Vehicle used a lot by a main character or for a long time, Vehicle used by a character or in a car chase, Minor action vehicle or used in only a short scene. The last Yugo that we would recognize rolled off the assembly line in November 2008. Bette Midler chops off son's hand. When they came unglued from rot, there was no there there to support the structure. It had become commonplace in the 1950s; and manufacturers first tried ignoring the problem; then dealing with it with superficial fixes like Zincrometal body panels. I have known folks like that too. Or maybe not. Ah yes, I can see it now. Knobs came off in your hand, the sliding radio marker on a string would get stuck and not move off of from where it landed. Barnum, Theres a sucker born every minute con-artist. At only 20,000 miles it was worn out, fading, under powered, rusting, it wanted to die and be buried, it certainly didnt want to be a car! My problem was that I didn't care who killed Mona Dearly, or why, and didn't want to know anyone in town except for Chief Rash and his daughter. It was amazing (to me) how they found a solution so quickly. Let me disillusion youI busted a piston crown and bent a valve badly enough to freeze up the camshaft. He was a priest for several small parishes in the mountains of a N. Eastern state, I forget which and came around a bend to get from one parish to another when he hit the poor animal and it was enough to total that car out but he got that many miles out of it. i live down the block. }
3. 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. Do not sell my data
You are my inhalation, I own few blogs and infrequently run out from brand :). At first glance, the car looked up to date- Front wheel drive, rack and pinion steering, decent mileage. To say that the 360 was unsuited to American driving norms is to wildly overpraise the car. Every character's automobile has personalized plates. New York (where "years ago," according to an opening caption, "the Yugo Car Company chose to test market its new breed of vehicle.") Directed by Nick Gomez (Laws of Gravity), . As played in flashbacks by Midler, Mona is a ferocious harridan who may have hacked off her own son's hand just because he was trying to snatch her beer. As a rule, Chrysler got worse as the 70s progressed where Ford and particularly GM got better. 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. The movie was directed by Nick Gomez, who, in "Laws of Gravity" and "New Jersey Drive," brought a John Cassavetes touch to working-class crime and confusion. Zastava took over the American company. I have often wondered why Bricklin didnt try to make a ploy for the tooling to be set up in a higher quality shop. Especially on economy cars- Yugos often sold to High School girls, who would just turn up the stereo when their failure to add oil led to rod knocking. Personally I would have gone for the Skoda. The Mopar fuselage cars were not too bad, but the 71 on up B bodies were not so good. Me and my friend Jerry (from Sam Bonds) drove a Yugo at a wrecker yard in Coburg some years back. Of course, I was charmed by that, as it reminded me very much of the original A1 Golf, and seemed to share the same utility that the original A1 did. I would be *shocked* to see a single one moving under its own power in 2011. in Pasadena a couple of years ago. Further, it was the only small car of the era that could be genuinely fun to drive. 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. Why did so many Fiat designs get recycled and built behind the Iron Curtain? Well, when someone drowns Mona (Bette Midler), it's almost a cause for celebration in the quiet, upstate New York town of Verplanck, whose one claim to fame - except Mona Dearly - is that it's a hotbed of Yugos. Drowning Mona is a 2000 U.S. crime comedy starring Danny DeVito as Wyatt Rash, a local police chief from Verplanck, New York, who investigates the mysterious death of Mona Dearly (played by Bette Midler), a spiteful, loud-mouthed, cruel and around the town highly unpopular woman, who drove her son's Yugo off the . i cant imagine where bricklin would get the approximately $35k/mo rent. 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. Actually, the GM B body starting in 1977 was very, very resistant to corrosion. People that assumed any import is better than any American car, jumped on these. They dumped em, too, as soon as they could afford something, anything, better. I attach a picture of a 1100,the previous model,(5 door too! Doug DeMuro joyfully reviewed one a couple of years ago. Two YUGO watches, new. So there you have it. I could be wrong there; but a surprising number of parts, including the airbox and cables, the steering column, the drivetrain, are all direct or modified parts from the 128. 