The Little Car That Couldn't (Book Review: The Yugo)

Wall Street Journal ^ | March 4, 2010 | Dick Teresi

[C19fan]

would seem to be an inappropriate reviewer for a book about "the worst car in history." I drive a BMW, after all. In my defense, it is a 26-year-old BMW. The window motors failed a decade ago, so I must chin myself up through the sunroof to collect my burgers at the drive-through. I hate driving in the rain because my ankles get wet, thanks to a hole in the floor. I now realize, though, that the rusty old wreck only buffs my reviewing credentials: It approximates the condition of a brand spanking new Yugo, the subject of Jason Vuic's rollicking chronicle of the rise and fall of the homely little hatchback that couldn't.

Mr. Vuic (rhymes with Buick), an assistant professor of modern European history at Bridgewater College in Virginia, keeps his foot off the brakes when describing the Yugo's limitations. The car was "a turkey, a lemon, a dud," he writes, "a failure, a blunder, a boondoggle, and a bust." He weaves a tale about crazy socialist factories, just-as-crazy Western financial practices, geopolitics in the days of the Cold War and an American public yearning for affordable cars—all combined with the "cutting edge of Serbo-Croation technology," as the Yugo was referred to in the spoof movie version of "Dragnet." Along the way Mr. Vuic generously sprinkles Yugo jokes, such as: What's included in every Yugo owner's manual? A bus schedule. This was an amenity-free car that nonetheless had a rear-window defroster—which owners soon suspected was there to keep their hands warm while pushing. The Yugo's name itself fueled jokes, as in: "You go call the tow truck, and I'll stay here with the car."

[Jack Hydrazine]

I wonder how the Yugo compared to the LeCar?

[999replies]

Quit bragging.

[montyspython]

"The briskness of the initial Yugo sales was the good news. The bad news was that Zastava's factory in Kragujevac, Serbia, was not ideal for the manufacture of automobiles. It had previously been used for making hand grenades, which might explain some of the Yugo's eccentricities. Morale at the plant was high, elevated by a copious supply of plum brandy, which the workers began drinking at eight in the morning and continued drinking during breaks, on the assembly line, and in spontaneous toasts. The brandy made for happy employees but unhappy customers."

Fantastic, this paragraph had me doubled over.

[montyspython]

LeShit

[qam1]

Xer Ping

Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.

Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.

[montyspython]

You’re mom must of had the Tito special addition, they only ever made one but Tito died so it must have found its way into the general public.

[Charles Martel]

I wonder how the Yugo compared to the LeCar?

Both came and went from the American landscape in about the same length of time. I'd call it a tie.

The Renault was more entertaining, though. Car and Driver magazine once published a submitted photo that showed the letters "cass" added (carefully matched in lettering style and color) after the "Le Car" logo. :-)

The French are lucky that today's Renault products are heavily influenced by Nissan.

[Oatka]

I remember when they first came out and immediately thought “Who in the world would buy a car made in a Communist society?”, thinking of the old joke “They pretend to pay us and we pretend to work.”

My brother was an insurance adjuster in the Eglin AFB in Ft. Walton, FL. He’d tell me how the dealership would load the Yugos up with “optional extras” and really sock it to the young airmen. On one car, when he lifted the hood, the wiring just hung loose everwhere - no harness, no nothing. Slovenly workmanship everywhere. A piece of crap fom the getgo.

[votemout]

Did you hear about the gang members who were arrested in a Yugo for a push-by shooting?

[cyclotic]

I have a cousin who was such a failure that her Yugo was repossesed.

[Bokababe]

"Being son of Serbian immigrants and personally knowing individuals who purchased this fine piece of communist engineering.."

And I'll bet that none of those you knew who bought them were Serb Americans, because they knew better!

[montyspython]

Not a one.

[getoffmylawn]

I am literally crying from laughter! :D

[fredhead]

I thought it was General Mess of Crap and More Old Parts And Rust.

[montyspython]

Absolutely classic.

[KneelBeforeZod]

I’m not a gearhead, but I figure MOPAR disappeared 30 years ago... slapping a MOPAR tag on a 2010 model doesn’t count

[hawkboy]

Zastava? Don’t they make AK’s too?