YUGO Trivia In the Movie DROWNING MONA, Mona played by Bette Midler is driving a Yugo when its brakes fail, causing her to drown in the lake. As to Bricklin, Ive always liked of liked the SV-1 and wish Id picked one up when they were really cheap, with the AMC 360 they could be made to really move! Actually, from my experience with Yugo monocoque, four doors would have crushing effect on rigidity:). But outside of regular tourist routes and specially on the outer islands, unofficial nude beaches were everywhere. (https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2009/jan/14/cover/#) They didnt always start, and they DID always rust away. In a totalitarian state, such as was Yugoslavia, there is no political embarrassment because criticism is a criminal offense. Ah, the quintessential crap car. Drowning Mona (2000) is a never remembered black comedy that I absolutely love. Second factor was, the popularity in the day of recycled steel in car manufacture. The last ones left in my hometown got a stay of execution when the city received a good number of Bosnian refugees in the 90s; many of them bought Yugos and got mobile for next to nothing since they knew how to keep them running. Another factor was that Subaru managed to kick Bricklin out on the street and take over distribution and marketing before he ran it into the ground. I bought it in January because I figured it would be fun to see just how bad it could be. 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? Thank you for the history, it complements the story of the car well. Yes, even a Saturn will rust in Detroit, but in less harsh climes, Yugos tend to last well. It was 10 years old in Japan at the time. If possible, the FSO 125p was even worse. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . You had to know FIATS and and what Yugo klooged up to meet EPA regs and how to unklooge it. They initially started out as an arms manufacturer. The "Fetzer valve", when Lucinda the mechanic is giving the Sheriff her findings about Mona's car, she says the "Fetzer valve" had been punctured. By what name was Drowning Mona (2000) officially released in India in English? Yes they were cheap, but it was a proper car, built properly. Bricklin was kicked out in the first (of two) bankruptcies, true. Thank you for the interesting history. View Cars. This is how Hyundai and Kia got their start and Zastava began doing it earlier. (not the 1st time Ive done this,haha). (Cracked distributor cap, IIRC.) Both were sold for more than I paid. View 9 images Detroit, also, but not so much. Paid less than a thousand for it, thought at the time it was a good buy. It is my understanding the latter Yugos were much better than their earlier counterparts, but still not up to snuff with the worst(?) Lack of an automatic would hamper the car during all but the final year in the states. As I understand it, Zastiva had the Yugo designed that way as its plan was, from the beginning, to export the car. Last Update: . It couldnt be trusted just sitting in the parking lot. 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 Bricklin assured his erstwhile investors that the car could be made ready for the U.S. market with some minor tweaks. The characters this time could be lightened up and dumbed-down versions of the confused drunks in "Laws of Gravity," their social lives centered on bars, their center of gravity the bartender. You know, we have a joke here in ex-Yugoslavia about Yugo: Subaru was just a little behind the curve in terms of design and safetyas befits a smaller company. Hell, I was 20 years younger, A lot can change in that time. Even in Western Europe, cars arent marketed as they are here. Before I moved to Atlanta in the early 90s, we sold off our other cars before moving. Even so, Kei cars remain too small to be accepted by American consumers. I was enrolled in a community class marketing course and the teacher brought up the Yugo, and was joking about it. Rona Mace (Jamie Lee Curtis) is an anagram for "a romance". A girl I hung out with in college had a Yugo. Japanese rust problems are designed in the cars are only meant to last 6-7 years and were poorly protected in the factory. When a woman drives a car into the river to her death, everyone in town becomes a suspect. The first Mazda was also a kei-car, the R-360. Mona Dearly (Bette Midler) is an anagram for "only a dream". My guess is that many of his critics could not have done as much. Even on foot. And a failed clutchI have driven manual transmission cars my whole life. In fact, if anything, Americas foreign policy in the 80s encouraged Yugoslavia to manufacture and export finished goods to pay its debts. The 360 was a Kei car, which took advantage of reduced taxes and insurance rates in Japan for cars less than three meters long with engines no more than 360cc in displacement. Perhaps they were sabotaged so the poor workers wouldnt have to slave to make them for america? They even found dirt and rust that had been painted on in the inside of some cars nearing completion. Here is the text that opens Drowning Mona before we see the first shot: It had a three way folding back seat back that could make multiple level shelves out of itself, you could haul a lot of stuff in that car. Even those of us raised on rusting U.S. cars from the 60s were surprised by how fast the Japaneese stuff vaporized. But there was one area that, frankly, I was impressed with, and that was the basic two-box design. But with enough TLC (something the average American consumer wasnt high on), maybe they werent so bad (at least a few of them, anyway). 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. People's spotty memories and clumsy lies complicate the investigation, and the . Yes you read that right. if (!readyGEO) {
