The Yugo was a Fiat-based, Yugoslavian-built economy car that made its way to the U.S. in the mid-1980s thanks to entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin. The car quickly developed a reputation for poor build quality at a time when the bar was already pretty low. More than 140,000 of them would be imported before they pulled the plug in 1991. One of the rarest Yugo’s in the 1990 GVC Cabrio, a convertible that saw 500 copies built and maybe 100 brought to the U.S. This low-mileage example is one of them and it’s available here on Barrett-Jackson at their Houston, Texas auction.
When the Yugo first arrived on U.S. shores, it was promoted as an affordable new vehicle that would appeal to even the wealthiest of buyers. The list price in 1985 was $3,995, which was likely the cheapest car you buy that wasn’t used. But the little autos quickly became the butt of jokes from many comedians and they were even lampooned once on Saturday Night Live. They were known to start falling apart even on the ride home from the dealership. This probably wasn’t Bricklin’s finest hour.
The Yugo Cabrio (aka convertible) was conceived by Yugo America as a flagship model and had a single year of production, 1990. It was a 4-seater with an electro-hydraulic top, fully retracting quarter windows, a heated glass rear window, a fold-down rear seat, and a molded plastic trunk lid. The car probably came too late to save the company on these shores as the number of Yugo’s imported in 1990 fell to a little more than 6,000, including a few dozen of the Cabrios.
I know what you’re thinking. What’s a Yugo doing at Barrett-Jackson. Probably there due to its scarcity and the fact that this one has only 370 miles, probably making it the least-used example around. And it’s been on Barrett-Jackson before. It sold for $11,000 at the auction in Scottsdale in 2013. The little car is powered by a 1.3-liter inline-4 and likely has a 4-speed manual, though the listing says 3-speed. From the photos, it certainly looks to be in top condition and we assume everything works as it should.
Whoever gets this car will pay a premium for what once was considered a throwaway car. Rather than put it away in a collection somewhere, why not take it to car shows and enjoy the attention it will get from those who do remember was a Yugo was.
That’s a beauty, Russ! I found one for almost $10,000 less than the Barrett-Jackson car sold for a few years ago and I regret not snapping it up. Dumb mistake #1,000,001.
https://barnfinds.com/no-charge-for-duct-tape-1990-yugo-cabrio/
Every time I see one of these I remember the David Letterman joke about the deluxe version being called the ‘Yugo Screwyourself’.
You must be speaking from your vast experience again i would assume!
Every time I see one I remember “Skank” from the movie “The Crow”. He almost got run over by one so he pulled the driver out and kicked his a–.
You made the right decision.
An ultra low mileage Yugo means absolutely nothing! I remember these cars would break down on the dealer lot before they were even sold with 0 miles on them! As far as the convertible goes, everything else that Yugo had ever designed has failed, so I must assume that the convertible design is not only poorly built, but most likely downright deadly in even the most minor accident. What a waste of auction space, IMO.
You’re the Yin to my Yang, Bluetec – that’s what keeps the world balanced, opposing viewpoints.
Yeah, apparently this is just a fluke though, since I like most of the weird oddball stuff that you do. I guess we just don’t see eye to eye on the Yugo. My biggest issue with the Yugo is the quality and reliability. Even as a Sunday driver on a 50 mile trip, you would still have to worry about making it home without the aid of AAA and a rollback.
I always considered them to be like low priced English cars. Let all the unneeded cheap stuff break and get over it. Then you have and engine, tranny and brakes on what is basically a Fiat to maintain. Can’t be that hard. If a fender falls off, meh.
Now as to safety, as you mentioned, ARE YOU KIDDING! This is a death trap! lol
Ah, another assumption rather than a direct experience with a car. How can one not believe sob-stories originating from the check-out girl’s brother-in-law’s next-door neighbor?
“available here on Barrett-Jackson at their Houston, Texas auction.”
Apparently, Barrett-Jackson is scrapping the bottom of the barrel.
This Yugo is super cool and will probably bring a big price.
