1986 Yugo GV

I haven't seen a Yugo on the street since the mid 1990s. The owner must be an automotive genius. For those too young to remember, the Yugo made a big impact on the US market when it arrived in 1985. It initially sold for $4,000 or about $10,600 today. That's 26% cheaper than the Chevy Spark, the cheapest car you can buy in the US today.

Malcolm Bricklin had a long and extremely sketchy career developing and selling cars of very dubious quality. Case in point: the Yugo, which Car and Driver has called "The Worst Car in History". Long story short, the Yugo was poor quality and fell apart quickly. On the other hand, it's a stretch to say that it was a lot worse than some of the competition at the time. Have you ever driven a Chevy Chevette?

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Auf Wiedersehen: 1979 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible

1977 was the last year for the Beetle coupe in the US. Why? From a New York Times article from August of that year: "In the United States, It has become a victim of international economics, American safety and emissions requirements and just plain changing times.

When the dollar decreased in value relative to the mark, the beetle became more expensive to United States consumers and therefore less competitive. At the same time, according to spokesman for Volkswagen of America, the cost of meeting American emissions and safety standards helped to make the bug uneconomical.

Finally, Japanese auto makers put severe competitive pressure on VW by bringing out more stylish, up‐to‐date small cars for the American market. For this and other reasons, VW changed its product."

The convertible received a reprieve of two years before it disappeared as well. With no convertibles built in the US after 1976, and the demise of the Beetle as well as the MG and the Triumph, by 1981 American convertible buyers were limited to a handful of German and Italian cars.

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1964 Studebaker Lark Daytona convertible, 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk

Two exceptionally rare Studebakers I spotted on my trip to the Big Island of Hawaii. The Studebaker plant in South Bend, Indiana closed in December of 1963. This car could have been one of 417 Daytona convertibles made there for the 1964 model year, or one of 286 made at the company's Canadian plant. This was the last Studebaker convertible made, and the Canadian plant closed as well in 1966.

The Golden Hawk was possibly the fastest car made in America, built with a Packard V-8 in 1956 and a supercharged Studebaker V-8 in 1957 and 1958.

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