Brief History
The Skala 55 first emerged on October 15, 1971, as the Zastava (YUGO) 101 (internationally, the Zastava 1100 or 311/ 313/ 511/ 513). Derived from Italy's Fiat 128, which Zastava also produced (Zastava 128), the 101 added a practical fifth door.
Arriving a full three years before Fiat's own 128 3P and Volkswagen's Golf, the 101 was among the very first hatchbacks with engine and gearbox located astride each other.
Front-wheel-drive in an era when most manufacturers were still years away from making the switch, the Zastava YUGO offered excellent space utilization. Independent rear suspension coped well with challenging Eastern European roads, while engines designed by the legendary Aurelio Lampredi worked best at heady rpms.
In 1973, the Zastava YUGO 101 won its class in the 17th international Tour d'Europe rally. The following year, Yugoslav driver J. Palikovic was reportedly piloting his 101 faster than his Porsche competition over several stages.
In February 1975, Zastava (YUGO) organized an expedition from its hometown of Kragujevac to Kilimanjaro. Five brand-new, standard Zastava 101 cars and 11 crew members travelled African deserts and savanna, finishing their 45-day expedition on the top of Kilimanjaro. Zastava consequently markets the car as Vozilo uspeha (roughly translated, vehicle of success).
In Poland, the FSO factory produced the Zastava 101 through 1976.
In 1979, 88,918 Zastava (YUGO) 101 models left Kragujevac lines. Two years later, the car had been crowned Yugoslavia's Car of the Decade.
The early '80s sees the 101 become quite popular in the United Kingdom. Advertised under the slogan Go New! Go Yugo!, the 311/ 313/ 511/ 513 is the cheapest new car available to British buyers. In 1984, the range's entry-level model costs less than £2,400, roughly half the price of the equivalent Ford Escort. In order to avoid rust caused by road gritting, hard PVC coating was used throughout the underside, sills and valances.
In 1991, the millionth Zastava (YUGO) Skala was produced.
Zastava in 2008 still sells the Skala 55. It is Serbia's most-affordable automobile. "We've sold more than 1.5 million... we're still building... you're still buying," says Kragujevac-based Zastava Automobili.
The last 1,045,258th Zastava 101 rolled off the assembly line at November 20, 2008, what is summarily the 1,273,532 Zastava Skala cars (1,045,258 Zastava 101 and 228,274 Zastava 128 car models).
Read more about this topic: Zastava Skala
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