Heebie-GV’s: 1988 Yugo GV

When you eventually do buy a Yugo, might I recommend buying it from someone who posts pictures of his cul-de-sac packed with GV’s and a few shots of the NATO bombing of the Yugoslavian production facility? Find this 1988 Yugo GV for sale by the world’s premier Yugo enthusiast in Concord, NC for $1,500 via craigslist.

I don’t think many DT readers need to be versed on the Yugo. A company who built guns and license-built parts-bit Fiat-y things decided they wanted to enter the US market at the time most other fringe auto makers were planning their Irish exit. It was sort of working until sales slumped because, like any other Eastern Bloc car, nothing ever changed. Then in 1999, a bunch of missiles hit the production line by accident and leveled the place, negating any chance of a return to the US.

Astute Yugo aficionados will notice that the spare tire is missing because you can see the engine. The seller points out that the car runs and drives great, adding that it can be trusted to traverse over 100 miles in a single sitting which is more than most of us can say about our own cars. The motor has just received a new timing belt which is apparently a weakness of the Slavic powerplant. Apparently many GV’s have succumb to the timing belt acting like a snap bracelet around the crank pulley.

You don’t really hear about rust much on Yugos as they were normally taken down in a death-by-a-thousand-cuts kind of way. Before long, a guy could only put up with crumbling door handles and automatically reclining seats just long enough to afford a down payment on an ’89 Precis. Aside from the couple of spots of rocker rot, the interior region looks to be about as good as new. I do imagine that Yugo’s sourcing of interior components was done via a half dozen different suppliers, all told over the phone to make the components  the color of skin.

See a better way to make the world think you were poor in the late 80’s? email us here: tips@dailyturismo.com

Matt, a self-proclaimed bottom-feeder of the classic car market, spends half of his time buying cars, half of his time retrieving them, and the remaining third on keeping them on the road.