Now that’s a barn find! I mean, maybe not in the mind-blowing importance of the vehicle in question, but in an old(ish) car actually being shown in a dusty, dirty barn. A few generations of birds, mice, and other critters have most likely used this car as a target and/or an AIRBNB from the appearance of the photos. This mystery year Yugo is listed here on Facebook Marketplace in Caldwell, Idaho, and the seller is asking $1,500. Here is the original listing.
The seller only really took three photos of this car for some reason. I’m assuming the first photo is when they found it, and here they are hauling it home. An absolutely PERFECT time to take many, many photos, because as we all know, digital photos are 100% free and the more photos the better. There are none showing the back at all, no engine photos, of course, and only one interior photo. The $1,500 asking price could easily be made up by a YouTube detailer, but not many regular ol’ humans are going to say, “Hey, only $1,500 for that Yugo with three photos and no title? I’m in!” It’s sad as I’m sure it would have looked good if it had been cleaned and there were 24 photos.
A rare red and white Yugoslavian zebra gave its life for that seat fabric. Sad stuff. Actually, I don’t even want to know how many mice have used this interior as a crash pad; I’m sure many have over the years or decades that it was stored away. They say that the previous owner passed away, but that’s really about the only info they give. There is no title, so there’s also that. “Yugo craftsman. Without a doubt, they’re the most important ingredient in achieving our high quality standards.” At least according to this 1985 Yugo brochure. I believe this car is Nugget Gold with a Camel-colored interior. They did put out a really nice brochure.
There is no engine photo, but they included this one. I was hoping it would help track down the model year, but no luck. One of you may know how to find the year info from a body serial number. They made these interesting cars from 1980 to 2008. We got them in the U.S. from 1985 through 1992, thanks to our friend who loved oddball cars: Malcolm Bricklin, who is 86 years old. The engine would have been a 1.1-liter SOHC inline-four, produced by Fiat, I believe, and would have had around 55 horsepower and 52 lb-ft of torque. Power was sent through a 4-speed manual transmission to the front wheels. Who’s in at $1,500?
I’m going to say something first about the dealer brochure that Scotty posted the link to. I remember that ad!!! I liked it actually. You can’t say that Yugo didn’t try in the advertising dept. I seem to remember red being very popular. I do remember the gold here too.
As for this forlorn Yugo……. I’m not even sure what that unidentified pile is on top of the rare red and white Yugoslavian zebra drivers seat cover, but I’m guessing its some sort of byproduct from a barn critter. ( How’s that for polite!!!!!) I do think an internet car detailer could have a field day with this car however. But between the asking price and title status, I’m thinking this will be a tough sell. Thank you for the memory with that great ad Scotty!!
You have the master of auto marketing – Malcolm Bricklin – to thank for that brochure. Who else could bring a POS like this to the U.S. market, sell a whole bunch, and we are still talking about them all this many years later.
It took some brass cojones and a weird sense of humor, to advertise the 0 – 50 time in that brochure.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MqTKZgEW8pM
Wow $1500 for that? I thought the Tariffs didn’t apply to used cars. To me the only thing this is good for is the ball in a demolition derby game of who can knock it to their side first.
Buy this for $1500, then apply for a $250000 Wildlife Preservation Grant.
š lol Nevada
Well, ( oh here it comes, a bit early), I don’t care what kind of car it is, and most will admit the Yugo is on the low end, NO CAR deserves to be in such deplorable condition. It speaks volumes of the caretaker, if any, after the owner was gone. I suppose the silver lining here is, at least someone rescued it, clearly with no personal interest, but at least thinking someone may want it. Reminds me of the hobby roots 40 years ago.
The Yugo is unfairly the butt of all jokes, some mighty creative, but the truth is, the Yugo was a good car, helped many to have jobs, and quite frankly, I don’t think any worse than any other car out of Europe at the time, and consider the Yugo as the “Charlie Brown” of cars. Why’s everybody always picking on me,,,
Howard A, the Yugo did a lot for some other forlorn European automobile manufacturers too, such as Renault. ;<}
About 12 years ago, I drove my ’75 BMW 2002 to the big Arthritis Foundation Car Show in Columbus, OH. It’s a big show.
I received my packet of materials and was directed to an area where the BMWs would be parked. My car was one of a paltry three examples of the marque.
Embarrassingly, the local YUGO club was parked next to us, and they had no less than 10 cars there.
My thoughts about are similar to Dave’s: the brochure is actually good. (Thanks Scotty for posting the link.) It contains well-written, detailed, thorough information about the car and the story behind it.
I didn’t realize it came in only four colors.
Friends donāt let friends drive yugos !
WOW. Zero to 50 in ten seconds? Is that the rate of speed achieved when dropped of a cliff?
For the engineers – how tall would the cliff have to be to reach max velocity?
Approximately 2000 feet or 600 meters.
Furthermore, it would take about 2.4 seconds to hit 50mph if dropped.