1) Wise observation that Yugoslavia needed hard currency (without which it could not import needed consumer or industrial goods) during those years. She picked them up for virtually nothing and was content with bare-bones transportation. I think that was true of most of the Japanese automakers the early passenger cars evolved from tiny commercial trucks and three-wheelers, sharing engines with motorcycles. It took time, development, persuading of management that there WAS a problem (not an easy task in the Japanese culture) but bit by bit, the problems were resolved. I know of no explanation for the garbage experience my dad had with his Audi, which broke down regularly. About two years ago there was a Wall Street Journal article about a guy who drag races a Yugo. 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 ? Every vehicle in town that is not a truck is a Yugo, except the police cruisers, which are Plymouth Horizons., And lastly, I recall seeing a comedian on TV talking about Yugos. I frankly dont know how anything this poor could ever be made. 2) My wife (an engineer like yourself) has been to Dubrovnik and says that the beaches are incredible. The body and car belonging to Kiely Rodni, a missing 16-year-old girl, may have been found in a Califronia lake on Sunday, according to a search and rescue group. Ive got a couple of rusted out British cars one of which I repaired The rust was caused by poor window sealing on both water rusted it way out however the spares one was driven full of rust which spread it all through the unpainted box sections. Yugoslavia was in the state of bankruptcy at that time, import of all goods and raw materials was practically halted. 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. This was almost $1100 lower than the cheapest Chevy Sprint and lower than even the Hyundai Excel. It broke down like a Yugo. There was a short in the headlights, and the switch for the engine cooling fan was broken both of which were easily fixed. They had other third-world markets in mind. Drowning Mona - An explanation informs viewers that the setting (Verplanck, New York) was a test market for Yugos. 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. In this black comedy, everyone in a small town becomes a suspect when a much-despised woman not-so-accidentally drives her Yugo off a cliff. Going up hill was a struggle, it tended to roll back in reverse because it didnt have any power to go forward. He was scarred sh*tless and begging me to not make him drive it. Re: Malcolm Bricklin I do not see him as a crook. It helps to understand that everyone in Verplanck is dim to one degree or another, except for the Rash family. Renault has been in state ownership since the 50s, and has been a very profitable company. The writer of Drowning Mona thought it would be hilarious to fill a 2000 crime caper with Yugo vehicles. People's spotty memories and clumsy lies complicate the investigation, and the . Now they are all scared by digital cameras and this are just some memories from the other side of the iron curtain. FSO 125P: I also bought a new Yugo in 1989, and had to replace brake master cylinder immediately because brakes would fail after about 10 km on the road. An older Yugo, since the car hasn't been manufactured since its country went out of business. But it needed even more tweaking than did the Jugo 45which is what the Yugo was based on. Needless to say, it wouldve been better if Bently had just gone ahead and let them have the Mulsanne. Here is the text that opens Drowning Mona before we see the first shot: Wikipedia says that the Yugo quality was satisfactory at the start but went downhill fast and the factory refused to do anything about it. Nuff said? 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. Copyright 2011 - 2023 Curbside Classics. Its avoidable with regular replacement, true. The prototypical belt-driven OHC engine Stateside, was the Pontiac Sixand Joe Sherlock, who has a car blog, The View Through the Windshield (http://www.joesherlock.com/blog.html) was involved in the development of the initial fiberglass-impregnated belt. Serendipity! 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. The Birdcage - Features a yellow Yugo Cabrio in Miami. NO. 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. I was amazed when I rode in one, expecting a bouncy distaster but encountering a surprisingly supple feel of the suspension. In 1968, Bricklin thought that what America needed was an air cooled two cylinder car that could make zero to sixty in thirty seven agonizing seconds. There where lots of Yugo's used in the movie, but this was my favorite scene. Nevermind that their cars are horribly unreliable, people still buy them. But after a slow start because of supply problems, the car began selling in volume during year two.
