1989 Yugo GVL Long-Term Road Test

1989 Yugo GVL: Monterey Car Week - The Concours d'Elegance

by Josh Sadlier, Senior Editor on September 17, 2015

Intro | Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3 | Pt 4 | Pt 5 | Pt 6 | Pt 7 | Pt 8 | Pt 9 | Pt 10

NOTE: Mega photo gallery above!

With our 1989 Yugo GVL waiting patiently in the parking lot, we took a few leisurely strolls up and down Pebble Beach's iconic 18th fairway. It was mid-morning in Monterey. Dawn Patrol had officially given way to the Concours d'Elegance. The former may have been the highlight, but the latter wasn't exactly a letdown.

If you didn't know, the Concours d'Elegance is the most amazing classic car show in the world. Riswick was the only member of Team Yugo who had previously attended. We were all suitably gobsmacked.

As an example of the gobsmackery, I present this 1924 Mercedes 630K Murphy Roadster, selected virtually at random from the 100-plus photos in the flipper above. I couldn't pin down its market value, but I did discover that a 1928 630K sold for $1.24 million not long ago. By Pebble standards, that's chump change.

Here's the scene from behind the 18th green at 10:45 a.m. The crowds were already a bit much. Another time, I'd do Dawn Patrol plus a couple quick early laps, then beat a hasty retreat.

A BMW Isetta puttered by as we walked back to the Yugo. According to none other than John Pearley Huffman on Edmunds.com, the Isetta is the third-worst car of all time, beating out the Yugo at #4.

There's our noble steed. The cars parked around it were unusually pedestrian, though that black Mulsanne on the left added a touch of class. Note the 18-wheelers in the background; we saw some Concours entrants being wheeled out of those trailers when we walked by before dawn.

That's more like it. Just your typical $2m-or-whatever 300SL Gullwing parked next to a Grand Caravan and a Fusion on wood chips in a satellite lot.

We tried to take the back way out, but most of the local roads were shut down, so we were forced to strut down Pebble's main drag. If the Bugatti folks were shocked by our Yugo-ness, they gave no outward indication.

Has a Pebble media pass ever hung from the rearview mirror of a Yugo? Possibly another all-time first in the history of the universe.

We didn't escape without getting a little stink-eye from the peanut gallery.

Extreme closeup. Dude in the red hat is clearly a hater.

What's that, a 575? Under any other circumstances, Mark and I would have said something like, "Whoa, a Ferrari!" But after the Quail, Dawn Patrol and the Concours, we were all out of whoas.

With Ron behind us in the Murano and James in the Z3, we set out for Soledad, California, our first gas and coffee stop on the way home.

Josh Sadlier, Senior Editor