One of 72: 1990 Yugo Cabrio
Having seen one of these in person before, I had no idea how rare they actually were. This last of the Yugo’s is for sale in Taylor, North Dakota here on eBay with spirited bidding currently at $6,000 with no reserve. If you don’t remember the Yugo, it was a slightly modernized old Fiat built in Yugoslavia and imported by the same Malcolm Bricklin responsible for the sports car bearing his name. This example has only 15,384 original miles and I can believe that given the condition. Of course, a cynic would say it hasn’t stayed running long enough to accumulate more miles than that! The seller states that the only non-functional item is the fuel gauge. Would you buy this rarity, and if you did, would you drive it? Special thanks to Jim S for this tip!
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Comments
There’s a Yugo cabrio?
There’s a Yugo cabrio with bids???
This site has become less “barnfinds” and more “todays batch of garden variety used cars.”
Since when is a 1 of 72 Yugo considered garden variety?
When you group it together generally with the Pinto’s, Chevettes, Fiestas etc that’s been featured here lately. And how do they back up the 1 of 72 claim anyhow?
One additional note, Malcolm Bricklin also was responsible for importing the Subaru 360 to America so he certainly wasn’t set on quality or practicality. And yes, I remember Yugos. The first one I saw was at the Minneapolis Auto Show just before they started becoming available for sale. One of the cars had the hood open and everyone was talking about the visible rust. Not good in a salt-loving state like Minnesota…
Bricklin wrote in his book he was making a million dollars a day Off the things. It seemed like they were everywhere, then vanished overnight
Oh good, it has the heated rear window to keep your hands warm while pushing it. The marketing slogan of “the poor man’s Hyundai” never really caught on. But the sad irony of it all is that these turd boxes are going to be collectible someday.
After 21 bids (!!) the bid is up to 6,000 U.S.D. This thing is not worth 6,000 monopoly dollars.
I saw this car in Hemming’s not too long ago with a long article on it. Worst and Rare tend to meld together but when Collectable starts to wonder it, then trouble begins. Will this be Saturns in 50 years? (if those plastic doors hold up that long…)
Circa 1991-ish a friends girlfriend had a Yugo. I helped him with an oil change one day. The car didn’t have many miles on it and she had bought it new. I remember seeing electrical connections with no connectors… wires simply twisted together or around bolts that were tightened (backwoods style). It looked like a 20 year old beater under the hood. I remember thinking it would be fun to put a 1000cc+/- crotch rocket motorcycle engine in it to have a street car you could rev into 5 digit territory. Not sure it would have held up to that kind of power though.
it would make a nice coffee table.
“The engine starts and runs as it should” What exactly does this mean for a Yugo?
I recall there was a New Orleans dealer ad. Buy a new Cadillac get a free Yugo. A classmate in high school His mother bought new Yugo. He said the back window fell out
What do you call a Yugo, that’s a convertible?
A skip!
I used to work for Yugo GB (Zastava) back in the 90’s and we had one of these as a press demo from the factory. You may laugh but it was surprisingly well made. Pretty sure at the time the type approval was too expensive to get them on the market. On the owner side of things Paul Stoddart former owner of the Minardi F1 team owned the importer in the end. The disappearance of the brand was caused by UN sanctions against Serbia. Zastava still exists today.
A turd is still a turd even if it has a coat of wax on it !!!!!!
LOL, no i wouldn’t buy that EVER. This car isn’t even worth a cent. I only pray for the person who buys this.
Apparently it is worth a cent. An auction can bring out the truth!
Exactly. A car is worth whatever someone is willing to pay. No more, no less. Evidently this Yugo is worth 6000 dollars. Maybe not to anyone here, but to someone. I would like to have it but it would only be worth about 2 grand to me. Does that mean it is only worth the 2 grand I would be willing to pay? No, it is worth the 6 grand someone else is willing to pay.
We had a local Buick dealer selling yugos, and the Yugo bankrupped him. He sold them as first cars to new young drivers and guaranteed them, they broke and he couldn’t get the parts to repair them, People demanded refunds and he went broke. two years after he closed the back lot had over 100 Yugos that were just left parked. Some were new and never sold .The cars that ran were sent to auction, the others to the crusher.
