The Yugo Florida. My GF in college had one of these.

[Taverner]

Much more uncomfortable than a VW Bug, I might add...

[cloudbase]

1. The Moto Guzzi Florida

When Italian styling goes really, really badly.

[lutefisk]

12. The Lancia Florida

1955 Lancia Florida

[City of Mills]

2. The backseat looks small

How was the suspension?

[pintobean]

3. I see it's equipped with the rear window

hand warmer.

[OmahaBlueDog]

4. We used the hell out of Yugo GVs at the courier service I used to work for

Step 1 -- realize that the Yugoslavian manufacturer (Zastava) bought all the tooling from Fiat. Mechanically, the car is a Fiat 128.

Step 2 - realize that most Yugos ended up on the side of the road because the fan switch for the electric cooling fan would fail. Wire in a manual override switch to be turned on when the temp goes too high. It was a common problem in the Fiat 128, and the Haynes guide showed step-by-step how to put in the switch.

Step 3 -- rip out the passenger seat and the back seat. Suddenly, there is a ton of cargo room

We used to run between West Palm and Miami doing 90+mph with those beasts. My main complaint was that it lacked a 5th gear.

[datasuspect]

5. you gave me an idea for a story

there was a noble romanticism to your post that moved me.

[OmahaBlueDog]

6. There was a noble romanticism to that job

I was fresh out of Cal, and had no particular job prospects. I was engaged. A friend bought this courier service. We were the couriers, the dispatchers, the mechanics, and the marketing department. There was one thing we were not -- capitalized. We used patched together Yugo GVs and Chevettes. Later, we got a mail jeep. I also used my dad's old 1983 Datsun Maxima Diesel. We sent it to the junk yard with the engine running strong, and the rest of the car (literally) falling apart around the engine.

[Mopar151]

7. Some of my demented racin' buddies

Had these things. They hacked a "slightly" modified 128 engine-trans (13/1 compression, Webers, giant cam...) into one, it went pretty good! The Yugo motor had kind of a small carb & valves, it would rev pretty good, but ran out of power. At 90, it must have sounded like a Ferrari! Clarkie was stockpilin' em' til the factory got bombed flat - then he thought it best to divest.

[OmahaBlueDog]

10. The body was another Fiat design (145 sticks in my memory, but probably is wrong)

The hatchback design (similar to the VW Rabbit)was basically a wedge, so it had good high speed handling.

At 90 it was loud...probably over 3K rpm. Had Zastava put a 5 speed tranny on (they still weren't quite standard fare in the mid-late 80s), that car would have rocked.

Rust was another issue on those things. I repember doing a lot of Bondo work when we first picked them up.

[Richard Steele]

8. I actually saw a Yugo on the street the other month- operating under its own power and everything!

Imagine my surprise!

[Rhiannon12866]

9. Weird. I just read this yesterday:

How Do You Make A Yugo Cool? Turn It Into A Book
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124631334

[Taverner]

11. I read that too!

I think thats what might have inspired me

[Rhiannon12866]

13. That's an even bigger coincidence!

I never did drive one, but I remember them well. :-)

[Taverner]

14. I drove one - not a bad car (when it runs)

They do hills surprisingly well