Time magazine recently placed it at number 39 on its "50 worst cars of all time". It can only be the Yugo. Built in Soviet-era Yugoslavia, what started out as a bad Fiat ended up as an even worse import into America during the 80s.
As a result of dodgy electric systems and unreliable engines, hardly anybody wants to own one nowadays, even though back in the day about 140,000 of them were shipped into the US. Because one cost about $3,500 when new, you can pick up a Yugo for a few bucks and do crazy things to it, things like what this guy attempted.
What started out as a 1986 Yugo with a 1.3-liter engine has become a twin-engined monstrosity. Not one, but two Cadillac V8 crate engines were installed, each one weighing almost as much as the car they went into.
The front engine is a 500 cubic inch (8.2-liter) overhead valve V8 from the seventh generation Cadillac Eldorado. It fits under the bonnet of the Yugo like an overweight person in a pair of skinny jeans. The one at the back is even larger and has a big stack on top. It kind of reminds us of a Renault Clio V6.
Stuffing over 10 times the original cubic capacity into the Yugo is only half the problem. The transmissions and the carburetors had to be linked to work together. Custom suspension also needed to be built and the body has been widened considerably.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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