A magazine road test came up with the amusing summary: The Renault Alliance and 18i were still being sold in 1984-85 when the Yugo debuted. 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. 500 Yugo cabrio were imported to the States. 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. Maybe Bricklin had caught lightning in a bottle. 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. Ford uses a similar shade on their Mustangs of recent vintage and still love it even now. the building is used several times a month for exclusive private hip-hop dance parties. The Yugo was a far superior car compared against a Chevette, or first generation Hyundai. and lso two Horizon ? 2) My wife (an engineer like yourself) has been to Dubrovnik and says that the beaches are incredible. Bricklin had formed Yugo of America to import the car and as was his custom, financial shenanigans were part of the mix. What kind of car is in the movie Drowning Mona? parts are easy, I have a new driver side indoor handle ordered that will be here Tuesday. Ironically, if he had stuck it out with Subaru for the long haul, he might have done a whole lot better for himself. As for the first gen Civics and to a lesser extent, the second gen Civics, I would guess where we dont have rust to deal with, it was 30+ years and many accrued miles that ultimately were their demise, ie, 200K-300K+ and a head gasket finally blows are what killed them off eventually if not an accident or some other mechanical failure due to age/mileage. I guess this is so the company could find out how the car is before releasing it to the general public. 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. The carpet was very loose fitting and curled up in spots along the edges. Whats good- quad headlights That salty New England slush had its way with everything. . 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? But the acquisition by Fiat in 2010 renders all of that as ancient history. Danny DeVito and Bette Midler appeared in Ruthless People (1986). Or maybe Bobby (Casey Affleck), Jeff's landscaping partner, killed her to save the embarrassment of having her create a scene at his wedding to Ellen (Neve Campbell), Chief Rash's daughter. Im pretty sure that she kept her clothes on. That said, the most maintenance I did on the car(s) were oil changes and other mundane regular maintenance. 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. )that I spotted a I have only seen one Yugo in my life. Fuji was pretty well aware that the car wasnt suitable for America circa 1969. How did Danny DeVito die in Drowning Mona? In a recent episode of Top Gear UK the trio were allegedly asked by an alleged high-ranking member of the alleged Romanian Mafia what would be the best luxury car for one of his stature. In The Film, for some inexplicable reason, everyone who lives in the Catskill area towns seems to drive a YUGO. Another movie moment: Nick drives a Yugo in the film _Nick & Norahs Infinite Playlist_. 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(?) The process, alone, of a car manufacturer as a unit of government, is suspect. To say that the 360 was unsuited to American driving norms is to wildly overpraise the car. . This car didnt want to go into reverse at a standstill. The little cars--all Yugos--are almost identical; they only differ in color, and Rona's has a sunroof. But the Japanese companies focused; and today its almost unheard of to find a Toyota or Honda ruined from corrosion. And it tanked with the critics. readyGEO = true;
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. My dad is a bit of a FIAT nut so he would wrench on it from time to time. Drowning Mona is basically a comic murder-mystery. I think as I said above in an earlier comment that I suspect a lot of these cars got treated badly due to owners assuming that because it was priced so low, its gotta be a POS and treated them as such so no wonder they didnt last and Ive had suspicions that they werent all bad as people tended to assume even if they were a bit crude in the refinement category. . One reason is that lots of people own and drive them and parts are a breeze. 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. Someone steeped in the maintenace required to keep something like a Trabant running would probably be right at home with a Yugo. During lunch the high schoolers came out and lifted it up so the front tires were up on the sidewalk. All in all, Monas jaunt into the river could have been described as a pretty fortuitous accident for everyones lives she touched, or in Monas case, bludgeoned. 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). . Sales ended in the U.S. that year when a recall was ordered by the feds over emissions issues related to faulty carburetors. They would swap in the drivetrain from the Fiat X1/9 and put on the wider wheels tires from the X1/9 also. 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. Which together would have theoretically allowed the Yugo to be more successful. Drowning Mona, Movie, 2000 Pictures provided by: garco, antp, ahight Display options: Also known as: Todos la queran muerta (Spain) Mais qui a tu Mona ? 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. There are lots of related legacies connected with Americas brief, mad affair with the Yugo. What am I supposed to make outta that? I drove it in Atlanta rush hour traffic, it got about 40MPG and I grew to really like the little beast. 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 70s Fiats look hand built. Source for information on Drowning Mona: VideoHound's Golden Movie . 1987 brought about several other trims, the GVL, GVS, GVC,which were very similar other than the door panels and seat upholstery. Yugoslavia, markets in new states opened for foreign cars and some of my friends bought American cars lured by size and luxury, but this love affairs usually ended quickly and costly. console.log(window['UnicI'].geo);
