Drowning Mona 2000 PG-13 1 h 36 m IMDb RATING 5.7 /10 15K YOUR RATING Rate Play trailer 2:23 1 Video 67 Photos Comedy Crime Mystery When a woman drives a car into the river to her death, everyone in town becomes a suspect. The real reason why Crvena Zastava went into this adventure was that they were desperate to get some foreign currency to keep assembly lines alive. Enterior wall panels were thin cardboard with painted on carpet flecks. \"Drowning Mona\" is bad . No regrets and better than any $1500 alternatives at the time. The Yugo? She was rather negligent about maintenance, so would have been tough on any vehicle, but her Yugo, like many of its kind, fell apart rather quickly, stressing a budget that was already tight. Your email address will not be published. First, salt as a melting agent on roads was relatively new. From the start, Zastava resented the profit dealers made, and thought their expenses exorbitant. Complete with opera lamps and padded roof. I also have to say that state ownership does not always lead to poor business. As for the FloridaBricklin was itching to bring it in. Though set in Verplanck, "Drowning Mona" was shot entirely within an hour's commute of Los Angeles. The man is Malcom Bricklin. Rona Mace (Jamie Lee Curtis) is an anagram for "a romance". I was unaware of the Bricklin connection at the time, and in fact learned about it here on CC, but I remember seeing some Bricklins as a kid, thinking that they were cool looking cars, and wondering why there werent more of them. It was mainly low used values (the proton badge had no snob appeal) and apathy that saw them scrapped rather than any major fault of the car. When I got there, my promised job had fallen through and my wife and child still needed a car, and I needed one for working. Not too long before I sold it, it had started to develop noisy CV joints, but by then the car was 8 years old and 100,000 miles. Why did so many Fiat designs get recycled and built behind the Iron Curtain? Since Yugo America was basically just a collection of cheap office furniture and unanswered phones, creditors received essentially nothing for their interests in the company. But the acquisition by Fiat in 2010 renders all of that as ancient history. Two Yugo episodes: The first while working on a construction crew in the 1987-88 period, at a project west of Rochester, NY one morning a Yugo rolls onto the lot, out pops a nervous, typical pocket-protector young engineering type, tells us he is out of gas, could anyone give him a ride to his job.at Kodak! She wrote something like, How cute, Ill be Lelo in her Yugo.. 1. There are, to be fair, other theories about how Jeff (Marcus Thomas) lost his hand, although in every scenario he was reaching for a beer. We heard of the Yugo here far away in South Africa, but now I know how it all came about and fell apart. Destination was Las Vegas; and by the time I got there the only way to get it to move was in First. But they did. All four brake drums were tampered with, the brake fluid was drained, and the perp also drained some other fluids just to be on the safe side. Assuming the gentleman was telling the truth, this has to be some kind Why did Yugos have standard rear defrost? Membership also saw a similarly sharp increase, with over 1,800,000 in the same year (300,000 more than in 1970). Disc #1 -- Drowning Mona Play Feature Chapters Setup 5.1 Surround Stereo English SDH Subtitles: On Subtitles: Off Extras - Trailers Drowning Mona Eye Of The Beholder . Lack of an automatic would hamper the car during all but the final year in the states. Wyatt finds no shortage of suspects. Edit: Gah! Motor Trend reported that their hand picked press ringer broke down during testing. A Mitsubishi in all but name, Proton wisely didnt fiddle around with it much meaning you got a reliable Pseudo-Japanese car for your money, not a cobbled together lash up like the yugo was. But for all that, and with weight today an even greater issueour Asian friends seem to have licked the corrosion problem. But after a slow start because of supply problems, the car began selling in volume during year two. After the wars, Zastava redesigned their cars with help from Fiat and Citroen, and gained new technologies to have them compete with other European cars. The place where I used to work was given a Yugo 45. Very well-maintained. They are also heavily used rather than background or minor action vehicles. As far as ethnicity goes, Im Russian by birth, Belarus to be exact, and have that somewhat stocky build to prove it! The two-door chassis is, I understand, a 127. But of course, a parking lot fender bender would be enough to total these cars. The Mopar fuselage cars were not too bad, but the 71 on up B bodies were not so good. Some dinosaur relic, Id never seen before. Because he SAYS he has a new belt on there, doesnt mean its so. To be sure, the car was primitive, even by 1980s standards. One day a red one, next day yellow, the day after white, he was gathering up the by then give-away bombs that still ran. Even getting touring car legend Peter Brock to put his name to a Deluxe Limited Edition wasnt enough to help sales. Yes they were cheap, but it was a proper car, built properly. *shakes tiny fist*. YUGO caps and shirts and other fun car show displays. I was amazed when I rode in one, expecting a bouncy distaster but encountering a surprisingly supple feel of the suspension. With just 25 horsepower (at a cacophonous 5500 RPM), the elfin 360 was the type of cynical exercise that would define Bricklins career in the car business. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Wikipedia says that the Yugo quality was satisfactory at the start but went downhill fast and the factory refused to do anything about it. Joe Friday (Dan Aykroyd) had a gold one in the Dragnet movie. Vehicle used a lot by a main character or for a long time, Vehicle used by a character or in a car chase, Minor action vehicle or used in only a short scene. There are like 100 YUGOs in the movie, which I think came out around 1998. a special for the movie,an extended version,or just my failing memory? This car didnt want to go into reverse at a standstill. After Mona Dearly (Bette Milder) dies in the movie's opening moments when her Yugo plows through a guardrail and into the Hudson River far below, Wyatt begins investigating her death. What a story! Drowning Mona Trailer - Yugo Cars 7,448 views May 7, 2014 The NZ Yugo 1.66K subscribers 26 Dislike Share In Drowning Mona everyone drives Yugo Cars and one day Mona borrows her sons. Bricklin was kicked out in the first (of two) bankruptcies, true. Drowning Mona 2000 (PG-13)Strident comedy about the low-IQ denizens of small town Verplanck, New York, where everybody still drives a Yugo (the town was a test market). He drove them all fast and hard which no doubt shortened their operational life. Actions lie louder than words. by Carolyn Wells. 