BELGRADE, Serbia (Nov. 20) - Why does a Yugo have a defroster on the
rear window?
To keep your hands warm while you push it.

That's just one of the "Yugo jokes" about the cheap and much-maligned
subcompact that won notoriety for being one of the worst cars ever
exported to the United States.
Now, the last Yugo, once the pride of communist Yugoslavia's
automobile industry, will roll off its Serbian production line
Thursday in the central town of Kragujevac.
It will be missed here — but probably not in America.
Soon after it hit the U.S. markets in 1986, selling for the
bargain-basement price of just $3,990, the boxy Yugo was derided by
American car magazines "as barely qualifying as a car" and "an
assembled bag of nuts and bolts."
Although it was a flop in the U.S., Yugo enjoyed iconic status in the
former Yugoslav republics — something like the Volkswagen beetle in
West Germany or the Trabant in East Germany.
It was also exported to East European states, but not in the same
numbers as to the U.S. mostly because Zastava could not meet huge
domestic demand.

More Yugo jokes:

-— What do you call a Yugo's shock absorbers? Passengers.
— The new Yugo has an air bag. Before an accident, start pumping real
fast.
— How do you double the value of a Yugo? Fill the gas tank!
— What do you call a Yugo at the top of a hill? A miracle.
— Man to car dealer: "I'd like a gas cap for my Yugo." Dealer: "Sounds
like a fair trade."

Dave
RS6