It has been some time that i click into Yugos in Barn Finds just for the laughs, we need that! In Greece all East Europian cars had a bad reputation, Skoda was called a children’s bell for its noises and so on but they were very cheap. Laughs aside the state of this Yogo is horible, especially if you try to sell it.
Like Sam Jackson said in one of the Die Hard movies it is mad for economy not speed!!
I find it hard to use Yugo and bar find in the same sentence.
Fran, you bring up a whole other possibility for online site: “Bar Find”. That could be where to find the best bar or could be also what or who we find when at a bar. Also, it could include anyone who drove their Yugo to the bar and was stranded? What else? I would be interested to subscribe.
This Yugo listing has humor from the start. I enjoyed the reference to the red and white zebra seat cover. Also, how this might be an excellent vehicle for an online cleanup video, before and after. Then a will it run video maybe.
If shipping to New York is included, I’m “IN”
A brand new Yugo was also a fixer-upper.
Do you know why the back glass was heated? So your hands stayed warm while you were pushing it. Had a customer in 1988 who loved their Yugo. But it was in the shop at least once a month. Never for the same thing. It was back for a window issue and a Fiat Strada came in. I parked them side by side, same car.
Actually the rear glass was heated because a rear defrosted is required by manufacturers in the state of New York! I happened to run into that in 1973 working with Honda Civics. I was in Illinois at the time. And don’t recall why it came up.
Hi Wayne, I can’t find anything to support that NY requires a rear defroster. Sounds like a trooper that didn’t get any of the office donuts that day, :)
Howard, I now remember how that came up. I was informed of that by a Honda official. I think that it came up for the 1973 model year. We (our dealership) were very heavy into modifying/upgrading Civics. (and since they were first sold in England right hand drive and all that. We imported accessories from England that were not available in the states Ibeven sold one customer more accessories than the cost of the car! ) I came across in some Honda literature showing a rear deicer/defrosted when our cars didn’t have them nor was it offered at the time. The law have changed since then. It’s now been 43 years. Who knows, maybe it was on the docket and never passed. But Honda was trying to stay ahead of the curve.
Kinda sad. I wonder how long it’ll be before this one ends up in a crusher
If I had a nickel for every time I heard the āheated glassā joke Iād be a rich manā¦
I’ve come to the conclusion that we simply can’t get through a Yugo write-up without that trite old saw.
What do you call a Yugo with two people in it? A “Wego”
What do you call a Yugo parked along side the road with the hood up? A “Nogo”
I’ll see myself out. :)
Just as with Rodney Dangerfield; Yugos never got NO respect!
remember they were advertised for $3990 new.
I know a guy who had one with Cromodora wheels
on it.I was thinking that the wheels were probably
worth more than the car.
I’m not sure I agree with the Fiat supplied engine statement. I thought that Fiat supplied all the tooling. And Yugo used it to build “their own ” engine. I could be wrong. But having to service these cars for a short while (my dealership gave up the franchise just before I started there) and also working on Fiats over the years. The Fiats were head and shoulders better cars than these. You could see parts that had “Fiat” embossed or stamped on the parts. But the stamping/casting mold was so worn (as in almost used up) that if you didn’t know it was the word Fiat. You wouldn’t be able to understand what it said.
Absolutely right. Fiat would sell all the tooling complete with all the castings of older models to Eastern Europe and the then Soviet Union in exchange for iron ore. Later they were to regret it due to the tendency of that iron to go rusty.
I changed Ford dealerships around 1990, and as the newest mechanic, I also became the Yugo tech. Our dealership, which no longer sold them (but still kinda maintained them) one of the few remaining in Southern California, for good reason. The cars were the BIGGEST pieces of s**t imaginable, and parts availability was close to zero. If you had to order ANY parts (parts for the FB carbs, window regulators, window cranks, multifunction switches, etc) you parked it in the back lot with the other. Customers would drop their car off for a service, and just never pick it up. Finance companies would call customers and tell them “just pay us when you can” to keep from having to repo it. I drove a Fiat 128 in college, and I LOVED IT! It had personality, was cute and quirky, and for some reason, college girls liked it. Not so with the Yugo. Sorry, but it wasn’t even good enough to call bad.
Yugo wego we all go disposables very cheap to buy lucky to last a year lol
Sold for listed $1,500 (or less), who knows.
Thanks, Dave! I have no doubt that a YouTuber could pay it off by showing a video of it being detailed.
Good riddance to this car!
Arenāt all Yugos fixer-uppers?
Interesting brochure. Didnāt realize these had a transverse leaf spring in the back. With control arms.
Greg V.
Can’t forget the movie “Drowning Mona”, where the whole town drove Yugos, maybe this was one used in the movie? Why not, goofier claims have been made and might seal the deal.
Facebook Marketplace listing says it’s SOLD
A Yugo does not always want to go where you go.
I liked that style line that someone put on with a stencil and spray paint.
There, I said something nice, mom.