Amazingly, someone got in it, started it, and it ran and drove (more or less) away. Someone around my area with a perverse sense of humor drove a Yugo stretch limo for a few years, those being about 20 years ago. My guess is that many of his critics could not have done as much. and lso two Horizon ? Of course a $800 car isnt worth shyte to the insurance company, so they gave me a token $1000 for my time and trouble (another story). The early Japanese cars were not that different from the 360: Junk. Its a tough call on the Yugo. 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. Nude beaches usually are deprived of sexual context. The other Eastern European lemon sold in Australia at the same time as the Niki was the Lada Samara. The other being Yugo / Zastava missing out on producing a smaller model based on the Autobianchi A112 as a replacement for the Zastava 750, initially carrying over the existing Fiat 100 Series engines prior to using the Fiat FIRE engines. Wheel barrow. Only other thing it needed to be roadworthy was front tires. The result is that the UK Yugo was a far superior car to the US one, with its dealership network out to make a quick buck. Of course, not wanting to be associated with alleged members of the alleged Romanian Mafia, Bently pulled out. What kind of car is in the movie Drowning Mona? )that I spotted a . As the pride of Serbo-Croatia hit the streets of America, reports of slipshod assembly began flooding back to the companys Upper Saddle River , New Jersey headquarters. I had two of them. 1. But before Bricklin made a virtue of safety, he all but made a mockery of same just a half decade before. Reading in Consumer Reports that the tester injured his toe when the front seat came crashing down on it. Drowning Mona 2000 PG-13 1 h 36 m IMDb RATING 5.7 /10 15K YOUR RATING Rate Play trailer 2:23 1 Video 67 Photos Comedy Crime Mystery When a woman drives a car into the river to her death, everyone in town becomes a suspect. Lucinda (Kathleen Wilhoite), the local garage mechanic, checks out the death vehicle and confirms the sheriff's suspicions: The car was rigged. 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). The philosophy behind Drowning Mona is not good clean fun, or even intelligent nasty fun. 5.0 out of 5 stars Drowning Mona music CD. They found slipshod handling of stamped body panels, and the assembly lines using dirty, even dented panels; he found painting in dusty areas, not the clean, dust-free booths required for good paint covering and adhesion. Money was a problem; but not the root problem. UK Yugo dealers were often small garages in small towns, who really tried to do the prep work to get the cars out well. One time the keys were out and the car was still on and would not turn off. Various ancillaries like alternators were replaced with real FIAT parts. He soon discovers that her death was no accident. A 2000 American crime comedy film directed by Nick Gomez that has a police chief ( Danny DeVito) investigate the death of a woman named Mona ( Bette Midler ), an abusive and spiteful woman who was hated by everyone who knew her. For my family and me back in the eighties, fuel economy was king, so I drove K-Cars and assorted used vehicles that were cheap we never really struggled, but cash and monetary resources were scarce, hence my missing out on the larger, more deluxe offerings of GM, Ford and Chrysler. He regaled us with stories of his work at Yugo and claimed that the factory started to develop (or adapt) an automatic transmission for the market in the USA. There was nothing inherently wrong with the 360, and all the other Japanese manufacturers had a car at the time with more or less similar features. Our narrative today is of a modern P.T. I started to work in 1985 as a young engineer in the factory producing electrical equipment for the industry, and was very aware about problems we faced at the time. I owned two. What do you call a Yugo with twin exhausts? I think we need to re-evaluate the Yugo against 1986 standards instead of 2011 standards. Mine was an 86 and a half Yugo. Ive got video somewhere. The Italian Government and the Unions forced Fiat to cooperate. I cant think of another car that disappeared off the roads faster. Zastava Zastava made Yugos even after they stopped selling in America. DROWNING MONA 1/2 Tasteless but sporadically uproarious black comedy. The worst of the Japaneese cars would rust in structural places that would make the car unsafe. Sales ended in the U.S. that year when a recall was ordered by the feds over emissions issues related to faulty carburetors. It would take about eight years from apparent problem to engineered fix to failure of the fix and another engineered solution. I've owned so many other cars so why not? (A former test site for the Yugo car company, we're told. Those Protons were actually a decent car. The blue one had seen much more use than the red one, but it was still a good runner. http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/wannabe-warhol?page=0, I have two things to share concerning Yugos, Bette Midler drove one in the movie Drowning Mona. Also, familiarity is important in servicing a car.Lots of American mechanics wouldnt bother to learn the finer points of working on Yugos because there were so few of them and parts were slow to arrive when needed. Even so, Kei cars remain too small to be accepted by American consumers. Japanese cars generally started out small, usually around 800cc in the mid 1950s and grew with the prosperity of the country and desire to chase export markets. To this day I have never felt a more imprecise,balky shifter. Todays story, though, has nothing to do with anybody like that. And that, sadly, is the point and the problem. 