What do you call a Yugo with twin exhausts? That's not who I am. This has been true of: Renault in its government-ownership days; And, now, Government Motors, which is thumbing its nose at old GM customers who have warranty claims. Director Nick Gomez Writer Peter Steinfeld Stars Danny DeVito Bette Midler Neve Campbell if(document.getElementById("unic-ccpa")) { When they all disappeared, I surmised it was because he had been caught by the police for driving unregistered vehiclesmore likely they all just died from their terminal junkiness. Drowning Mona - An explanation informs viewers that the setting (Verplanck, New York) was a test market for Yugos. They probably would have found a customer base in the U.S. Wikipedia says that the Yugo quality was satisfactory at the start but went downhill fast and the factory refused to do anything about it. It cut costs, and as was the concern then (as now) it was Green using the parlance of today. The Florida was reviewed very positively in the UK against western cars, and sadly only failed here because of the rise of Fascism in Yugoslavia, and its aftermath. I started to work in 1985 as a young engineer in the factory producing electrical equipment for the industry, and was very aware about problems we faced at the time. It's a movie that has an attitude problem it couldn't resolve as easily as it did the mystery to Mona's death. Sales ended in the U.S. that year when a recall was ordered by the feds over emissions issues related to faulty carburetors. Edit: Gah! Drowning Mona is a 2000 American 'comedy' film starring Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Jamie Lee Curtis, Casey Affleck, Melissa McCarthy, Brian Doyle-Murray and box-office superstar Will Ferrell . In 1968, Bricklin thought that what America needed was an air cooled two cylinder car that could make zero to sixty in thirty seven agonizing seconds. As the movie opens, a local woman named Mona Dearly ( Bette Midler) speeds down a country road and directly into the Hudson River when her brakes fail. Drowning Mona | 2000 | PG-13 | - 5.5.5. I presume the folding roof is there just in case the doors jam shut because of a sagging body! Its a Plymouth Horizon which,I guess,is the same as a Talbot Horizon. Various ancillaries like alternators were replaced with real FIAT parts. But is an Audi as bad as a Yugo? A lot of Wehrmacht occupation troops went home in tiny little pieces because Zastava knew what they were doing. My best friend had for a brief time, a rusted 1980 Civic DX hatchback that ultimately blew out its 2 upper gears in the 5spd manual tranny that did it in even though his mechanic could not get the bolts out to replace the clutch due to rust. As my old profesor of economics said: War is the best economic valve Unfortunately, Ive learned that from personal experience. IIRC, they licensed Fiat designs in the mid 50s and in 2008 they signed a Memorandum of Understanding to buy the auto assembly plant from Zastava. . And management, often put there through politics, has little interest in learning of customer dissatisfaction. Worse, it was not just fenders and rocker panels that looked bad but did not affect the way the car drove. Screenwriter Peter Steinfeld says the film was originally going to be set in a mythical north. It would take about eight years from apparent problem to engineered fix to failure of the fix and another engineered solution. It is a measure of the local intelligence that when the car and driver are dragged to shore some hours later, the doctor checks her pulse. It wasnt ancient ethnic hatreds, it was more a perfect storm. 1) Wise observation that Yugoslavia needed hard currency (without which it could not import needed consumer or industrial goods) during those years. I think that its important to remember that Subaru (Fuji Heavy Industries) itself didnt try to push the 360 into the American market-It was Bricklin looking for a lottery win and the little 360 was his ticket. He was a statistician in the War Department who became interested in using statistical controls to produce higher-quality manufactured goods. I mean, cmon, its an Eastern Bloc car. Early oil changes, followed maintenance schedule. I remember listening to Car Talk some 5-6 years ago and a caller came on and said that his Yugo (an 87 I think) died at 150,000 miles, not due to mechanical failure, but due to a Deer. The first Mazda was also a kei-car, the R-360. I was sure youd have had one. In this black comedy, everyone in a small town becomes a suspect when a much-despised woman not-so-accidentally drives her Yugo off a cliff. As for the FloridaBricklin was itching to bring it in. 1. parts are easy, I have a new driver side indoor handle ordered that will be here Tuesday. (At the same