Wattsy – Page 6

Yugo – the car for when you can’t afford a decent car

May 20, 2008May 19, 2008 by Wattsy

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Our classic car ad of the week features one of the worlds worst cars, the Yugo. Produced since 1981 in Serbia by Zastava the car was imported into the US in 1985 and sold as the cheapest new car available. Based on the Fiat 128, a car that dates back to 1969, the Zastava was popular in eastern Europe where the choice of other cars on offer made the Zastava look like a good buy and economical motoring. By the time the car got to the US under the Yugo name, the unrefined and sluggish box was bought up by cheapskates who would of been better off finding a decent secondhand car. Not only did the car suffer from poor build quality and performance, the market of customer the car was aimed at were often too tight to service them properly making the cars mechanical woos worse. Sales in the US stopped around 1992 when UN sanctions against the former Yugoslavia stopped exports. NATO later bombed the factory that has since been rebuilt to churn out a face-lifted version of the car that is known today as the Zastava Koral.

The Toyota AA

May 18, 2008March 16, 2011 by Wattsy

Plenty of car companies have been known to buy back some of their historic models in order to preserve their history and display them in their museums. When Toyota tried to find their first car (the Toyota AA) they found there was none left possibly due to Japan’s love of crushing outdated cars for the latest model and the fact that only 1400 were build from 1936 till 1943. The next plan was to create a replica of the car but as a full set of plans were not available the replica was built from what plans could be found from over the models lifetime. Today the replica that was built for Toyota’s 50th anniversary sits in Toyota’s automobile museum in Nagoya Japan. While the car may not be exactly like the one you could buy in the late 30’s to early 40’s it is pretty darn close to what the real thing would have looked like if there was still one around.

Stop your car from being clamped the hard way

May 13, 2008May 13, 2008 by Wattsy

We found this story over at “The Telegraph” and we enjoyed it that much we thought we share the link with you. Long story short, UK motorist Ian Taylor came home and found his Ford Fiesta clamped by the authorities as it was hanging out his drive a bit. So he cut his car in half and invited the authorities to come and take the back half away as he quotes it was only the back half of the car that was parked illegally. Read the full story at telegraph.co.uk.

1948’s Futuramic Oldsmobile

May 11, 2008May 12, 2008 by Wattsy

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In 1948 Oldsmobile launched this classic series of commericals highlighting how simple it was to drive their new automatic car. How simple was it? Well it was that simple even a woman could drive. They don’t say this exactly but we all know what they were thinking. Take a look and enjoy a classic bit car advertising from a bygone era.

The Poulsen Hybrid

May 7, 2008May 8, 2008 by Wattsy

Want a hybrid car but don’t want to shell out for a Toyota Prius or similar? Well a company named Poulsen may have the answer for you with their diy kit that transforms any front wheel drive car into a hybrid vehicle. how it works is that two electric motors are attached to the back wheels that are connected to a range of batteries and a plug in charger in the boot. The idea is pretty simple when you think about it, just imagine you are going down a hill in a normal car, you can back off the accelerator and start free wheeling saving gas. These motors use the same idea except on level ground, so when you take the foot off the break in traffic the car will start moving forward without you using fuel. The only down side is it looks a bit hideous but at US$3300 it maybe a cheaper option than a brand new hybrid car.

Car commercial of the week

May 5, 2008May 6, 2008 by Wattsy

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Nothing sells products more than including a fluffy animal in your advertising campaign. Well Opel took a slightly different approch for their Astra GTC commercial. Watch the above video and enjoy.

National Motor Museum Australia

April 25, 2008 by Wattsy

Situated in the beautiful wine country of South Australia lies the National Motor Museum at Birdswood. This incredible collection of vehicles traces the importance of transportation in Australia over the last 100 years. Opening in 1965 the centre is not only a museum but a research centre, a place of preservation and an important education tool for the young. The new Holden Pavilion of Australian Motoring offers 3700 square metres of some of Australia’s most important motoring icons including a 45 metre long road train and some very impressive fire engines and commercial vehicles. The centre has traveling exhibitions and some of very interesting examples of important Australian automotive milestones including the a prototype Mitsubishi Magna, a prototype VN series Holden Monaro and the Torana GTR-X developed for the Sydney Motor Show a few years ago.

Zoe Zipper – only its designer could love it

April 22, 2008April 22, 2008 by Wattsy

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The Zoe Zipper was a three wheeled car introduced to the United States in 1983, produced by Misuoka Motors of Japan (a company well known for creating odd cars) it featured only one seat, a 50cc Honda motorbike engine and rather strange styling. The car surprisingly was not a hit with most people preferring two or more seats in their cars and more conventional design. It has been said that fewer of 50 of the cars were built with a sedan, a convertible and a type of mini truck all being available. Today the Zoe company is no more but Misuoka is still around in Japan creating cars based on small Nissan’s and Daihatsu’s with old world Jaguar front and rear end styling.