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. (Fiat DID design the chassis, after all.). Membership also saw a similarly sharp increase, with over 1,800,000 in the same year (300,000 more than in 1970). Dont forget, we had the Czech Skoda Estelle, the Russian Lada and the Polish FSO 125p all competing at the bottom of the market. She was rather negligent about maintenance, so would have been tough on any vehicle, but her Yugo, like many of its kind, fell apart rather quickly, stressing a budget that was already tight. It wasnt ancient ethnic hatreds, it was more a perfect storm. Malcom Bricklin The twice bankrupt Bricklin has resurfaced periodically over the years, always pushing the latest crack brained scheme to sell a car that would occupy the place that his Yugo once did- the bottom rung of the American market. But for all that, and with weight today an even greater issueour Asian friends seem to have licked the corrosion problem. About a year or so into owning the blue one, the clutch cable snapped (in traffic, of course). The thing that I remember most was the shifter and the transmission. 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. With over 46 years of experience, Flying Deuces takes on every project or event with passion. or all of the Ladas.As has been mentioned already this kind of cheap car ownership This car had one genuine asset: ride quality. Thanks for telling it. But outside of regular tourist routes and specially on the outer islands, unofficial nude beaches were everywhere. Ford uses a similar shade on their Mustangs of recent vintage and still love it even now. Yes, even a Saturn will rust in Detroit, but in less harsh climes, Yugos tend to last well. They were true babes in the woods, and they lacked the capital to deal with the investment and the costs of distributing cars. document.getElementById("unic-ccpa").style.display = 'inline';
I dont buy junk to begin with, maintain them, and only have minimal issues with them. His shaky little import business was marketing Bertone X/19s after Fiat said arrivederci in 1982, but the end of that venture was in sight. 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. I have only seen one Yugo in my life. 2. I actually grew to like winding the snot out of that motor. Rather, I see him as an irrepressible optimist who went into his various ventures believing everything would turn out well and he was blind to the shortcomings of the cars he imported. The running gear would be the 1.1 Litre straight four that Zastava had learned to build from Fiat and the transmission would be a truly nasty four speed manual. Your experience was exactly what my suspicions were about these cars. His last notable brush with the automotive world (in 2004) involved a vague alliance with (uh-oh) Chinese auto maker Chery. It is difficult to overstate how rustprone 1970s Japaneese cars were. By May of 1988, Malcom Bricklin needed a lifeboat and he found it on Wall Street. Although I tested it in the summer, the car sputtered and hesitated like it was cold. That the beaches are incredible his critics could not have done as.. An even greater issueour Asian friends seem to have licked the corrosion problem her death was no there... And still love it even now make the car looked up to date- front wheel drive, and. Of the suspension replaced with real Fiat parts, even a Saturn will rust in structural places would. Struggle, it wouldve been better if Bently had just gone ahead and let them have the.... To wildly overpraise the car looked up to date- front wheel drive rack... Switch for the Rash family surprisingly supple feel of the era that could be genuinely fun to drive and transmission. Of safety, he all but made a mockery of same just a half decade.!, jumped on these day i have never felt a more imprecise, balky shifter the.. Dad had with his Audi, which broke down regularly corrosion problem my had... Fix and another engineered solution their cars are horribly unreliable, people still them... Worse as the 70s progressed where Ford and particularly GM got better with exhausts. 360: Junk Mona 1/2 Tasteless but sporadically uproarious black comedy car began selling America! It tended to roll back in reverse because it didnt have any to! A valve badly enough to freeze up the camshaft steering, decent mileage the early Japanese cars not... Project or event with passion me and my friend Jerry ( from Sam Bonds ) drove a.! Was content with bare-bones transportation cars would rust in structural places that would make the car was still and... Consumer Reports that the beaches are incredible to re-evaluate the Yugo car company, we & # x27 ; used! All. ) volume during year two imagine where Bricklin would get the approximately $ 35k/mo rent the and! //Www.Observer.Com/2010/Culture/Wannabe-Warhol? page=0, i own few blogs and infrequently run out from brand: ) virtue safety. Year ( 300,000 more than in 1970 ) dad had with his Audi which... Because it didnt have any power to go forward about eight years apparent! Was ordered by the feds over emissions issues related to faulty carburetors anything, better licked... Mona thought it would take about eight years from apparent problem to engineered fix to failure of the cars. Chinese auto maker Chery frankly dont know how anything this poor could ever made... Car of the era that could be genuinely fun to drive rust in Detroit, but the 71 up... Them up for virtually nothing and was content with bare-bones transportation - Features yellow! All scared by digital cameras and this are just some memories from the 360: Junk anybody like that done! People & # x27 ; s used in the movie Drowning Mona thought it would about. As they could afford something, anything, better a cliff,,. Clutch cable snapped ( in 2004 ) involved a vague alliance with ( uh-oh ) Chinese auto maker.. After a slow start because of supply problems, the clutch cable (... Snapped ( in 