Seem like this article is just a mishmash of old articles written by people who never owned a Yugo, dont know anything about yugos, or who designed its engine. The thing that I remember most was the shifter and the transmission. Likewise the Toyotas and Datsuns. She claimed that once you knew and understood them, they were not bad cars for what they were. 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. Someone steeped in the maintenace required to keep something like a Trabant running would probably be right at home with a Yugo. They dumped em, too, as soon as they could afford something, anything, better. But theres a difference between an easily-repaired car, and one that needs frequent repairs. Jeff might have wanted to kill her. This car had one genuine asset: ride quality. 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. Director Nick Gomez Writer Peter Steinfeld Stars Danny DeVito Bette Midler Neve Campbell 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. console.log(window['UnicI'].geo); A quiet little in-joke indeed, but I mention it so the filmmakers will know their work was not in vain. I recall seeing the garage full of yugos being worked on when Id take mine in and I recall seeing them dead on the side of the road everywhere. Renault has been in state ownership since the 50s, and has been a very profitable company. Im trying to remember, she actually, may have owned two of them. Possibly most accurate and realistic analysis I have heard yet regarding what happened in ex-Yugoslavia. That's not who I am. In fact every single person in town hated her. Destination was Las Vegas; and by the time I got there the only way to get it to move was in First. My problem was that I didn't care who killed Mona Dearly, or why, and didn't want to know anyone in town except for Chief Rash and his daughter. I drove it in Atlanta rush hour traffic, it got about 40MPG and I grew to really like the little beast. Detroit, also, but not so much. When a woman drives a car into the river to her death, everyone in town becomes a suspect.When a woman drives a car into the river to her death, everyone in town becomes a suspect.When a woman drives a car into the river to her death, everyone in town becomes a suspect. Some dinosaur relic, Id never seen before. Like you can buy a car without a transmition. Two cars are in the driveway of a glorious but faded Victorian mansion: The Bertone and a Yugo. They didnt always start, and they DID always rust away. 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. Contact us Trouble for him was, the rest of America wasnt interested in postwar America. When the nastiest resident (Bette Midler) of a white-trash Westchester suburb is killed in a suspicious accident, everyone Drowning Mona 2000 (PG-13)Strident comedy about the low-IQ denizens of small town Verplanck, New York, where everybody still drives a Yugo (the town was a test market). I think that for a 1992 car (perhaps it should be a Serb-o? At our Year 2000 track day at Lime Rock, one of the entries was a race-prepared Yugo. Good account. 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. 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. Well life handed me a whole pile a' shit! 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. The car itself rattled and shook upon starting. No tinted glass or glove compartment. a special for the movie,an extended version,or just my failing memory? Also in Drowning Mona's favor, at the heart of the movie, is a genuinely positive character, Verplanck Police Chief Wyatt Rash (Danny DeVito).He's possibly the only principled citizen in town. 3) The Yugo has a good reputation in the land of its birth. He soon discovers that her death was no accident. I mean, cmon, its an Eastern Bloc car. 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? The New Brunswick government pulled the plug in September of 1975 and the Bricklin was finished. I cant recall reading anything positive about the vehicle, anywhere. In the 70s when I lived in Boston, I worked with a guy whose 5-year-old Pinto had big holes in the doors. The film also stars Neve Campbell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Casey Affleck, William Fichtner, Marcus Thomas, and Peter Dobson. 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. Copyright 2011 - 2023 Curbside Classics. 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. Whats good- quad headlights 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. Which, actually, was a very good little car . Other than the time the clutch cable broke, and getting the electrical issues sorted out, the car spent no time in the shop. 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. But after that i didnt have much trouble with it, ride wasnt too bad for such small car, power was adequate for normal driving (in fact, compared to my fathers beetle with 1200 cc and 34 HP, Yugo with 55 HP and such goodies like 5-speed gearbox and brake booster feels pretty quick). It eventually developed a bad piston ring(s), and the blow by was enough to clog the carburetor so that it would stop running. Even getting touring car legend Peter Brock to put his name to a Deluxe Limited Edition wasnt enough to help sales. At that time, Bricklin was probably best known for the eponymous car that he launched amidst much fanfare in 1974. They probably would have found a customer base in the U.S. Too many people in this country have this mentality that if its cheap, treat it as such and yes, a fulfilled prophesy. But before Bricklin made a virtue of safety, he all but made a mockery of same just a half decade before. . The car is the Yugo. Did it even come close? 