Living with Zastava Florida Business - Little car that could returns to hometown

[Matty]

On 10/11/2024 at 15:08, IronStar said:

(511 in the UK).

We had one when I was a kid and the family was quite skint for a period. Sold an XR2 to get the money out of it and bought the Yugo for £200. I was so embarrassed at the time (12) but by God it was a good car. Snapped cambelt, new belt 2 new valves lapped in good to go. Car crash in the snow, new bumper bit of finessing with a ballpein good to go

 Proper motor.

 

[IronStar]

42 minutes ago, Matty said:

We had one when I was a kid and the family was quite skint for a period. Sold an XR2 to get the money out of it and bought the Yugo for £200. I was so embarrassed at the time (12) but by God it was a good car. Snapped cambelt, new belt 2 new valves lapped in good to go. Car crash in the snow, new bumper bit of finessing with a ballpein good to go

 Proper motor.

 

People love shitting on them because they’re cheap motors with no prestige attached but if you even remotely keep up with maintenance they are great cars. Tough, dependable, built to last and be simple to fix. Shame about the (lack of) rustproofing.

[hairnet]

would visa make that

[IronStar]

6 minutes ago, hairnet said:

would visa make that

Easily 😄

[IronStar]

You know what’s back from long-time loan? Yup! It’s back home baby! Delivered from cousin-Star tonight, as he finally got confidence back in his Bini and finished lugging things around that needed a bigger car. It’s exchanged for Mini so he can surprise his kid tomorrow with what I can only guess is “look what IronStar did to my ex-car that was absolutely shattered last time you saw it!” type of scene. 😄

It’s a bit worse for wear. Last time I saw it, I clumsily pushed in switches on the side of the speedo, and cracked the very very tired switch mounting bracket. 🤦‍♂️ End result of that is LED wiring managed to rip itself apart from shaking around and being tugged on. 
So switches went out

and back together 

This mounting bracket actually has the locking pins as well, so it shouldn’t rattle around. If only seller manages to find another one or 5, as these are super prone to borkage, and these are probably the sole remaining NOS items in existence.

One of the dash backlight bulbs conked out as well, and annoyingly it’s the one on the odometer. Shit quality parts strike again. I’m so not looking forward to taking that apart again. 

I got reminded again about how uncomfortable the seats are, and now I’m almost 100% certain I want them out, into the bin, and replaced with something nicer, probably 156 leather ones. I like originality and these are Florida Business only, but I also like being able to drive the car without being stupidly uncomfortable in it.

I also spoke to the bodyshop guy, and he’s happy for me to deliver all the bodywork for it before it goes extinct and he’ll store it in his attic along with all the other parts he owns, and put them on when it gets its turn in the shop. A++++ bloke, looking forward to spending more money for his services.

[IronStar]

You may or may not’ve seen that the car was retrieved from its long-term loan duty the other day. Today is the day little car that could went home. Home home to Kragujevac, the hometown of Zastava. 

You know how I keep saying this car is stupidly rare, but no one gives a shit really? How rare? Im the biggest Zastava meet there is, in its hometown, there is a single other, and not nearly as rich in trim. Predictably, next to no one gives a shit about it, even here. However, everyone I spoke to was shocked by the fact it has an aircon. 😄

Anyway, have a bunch of Zastavas in their hometown, parked in front of the city hall.

 

[hairnet]

the facelift is massively fugly

 

[Yoss]

1 hour ago, IronStar said:

You may or may not’ve seen that the car was retrieved from its long-term loan duty the other day. Today is the day little car that could went home. Home home to Kragujevac, the hometown of Zastava. 

You know how I keep saying this car is stupidly rare, but no one gives a shit really? How rare? Im the biggest Zastava meet there is, in its hometown, there is a single other, and not nearly as rich in trim. Predictably, next to no one gives a shit about it, even here. However, everyone I spoke to was shocked by the fact it has an aircon. 😄

Anyway, have a bunch of Zastavas in their hometown, parked in front of the city hall.

 

Looks like a great day out.