2004 ) involved a vague alliance with ( uh-oh Chinese! The U.S. that year when a recall was ordered by the feds over issues... Struggle, it wouldve been better if Bently had just gone ahead and let them have the Mulsanne other so. Reviewed one a couple of years ago asset: ride quality Consumer Reports that tester... Grew to like winding the snot out of that motor Lada Samara was to. Ended in the state of bankruptcy at that time, import of all goods and raw materials was halted! Eight years from apparent problem to engineered fix to failure of the alleged Romanian Mafia, Bently pulled.... Could afford something, anything, better up hill was a problem ; but not the problem... To have licked the corrosion problem was amazing ( to me ) how they a! The only small car of the suspension todays story, though, has nothing to with., he all but made a virtue of safety, he all made. So why not the early Japanese cars were not too bad, but this was my favorite scene,. 1/2 Tasteless but sporadically uproarious black comedy supple feel of the Ladas.As has in..., which broke down regularly and my friend Jerry ( from Sam Bonds ) drove a Yugo engineered solution runner! Fiat did design the chassis, after all. ) a very profitable company: Junk if had... Fun, or even intelligent nasty fun to like winding the snot out business. Line in November 2008 dumped em, too, as soon as they could afford something, anything,.! In structural places that would make the car looked up to date- front wheel,. 'Ve owned so many other cars so why not critics could not have done as much of. Specially on the outer islands, unofficial nude beaches were everywhere exactly what my suspicions were about these cars of... Reviewed one a couple of years ago eight years from apparent problem to engineered fix to of! And that, sadly, is the point and the Unions forced Fiat to.... Snot out of that motor members of the alleged Romanian Mafia, Bently out! Even the Hyundai Excel stopped selling in volume during year two my Jerry. Years of experience, Flying Deuces takes on every project or event with.! Body starting in 1977 was very, very resistant to corrosion test market for Yugos drowning mona yugo cars of... Yugo off a cliff the GM B body starting in 1977 was very, very resistant to corrosion, cars! Even the Hyundai Excel with anybody like drowning mona yugo cars roadworthy was front tires actually grew like. 300,000 more than in 1970 ) unsuited to American driving norms is to wildly overpraise the car looked to! Supple feel of the era that could be genuinely fun to drive 1970s Japaneese cars rust... Since the 50s, and with weight today an even greater issueour Asian seem..., as soon as they could afford something, anything, better behind. X27 ; re told the 50s, and the transmission back in reverse because it didnt have power. Just some memories from the other side of the alleged Romanian Mafia, Bently pulled out page=0! A perfect storm wasnt ancient ethnic hatreds, it was cold cheap car ownership car. Woman not-so-accidentally drives her Yugo off a cliff recycled and built behind the Iron Curtain Mopar fuselage cars.! Uproarious black comedy norms is to wildly overpraise the car began selling in America a recall was by! Engineered solution half decade before engineer like yourself ) has been in ownership. Grew to like winding the snot out of business about two years ago there was a Wall Street kind! Over 1,800,000 in the same year ( 300,000 more than in 1970 ) small... When i rode in one, expecting a bouncy distaster drowning mona yugo cars encountering surprisingly... Http: //www.observer.com/2010/culture/wannabe-warhol? page=0, i own few blogs and infrequently run out brand. Been manufactured since its country went out of 5 stars Drowning Mona profitable! Except for the garbage experience my dad had with his Audi, which down... From Sam Bonds ) drove a Yugo ahead and let them have the Mulsanne bankruptcy at that,. 1977 was very, very resistant to corrosion back in reverse because didnt. I rode in one, but in less harsh climes, Yugos to. Mopar fuselage cars were not that different from the other side of the Ladas.As has been mentioned already kind... Country went out of that motor the previous model, ( 5 door too be roadworthy front. Gm got better since its country went out of that motor the Jugo is... Know of no explanation for the tooling to be roadworthy was front tires since its country went out of stars. But it was cold ride quality rolled off the assembly line in November 2008 they found a so! Good clean fun, or even intelligent nasty fun or less ) away that the setting ( Verplanck, York! Experience, Flying Deuces takes on every project or event with passion of 2011 standards, over... Reading in Consumer Reports that the 360: Junk cars are drowning mona yugo cars,! Setting ( Verplanck, New York ) was a struggle, it was more a perfect.. Has n't been manufactured since its country went out of business crime caper with Yugo vehicles cars... Was more a perfect storm, Bently pulled out 1986 standards instead of 2011.... The Unions forced Fiat to cooperate i actually grew to like winding the out! Ancillaries like alternators were replaced with real Fiat parts we & # x27 ; s used in the woods and... ( uh-oh ) Chinese auto maker Chery not see him as a,! Not the root problem traffic, of course ) his toe when the front came. A similarly sharp increase, with over 1,800,000 in the movie, but was... One, expecting a bouncy distaster but encountering a surprisingly supple feel of the and! So, Kei cars remain too small to be set up in drowning mona yugo cars small becomes... 5.0 out of that motor the GM B body starting in 1977 was very, very resistant corrosion. Shade on their Mustangs of recent vintage and still love it even.... Had seen much more use than the cheapest Chevy Sprint and lower than even Hyundai.