This week I’ve drawn the short straw and have to come up with an inspiring Prime Find to keep you all happy. Like giving a gun to a monkey, I normally elect to abuse the privilege for my own entertainment but this week I had the opportunity to help to solve a real world problem, or so I thought. ViaRETRO’s own Tony Wawryk was recently debating which classic car would be suitable as a daily driver. That’s a topic we’ve covered a few times previously where we debate a list of candidates before making excuses, but Tony clearly didn’t get that memo and he’s actually gone and bought something. He not only ignored my suggestion of a Yugo 45, but he’s only completely ruined my plan to find him the perfect example through this feature. Yeah, thanks for that Tony…
I honestly don’t know why I bother. He’s predictably gone and splurged on another fancy German motorcar when I could have saved him loads of cash, and extended his education at the same time. Here’s why he should have ignored the Mercedes-Benz and bought a Yugo instead.
Zastava Automobiles is a defunct company but one with a long history. Originally a Technical Military Institute in the city of Kragujevac, Zastava Arms was founded in October 1853 following the successful casting of a quartet of four-pound cannons. The mid-19th Century was a good time for arms manufacturers and demand was high for their full cannon of cannons, from large mobile battlefield types down to portable cannonettes for domestic pest control. Zastava Arms were buoyed by the gunpowder-happy times and refined their manufacturing processes to be amongst the best. Having cracked making big guns they expanded into rifle production, initially copying German Mausers before developing their own light weaponry. Their close-tolerance manufacturing skills formed the basis for an automobile division, which was founded in 1904. Zastava Automobile stayed true to its military roots and by 1930 was assembling CKD Ford Trucks for the Yugoslav Army, changing to Chevrolet assembly by the late 1930s. This activity was interrupted by the Axis Invasion of 1941 and it wasn’t until 1953 that vehicle manufacturing would resume.
It may come as a surprise that first products to leave the renamed Zavodi Crvena Zastava (Red Flag Factories) were all-American Willys Jeeps. Zastava received a boost in 1954 with the signing of a co-operation agreement with FIAT which led to a gradual re-engineering of the Italian products, and some quite sophisticated cars emerged from the deepest Balkans. It started with the large FIAT 1400 and evolved from there. By 1961, the Zastava 1300/1500 series was available with all-around disc brakes and up to 72 horsepower, whilst the later Zastava 125PZ was the Yugoslavian interpretation of the highly regarded Polski-FIAT 125p. In terms of communist transportation, Zastava ran rings around the Russian Ladas and the Yugoslavian cars were being exported to neighbouring communist bloc states from 1965. The 1970s sprung the FIAT 128-based Skala family of cars on a breathless public, a range better known outside Yugoslavia as the 101, 311, 413 and 513 (and if that still doesn’t mean anything to you, just glance at our helpful reference photographs and prepare to mutter “oh, those things” under your breath).
By the mid-seventies, Zastava management were hard at work on their all-new model. Two-box hatchbacks were all the rage and Zastava had a keen eye on the opportunity for hard currency export sales. To mark the transition to a thoroughly modern hatchback, the traditional Zastava numerical designation was dropped and the car that emerged in 1980 was christened as “Yugo 45” in base form. Viewed through the goggles of the time, the new contender looked every inch the modern motor, and for a short while it could claim to be just that. Despite clear styling influences from the FIAT 127, the 45 was actually a shortened FIAT 128 platform but this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. The front wheel drive layout was popular with drivers and the FIAT derived 903cc, 1116cc, and 1301cc engines were willing enough. They sold 800,000 of the things during a 28 year production run, including interruptions during the Balkan conflict of 1990 and NATO bombing the factory in 1999. 250,000 of the total production was exported so don’t imagine they were all bought at gunpoint either. 141,000 of those went to America under a scheme devised by Malcolm Bricklin, with buyers even being able to specify automatic transmission and air conditioning. Zastava (GB) Ltd fed the British market and the cars sold steadily to those with short arms and long pockets. So were they actually any good? Well, perhaps it would be more enlightening to perform a quick check against Tony’s wish-list, just in case the deposit on his Mercedes is refundable…
Tony said, “My shallowness means I value the appearance and style of my car more than outright performance or whether I can flick the tail out or not.” The Yugo would seem to be a good match. You’ll never get a Yugo to perform a powerslide but the appearance and styling is easy to value. Italdesign are rumoured to have lent a hand, but whatever the origins, it’s quite striking when endowed with an eighties-tastic bodykit to tempt export buyers. Hell, you could even buy a decadent convertible model for those runs down the Adriatic coast. There’s arguably a Mercedes connection too… look at the prototype Mercedes-Benz 190 Compact and tell me it hasn’t got Yugo written all over it?
Tony said, “I want a coupé, (which) needs to have decent rear space if I want to attend shows with friends as well as a practical boot with more than enough room to accommodate luggage for a few days away.” Bingo. If BMW could call their E30 a coupe, we can do the same for the Yugo. It’s a four-seater and the hatchback opens wide, though curiously the rear seats don’t seem to fold. Probably nothing a 13mm spanner wouldn’t fix though. Anyway, what’s the obsession with practicality? Unless you cart a drum kit around I sense you’re just inventing a problem that doesn’t exist.
Tony said, “Of course, I want some performance, preferably relatively effortless, with refinement and comfort. My preferred way of driving a classic is with the driver’s window down, elbow on the window sill, cruising along nicely.” The Yugo has some performance and the windows roll down.
Tony said, “I’ve eliminated the vast majority of options on the grounds of either budget, availability, and principally, usability as a daily.” Cheap, easily available (in the Balkans) and highly usable. We’re ticking more boxes here!
“I wouldn’t mind it being LHD” That helps…
And on discounting one candidate he states; “but I didn’t fancy the fuel bill or the spare parts situation.” Assuming easy access to Serbian backstreet motor factors, it’s almost as if the Yugo is the default solution!
However, seeing as my colleague has already committed to a fancy Merc, this will have to remain as the car he could have won – the one that got away. Found on the global shop window of the internet straight outta Voždovac, Belgrade, I present this 1990 Yugo Koral 55 – which is 10 better than a 45. Happily for the eventual buyer, 1990 is regarded as the highpoint of Yugo quality control, coming just before the civil war interrupted everything. This example looks to be in pretty good condition for a 30 year old car, boasting a current Serbian registration until February 2021. It’s a fuel injected 1.1-litre version producing around 53bhp, and adhering to Euro 1 emissions standards if you care. The car only shows 30,000 kms and the beaded seat covers will either have protected the upholstery or worn it through. Most excitingly however, it has a never before seen (by me) quad headlamp conversion which may be factory or may not be. If strict originality is you bag perhaps shop elsewhere, but a quad-headlamp Yugo – take my money now!!! We’ve borrowed some pictures from the vendor’s advert and wish them well with the sale. Who knows, Tony may yet be able to rummage down the back of his sofa and make their day.
Talking of money, a mere €1,500 will bag this beauty and you’d surely get good odds for outright glory at the next Hagerty Festival of the Unexceptional. Mostly for Tony sake – even if the rest of shouldn’t feel too shy to follow the link as well – here’s the link to the full advert: 1990 Yugo 55
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us be inspired by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro.co.uk