Reading through the Zastava history on the zastava-yugo.co.uk website I was surprised to learn that just 83 of all Zastava/Yugo types remain registered on British roads,

which makes today’s featured 1989 Yugo 65AGLX branded Zastava Type 102 a rare breed in Britain, if not it’s homeland and the area surrounding Serbia where it was built.

Today’s featured 1989 model, is the top of the UK range GLX fitted with a 1298 cc / 79 cui motor which could be ordered with either a 5 speed manual or Renault derived 3 speed automatic gearbox.

In the USA where the 65AGLX was known as the GVX (GV = Great Value) along with the spoilers front and rear, side body kit and alloy wheels it was possible to order a GVX with a automatic electro-hydraulic folding/raising cabrio roof. US destined Yugo’s were apparently built on a separate production line manned by an elite staff who were paid a premium wage.

Despite modest acceleration times of 0-60 mph in 13.5 seconds and a top speed of 85 mph, US spec, production of the Zastava Type 102 survived the violent dissolution of Yugoslavia, the factory at Kragujevac in Serbia survived a bombing, and did not end until 2008 with 794,428 examples built.

Thanks for joining me on this “Fully Loaded Rare Breed” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !