Yesterday, in a squeaker, 52% of you felt paying $6,000 for the '88 Samurai was preferable to not doing so. However, nobody got off the stick and did anything about it, slackers. Since you still have that six grand burning a hole in your Dickies, let's take a look at a contender that's two grand more, but about the same size, as that Suzuki.

The 1980s gave us lots of things- Reagnomics, A Flock of Seagulls, and another attempt by Malcom Bricklin to start a car company. Subaru 360s, eponymous Canadian gullwings, and Bertones- Bricklin has left a trail of failed enterprises wheels-up in the roadside ditches of history. In 1985 he turned his attention to the Zastava company in Yugoslavia. Their tiny, Fiat 128-based Yugo entered the U.S. as the cheapest new car available that year, starting at $3995. The Hyundai Excel, which debuted concurrently, was a full grand more.

The Yugo rocketed into a strong sales pace that first year, but proud owners soon realized what had been omitted in order to achieve that rock-bottom price- things like quality materials, drivability, and warranty claims service. The Yugo quickly supplanted the Edsel as the biggest joke in the American automotive scene, and started showing up with greater frequency in junkyards, than on the road.

But that was not before this 1986 example reached our shores, and eventually to Texas where it is currently rusting resting and posing for beauty shots on Auto Trader. Done up in communist red with a complementing taupe interior, this little hatchback comes with much of what made Yugo popular for a nano-second back during Bush I- a 1300 cc SOHC four cylinder good for 45 bhp, rubbery stick shift, and under-hood spare tire placement, pretty much guaranteeing its disintegration from heat the first time you need it.

But $7,999 might seem a little steep for a bone-stock Yugo GV (which stood for Good Value) and this car does pile on the extras. There's a CD head unit in the dash, which is also emblazoned with a Gran Touring Suspension badge off of a Buick Regal, and the four spoke alloys come with smart little Abarth badges on the center caps as a cruel reminder of the kind of cars the AREN'T chosen to be brought to America.

All that adds up to what is being claimed to be the nicest Yugo on the planet, which is sort of like bragging about having the biggest facial zit on prom night. But still, this is an unique bit of history, and if you're going to buy a Yugo, you better get the best one you can.

So, if you were to go down this path, with AAA card in hand, and be in the market for a Yugo, would you consider this $7,999 example to be Nicely Priced? Or is that something that would come after a long night hitting the Crack Pipe, along with a facial tattoo and a Nevada marriage license?

You decide!

Nice Price or Crack Pipe: 1986 Yugo GV for $6,000.(surveys)

Auto Trader or go here if the ad disappears. Hat tip to aSoundofSleep!

Help me out with NPOCP. Click here to send a me a tip, and remember to include your commenter handle.

It's a Yugo GV with a Sawzall Caminoization job, but that's just the beginning. You know that wheezing, underwhelming 1100cc engine that Zastava put in the Yugo? Forget that boat anchor! You get the 1500cc out of a Fiat Strada (aka Ritmo) when you buy this car, and that's not all- check out that homemade intake manifold and brace of four motorcycle carbs! And when it comes time for turbocharging, you'll have a head start with the Volvo intercooler already installed. We say you need to rush straight to Washington State and buy this car (go here if the listing disappears) right now!

Bernice, of the Italian Stallions 24 Hours Of LeMons team (that's her on the left, replacing a head gasket on a Fiat SOHC in the bracing 36° air at Arse Freeze-A-Palooza '08), wants us to know "This FIAT engine often ignored in the US due to its small displacement, regardless it is IMO one of FIAT's best engines from the 1960's. While the FIAT twin cam gets much of the glory and noted attention, this is actually the better of the two in some ways. Designed by Aurelio Lampredi, famed Ferrari engine designer before he went to work for FIAT. He is also the one who designed the FIAT twin cam from this era. Production of this engine ran from 1969 to 2005. By the mid-1980's FIAT produced over 6 million copies with numerous variants."

