SERBIAN AND YUGOSLAV PRIDE FADES INTO HISTORY

Legendary Yugoslav Car Firm
Fades Into History

by MILIVOJE PANTOVIC

The final closure of the long defunct Zastava car factory in Kragujevac has left many Serbs grieving for a part of their history that is now definitely over.

The cars - once popular throughout the former Yugoslavia - have not been produced for years. But the “lock on the factory gate” in Kragujevac - which a Serbian court ordered placed last week - marks a final break with what some believe was "a better past”. The company Zastava Automobile from Kragujevac was declared bankrupt on Thursday because of mounting debts and after its bank account was blocked for 701 days.

Legendary "Fica" FIAT/ZASTAVA 750 - Yugoslav "Folksvagen" - people's car, the label of a socialistic standard - still have numerous fan clubs in Europe with several thousands members.

The Commercial Court in Kragujevac, acting on the proposal of the Ministry of Economy, started bankruptcy proceedings on the grounds that Zastava's negative equity topped 410 million euros.

“The factory was built in the post-war period in the Fifties, after World War II, and as we built the factory and the models in it, the factory was building us," said Slavoljub Bataveljic, president of the “Fica fan club” and a former worker at Zastava. "It had a huge impact on the city of Kragujevac, which start to thrive after the factory opened," he added.

In the 1950s, the "Fica", a small car modelled on the Italian Fiat 600, become a symbol of the modernization and success of a new Socialist Yugoslav society.

Almost a million “Ficas" had rolled off the Zastava assembly lines by 1985, metaphorically putting Yugoslavs on four wheels. Bataveljic told BIRN that the definitive closure of the factory was an emotional event for him.

Some 300 former workers are also demanding back pay that the company owes them, worth almost 120 million dinars [about a million euros]. They are claiming the unpaid wages for the years from 1997 to 2001.

The former workers wanted bankruptcy proceedings delayed until they established the real size of the company assets, arguing that the assets were much bigger than were shown.

By the time it closed, the company was down to only three employees. Back in 1989, before international sanctions and the start of the war in Yugoslavia, it employed 13,500 people and produced 220,000 vehicles a year.

All that changed in the Nineties, when, because of sanctions and war, it stopped working and Kragujevac become known as “the valley of hunger”.

The first Serbian/YU car in full - ZASTAVA 101 - famous "Stoyadin". The peoples standard in Socialistic Federate Republic of Yugoslavia had grown, so were automobiles. "Stoyadin" successfully replaced popular "Fica".  

In 2008, the property and equipment of Zastava Automobile were transferred to a new company, Fiat Serbia, presently Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Serbia, while the debts and surplus workers remained with Zastava.

Zastava was one of great symbols of the former Yugoslavia becaause the cars made in the factory were driven not just by most of the adult population of the old Yugoslavia but were popular throughout the Balkans and beyond.

There are still numerous fan clubs in the region celebrating the cars produced in the factory, especially the Zastava 750, or "Fica".

Bataveljic said he started the fan club in 2005, not just to commemorate the legendary Fica but to keep alive memories of the all of the models produced in the Zastava factory.

Production of the Fica, the first model in the factory, started in 1955 and ended in 1985.

Флаша за ракију у облику "Фиће"

Old Nishliyas (citizens of the town of Niš - pron. Nish-, SE Serbia) know the following anecdote related to the popular "Fica". Peple of the town of Kragujevac were very proud of "their Fica". Thus, at the event "Meeting of Serbia's towns" in Niš Fortress, at the beginning of the 60's, the Mayor of Kragujevac, on stage in front of the audience, handed the mayor of Niš as a gift to the host, a bottle of brandy in the form of a car "Fica" - meaning that they have automobile "Fica", and Niš doesn't. 

The Mayor of Niš, who had nothing visible in his hands to return the gift, began digging through his pockets and after a short time pulled out a marble handing it to the Mayor of Kragujevac - the message was, you have a "Fica," but we have a "marble" - in Serbian slang the meaning is "creative thinking" (we don't copy from the others). This humorous exchange of messages in the form of "gifts" made the whole audience in Niš Fortress laughing and the anecdote has been told and retold for a long time. (Added by LG)

“People today cannot imagine what kind of effort all the workers put into building this factory. When the factory opened, no one had special training for the jobs that we performed, so everything was learned along the way,” Bataveljic recalled.

Following a star! Yugo "America" - "Rusty body, runs great!". This Yugoslav attempt to "conquer" USA auto-market resulted in 150.000 cars sold, several movies appearance, a lot of jokes, and fan clubs. However, we've been there! 

He said he drove Ficas all over the former Yugoslavia. In the holidays, he recalled, people would pack the whole family into this small car and drive to the sea or wherever they spent their vacation.

“We have been organizing festivals for the Fica and the other Zastava cars in Kragujevac for 12 years but we are expanding. Now, the festival is named the Balkan Fica Fest. People from all over ex-Yugoslavia countries come to our festivals, even from France or Switzerland,” Bataveljic said.

Almost million Ficas were made in total, he said, and it deserved its own monument because its impact on the culture and economy in Yugoslavia had been so large.

The final trying in the country that has been meant for dismantle, but we didn't know that at the time. YUGO FLORIDA, the run for the border in design, quality, luxury and affordability.  

His fan club has collected over 3,000 signatures in a petition demanding that this symbol of the long-gone country and its culture is immortalized on one of the city squares.

Source: BalkanInsight| Author: Milivoje Pantovic| Originally posted: July 25, 2016.