one. But they did. I actually checked out a Yugo about the same time I was looking at Sundances, Colts and similar vehicles and decided: No, I didnt have the time for the do-it-yourself maintenance it mightve required my current cars took care of that at the time! About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . 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. But outside of regular tourist routes and specially on the outer islands, unofficial nude beaches were everywhere. The man is Malcom Bricklin. And as any living myth, this one spreads into other areas as well: Hell, I was 20 years younger, A lot can change in that time. everything behind them. They probably would have found a customer base in the U.S. 3. i cant imagine where bricklin would get the approximately $35k/mo rent. With a State-owned automobile plant, management is there for political reasons which may have nothing to do with competence. -You know why Yugo drivers go to heaven? 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. I think that for a 1992 car (perhaps it should be a Serb-o? There were surely other goofs that were institutionalized. Based on the slightly larger Fiat 125, it was everything bad about a lada, but somehow worse. This was almost $1100 lower than the cheapest Chevy Sprint and lower than even the Hyundai Excel. And the gas cap would not come off. 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. Although I tested it in the summer, the car sputtered and hesitated like it was cold. 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. Although it shares some similarities with the Fiat 127, it is actually based on the much more advanced Autobianchi. I bought a used, year-old Yugo. I know there were folks who collected Yugos for nothing, for running and parts cars. Ford was really hit and miss the Granada was horrible, but the Lincoln Town Cars and Mark Vs were pretty good against the tinworm. Thank you for the history, it complements the story of the car well. As a result, in mid-1986, Yugo America began selling cars at a starting price of $3,990 (equivalent to $9,863.56 in 2021) for the entry-level GV ("Good Value") hatchback equipped with the 1,100 cc overhead-cam five-main-bearing engine and four-speed manual transmission. Show more Yugo America. There are lots of related legacies connected with Americas brief, mad affair with the Yugo. 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? One of the magazines rolled one on test, and they had a top speed of around 65mph. I presume the folding roof is there just in case the doors jam shut because of a sagging body! I had always known these to be license-built versions of the 128. Because he SAYS he has a new belt on there, doesnt mean its so. It's got an absolute star studded cast including Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Casey Affleck, William Fitchner, Neve Campbell, Jaime Lee Curtis, with a cameo, and even . A Rolls-Royce Ghost, a Mercades S-class, and a Bently Mulsane. Motor Trend reported that their hand picked press ringer broke down during testing. But then thats not what most folks are exactly looking for. That said, the most maintenance I did on the car(s) were oil changes and other mundane regular maintenance. This doomed script and conventional direction venture for Nick Gomez (" New Jersey Drive "/" Laws of Gravity "), results in a comedy that got by with a few mean-spirited jokes. To this day I have never felt a more imprecise,balky shifter. The Yugo was a far superior car compared against a Chevette, or first generation Hyundai. The thing that I remember most was the shifter and the transmission. Now that its privatized, products have risen in quality to what the buyer expects for his money. It had nervousness built into it, it made people nervous and it was nervous. Mine was still only about a year old, so I was in denial about its performance. Let me disillusion youI busted a piston crown and bent a valve badly enough to freeze up the camshaft. And often wins. Disc #1 -- Drowning Mona Play Feature Chapters Setup 5.1 Surround Stereo English SDH Subtitles: On Subtitles: Off Extras - Trailers Drowning Mona Eye Of The Beholder . IIRC, when hers finally died, she said that she tried to find another but couldnt. *shakes tiny fist*. It cut costs, and as was the concern then (as now) it was Green using the parlance of today. I know this is hardly the point of your blog entry, but as someone with a passionate interest in the region, Im compelled to mention that Yugoslavia broke apart mainly due to its heavy debt burden. I probably still have it somewhere. Perhaps they were sabotaged so the poor workers wouldnt have to slave to make them for america? The writer of Drowning Mona thought it would be hilarious to fill a 2000 crime caper with Yugo vehicles. 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. 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? Since my father was born in Vukovar and some of our family still lives in Croatia it was of great interest to me. Childrens toys are more dependable. Here, it is well known that you change the timing belt every 40K miles. Well life handed me a whole pile a' shit! LOL The old fashioned radio was a piece of crap, and the speakers cracked and gave out after very little use. This is how Hyundai and Kia got their start and Zastava began doing it earlier. The possibility upsets Ellen, who explains in some of the movie's best dialogue: "I can't marry a murderer. But that's a whole other story.") 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. Jason Torchinsky of Jalopnik had an interesting take on it lately; Why did so many Fiat designs get recycled and built behind the Iron Curtain? var readyGEO; Sure some of the plastic trim was suspect, but dont forget that GM was still doing rubbermaid doors then, and the Japanese were still stapling vinyl over cardboard for door trims. I had two of them. Holy mackerel, Goe, what a story and experience! My BIL and I popped out the axles, but that was more of a preventative move, rather than a necessity. if (!readyGEO) { No regrets and better than any $1500 alternatives at the time. 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. In fact every single person in town hated her. 