PowerPlant

I have heard of Triglav model of Slovenia, and even saw some of their kits, but I thought their focus was on 1/35 scale military range specific to former Yugoslavia. However, now I see they also offer nice, albeit pricey, 1/24 kits of some interesting road going ex-Yugoslavian vehicles, but I have not been able to find much in terms of info and pics regarding these models. https://www.triglavmodel.com/product-page/zastava-850-fičo-1-24 https://www.triglavmodel.com/product-page/golf-2-police-car-1-24 https://www.triglavmodel.com/product-page/imv-1000-1600-bus-1-24

The Yugo as such never changed its platform, drivetrain or body shape significantly throughout its production run. There were slight styling changes made to appearance in terms of plastic add ons sometime around 2000., but the car never changed much. The car based on the Fiat Tipo, which you are probably thinking of, was indeed introduced as the Yugo/Zastava Florida in the late 80’s, just before the initial breakup of Yugoslavia. But that is an entirely different car, just as bad, but not nearly the same. The one and only, original Yugo never changed. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugo_Florida

Thank you for the reply! If possible, could you let me know the cost of mailing it in a padded envelope to Croatia, EU? I would gladly transfer required funds via PayPal, if possible. Thanks again!

Still looking for this part in case someone has one lying around. Thanks!

There is nothing to like about it. You either love it, madly and irrationally, or stay well away 🤣

As all Zastava vehicles, including the Yugo, are based on Fiat platforms, various different original Fiat and Lancia engine/drivetrain setups are commonly used to upgrade these cars. While the cars from previous videos I posted are highly modified track machines making 200+ horsepower, here is a very nice road legal example upgraded with various Lancia and Fiat components…

Although the inventor of alternating current, Nikola Tesla, was a Serbo-Croat, I have serious doubts that Yugo, even if there ever is another one, will be electric or anything close to ecological and advanced in that sense 😛

Classic! But let’s not forget this gem either. Funny thing is, the GV model was marketed only in the USA, and apparently it stood for “great value” 🤣 With that gold bar in the back seat perhaps 😛

The first video was mostly shot around Buzet, a famous hill climb event on the northernmost Croatian peninsula of Istria, and the second one is in the western Zagorje region, also quite a popular rallying location in Croatia.

Underwhelming and lackluster as they were from the factory, however, Yugos can be fun once stripped down and transplanted with more potent Fiat or Lancia engines and drivetrains, which are practically plug and play… Or, as with the green one, a 900 cc Kawasaki Ninja engine. Hence, the Yugosaki 🤣 All three cars in the videos have enjoyed quite some success at major hill climb events in Croatia over the years, but they are, of course, a far cry from cars the factory put out originally.

The Zastava factory in Kragujevac, Serbia, was bombed and damaged, but not completely destroyed, in US led NATO campaign in 1999., nine years after the initial collapse of what used to be Yugoslavia, as a response to Serbian invasion of Kosovo, a volatile and separatist autonomous Albanian province within Serbia proper (which, along with Montenegro, kept the name Yugoslavia up until around 2003., despite the fact that the country, as it was constituted by Josip Broz Tito in the aftermath of WW2, broke up more than ten years prior). Regardless of this setback, with sporadic hiatuses however, the plant continued manufacturing Yugo cars, as mentioned in my previous post, up until 2008. After that, production of their final motor car, Zastava 10, based on the Fiat Punto platform, continued practically until bankruptcy in 2017. As far as I know, the factory has since been completely defunct, with several attempts to revive it without much success. Debating why it is unlikely it will again commence production of cars in the foreseeable future may be sliding into political waters, so I will refrain. Of course, the now defunct Zastava motor vehicle factory is not to be confused with its namesake that still continues production of military equipment and firearms within the same complex where the cars used to be made. Hope that helps some.

The Yugo was, in fact, in production on its original platform until 2008, with slightly facelifted design features and some limited electronics updates, but essentially remained the same mechanical and engineering turd it had always been. My family owned several back in the early 90’s and they were truly horrible cars from the get-go, comically underpowered and wonky, very uncomfortable and notoriously unreliable, especially in wintertime. It was the “people’s car” throughout the former Yugoslavia, however, and therefore immensely popular, mostly due to low cost and ready availability. They are a rare sight on the roads here in Croatia today, but plenty are still running in Serbia, Bosnia and other non EU former Yugoslav countries. As for its supposed revival, despite fancy drawings that have recently been published, considering the state of the politics and economy in Serbia nowadays, as well as the fact that the Zastava motor vehicle factory, which manufactured the Yugo, has been defunct since filing for bankruptcy in 2017, thus finally ceasing production of Zastava badged cars based on the Fiat Punto, I believe this is unlikely to come to fruition any time soon.

Got the same kit in the stash, so nice to see yours coming along for some future inspiration.

Saw it recently, I was a bit concerned about production value, but once you get through the first couple episodes, as Senna advances into F1, it becomes obvious the producers did their job quite well. The cars, pit areas and racing sequences, combined with some real footage, I suspect, look quite convincing. I also liked performances from actors who played Alain Prost and Niki Lauda. If you have watched the excellent documentary about Senna, you will not learn anything new about his life and career from this series, but overall definitely worth a watch.

Still available. I am open to offers. Thanks!