From: dsi1 on
hls wrote:
>
> "dsi1" <dsi1(a)spamnet.com> wrote in message
> news:jtNwm.221416$cf6.208145(a)newsfe16.iad...
>> hls wrote:
>>>
>>> "Otis" <rev_otis_mcnatt(a)yahoo.com> wrote in message
>>> news:1f20ce7d-cd39-4208-920c-08032814acbb(a)37g2000yqm.googlegroups.com...
>>>> Over the years, the inevitable subject of worst cars ever comes up,
>>>> and the Vega
>>>> is always at or near the top of the list. I've seen it a hundred
>>>> times. I feel I should
>>>> put in a good word for the little car.
>>>
>>>
>>> That is, I believe, the car with the silicon/aluminum alloy
>>> engine...That thing
>>> went out for most people very quickly.
>>>
>>> Now, believe it or not, I have seen Yugos still on the road. Even
>>> the worst
>>> automaker allows a good one to slip out occasionally.
>>
>> Yugo = Fiat 128
>
> Maybe the equality is not quite right, but similar.
> Fiat also put Russia into the car business, IIRC.

My guess is that they were pretty similar. I was thinking at the time
that it might be possible to bolt-on a Yugo engine and maybe the entire
drivetrain of a Yugo into a Fiat X1/9 although I've not heard of anybody
doing this.

>
> We have owned three Fiats...a 131 Mirafiore, a 128, and another I cant
> remember. The engines were okay, but the bodies tended to rust out
> very badly on some of them.

The engine on the 124 sports models were fine. It was the first
belt-driven double overhead cam design engine used in a mass production
car. Rust was a big problem in the states. I'm guessing that it doesn't
rain or snow in Italy and Europe. :-)
From: Nate Nagel on
hls wrote:
>
> "Otis" <rev_otis_mcnatt(a)yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1f20ce7d-cd39-4208-920c-08032814acbb(a)37g2000yqm.googlegroups.com...
>> Over the years, the inevitable subject of worst cars ever comes up,
>> and the Vega
>> is always at or near the top of the list. I've seen it a hundred
>> times. I feel I should
>> put in a good word for the little car.
>
>
> That is, I believe, the car with the silicon/aluminum alloy
> engine...That thing
> went out for most people very quickly.
>
> Now, believe it or not, I have seen Yugos still on the road. Even the
> worst
> automaker allows a good one to slip out occasionally.

Well, seeing as a Yugo is basically a reheated FIAT, they theoretically
can be made more reliable by replacing all the broken mechanical bits
with FIAT bits.

Now whether they figured out rustproofing or not, I don't know - I
haven't seen a Yugo in years. I don't remember seeing one old enough to
have rust on it.

It's a shame that FIAT didn't fine tune their cars a little better. I
remember a neighbor having one as a little kid and it was a neat little
car and darn near indestructable - I think he eventually passed it on to
his daughter when she went to college (a few years older than I.) Owner
was a car guy though, so undoubtedly salt wasn't allowed to linger on
the body, explaining its unusual longevity.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel
From: Scott Dorsey on
Nate Nagel <njnagel(a)roosters.net> wrote:
>
>Well, seeing as a Yugo is basically a reheated FIAT, they theoretically
>can be made more reliable by replacing all the broken mechanical bits
>with FIAT bits.

Wait... wait.... say that again...
you replace parts _with_ Fiat parts and it becomes more reliable.

This implies that the original parts are actually _less_ reliable than
Fiat parts. Is such a thing actually possible?

>Now whether they figured out rustproofing or not, I don't know - I
>haven't seen a Yugo in years. I don't remember seeing one old enough to
>have rust on it.

I see one every once in a while on Rt. 64. It's tiny and yellow, and has
a huge man with a walrus moustache driving it.

>It's a shame that FIAT didn't fine tune their cars a little better. I
>remember a neighbor having one as a little kid and it was a neat little
>car and darn near indestructable - I think he eventually passed it on to
>his daughter when she went to college (a few years older than I.) Owner
>was a car guy though, so undoubtedly salt wasn't allowed to linger on
>the body, explaining its unusual longevity.

Okay.... I have to understand this. You're saying somehow that someone
has made a car which is _less reliable than a Fiat_?
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
From: hls on

"dsi1" <dsi1(a)humuhumunukunukuapuapa.org> wrote in message
>
> The engine on the 124 sports models were fine. It was the first
> belt-driven double overhead cam design engine used in a mass production
> car. Rust was a big problem in the states. I'm guessing that it doesn't
> rain or snow in Italy and Europe. :-)

Somewhat wrong. Rust was a problem with all Fiats made in Italia.

Fiat is a bit of a joke, even in Europe. I lived there for many many years.
From: Tegger on
"hls" <hls(a)nospam.nix> wrote in
news:N_adnfqOvN5yAF7XnZ2dnUVZ_oqdnZ2d(a)giganews.com:

>
> "Otis" <rev_otis_mcnatt(a)yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1f20ce7d-cd39-4208-920c-08032814acbb(a)37g2000yqm.googlegroups.com..
> .
>> Over the years, the inevitable subject of worst cars ever comes up,
>> and the Vega is always at or near the top of the list. I've seen it
>> a hundred times. I feel I should put in a good word for the little
>> car.
>
>
> That is, I believe, the car with the silicon/aluminum alloy
> engine...That thing went out for most people very quickly.



Anybody ever read the Wiki page on the Vega? It's a pretty good read.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Vega>

Maybe I'm weird, but I always thought the Vega was a good-looking car. But
then I liked the Plymouth Duster as well.


>
> Now, believe it or not, I have seen Yugos still on the road. Even the
> worst automaker allows a good one to slip out occasionally.
>


The Yugo was never sold in Canada, for some odd reason. Around the same
time as the Yugo was being imported to the US, we DID get all manner of
other, highly-unusual, Soviet-bloc machinery.

Off the top of my head:
Lada 1600 (Russian Fiat 124 derivative)
Lada Niva (small Russian SUV)
Dacia (Romanian sedan; looks like a Renault 11, but dumpier)
Skoda (Czech sedan; had rear engine and side-opening hood)
ARO (Romanian 4WD; about the size of a Range Rover, but impossibly crude)

We also got the Hyundai Pony, a truly, truly, awful car.

The Lada 1600 actually drove pretty well. The new example I test-drove had
an impressively precise shifter. The salesman kept yammering on about how
the car's carburetor was "the closest thing you can get to a Weber" without
actually having a Weber, as though that was the vehicle's only selling
point.

I never see ANY of the above anymore, EVER. And I drive a lot.


--
Tegger