dealership on the window sticker above,actually). Why are there so many Yugo in this movie? They obviously do not run. My cell phone was apparently assembled at gunpoint by drunk Yugoslavians in the year 1984 . English tongues tended to read it JUG-oh not a saleable name. I owned two. I also bought a new Yugo in 1989, and had to replace brake master cylinder immediately because brakes would fail after about 10 km on the road. This car didnt want to go into reverse at a standstill. Your email address will not be published. Yugo gave everybody in town one to have. Ive got video somewhere. This is the same scenario as Chrysler- My parents always said that if you get a Dodge in town itll be a lemon, but in the country, itll be a good car because the smaller country dealer relies on repeat business and does a better PDI, ensuring bolts arent missing, and both sides identify the car correctly. That means that all Yugos in this movie are from 1986. Mine was still only about a year old, so I was in denial about its performance. In the moviedrowning MonaI remember there was among the many regular Yugos one that had four doors (a black one).Was it Finallywith a new clutch 400 miles oldit tossed the alternator belt. But for all that, and with weight today an even greater issueour Asian friends seem to have licked the corrosion problem. There was a short in the headlights, and the switch for the engine cooling fan was broken both of which were easily fixed. Detroit, also, but not so much. Jamie Lee Curtis and Neve Campbell are both known as "Final Girls" or "Scream Queens", playing recurring heroines in their respective horror franchise films: Curtis in the "Halloween" franchise and Campbell in the "Scream" franchise--which is loosely based on the "Halloween" mythos. Good account. In the 1970s the PCI (Italian Communist Party) reached its all-time maximum electorally: 34.4% in the 1976 general election (12,600,000 votes, 3 million more than in the previous election in 1972). } @EdDan: How do you double the value of your Yugo? Enterior wall panels were thin cardboard with painted on carpet flecks. Down shifting was scary, sometimes you just had to bypass second, sometimes it refused to even go into gear or it would get stuck in gear. These cars came with an optional AM/FM cassette deck that was very basic, only 5W total if I recall right, or was that 5W per channel? In addition, many cars have changed hands by that timeand who knows what the previous owner may have had done? I had very good support for the Yugo as Atlanta is the home of Bayless, which is a big Fiat parts house. It has interesting characters and situations and I found myself really enjoying the film--only to have it all fizzle at the end. Or wasting half a grand. I was unaware of the Bricklin connection at the time, and in fact learned about it here on CC, but I remember seeing some Bricklins as a kid, thinking that they were cool looking cars, and wondering why there werent more of them. Also in Drowning Mona's favor, at the heart of the movie, is a genuinely positive character, Verplanck Police Chief Wyatt Rash (Danny DeVito).He's possibly the only principled citizen in town. -You know why Yugo drivers go to heaven? Sure some of the plastic trim was suspect, but dont forget that GM was still doing rubbermaid doors then, and the Japanese were still stapling vinyl over cardboard for door trims. Generally what kills them is the cost of major systems repairs, to where its not economically justifiable. Only other thing it needed to be roadworthy was front tires. These are the kinds of people who don't like to be thrown out of bars because it's a loss of valuable drinking time. Could you imagine if another country decided to do that? I remember seeing new Yugos at the (I think 1990) Chicago Auto Show. Hell, I was 20 years younger, A lot can change in that time. Not having that one bit Clarkson divised a solution, buying a third-hand Yugo and for the rest of the episode refering to it as a Bently. Ive heard that by 1989, Malcolm Bricklin was kicked out and Zastava took over importing the cars to the US and made a substantial series of changes/improvements and the cars then came with fuel injection, the GV, GVL, GVC, and GVS and the sportier GVX were combined into one car, the GV Plus fitted with better seats (the fold and slide seats from the GVX), the larger 1.3L 4, the 5spd in a more basic interior and exterior trim package, adding the AC etc and Bosh fuel injection and I hear from Chris Vitale who runs Fiat 500 USA blog who owned a 1991 Yugo with FI until a couple of years or so ago that by then, their warranty claims were very good, but the war took its toll as did the emissions debacle in 1992 brought the cars run in the US to an end. State-owned auto