Originally designed to power the Fiat 128 (which, as we know, Enzo Ferrari chose to use as his daily driver) the Fiat SOHC had a good long run, from 1969 to 1999. In addition to 128s and X1/9s, a version of this engine was used in that Balkan legend, the Yugo (including turbocharged examples). The Ritmo/Strada, Punto, and 127 also had Fiat SOHC power, and a number of Lancia machines were fitted with this iron-block/aluminum-head workhorse as well.

[Mirafiori.com, Wikipedia]

Yes, this 1986 Yugo convertible (go here if the listing disappears) suffered some Kentucky hail damage, so the car's owner (the seller's grandfather) "got the idea of turning it into a WhaleMobile off of some cartoon, and he took his crazy idea and ran with it." Sadly, the seller possesses "an inexplicable fear of these evil creatures" and must sell… and his loss is your gain! It has a functioning blowhole with water pump, and the tail even features aero-enhancing manual controls. This fine machine got some attention on the 24 Hours Of LeMons forums, but it appears that no team has what it takes to put it on a race track. That's shameful, but we know you have what it takes to make it your daily driver. Come on, Yugo Whalemobile!
[Louisville Craigslist]

This car showed up at the last second on Friday, and its crew spent all night installing a cage and other safety gear for the next day's racing. Equipped with the number Π and not officially on the lap-counting clock, it managed a handful of laps before getting upside down. Don't despair, Yugo fans- very reliable sources tell me that this car will be back!


Another vet of the notorious "Demolition Derby LeMons" aka the SF '08 event, the solo AMC did very well, with a 44th-place finish.


Would you believe a 2nd-place finish for an Isuzu I-Mark? Impossible! Well, maybe not for Dave Swig and the Motoring J Style crew, and we're glad they ditched the MR2 for a more LeMons-centric machine. With Handling By Lotus, this I-Mark managed a best lap of 1:39.261 and would have won if not for a (hotly disputed) black flag. Well, there's also the matter of the 10 bonus laps we gave the car because of its alleged hopelessness.


With perhaps the most obsessive theme of any car at the race, the Faster Farms guys were doing quite well… until the allegedly sanest driver on the team flipped it over. Even after all of that, the Faster Farms Belvedere drove home- a 150-mile jaunt- after the race. They'll be back! For now, they can take great pride in their Best Dangerous Banned Racing Technology trophy, earned for their bowling-ball-actuated active wing.


The only Subaru at the race was good and quick- 1:39.488 best lap- but mechanical ills, black flags, etc. 60th place.


Here's a bunch of random action photos for ya. Remember, LeMons will be running in Houston on the last week of February. See you there!

Hooray! We've always wanted to see a Yugo in a 24 Hours Of LeMons race, and here it was happening before our eyes. Unfortunately, the amount of time we got to spend enjoying the sight of a fine Balkan machine duking it out with Mazdas and BMWs was extremely short; it didn't take long before the Yugo got a little bit wiggly in turn 4, got clipped by another car, and rolled over a few times. The driver was unhurt- we were all holding our breath until we saw him clamber out, what with that somewhat iffy Zastava build quality and all- but the car didn't fare so well. And yes, the top of this Yugo wasn't very shiny... but when you see the opportunity to use CB radio slang in a headline, you take it. Once again, thanks to Mad Science Senior and Mad Science for the photos.

Serbian automaker Zastava Automobili
announces end of Yugo production

November 14th, 2008 - KRAGUJEVAC, Serbia - At 9am on November 11th, 2008, Yugo
#794,428 – a red Koral In1 – left the lines at Zastava Automobili’s factory in Kragujevac.

The first Yugo, a hand-built prototype, emerged on October 2nd, 1978.

Zastava workers affixed a small piece of paper to its tailgate, labeled “ćao, nema više”
(“goodbye, no more”). Thus did the famous budget car, once the pride of the former Yugoslavia,
drive into history.

A few tears were shed; the machines ceased whirring, and the group that had gathered around the
car slowly dispersed, somewhat stunned that no formal event had been prepared. While the last
car headed to Zastava’s museum, the men and women who built it were given the task of
preparing the space for Fiat’s purposes.

55 years ago, the late Prvoslav Raković founded Zastava Automobili from the WWII ruins of
century-old Zastava, a cannon foundry and producer of some of the best rifles in the world.

