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Comments 19

dan4behr December 24 2010, 19:46:37 UTC
I have the English-language International 1974 brochure for the Fiat 127. At that time, it was just available in 2 or 3 door. The 2P car featured in the brochure is about the ugliest avocado green imaginable. The 3P was shown in a mustard yellow which was much more attractive....

Didn't this have a lot of commonality with the (Zastava) Yugo GV?

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Yugo GV ciddyguy December 24 2010, 23:52:31 UTC
Yup, from what I read, it actually used a variant of the basic 127 hatchback body, but at least for the US versions, it used the better OHC FWD mechanicals of the 128 instead instead of the bored out OHV 903cc motor, the Yugo GV initially came only in the 1.1L 4, later the GVX and GV Plus both got the 1.3L motor and by 1992, the GV Plus had fuel injection, right before Yugo pulled out of the US due to the massive emissions recall and the Yugoslav war that bombed the factory the following year IIRC.

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Re: Yugo GV gorkabear December 25 2010, 19:32:05 UTC
Those Yugos were sold in Spain as well but they were really awful so none survive.

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Re: Yugo GV ciddyguy December 25 2010, 19:37:23 UTC
Yup, part of the problem was the motors were interference and the timing belts only lasted about 40K miles before they got replaced, hopefully before one snapped.

And since they were terribly cheap to buy, most around here treated them as disposable and some have maintained that if you kept up the maintenance, changed out the timing belts when called for, they were reasonably reliable.

That said, most here probably didn't read the owner's manual, thus was not aware of the short timing belt change out intervals so most here got trashed when they broke, causing untold damage to the motors.

I drove a couple of them and they were OK, quirky, fun and had their charms but the shifter was very vague but doable. :-)

I still see one still running around, but they are extremely rare these days.

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musicbearmn December 24 2010, 19:52:26 UTC
You all have been doing small cars for years, and doing it right. When will we ever learn?

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gorkabear December 25 2010, 19:29:28 UTC
Hum... It depends on what you consider. The difference there is that small cars are supposed to be shit cars because you don't care about concepts such as tight parking spaces or expensive gas :)

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dan4behr December 24 2010, 20:51:45 UTC
Ummmm...This is what I got when I googled 'Fiat 127 boot":
http://laurina.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/circeo-massacre-29-09-1975-che-schifo/

not for the squeemish!

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gorkabear December 25 2010, 19:30:55 UTC
Yes, that was the same trunk as my dad's car...

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ciddyguy December 25 2010, 00:17:52 UTC
Very cool.

And as I pointed out to Dan above, the 127 became the basis for the Yugo that Zastava began building in 1978 under license, using the mechanicalsl of the 127 but with a modified body, then around 1980, began using the larger 128 motors for export markets, including the US, beginning in 1986.

Initially, the Yugo sold here came with the 1.1L engine, with the later introduced GVX EFI having the 1.3L motor, and by the early 1990's, the car's trim was consolidated to just GV Plus, I believe carburetted initially before fuel injection became standard, but problems with emissions became the importer's downfall, and at the same time, the fall of communism and Yugoslavia had begun/happened and the Yugoslav war caused damage to the plant.

The car survived, as did the company and was updated and continued on until 2008 with options such as central locking, AC etc.

We only had the car from 1986-1992 however.

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gorkabear December 25 2010, 19:43:30 UTC
Those Yugos were ephimerous here

Check the Seat Fura here: http://historiaseat.com/fura/kfura.htm

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ciddyguy December 25 2010, 19:49:36 UTC
Interesting!

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danthered December 25 2010, 05:25:28 UTC
I recognise the 182mm rectangular headlamps-used on scads of different Fiat/SEAT cars as well as some Australian Chryslers of the 1970s. These on the red-orange 127 in the lower pic are probably Spanish-made by PASA or Kinby-FAESSA.

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gorkabear December 25 2010, 19:44:28 UTC
Now we all miss that the parts were so available and relatively cheap :)

I remembered you when a person today said that changing the headlight of an Audi A3 costs 400 euros! Wow :)

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