We bought a hardtop version new and initially my ex-wife and I loved it as it was perfect for a newly married couple tired of driving VW Beetles. Unfortunately, the local Volvo dealer had purchased the Yugo franchise. Initially their Service Department personnel were great regarding warranty service, but then it quickly changed to an attitude of “we don’t want to be bothered with that recurring Yugo oil leak.” So a good friend recommended an attorney friend of hers who it just so happened had never filed a TN Lemon Law case and was anxious to do so. He was confident we had a solid case based on four incidences of an identical motor related oil leak. He offered to represent us pro bono since we were young, newly married and broke and he prevailed. We got back every penny we had paid and the loan was paid off in full. I am truly grateful to him for what he did for us way back in 1985.
Except for the motor issues I still miss the car as it was a hoot to drive.
Sold for $12,100.
Kia and Hyundai both had pretty lousy build quality when they first hit our shores, but a few years later they were OK and now they are exemplary. Wonder if Yugo made any attempts to improve quality over the years, especially on their “flagship model”?
And don’t forget the Subaru, once the laughing stock of the Asian import market, now one of the best (and best selling) Asian imports.
“Why does a Yugo have a heated back glass? To keep your hand warm when pushing it to the repair shop in winter”. Or so the joke used to go…
You can put lipstick on a pig…..
… but you can’t confuse a convinced mind with the facts.
I owned one. I have all the facts I need.
30,000 mile timing belt change its still a Yugo, I have never seen one of these until Tyler Hoovie profiled this one prior to the Auction. You might have a good car if you change the drive train to something else
Oh me. All the Yugo naysayers.
I owned a dozen of them for my rental car company. I could buy them very inexpensively. I bought a new one for $2900 from a discontinuing dealer. I rented them very cheaply and never had a customer complaint.
I only once had a problem: they do have interference engines. The timing belt must be changed every 30K miles or 2 years.
To me, an experienced owner, they were great cars. I still drive one which we made into a “Mr. Bean Mobile”. Cheers!
After the market crashed on these, my Dad had a friend who bought two more to use as parts.
Looks like it would be fun…..if it held together!!!
I remember seeing one of these as a dealer demo model on display in a mall back in the winter of ‘89 / spring of ‘90. Knew they were rare, but I had no idea how rare until today. Somehow now feel kind-of “privileged” to have seen one of these “in the wild” back in the day!
So nobody wants to drive it? Like lipstick on a pig.
You must be speaking from your vast experience again i would assume!
The best Yugo I ever saw was at Dunham Transmissions in Milwaukee. Yugo Body on a scout frame with a snow plow on it. They used it to plow their parking lot. They really did a nice job on putting it together.
I forgot about that beast! I wonder if they still have it. I thought that was kinda cool.
The only bright spot I see is the yellow paint.
There used to be a local car dealer who had a customized Yugo that looked just like a giant rotary-dial telephone complete with handset. It was in the lot to attract attention, which it surely did! Also, they stopped importing the Yugo because the Serbs and Croats in in the former Yugoslavia started killing each other in an “ethnic cleansing” effort.
The car failed because it was a POS. I worked in auto parts for 40 years. I had a friend who worked at a nearby dealership that decided to take on Yugo. It was an absolute nightmare for the whole dealership. Even simple parts were impossible to get.
They had two unsold cars in the back that they took parts from to try and keep customer cars on the road. It took them months to get even a throttle cable. They got rid if the Yugo dealership as fast as they could.
“The car probably came too late to save the company…” Yeah. If only they had led with this I am sure we’d all be driving Yugos today.
At a time when a Honda Civic would do 200,000 miles on a 1.3 liter engine (I know from experience), why would anyone buy a Yugo, ever?
Here we go again trashing the Yugo. The last Yugo on Barnfinds.com sold within 24 hours once it was posted on Barnfinds. Sold for full asking price and had multiple people wanting to buy it. Say what you will clean Yugo’s sell. If you have a clean low mile Yugo, now is the time to sell.
Probably millinials or hipsters that don’t know history. As P T Barnum said, “Theres a sucker born every minute and two in line to take him.” LOL
Yes if your going to sell one don’t forget to fill the tank first and double the cars value .
Author, the plural of Yugo is Yugos.
Sold for 12,100 and the car didn’t even run. It needs fuel system work. That’s probably why it sold for less than what people thought it would.