The Yugo that just got better still
Reading The Way We Were in the CCW of 11 October, reminded me of an early motoring memory. For the first 25 years of holding a driving licence I always ran ‘old bangers’ as my daily transport. These seemed to require regular repairing and most weekends involved visits to local breakers’ yards followed by afternoons laying underneath them. One car that I bought from a breaker was run for a while, sold and then I spotted it again in another breakers’ yard!
When I saw that I could buy a new Yugo for £2499 (not £2999), I decided to go and look at one at my local dealer. I duly placed my order for an example with a 903cc engine and four-speed gearbox. A day or two before I was due to collect my first new car, I arrived home to find someone from the dealership waiting for me. My new car was in fact the 1116cc version with fivespeed gearbox – would that be OK at the same price? I quickly replied yes.
I ran the car for five or six years with no problems and recall that it was sold to somebody from Sheffield.
Keith Proctor, Wollaton, Nottingham