The Yugo came on some frighteningly bad tires -- tall, skinny, made
in yugoslavia; called TIGAR. TIGARs make a 10-year old Michelin X
look like an R-compound.
I still have a set of TIGARs (thankfully now unmounted), which the
previous owner put a surprising number of miles on. I put a set of
BFGs on mine when I got it, and the handling got better in a hurry.
That said, it's still not exactly a road-race weapon -- especially
the carbed 1100cc version. Its very short wheelbase makes it a
decent little autocrosser, though.
Matt
On 25 Nov, 2008, at 5:51 PM, Norm 2Bs wrote:
> Who will miss the Yugo? Can't imagine anyone except the people
> making them.
>
> Had a funny thing happen once upon a time re. Yugo.
>
> Back in the day when they sold those little buggers here in the
> U.S., I had
> Yugo as an account. Eventually got to know the Account Executive
> at their
> advertising agency very well. Turned out we lived in the same town &
> occasionally rode the same train into Manhattan. We became
> friendly & one
> year I brought him along as a guest to the annual "Test Day" run by
> the
> eastern motor press organization of which I was a member. (Another
> name for
> it was, "Flaunt Your Incompetence Day.") It was held a a local
> race track.
>
> Well, I drove him around the track in a few cars including a BMW M6
> before
> getting into the Yugo. Now, at the time, I was only a decent
> driver. But,
> had not yet begun racing. So, he had SOME confidence in my driving
> skill,
> but not 100%. So, here we are thrashing this little tin box around
> on a
> race track. I thought he was going to have a heart attack. That
> day, I
> learned about "white-knuckle" driving. The Yugo was a piece of
> junk. It
> was almost as ill-handling as the econo-box that Chevrolet was
> selling at
> the time. (May have been Isuzu-based.) THAT was better in
> quality, but
> really awful handling on its tiny, skinny tires. When we returned
> to the
> paddock with that Chevy, I began berating the engineering staff
> present
> about how ill-handling it was. During our heated debate, an
> emergency was
> announced. Seems that little "Chevy" had done what I said it
> would. It
> rolled on a hard right-hander. The editor driving survived, although
> somewhat embarrassed.
>
> Somehow the Yugo survived that day. But, the agency soon lost the
> account &
> my friend recovered from his fear of the car that he had been
> responsible
> for promoting.
>
> Today we both drive German cars on the street, & I race an Italian & a
> British car.
>
> Norm Sippel
> '59 Turner (BMC "A" engine)
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