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The Staff of SOH
End of an error: Yugo ceases production.
- Thread starter Cazzie
- Start date
brad kaste
Charter Member
....I think the only rolling piece of crap worse than the Yugo was the East German Trabant. But I could be wrong.....
The old Russian Moskvitch/Lada came somewhere below the Yugo but above the Trabant IMHO. The early Wartburg two strokes and early Skoda's were pretty rough too.
D
Drake
Guest
The star of Drowning Mona is no more.
MaddogK
Sim Junkie
Just when the world needs them most, they go the way of the dinosaur. Like the Geo metro, this car needed a bit of TLC and some skill to drive but alas, the plump bottomed drivers of America demanded a car with half the mileage capability, and a car that would drive itself while the distracted driver fiddled with their radio or cell phone. And if the sleeping driver hit a tree in this thrifty transportation device they surely would be permanently removed from society.
I've never owned one but worked on many, this 'gem' wasn't intended for the typical American 'road hazard', but for drivers with skill, common sense and focus. I personally will miss it.
I've never owned one but worked on many, this 'gem' wasn't intended for the typical American 'road hazard', but for drivers with skill, common sense and focus. I personally will miss it.
Buddha13
Charter Member
Hi all,
By far the worst car was the Moskvitch.Those sent to The UK had a habit of having little things missing.You know those not really important bits....Stering wheels,Tyre's the odd door or 2 etc.A teacher of mine a long time ago actually bought one.He had to wait 3 weeks after it had been delivered to the garage to have the back 2 doors delivered and fitted.Most of the bits that went missing were stolen from the factory or en route after they were built.They like good little communists still sent them out.This was the excuse the garage gave for the delay.
The Lada...A much later car was an old Fiat model.When they were delivered to the UK the Lada dealerships stripped the cars,Replaced the wheels and tyres,Fitted all the standard electricals such as radio's.Replaced most of the general electrics such as electronic starts as the Russian ones where rubbish.
The Trabant should not be in this list.There will be Trabby's around long after most current cars are gone.The reason it it will take so long for the bodies of these cars to degrade.
As for Skoda's.I have had 5.Loved them all.Reliable except for head gaskets.But they were easy to change.Could change a complete exhaust in 15 minutes.Simple basic,But by god would they go round a rally circuit.
They always won their class.
By the way what do you call a Yugo with a sun roof......A Skip.
Buddha13
By far the worst car was the Moskvitch.Those sent to The UK had a habit of having little things missing.You know those not really important bits....Stering wheels,Tyre's the odd door or 2 etc.A teacher of mine a long time ago actually bought one.He had to wait 3 weeks after it had been delivered to the garage to have the back 2 doors delivered and fitted.Most of the bits that went missing were stolen from the factory or en route after they were built.They like good little communists still sent them out.This was the excuse the garage gave for the delay.
The Lada...A much later car was an old Fiat model.When they were delivered to the UK the Lada dealerships stripped the cars,Replaced the wheels and tyres,Fitted all the standard electricals such as radio's.Replaced most of the general electrics such as electronic starts as the Russian ones where rubbish.
The Trabant should not be in this list.There will be Trabby's around long after most current cars are gone.The reason it it will take so long for the bodies of these cars to degrade.
As for Skoda's.I have had 5.Loved them all.Reliable except for head gaskets.But they were easy to change.Could change a complete exhaust in 15 minutes.Simple basic,But by god would they go round a rally circuit.
They always won their class.
By the way what do you call a Yugo with a sun roof......A Skip.
Buddha13
Drzook
Charter Member
well this brings back some memories...
Back in my misspent youth my mother bought a used '87 Yugo (now mind you this was back in 1988 or 1989). The previous owner tried to sport it up with electrical tape racing stripes, those flip-up rock guards on the headlights and....wait for it....a Hurst shift knob. My mother and I were the only ones in the household that could wrench it into reverse, the left headlight only worked on low beam and the right one worked on high beam only (could have been the other way around but you get the picture) and the only gauges that worked were the temperature gauage and the fuel gauge. the speedo needle would simply spin round and round; we guessed we were doing 55 whe you got a breeze. Mom hated that car. I think the trauma of owning that car is what got her to buy musclecars for the next ten years or so ('84 TransAm, '85 Monte Carlo SS, '94 Grand Am GT). As for me, I got to drive it to college in my freshman year when my beloved '80 Chevette broke down. I had to drive the Yugo for nearly a semester before I got the funds to fix the 'Vette. I learned if you treat a car right it will always bring you home. Not a bad car but I was really happy to get my Chevette back. After all, the Chevette cornered like it was on rails.:d
I haven't seen a functioning Yugo for a couple of years now. Come to think of it I haven't seen a Chevette for some time either, but someone in my hometown has been tooling around with a Pontiac T1000...