companies or assembly plants, tend to have little to no feedback from end-user to management. -Because they have already been through hell. As the movie opens, a local woman named Mona Dearly (Bette Midler) speeds down a country road and directly into the Hudson River when her brakes fail. DROWNING MONA 1/2 Tasteless but sporadically uproarious black comedy. This is the real reason that Yugo failed in the US- a poor dealer network. It was mainly low used values (the proton badge had no snob appeal) and apathy that saw them scrapped rather than any major fault of the car. I havent seen one on the road in at least 15 years. With a State-owned automobile plant, management is there for political reasons which may have nothing to do with competence. Kind of reminds me of a first generation Rabbit/Golf, which Ive always considered the gold-standard for the best styled small car. It is a measure of the local intelligence that when the car and driver are dragged to shore some hours later, the doctor checks her pulse. 2004-2023 IMCDb.org Managed by Controgest SPRL In the early 80s many of the domestics suddenly found they could use galvanized steel for body panels, and inner fender liners and other rust proofing methods, (better drains, etc.) Ladas were, and are, shite. Thank you for the interesting history. One of a kind, Im sure, There is an article from 2012, quoting the Time magazine I guess this is so the company could find out how the car is before releasing it to the general public. I was amazed when I rode in one, expecting a bouncy distaster but encountering a surprisingly supple feel of the suspension. The early Japanese cars were not that different from the 360: Junk. If Germany had built it, would it have been called the Germ? No tinted glass or glove compartment. Handling is sharp and the engine loves to rev. I put about 20K miles on it per year. At that time, Bricklin was probably best known for the eponymous car that he launched amidst much fanfare in 1974. The ignition constantly gave out and so did the clutch. Bricklin had formed Yugo of America to import the car and as was his custom, financial shenanigans were part of the mix. Critically, one of her co-workers loved Fiats, and he taught her their quirks-most of which the Yugo shared. Those Protons were actually a decent car. At Zastava, these were foreign. This was before the deal with Chery. couple of months ago when I was in Athens. I owned one. And if it WAS done, thats $500 WASTED. Danny DeVito and Bette Midler appeared in Ruthless People (1986). I remember that time very well, it was impossible to find coffee or bananas or laundry detergent etc in the stores, and the industry was struggling to get raw materials. Then again, Ive always had a liking for the odd car or two over the years. Dealers there are order-takers. Fuji was pretty well aware that the car wasnt suitable for America circa 1969. ), See all comments about this movie and its vehicles. I think I remember this! He got two large import operations going and he launched the SV-1. 1. I guess Ive been mispronouncing subaru all these years. And a failed clutchI have driven manual transmission cars my whole life. if (window['UnicI'].geo === 'EU') { Also, I think that first step after buying any used car in general should be changing of belt. That brochures more collectible than its car. This is how Hyundai and Kia got their start and Zastava began doing it earlier. Its not too late! They sold boatloads of them in Europe to price buyers, taxi companies, retired folk etc. The character name, Wyatt Rash, was intentionally chosen by writer, Peter Steinfeld, to reflect the underlying premise of the movie -- said fast enough, it sounds like yup, White Trash! Saying that, it doesnt mean that people were particularly promiscuitive or anything like that. My guess is that many of his critics could not have done as much. Witness the fact that everyone's car of choice is a Yugo; each Verplanck citizen drives one ever since the company conducted a cheap sales test of the vehicle there some 10 years ago. A revised constitution in the mid 70s turned the country into a loose confederation and as Croatia/Slovenia were more developed due to being part of Austria Hungary, there was only so much that approx thirty years of prosperity after WWII could reverse. But the little Yugo turned out to be a lot less than the sum of its parts. Ford was really hit and miss the Granada was horrible, but the Lincoln Town Cars and Mark Vs were pretty good against the tinworm. Or maybe Bobby (Casey Affleck), Jeff's landscaping partner, killed her to save the embarrassment of having her create a scene at his wedding to Ellen (Neve Campbell), Chief Rash's daughter. 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