3. An accident has happened - the Yugo of one Mona Dearly has careened off the highway and plunged into the Hudson. couple of months ago when I was in Athens. I think that was true of most of the Japanese automakers the early passenger cars evolved from tiny commercial trucks and three-wheelers, sharing engines with motorcycles. @Zackman: No the real experience was driving that thing in Atlanta rush hour traffic at 80+ MPH. Ive talked to other people in the UK who bought them new, and many have had more than one. It was owned by a gentleman named Dave Benton who claimed to be the former engineering manager for Yugo North America. I had been driving a Datsun 200 SX and the 5 speed was like silk. Youre welcome here anytime ! I was scarred for her to be driving it. Found it! everything behind them. -Because they have already been through hell. Childrens toys are more dependable. I remember that time very well, it was impossible to find coffee or bananas or laundry detergent etc in the stores, and the industry was struggling to get raw materials. I drove it in Atlanta rush hour traffic, it got about 40MPG and I grew to really like the little beast. Ah, the quintessential crap car. It wasnt ancient ethnic hatreds, it was more a perfect storm. Learn how your comment data is processed. I saw this movie. I took all of the fun stuff off of the red one (Italian Cromodora wheels and the AM/FM Cassette) and put it on the blue one. Audis have been headaches to owners at various times. In this black comedy, everyone in a small town becomes a suspect when a much-despised woman not-so-accidentally drives her Yugo off a cliff. Finallywith a new clutch 400 miles oldit tossed the alternator belt. She noted that while it wasnt much good past 65MPH (no overdrive), it never got less than 30MPG, and it handled beautifully. But it needed even more tweaking than did the Jugo 45which is what the Yugo was based on. This, the paring of weight, was even evident in Japanese trucks. its a beautiful nineteenth century townhouse that was redesigned combining the 19th century iron front with a modern glass setback. But they were cheap! Drowning Mona, Movie, 2000 Pictures provided by: garco, antp, ahight Display options: Also known as: Todos la queran muerta (Spain) Mais qui a tu Mona ? And it tanked with the critics. The Birdcage - Features a yellow Yugo Cabrio in Miami. But then thats not what most folks are exactly looking for. Another movie moment: Nick drives a Yugo in the film _Nick & Norahs Infinite Playlist_. My favorite memory was the NYC art exhibit where every sculpture was created from the remains of an old Yugo. But what about quality disasters in a different scenario?. Yugo gave everybody in town one to have. A "Fetzer valve" is a fictional part of an engine, introduced in the movie Fletch (1985). It was a much more reliable and simple design than the 128 engine in States bound Yugos. If Germany had built it, would it have been called the Germ? Im trying to remember, she actually, may have owned two of them. Sales ended in the U.S. that year when a recall was ordered by the feds over emissions issues related to faulty carburetors. My point is more that while suited for its home market, the Yugo was a cynical attempt by its promoter to make a quick buck by appealing to the most fickle, least loyal of all purchasers-the price shopper.It is only coincidental that the car was built in Yugoslavia. The interior was fading right from day one. Dan beat me to it. After the 1973 oil shock and protracted period of economic stagnation globally, Western markets had less incentive to buy anything from Yugoslavia. I bought a used, year-old Yugo. Also in Drowning Mona's favor, at the heart of the movie, is a genuinely positive character, Verplanck Police Chief Wyatt Rash (Danny DeVito).He's possibly the only principled citizen in town. I cant imagine that anybody that test drove one like mine actually laid down real money for one. And incompetence does not negate the political reasons, until and unless the failure of management becomes an unavoidable political embarrassment. But with enough TLC (something the average American consumer wasnt high on), maybe they werent so bad (at least a few of them, anyway). What am I supposed to make outta that? document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. But outside of regular tourist routes and specially on the outer islands, unofficial nude beaches were everywhere. Bricklin used franchise fees to run the company (a major accounting no-no) while the car was being modified for safety and emissions certification in the U.S. and dealerships were sold, territories assigned. We had these in the U.K, I dont remember them being particularly bad, the main criticism was that it was seen as too expensive for what was clearly an Eastern European rehash of a cast off western design. The "Fetzer valve", when Lucinda the mechanic is giving the Sheriff her findings about Mona's car, she says the "Fetzer valve" had been punctured. Everyone in Verplanck, N.Y., drives a Yugo. This was almost $1100 lower than the cheapest Chevy Sprint and lower than even the Hyundai Excel. (* 5-20 for older cars, up to 200 if they have to change water-pump and rollers, new models are more expensive, but 500 maybe for new BMW). Other folks I know routinely neglect maintenance on some very well regarded cars and wonder why they have such bad luck! Having had some up-close contact with a 128, Id say that its more 128 than 127. Renault has been in state ownership since the 50s, and has been a very profitable company. The Yugo, new clutch, new exhaust, patched wiring and all, went into the trash. I have often wondered why Bricklin didnt try to make a ploy for the tooling to be set up in a higher quality shop. As I said earlier, this car obviously didnt meet the expectations of the majority of the American masses, but I know you werent the only one who found the Yugo a simple and easy-to-work-on car. They obviously do not run. The first thing to appear onscreen is a little blurb about the Yugo car company using the town of Verplanck as a test area for their new model years ago. Ive always had a soft spot for these little cars from Yugoslavia. 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