1989 Yugo GVL Long-Term Road Test

1989 Yugo GVL: The Final Zbogom

by Josh Sadlier, Yugo Eulogist on October 3, 2016

Our long-term 1989 Yugo GVL has been gone for weeks, but photo guy Kurt and I still have a small matter to resolve.

We had a friendly wager on the Yugo's final auction price, you see. I guessed $2,200 and he came back with $1,150. No Price Is Right rules, just whoever's closest.

Loser buys the Slivovitz.

As the Yugo Wrap-Up recounts in breathless detail, frenzied last-minute bidding pushed the price up to $2,202. Improbably, I was only off by the two Sacagaweas that our friend Matt included in the transaction.

Fast-forward to the present. Kurt shows up at my desk with a bottle of Bistra Slivovitz, "produced," says the box, "from Serbian plums by application of a special technological treatment." The primary achievement of this technology is a rating of 50% ABV, or 100 proof for the American crowd. "Fresh, sound, ripe plums" are claimed to be involved.

We grab some disposable Starbucks cups for our ceremonial pours. A few minutes in, the high-tech brandy has turned the cup bottoms translucent, and Kurt's has sprung a small leak. I remark that it tastes like a fine tequila. European Correspondent Alistair Weaver, who happens to be passing through, likens it to gasoline.

The Yugo's just a memory now, but our chests burn with affection. You can follow its latest exploits on Instagram at wego4yugo, by the way. May the Balkan Bullet forever speed along.          

Josh Sadlier, Yugo Eulogist @ an unforgettable accumulation of miles