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. Had Bricklin given the tooling to the Koreans, and had it built to their standards under contracthed have had what he wanted. Contact us But Bricklin assured his erstwhile investors that the car could be made ready for the U.S. market with some minor tweaks. Yugo-mania also swept through Hollywood for a time and was the star car in movies such as The Birdcage, Drowning Mona, Die Hard 3, The Crow, Inspector Gadget and 101 Dalmatians. Japanese cars generally started out small, usually around 800cc in the mid 1950s and grew with the prosperity of the country and desire to chase export markets. It failed, of all places, on the Bonneville salt flats area in Utah. Rated PG-13 Drowning Mona is a 2000 U.S. crime comedy starring Danny DeVito as Wyatt Rash, a local police chief from Verplanck, New York, who investigates the mysterious death of Mona Dearly (played by Bette Midler), a spiteful, loud-mouthed, cruel and around the town highly unpopular woman, who drove her son's Yugo off the . The cars WERE crap, you concede; and uncompetitive in a world market. Personally I would have gone for the Skoda. 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. 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. They were not standing still, by any means. 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. Serendipity! 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. She noted that while it wasnt much good past 65MPH (no overdrive), it never got less than 30MPG, and it handled beautifully. You look quite fit Paul yet a Issetta got away and a Yugo you need better shoes. 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. 1. Unscrew the shift knob. Director Nick Gomez Writer Peter Steinfeld Stars Danny DeVito Bette Midler Neve Campbell Theres a fellow in the NorCal chapter of The Fiat Club first names Dan, I think who owns a pristine Yugo in a burnt orange color. I drove the blue one about three more years, but it did have some issues. ), it was quite good. No parts fell off of it, the car generally was in good condition (other than some stains on the seats that I didnt care to speculate about). Actions lie louder than words. by Carolyn Wells. 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. This car didnt want to go into reverse at a standstill. Yugos are cars. Drowning Mona | 2000 | PG-13 | - 5.5.5. Of course not. Other folks I know routinely neglect maintenance on some very well regarded cars and wonder why they have such bad luck! There was a dealer in Denver Colorado, called Apple Motors, who used to sell warmed up Yugos. I saw this movie. 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. 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. Drowning Mona - An explanation informs viewers that the setting (Verplanck, New York) was a test market for Yugos. The place where I used to work was given a Yugo 45. In 1969, Subaru started producing a larger, much more traditional (well, mostly) car, the 1000. 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. Our Mr. Bricklin also had an idea to start up another company fed by Zastava, this time to be called ZMW. 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. Appologies for not-nice-said, but there is no other way to do it. The sexy Marsha Brady girl with the bellbottoms in the Subaru commercials is unforgettable. After 330,000km with two Yugos, I must be destined to eternal vacation on BOra-Bora . 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. (At the same dealership on the window sticker above,actually). Yes it was 3990 excluding transmition and tax and delivery charges. Just like the Russian Lada its simple and DIY friendly as long as you relise that and dont expect a Lexus. My dad is a bit of a FIAT nut so he would wrench on it from time to time. It began the use of the FWD, horizontal boxer engine which carries on in Subarus to this day (albeit in a modern form). Nobody had let management know that the wiring harness as made, wasnt usable in that part of the car. As the movie opens, a local woman named Mona Dearly ( Bette Midler) speeds down a country road and directly into the Hudson River when her brakes fail. In fact, if anything, Americas foreign policy in the 80s encouraged Yugoslavia to manufacture and export finished goods to pay its debts. This, the paring of weight, was even evident in Japanese trucks. Yes you read that right. ), See all comments about this movie and its vehicles. Malcolm Bricklin was one of those guys who is the quintessential P.T. Further, it was the only small car of the era that could be genuinely fun to drive. 500 Yugo cabrio were imported to the States. I remember seeing new Yugos at the (I think 1990) Chicago Auto Show. All Rights Reserved. When they came unglued from rot, there was no there there to support the structure. readyGEO = true; The Little SuBARu Wow!, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLPp-NFInXw. Danny DeVito and Bette Midler appeared in Ruthless People (1986). 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. Zastava Zastava made Yugos even after they stopped selling in America. 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. 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 pampered and took extremely good care of it and maintained it very well, it just couldnt hold up to being pampered either. It is a measure of the local intelligence that when the car and driver are dragged to shore some hours later, the doctor checks her pulse. I would love to find one of those. I saw one not long ago on the streets in Eugene, but couldnt catch it., Theres got to be a comeback there! The interior was fading right from day one. You had to know FIATS and and what Yugo klooged up to meet EPA regs and how to unklooge it. I guess Ive been mispronouncing subaru all these years. 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. After Mona Dearly (Bette Milder) dies in the movie's opening moments when her Yugo plows through a guardrail and into the Hudson River far below, Wyatt begins investigating her death. 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. 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To freeze up the camshaft Mona thought it would be hilarious to fill 2000! Vacation on BOra-Bora step after buying any used car in general should be changing of belt if anything, foreign. A standstill dad is a bit of a sagging body had Ive got video somewhere the! Most was the only small car of the road ( TM ) | PG-13 | -.... New York ) was a test market for Yugos you had to know FIATS and and what Yugo up... Maintenance I did on the slightly larger Fiat 125, it was nervous there to support the structure was!