Automobiles. Trucks. Buses. Architecture and construction. Horticulture. Zastava did it all. Well
before World War II, 400 Chevrolet trucks rolled off Kragujevac lines, slated for the Yugoslav
Army. Postwar production began in 1953, when Zastava built 162 Willys jeeps, before
inextricably tying itself to Fiat. 1955 saw the first fruits of this agreement: the Zastava 600D, a
car for the people, and the Zastava AR-51, the truck which would drive Yugoslavia’s postwar
reconstruction.

With production beginning in 1955, Zastava ventured into front-wheel drive in 1971; Europe, in
1972; America, in 1985, and fuel injection, in 1988. As their world imploded in the ‘90s,
Zastava’s workers continued to come to work each morning. When in 1999 NATO used the
factory for target practice, they dutifully cleaned up the damage and, seemingly without need for
dollars or euros, managed again to turn out their budget cars.

In 1945, Toyota could make no more than fish paste. BMW built pots and pans. Volkswagen
produced nothing. Yet bombs could not stop Zastava. Even without the foreign investment
enjoyed by Toyota and Volkswagen, a Zastava Skala 101 rolled off the line just six months after
the factory had been ripped apart.

For an encore, Zastava’s engineers forged an alliance with PSA/ Peugeot-Citroen, and developed
Europe’s most affordable diesel car, the Florida TDC, a five-door hatchback which was praised
by Britain’s Autocar magazine (in its February 20th, 2008 issue) in the last throes of the
company’s independence.

Zastava also builds the Oktopus Finiss which, being rated for 150 km/h, is the world’s fastest
professional-driver training device.

On November 11th, 2008, the final Yugo followed the last Florida2, number #29,950.

The last Zastava 10 (Fiat Punto II.5) was built a few days earlier. When production restarts
(expected to be by the end of the year), it will be rebadged, Fiat Punto.

The last Skala 553 (#1,273,532) will be built on November 20th, marking the last Zastava after 4.2
million cars, of which 700,000 were exported (145,511 to the United States).

Zastava Automobili is currently working with authorities in Congo, Africa, to transfer Skala 55/
Koral In/ Florida In production lines there.

Meanwhile, the Zastava 128 is still assembled in Egypt by El Nasco, where it is a favorite among
taxi drivers.

The success of Zastava is important not only for its Kragujevac home (where metalworking, in
2007, still accounts for 70% of industry), but for Serbia as a whole. Roughly 100,000 people
across 56 towns are directly and indirectly employed by Zastava. Their fate remains unclear. For
them and their families; for Kragujevac, and for Serbia and its economic recovery, it is hoped that
Zastava's rollercoaster ride over the last quarter century is again trending upward.

[Source: Zastava]

My favorite part? The "Use Only Geniune Yugo Service Parts" sticker on the air cleaner. You wouldn't want to put any low-quality parts on your Yugo, would you?

Zastava-Yugo History [autosoviet.altervista.org]

Related:
You Go, Turbo! Yugo Turboooooooo! [Internal]

It had to happen. Mix together a junkyard stew of Yugos, Fiats, turbocharging bits and pieces, and a big helping of ingenuity, and you get: TURBO YUGO! This gentleman took an '87 Yugo GV, dropped in an X-1/9 powerplant, then rigged up a blow-through turbocharging setup with gear torn from a '91 Saab. It's a bit disappointing that he considered a Megasquirt fuel-delivery system but stuck with the stock carb instead, but no matter. Just being able to say you roll in a Yugo Turbo is enough. – Murilee Martin

Turbocharged 1987 Yugo GV [James Seabolt]

Related:
Fried-Out From the Factory: Yugoamino! [internal]

While we still think the best transforming, dancing robot-car video is the 2CV bit, we just ran across this patriotic wee dancing Zastava engaging in some technofied traditional Eastern European stepping. How much you wanna bet this baby sucks pure ethanol? – Davey G. Johnson

Related:
Ad Watch: Citro n Goes Transformer, Redux: Now With Video [Internal]