BTW: worst car I ever owned was a 1978 Ford Mustang II. Left me with a disdain for the Blue Oval for years.
Back in my misspent youth my mother bought a used '87 Yugo (now mind you this was back in 1988 or 1989). The previous owner tried to sport it up with electrical tape racing stripes, those flip-up rock guards on the headlights and....wait for it....a Hurst shift knob. My mother and I were the only ones in the household that could wrench it into reverse, the left headlight only worked on low beam and the right one worked on high beam only (could have been the other way around but you get the picture) and the only gauges that worked were the temperature gauage and the fuel gauge. the speedo needle would simply spin round and round; we guessed we were doing 55 whe you got a breeze. Mom hated that car. I think the trauma of owning that car is what got her to buy musclecars for the next ten years or so ('84 TransAm, '85 Monte Carlo SS, '94 Grand Am GT). As for me, I got to drive it to college in my freshman year when my beloved '80 Chevette broke down. I had to drive the Yugo for nearly a semester before I got the funds to fix the 'Vette. I learned if you treat a car right it will always bring you home. Not a bad car but I was really happy to get my Chevette back. After all, the Chevette cornered like it was on rails.:d
I haven't seen a functioning Yugo for a couple of years now. Come to think of it I haven't seen a Chevette for some time either, but someone in my hometown has been tooling around with a Pontiac T1000...
BTW: worst car I ever owned was a 1978 Ford Mustang II. Left me with a disdain for the Blue Oval for years.
Dad had two Vegas. He loved them! Very rare car in their days.
I remember reading John DeLoreans book 'On a Clear Day, You Can See GM'. About Chapter 4, he talks of the first Vega on their test track oval.. First day; front suspension subassembly fell out. His thoughts were confirmed.
It was also one of Americas first full aluminum engines, (head and block) and not alot of testing was done on them. Things would go ary...
But, fit a small block V-6 or V-8 in those things and you had a Millenium Falcon...........
Bill
On the non-Cosworth Vegas, the head was cast iron and the block aluminum. The problem with the engines was that the cylinder bores were aluminum with steel pistons and rings. They relied on a thin layer of silcon material to protect the cylinder bores. I guess the theory was okay, but in practice, it just didn't work. Most engines would have scarred up cylinder walls and be guzzling oil at 40k miles.
The cure was to take the block down to a machine shop and have the block bored out, steel cylinder liners inserted and machined into the block. Put a set of aluminum pistons in it when rebuilding and it would be as reliable as any other automotive engine of the time. GM eventually realized this and starting with the 1975 year models, this was done at the factory making the 75 -77 year engines the most reliable ones.
I did this to several Vegas and they all were great little cars when I was done monkeying with them. My personal one (74 GT) I put a hotter cam in, tweaked Holley 2 bl carb, performance ignition and an exhaust header on. It would really scat after that. Didn't need a V-8 or V-6 conversion :d
I still like the Vega when it's had the proper engine modifications done and wish I had one today.
The cure was to take the block down to a machine shop and have the block bored out, steel cylinder liners inserted and machined into the block. Put a set of aluminum pistons in it when rebuilding and it would be as reliable as any other automotive engine of the time. GM eventually realized this and starting with the 1975 year models, this was done at the factory making the 75 -77 year engines the most reliable ones.
I did this to several Vegas and they all were great little cars when I was done monkeying with them. My personal one (74 GT) I put a hotter cam in, tweaked Holley 2 bl carb, performance ignition and an exhaust header on. It would really scat after that. Didn't need a V-8 or V-6 conversion :d
I still like the Vega when it's had the proper engine modifications done and wish I had one today.
grunau_baby
SOH-CM-2025
The new yugo (Zastava) will ironically be an old Fiat (Punto II):
http://www.italiaspeed.com/2008/cars/industry/11/zastava/2111.html
Didn´t knew these companies messed around before Fiat took it over, but I hope Fiat will raise the quality like they did in their polish plant were the superbly build new 500 and the Panda come from. The classic yugo cars were simply crap, unfortunately just like some older Fiats.
Alex
http://www.italiaspeed.com/2008/cars/industry/11/zastava/2111.html
Didn´t knew these companies messed around before Fiat took it over, but I hope Fiat will raise the quality like they did in their polish plant were the superbly build new 500 and the Panda come from. The classic yugo cars were simply crap, unfortunately just like some older Fiats.
Alex
