I really wouldn't call that car hacked up as much as neglected and being parted, it can still be saved but the price is high. It's the same color as my car.
Yeah, but those examples retain the car's heritage. Hacking up a Somerset (only recently gaining popularity) in the name of a GN clone is in poor taste IMO. Then again, I would enjoy a BBB Somerset way more than an SBC GN clone, but I'm weird like that.I love seeing rare cars hacked up. I think a stroker 455 Olds in a Hurst car or a 455 Buick in a Grand National or a 455 Super Duty in a Pontiac 2+2 would be great.
What I hate is when people buy a rare car and do nothing at all with other than brag about owning it or haul it back and forth to shows and never actually drive it. Pointless.
We know better than to look in your browser history...LOL - don't ever look into my history. You may not want to see what cannot be unseen.
But there's the rub...he did it as a business decision. Buy it for whatever price, use and abuse it and write off on his taxes. He surely couldn't have done it because he loved the car. You'll never convince me of that. And he lucked out. I recall some of the reviews when that car came out... they rolled the window up and the handle fell off in the guy's hand. On a brand new press car!!!A friend of mine in in Greenville, SC had 2 Yugos he bought new. I'm like WTF? Why would anyone need 2 Yugo's.
He was a mobile HVAC mechanic and drove everywhere. The first one he bought for $3600, put 50K miles on it the first two years, Drove by the dealer saw there was still one on the lot unsold, bought that one too for $2,500 - new. in 1988. He had 100K miles on each and his cost per mile was about nothing.
That Yugo was the cutting edge of Serbo-Croatian technologyIt used to bother me to see people take rare cars and hack them up and permanently deface them forever, but then you find there's always bigger problems in life to worry about. And you can't save the dummies from themselves. If I have no $$ invested in such vehicle, I have no say in the final product. Sometimes that's a good thing, though. Cars are indeed like art. And the beauty is in the eye of the owner. But just like all art, I don't have to like what the artist does to their canvas.
Somersets are rare. I've only seen one in my life. Maybe more, I just didn't really notice the others. It was back in 1981 or thereabouts since I hadn't ordered my 82 Z28 at that point. I'm pretty sure it was tan/dark brown top section but the thing I most remember about it was the blue/buckskin colored seats that sorta reminded me of The Rolling Stone's lips logo, and it had the luxury trunk carpet mat that covered the wheel wells and everything. Weird. It had a V6 and I was immediately like, nope, moving on...
Back in the 80s, G-bodies were EVERYWHERE. I know it sounds strange, but many of them were just considered A to B vehicles. If it wasn't flashy, it didn't get much notice.
Rare does not always make things popular or desirable. Even when kept in nice condition (for whatever reason). Case in point:
View attachment 153810
For those wondering WTF? It's a 1988 Yugo. Rare? Yes. Desirable? Aw, hell no. Not even when they were new. I'd rather have the Cutlass Supreme in the background.
Rare does not always make things popular or desirable.
or valuable. Every field that deals in "old stuff" has to contend with the folks that think just because they have something old and maybe rare that its suddenly worth a kajillion dollars. The antique radio field is rife with this. Yeah its old and rare simply because there aren't many left but I won't give you more than $20 for it because a) it doesn't work b) the wood is trash and c) its just not worth the $400 you're asking. Or its some crap late 60's/70's solid state console with an 8-track that nobody wants. I have a few of these in my shop I literally can't give away.
but
Really nice old sets that actually are worth something cut up and the guts thrown away to make some shitty "shabby chic" faux-weathered wine rack or aquarium or whatever. Just like "well, that's gone forever, thanks, jerk!" Same with legit low number rare cars that ARE desirable. Once its cut up and the parts tossed in the bin, its gone forever. "More than the sum of its parts" etc.
The Yugo is kind of an interesting case. They were garbage from the start, they basically all fell apart or dissolved in rust. The survivors are "rare" but since they're still considered garbage with no aesthetic or functional value, and no aftermarket to speak of (I'm just guessing on that) literally nobody wants them except for a very few weird enthusiasts. rare =/= desirable =/= valuable
I'm sure there are followers for any type of oddball car out there. As you mentioned, the East German Trabant for instance. There is actually a following for those built like sh*t cars. I wouldn't be at all surprised that there's a following for the Yugo as well. It's hard to believe that people bought these cars...All of the above is true, but sometimes junk cars like the Yugo become collectible. An East German Trabant for example... Has a small but dedicated fanbase, just because of the novelty of owning a funky little car from a crazy communist regime that doesn't exist anymore.
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