By Robert Emslie
I’ve often said that people at car auctions are crazy, but up until now I didn’t fully comprehend just how chock full o’nuts they could be. You see that lot listing above from the most recent Barrett Jackson Scottsdale auction? Yes, that’s a Yugo GV Cabriolet, one of the few the company managed to produce before going belly up. It’s also probably the nicest Yugo you’ll ever come across, having but 351 miles. But none of that can possibly explain why someone bid $11,000 to buy. . . a Yugo!
Image source: Barrett Jackson
Jeff Glucker
Think of all the chicks the new owner will get.
It's a chick magnet for sure.
Unfortunately this car and chicks have the same polarity.
Depends on the type of chicks. The right type might have the opposite poultrarity.
This thread is about to go afowl.
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You guys make fun, but a friend of mine in NYC has a late '80s VW Cabrio (manual trans, manual steering, and a convertible in Staten Island and Manhattan = hardcore). He told me the car actually attracted a lot of positive female attraction, even more than the '69 Camaro that he has.
Might be my screen, but doesn't that say "-$11,000"? They're offering you $11k to take a Yugo.
Yeah, still not worth it.
haha, that's exactly what I saw at first! I think it's just a marker
Count me in with the "-$11k? Might be worth it… Take it to the Concourse d'LeMons and get something actually nice with the $11k that comes with it… No… They can't be offering cash to take the car…" crowd. I think it's the asterisk for the footnote at the bottom.
So what part broke that the previous owner has been waiting for?
I saw this result in SCM last week – completely unwarranted obvs, since Yugos sell for around $1500 all day long on the eBays. Easily the most ridiculous US auction result of the year, and has secured a spot in the competition for most ridiculous auction result of the decade.
Now brace for a ton of them coming out of the woodwork with $11K asking prices.
Having said that, if there was a Fiat 128 with the same mileage and same condition, bidders would have driven up the price north of god knows what.
And believe it or not there IS a "nicer" Yugo I just saw a few months ago, a local garage find with just 127 miles. It was in the Simsbury 2012 coverage: http://hooniverse.info/2012/11/14/27th-annual-sims…
We'll take that one for eleven dollars and ninety five cents.
Less our twelve dollar trade-in. You owe us a nickel.
Take the name Yugo away and replace it with Fiat, which for the most part it is. Now add in ultra rare Cabrio, 23 years old and no miles. And find another Cabrio that nice. Not saying I'd pay that for it either, but I can see why someone did.
The story I heard is that Fiat gave them the 128 plans, at whatever rev they were when they started building. Fiat continued to update the car and make changes as needed. Yugo did not. In other words the Yugo was still at Rev A when Fiat might have been at Rev K.
It was an update of the Fiat 127 body, with some help from Fiat engineers, and a version of the 128 engine. There may have been some 128 in the drive line, as well.
I'm sort of with you on this one… 11k seems downright cheap too, compared to paying millions for a muscle car. Said muscle cars are arguably better cars, but still. Since the price went to 11k there must've been at least two people that wanted this badly, right?
Exactly. I doubt 11k was the opening bid.
I had a Yugo in college and I loved it. It was the best Fiat 128 I could have dreamed of. With sticky tires it was a ton of fun. You know, Slow car fast?
Sure, the interior materials were cheap. It was a price engineered car. The terrycloth seat upholstery didn't make it any less fun. I could see spending this kind of money to get a new one just like it. The featured car has fuel injection, which pepped the things up nicely.
Perhaps I'm weird that I don't care what others think of me and my possessions?
I'd totally rock a Yugo for DEs. Some R compound tires, some aggressive pads, weld a sway bar in there.
At top speed you could hit the ARMCO and walk away… I mean it would be like 24mph, right?
You nailed it. The unmitigated bile that's thrown at this car blows my mind. For what it was, it was great. I'd waaaaaaaaaay rather roll in one of these than a Daewoo or a Festiva. Come to think of it, I'd rather drive this than the new(ish) Camaro which strikes me as a ghastly exercise in 'look at me' aesthetics.
Then again, I've always rooted for the underdog.
Someone spent $11,000 on it because the other guy had his hand in the air until $10,900.
It’s also probably the nicest Yugo you’ll ever come across…
With all due respect, that's something I'd never do across a Yugo.
To his credit, one of the owner's other cars is this owned by this guy!
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It is definitely on the high end of things but I don't see it as too unreasonable especially compared to 100K+ pony car re-creations. Heck the amount paid is practically a rounding error for some of the more serious car collectors.
I have some idea burbling to the surface of my mind……. Maroon hatch yugo with focus st engine and trans and of course a full cage so it wont fold up on tip in of the throttle,ooorrrrrrrrrrrrrr maybe a 3.5 eccoboost in the back. Now I want a yugo to toy with.
I've always wanted a Bentley.
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point.
You obviously know what youre talking about, why throw away your intelligence on just posting videos to your blog when you
could be giving us something informative to read?