Serbia Bids Farewell to Beloved Yugo

Car & Driver magazine once called the Yugo "The Disposable Car by Bic," likening its transmission's performance to "trying to shift a baseball bat stuck inside a barrel full of coconuts."

Readers of Car Talk magazine voted the Yugo the worst car of the millennium.

  But the Yugo also managed to spend some time in the Hollywood spotlight, being used extensively in the 2000 comedy starring Danny DeVito, "Drowning Mona," a movie that, like the Yugo, bombed.

  The car was also featured in the big-budget blockbuster "Die Hard 3" and, most recently, in a music video for heavy metal band Metallica's latest album.

  And, besides, the cars soon to roll over Yugo's grave have their own punchlines.  Fiat stands for "fix it again Tony," according to some American car critics.

  And Yugo's absence from America did make some hearts grow fonder. It has become a collector's item; a Yugo from 1986 in good condition might actually be worth more than its original list price.

A search of the Internet shows there is a small but growing community of Yugo owners who discuss where to find parts, share home-repair techniques and debate the best ways to keep their Yugos authentic.

  "All those who still have a Yugo and even the buyer of the last vehicle have nothing to fear,"  said Radomir Petrovic , the general manager of the Zastava Yugo plant.  "Our partner factories will produce a sufficient amount of spare parts."  

Despite the halt in production, diehard Yugo fans say they will not give up their automotive love affair. They organize meetings and exchange thoughts on Internet Web sites like yugofanclub.com, and insist they will never drive another car as long as they live.