Re: [Amc-list] Remember when? cars in Budapest

["Swygert, Francis G MSgt 436 CES/CECM" <Francis.Swygert3@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On the Trabant: I have a bit of experience with air cooled two stroke
bikes of similar design. The engines can be freshened up without coming
out of the car. From the posters I'd say that the engine is the same as
a motorcycle -- you can pull the heads, jugs, and pistons from the top,
and rebuild the top end with the engine in the car. It even has roller
bearings in the bottom end, so that likely never wears out -- unless you
run gas without oil in it. 

Fiats/Yugos: The USSR contracted with FIAT in the late 60s/early 70s to
help update plants in several communist block countries, and to build a
new plant auto plant in Russia (AutoVAZ -- which built the Fiat 124 as a
Lada model). I remember reading in a 69 or 70 Popular Mechanics (or
similar magazine) about the contract. Notice that the Polish Fiats look
almost identical to the Fiat 127 and the larger ones the Fiat 128. I
thought that's where the Yugo came from, but an article in Wikipedia
says that the company was already building vehicles well before the
communists took over. The drivetrain is derived from Fiat designs
though. That might have been part of the update deal, who knows? There
are many Fiat based designs in former communist block nations -- now you
know why!

While we like to think the Yugo died because it wasn't selling, the fact
is it disappeared from the US due to the Yugoslav civil war (Bosnia).
Interesting article! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugo

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