Evidence that PT Barnum was right.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen one of these. Yugos, like all cars, will last if cared for. THe problem was that they were so cheap ($3999), that no one cared to maintain them.
The Yugo Cabriolet is extremely rare and was in fact built by Karmann in Germany. The other Yugo to get (if you’re into that sort of thing), was the GVX which had a nice, sporty suspension, tuned head and a better compliment of gauges.
They made an even rarer Yugo variant, a station wagon. It was called the “Wego”. Badum tsst!
Come on guys, you are bashing the Yugo for being a bad car. Well it really is not that bad! Living in Holland and having been to former Yugoslavia and other Eastern European countries often I have seen these little Fiat licensed cars running around for decades. My guess is that US owners simply did not know how to treat these and other small Euro cars. The fact that they were cheap did not mean maintenance should be neglected. Properly cared for they would run almost trouble free for many years. Possibly lack of a decent parts supply was part of the problem. The same goes for Lada, Zastava and Moskvitch. These were cars chosen by ‘short on cash’ buyers in Europe and were often used for 15 and more years….
Finally the voice of reason. These cars can be made to run a very long time. They will get you to work but demand constant upkeep. They completely missed the mark in the U.S.
Han is absolutely correct. I worked for Yugo and estimate I put about 250,000 miles on them in 5 years, and never had one fail. I rolled one over two times on I-95 and was able to drive it home. Never broke a piece of glass in it! With the correct maintenance, they weren’t bad little cars, but the dealer network was not good. Most techs didn’t want to work on them when they were dueled with other makes. That and rust (and Jay Leno) pretty much killed them.
Any brand is only as good as the parts and service available after the sale.
We had lots of Yugos in the UK, they were a quick little car, faster than the equivalent Fiesta etc. Now there are very few left, along with all the other cheap imports like Skoda, Lada, FSO etc etc. I wouldn’t pay 6 grand for one but I would drive a cheap one – if I could track one down.
A couple of these were rallied over here in the UK & were quick in the 1300cc class, and as the other poster said there are many still giving sterling service in europe. Are they bad? no just basic transport & if maintained properly run well. I do believe the problem with a lot of imports in the US was parts supply & dealer backup ie:- not giving the dealers any warranty support.
isn’t that the famous flying car of northern Michigan?
like most things a lot depends on how you take care of it. We bought a new GVX in 1988 and ran it to around 75K with only brakes, tires and a recomended timing belt change. The only breakdown was a broken clutch cable that I changed in a parking lot. It always ran and drove good. In the winter with snow tires it never got stuck. I figured I was way ahead as it cost me under 4K out the door. Wish I had it now.
I love all these comments about the Yugo. I remember in So Cal, a radio station in San Diego (91X) was giving away a six pack of Yugos, we tried so hard to win. I just wanted to have a demolition derby followed by a ghost ride off a cliff. Lol
Everyone likes to make fun of Yugo, myself included. Yugo, Wego, Weallgo (for the minivan), however it comes down to – No maintenance, No run. Maintain anything and it can run a long time.
I pity the present and new generations for many reasons with their inability to perform any maintenance on anything – As a throwaway generation, they probably cannot even open the hood on their vehicles to check fluid levels, never mind actually know what the various fluids are for. Mind you, with the price of new vehicles, sometimes I feel that they should come with maintenance personnel in the glove box or trunk.
Back to the subject matter, Yugo manufactured a basic 4×4 called the Lada that was never sold in the US. It is a shame because it was a robust & stubborn little
SUV that was quite capable at an economic price. Again regular maintenance was required, but if performed properly, the vehicles lasted.
The Lada & Yugo were separate companies, Lada being Russian & yugo were from the old Yugoslavia (hence the name) the factory being destroyed in the civil war. However you are correct the Lada Niva was a very tough & capable off roader, if a little basic, & very cheap. It is still manufactured as far as i know. The Lada Riva saloon is/was the but of many jokes over here in the uk, although generally not by those who owned one, they too were tough & basic transportation & proved excellent cheap rally cars. It seems that if something is cheap & basic the attitude of some is it must be no good, this is not a view i subscribe to. The Yugo used basic fiat mechanicals which at that time were as good as any.
Great car, my cabrio needs a muffler, and gas tank. Any help appreciated
Kind of cute for a lawn ornament.