Oppoprojects: 1973 Zastava 750

"Spasoje" (Spasoje)
09/15/2014 at 15:47 • Filed to: Oppoprojects, Zastava 750, Car Culture, Classic Cars, Fiat, Rare, Import

A cream-colored Zastava 750 once made an appearance in an old movie, which I happened to watch as a kid. The little car had suicide doors and an engine that sounded like it was reversing when it was actually going forward.

This unusual beast grasped my curious mind instantly. My parents then mentioned it was a domestic car - I was hooked.

I now remember nothing about the film, but the car never left my memory. ‘Googling it’ didn’t exist at the time - now living half a world away, there was no way to completely satisfy my curiosity. And so, I began to forget the strange little car.

I handful of years later, I nonchalantly opened a Kinder Surprise egg. I gazed in disbelief at what I had found inside its inner plastic cocoon: a Fiat 600. With suicide doors. How could this be!?

It was my first ever opportunity to actually look around the car at my own leisure, examining all the details I never before could.

I still have it.

It remained my only link to the world of the Fia (pronounced “ fee-cha ” - it’s the nickname of the Zastava 750 and subsequently any Fiat 600 a former-Yugoslavian sees) until I visited Belgrade’s classic car museum. In its lobby were hundreds of 1:43-scale models for sale, many of them Zastava 750s...

I should mention, at some point in my childhood I saw a police Fia in another movie, appearing just as fascinating to my eye as that cream-colored one. It was my duty to relieve the museum of two of their scale models, a cream-colored one and one in police livery.

Both were 1973 models - the only MY they had in stock.

I began planning my idea to find a unique classic car. Little did I know that from that point on, I’d become completely powerless: the project would take its own reins.

But which car to look for? History decided. Reflecting on my progression from silver-screen Fia, to Kinder-Surprise Fia, to scale-model Fia, the next step was clear: I had to find a real one now.

But of course, it would be cream-colored with suicide doors. I would settle for nothing less.

Or so I thought. Nonsense.

I found a suicide-door model which promptly sold mere hours after it was posted. There wasn’t another one on sale that wasn’t rusted out beyond repair.

The only good one left was a white 1973 model with conventional doors. It seemed to be in solid condition, mechanically sound, and had a very low asking price. The day after, I realized that I hadn’t found the car at all.

It had found me.

ALL THE SPECS YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW - OR DIDN’T:

1973 Zastava 750 Luxe (i.e. a Fiat 600D from another mother)
767cc 8-valve OHV L4, carburated
4-speed manual
27 hp @ 4,800 RPM; 36 lb-ft @ 3,000 RPM
110 km/h / 68 mph top speed
0-60 in definitely under a minute
5.8 L/100km / 41 MPG
600 kg / 1,300 lbs curb weight
30 L / 8 gal fuel tank

Length: 3.3 m / 130”
Width: 1.4 m / 55”
Height: 1.4 m / 55”
Wheelbase: 2.o m / 78”

I also run a website dedicated to the car: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

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DISCUSSION (5)

duurtlang > Spasoje
09/15/2014 at 16:15

If you're still looking for that movie, try IMCDB .

Kinja'd!!!

Spasoje > duurtlang
09/15/2014 at 16:19

Kinja'd!!!

I actually found it a little while ago! Turned out it was a TV series not a movie, and the car was silver and not cream-colored...it's funny how your memory (or VHS quality) distorts things. :)

http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_668546…

Jobjoris > Spasoje
09/15/2014 at 17:48

0-60 in definitely under a minute

People certainly will make way for that!

Nice write-up, excellent ending. Is the transmission fully synched?

Spasoje > Jobjoris
09/15/2014 at 17:50

No synchro on first, but second, third, and fourth have it.

Jobjoris > Spasoje
09/16/2014 at 02:49

Ah, just like the 'real' 600. Maybe add an link to http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/tag/zastava-75… as well in this post, this way you never have to update this 'oppoprojects'-page.