Who will miss the Yugo? Can't imagine anyone except the people making them.
Had a funny thing happen once upon a time re. Yugo.
Back in the day when they sold those little buggers here in the U.S., I had
Yugo as an account. Eventually got to know the Account Executive at their
advertising agency very well. Turned out we lived in the same town &
occasionally rode the same train into Manhattan. We became friendly & one
year I brought him along as a guest to the annual "Test Day" run by the
eastern motor press organization of which I was a member. (Another name for
it was, "Flaunt Your Incompetence Day.") It was held a a local race track.
Well, I drove him around the track in a few cars including a BMW M6 before
getting into the Yugo. Now, at the time, I was only a decent driver. But,
had not yet begun racing. So, he had SOME confidence in my driving skill,
but not 100%. So, here we are thrashing this little tin box around on a
race track. I thought he was going to have a heart attack. That day, I
learned about "white-knuckle" driving. The Yugo was a piece of junk. It
was almost as ill-handling as the econo-box that Chevrolet was selling at
the time. (May have been Isuzu-based.) THAT was better in quality, but
really awful handling on its tiny, skinny tires. When we returned to the
paddock with that Chevy, I began berating the engineering staff present
about how ill-handling it was. During our heated debate, an emergency was
announced. Seems that little "Chevy" had done what I said it would. It
rolled on a hard right-hander. The editor driving survived, although
somewhat embarrassed.
Somehow the Yugo survived that day. But, the agency soon lost the account &
my friend recovered from his fear of the car that he had been responsible
for promoting.
Today we both drive German cars on the street, & I race an Italian & a
British car.
Norm Sippel
'59 Turner (BMC "A" engine)
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