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. I paid a lot of attention to new cars back then, and even then I dont know if I ever saw one. Its not unlike the relationship I have with my cockroaches of the road (TM). It's a movie that has an attitude problem it couldn't resolve as easily as it did the mystery to Mona's death. couple of months ago when I was in Athens. Its not too late! You are probably also aware of the Honda Z or N360 which was existed around the same time. Vehicle used a lot by a main character or for a long time, Vehicle used by a character or in a car chase, Minor action vehicle or used in only a short scene. Ladas seem to be designed to be overhauled on the roadside these are probably the same. who collected Yugos for pennies on the dollar and used the collection as a parts supply to keep ONE of them running. Dubrovnik is kind of old fashion place with somewhat stricter rules about dressing on the beaches and elsewhere. The little cars--all Yugos--are almost identical; they only differ in color, and Rona's has a sunroof. If possible, the FSO 125p was even worse. Purchased one year old cars for less than $1500 while attending college. 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. The blue one had seen much more use than the red one, but it was still a good runner. I think I remember this! You could disassemble the whole car with like 5 Allen keys, three sockets and two Phillips-head screwdrivers, if you were inclined. You look quite fit Paul yet a Issetta got away and a Yugo you need better shoes. 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. American Brands: AMC, Jeep and All Others, Tractors, Lawn Mowers, Off-Road Equipment, Automotive History The Jokes On U.S.- The Short, Wild Ride Of The Yugo In America, TOAL:1974(?) But Bricklin assured his erstwhile investors that the car could be made ready for the U.S. market with some minor tweaks. A 2000 American crime comedy film directed by Nick Gomez that has a police chief ( Danny DeVito) investigate the death of a woman named Mona ( Bette Midler ), an abusive and spiteful woman who was hated by everyone who knew her. } I remember the lights were tied to the ignition switch so if you left the light switch on, theyd 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. What kind of sicko lives there? after about 30 years of having the car rust off of the frame. its a beautiful nineteenth century townhouse that was redesigned combining the 19th century iron front with a modern glass setback. . At first glance, the car looked up to date- Front wheel drive, rack and pinion steering, decent mileage. } 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! document.getElementById("unic-gdpr").style.display = 'inline'; This was almost $1100 lower than the cheapest Chevy Sprint and lower than even the Hyundai Excel. Hers are always burned down precisely half an inch, and then we see her lighting a new one from the old one, and realize, yeah, she smokes them only for the first two puffs. To see mine riding on a tow truck was so humiliating. The interior was fading right from day one. 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. But then my wife (of all people) found a Yugo for $800. and lso two Horizon ? There was a movie in 2000 entitled Drowning Mona where most of the people in a . They pronounce it yugo and Bricklins people realized a car called Jugo would have problems in marketing. With over 46 years of experience, Flying Deuces takes on every project or event with passion. My little red Yugo was dead. @Jeff Nelson: I think youre a bit dismissive of Zastava, they have been around for quite some time. I had been driving a Datsun 200 SX and the 5 speed was like silk. Theyre really a mishmash of the two; with their own unique body. Yes you read that right. The first thing to appear onscreen is a little blurb about the Yugo car company using the town of Verplanck as a test area for their new model years ago. But back to the subject, shortage of all kind of raw material was the main reason for poor quality, not drunken workers. I wonder why they used the Yugos, To show the towns Quirkyness? Say what you will about Bricklin he is a man of action. It was only later, when the bean-counters bid out the belts on a cost basis, that they developed a much shorter lifespan. And that, sadly, is the point and the problem. This, the paring of weight, was even evident in Japanese trucks. 5 Yugo i know its a rare thing but should we park them together ? 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. A Mitsubishi in all but name, Proton wisely didnt fiddle around with it much meaning you got a reliable Pseudo-Japanese car for your money, not a cobbled together lash up like the yugo was. Assuming the gentleman was telling the truth, this has to be some kind The other Eastern European lemon sold in Australia at the same time as the Niki was the Lada Samara. Well, as they say, two out of three aint bad. 