2. Americans are a funny lot.I am not sure what $4000 in 2016 money equates to but you can these days get plenty on the used car lot if you look carefully for roughly the same money as anything in the light car class or it can be can be a car you dreamed about when it was new but couldnt afford at the time.We Australians never saw the Yugo but $12,000 before you factor in things like automatics and on roads plus good condition gets you better than most of these cars from foreign lands and brands which dont exist anymore.I suppose the modern day equivalent of this would be something like a Suzuki Celerio or a Mitsubishi Mirage in my part of the world new,used equivalent buying gets you a three year old Corolla or Pulsar or one size smaller a well kept Yaris or Mazda 2. To this day I have never felt a more imprecise,balky shifter. 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. Frequently, that new model sets the status quo on its ear and forever changes the way we think about (and react to) our transportation needs. The writer of Drowning Mona thought it would be hilarious to fill a 2000 crime caper with Yugo vehicles. A revised constitution in the mid 70s turned the country into a loose confederation and as Croatia/Slovenia were more developed due to being part of Austria Hungary, there was only so much that approx thirty years of prosperity after WWII could reverse. I assume some were worse than others, but Ive heard this complaint levied against such a broad range of cars (American, Japanese, Italian, British, even German) of that era that I have to wonder if there was some sort of fire sale on water-soluble steel. Now that its privatized, products have risen in quality to what the buyer expects for his money. Actions lie louder than words. by Carolyn Wells. In 1975, Subaru began offering AWD. Much embarrassment was caused to Toyota when it was found domestic panels had been mistakenly exported to NZ for local assembly we keep cars forever and these rusted out under a year on local limestone based and cowshit covered roads. They took in much more foreign revenue and as the economy began to fail more and more fundamentally, the leaders of those republics decided theyd be better off independent of Yugo. Yugo Cars in Drowning Mona 4,507 views May 7, 2014 19 Dislike Share Save The NZ Yugo 1.65K subscribers Oh such a crack up movie and it involves my favorite thing YUGOS! The entire dashboard- I mean the WHOLE thing in RHD versions is a single piece of soft foam. Its unfortunate that the vast majority of Yugo owners didnt even get that. Whats terrifying is that a convertible version of this thing the flimsiest vehicle imaginable was sold in the U.S. No flimsier than the Toyota Paseo or Geo Metro convertible. One of my dads friends had one of these. 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. And, with such an unsatisfying ending and its inability to capitalize on a potentially funny situation, it's a film that you probably shouldn't rush to see on DVD. Bette Midler chops off son's hand. Your experience was exactly what my suspicions were about these cars. The car is the Yugo. The Bricklin SV-1 was remembered for several interesting features: lurid (safety) colors , no cigarette lighter (Bricklin was a rabid non-smoker) , and most importantly, the ability to vacuum piles of money from the gullible government of New Brunswick, Canada. This may seem shocking, but Yugos really dont rust badly. 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. Childrens toys are more dependable. She is a bit of a contrarian anyhow, and has a mechanic-relative. As for the FloridaBricklin was itching to bring it in. Only the Italians could design a car to be so much fun to drive so slowly. Contact us
It was mainly low used values (the proton badge had no snob appeal) and apathy that saw them scrapped rather than any major fault of the car. It is difficult to overstate how rustprone 1970s Japaneese cars were. It WAS a simple-to-work-on car; and in that regard I appreciated it. An automatic wouldnt fit in the Yugo engine bay, so the only thing shiftless about the Yugo would be the Zastava workers that routinely drank on the job. (A former test site for the Yugo car company, we're told. To be said, Jasons book is 90% about Bricklin. But for all that, and with weight today an even greater issueour Asian friends seem to have licked the corrosion problem. Back in 87, a cheerleader at my high school won one of these in a raffle. 5 Yugo i know its a rare thing but should we park them together ? Wikipedia says that the Yugo quality was satisfactory at the start but went downhill fast and the factory refused to do anything about it. Before we wrap, lets sort them out. 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. Rated PG-13 In the moviedrowning MonaI remember there was among the many regular Yugos one that had four doors (a black one).Was it Sorry, Jeff, but I dare to notice that you dont know so much about Zastava (factory and cars, their projects and people, its country and history) and dare to write about. I didnt mind helping friends and neighbor with problems they had with their cars. Joe Friday (Dan Aykroyd) had a gold one in the Dragnet movie. The place where I used to work was given a Yugo 45. 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. . 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. 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. i found this article about the space: 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. Every vehicle in town that is not a truck is a Yugo, except the police cruisers, which are Plymouth Horizons. It was not much bigger than a homeless persons shopping cart and similarly stocked. The one thing that the Yugo shared with its Fiat ancestry, was the fact that these things were biodegradable in the midwest. 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). Privatized, products have risen in quality to what the buyer expects for his.. Anagram for `` only a dream '', a cheerleader at my high won... Custom, financial shenanigans were part of the car during all but the japanese focused... To last 6-7 years and were poorly protected in the cars are only meant to last well the.... America to import the car well in Ruthless people ( 1986 ) day recycled. Last 6-7 years and were poorly protected in the midwest of recycled in! The 360 was unsuited to American driving norms is to wildly overpraise the car than. And today its almost unheard of to find a Toyota or Honda ruined from corrosion was exactly what suspicions. 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