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. Reviewed in . LIkewise, Yugo UK supported its dealers well. Jamie Lee Curtis and Neve Campbell are both known as "Final Girls" or "Scream Queens", playing recurring heroines in their respective horror franchise films: Curtis in the "Halloween" franchise and Campbell in the "Scream" franchise--which is loosely based on the "Halloween" mythos. His routine went something likeThe Yugo, what self respecting country would name a car that sorry after itself? Dont forget, we had the Czech Skoda Estelle, the Russian Lada and the Polish FSO 125p all competing at the bottom of the market. Visit Dealer Website. I see one maybe twice a year. 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 360s and had them crushed any truth to that? Learn how your comment data is processed. Drowning Mona is a 2000 American 'comedy' film starring Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Jamie Lee Curtis, Casey Affleck, Melissa McCarthy, Brian Doyle-Murray, and box-office superstar Will Ferrell. 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? The Yugo? 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. Even those of us raised on rusting U.S. cars from the 60s were surprised by how fast the Japaneese stuff vaporized. Any idea where the Fiat 128 stopped and the 127 started in the Yugo? In the moviedrowning MonaI remember there was among the many regular Yugos one that had four doors (a black one).Was it how did Subaru make the transition from dangerous sardine can to granola FWD/AWD family compact in the US?. It would take about eight years from apparent problem to engineered fix to failure of the fix and another engineered solution. It was embarrassing, mother never drove it again. 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 saw one not long ago on the streets in Eugene, but couldnt catch it., Theres got to be a comeback there! Every vehicle in town that is not a truck is a Yugo, except the police cruisers, which are Plymouth Horizons. 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. So, they set about seeing what was what with a road-trip around Romania in three cars they would be testing. Both were sold for more than I paid. First, salt as a melting agent on roads was relatively new. Blue in color. Mona Dearly (Bette Midler) is an anagram for "only a dream". 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. 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. The carpet was very loose fitting and curled up in spots along the edges. 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. I remember, as a teenJapanese 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 they didnt have a CLUE. AMC, in its last years, went so far as to have Ziebart license its procedure for use in the factory. 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. And as any living myth, this one spreads into other areas as well: Generally what kills them is the cost of major systems repairs, to where its not economically justifiable. Also in Drowning Mona's favor, at the heart of the movie, is a genuinely positive character, Verplanck Police Chief Wyatt Rash (Danny DeVito).He's possibly the only principled citizen in town. A magazine road test came up with the amusing summary: They would swap in the drivetrain from the Fiat X1/9 and put on the wider wheels tires from the X1/9 also. By the 90s Japan had it totally nailed. I've owned so many other cars so why not? It began the use of the FWD, horizontal boxer engine which carries on in Subarus to this day (albeit in a modern form). It was not much bigger than a homeless persons shopping cart and similarly stocked. LOL The old fashioned radio was a piece of crap, and the speakers cracked and gave out after very little use. Nude beaches usually are deprived of sexual context. There was a short in the headlights, and the switch for the engine cooling fan was broken both of which were easily fixed. You are my inhalation, I own few blogs and infrequently run out from brand :). Film Focus: Drowning Mona. But outside of regular tourist routes and specially on the outer islands, unofficial nude beaches were everywhere. But these Yugos aren't just a frivolous component of the storythey're essential to establishing the wacky tone of the film. 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. 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. var readyGEO; 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. Yes it was 3990 excluding transmition and tax and delivery charges. I would be *shocked* to see a single one moving under its own power in 2011. 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. In regard to that old devil corrosion, an honest question: were there any cars of the seventies that DIDNT rust like mad? Secondly, I would be one of those people who had a good experience with a Yugo. During WWII, they built a few Jeeps. 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. Could you imagine if another country decided to do that? A man of action pennies on the streets in Eugene, but it was embarrassing, never! ( TM ) are my inhalation drowning mona yugo cars I own few blogs and infrequently run out from brand ). 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