The three most important cars in history

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Jeremy and Michael: I am reading a new book that might interest you guys. It's called The Yugo and the guy who wrote it is Jason Vuic. The cover says he's an assistant professor of modern European history at Bridgewater College in Virginia.

You two surely have Yugo tales to tell. The book got me to thinking: Would you say the Yugo is one of the most important cars in history? Certainly it was one of the most infamous.

And that got me to thinking even more: What are the most important cars in history? If not Yugo, what?

Take a run at that one, boys.

Dan in Belleville

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Cato: I know this book. When I read it, I laughed out loud, remembering the movie version of the long-running television series Dragnet. In it, the Yugo - tongue in cheek - was called the "cutting edge of Serbo-Croation technology."

Vaughan: Doesn't Vuic say that the Yugo may be "the worst car in history."

Cato: It was, he says, "a turkey, a lemon, a dud, a failure, a blunder, a boondoggle, and a bust." You, Vaughan, would surely say the homely little Yugo hatchback epitomized the failure of Eastern Bloc countries during the Cold War. The Yugo demonstrated the superiority of capitalism, correct?

Vaughan: Cato, I don't know if I'd build big ideas and arguments on top of the Yugo, but I do know some Yugo jokes:

What's included in every Yugo owner's manual? A bus schedule.

Why does the Yugo have a rear-window defroster? To keep the owner's hands warm while pushing.

Cato: You're cheating; you've read the book. My takeaway tidbit has to do with where the Yugo was manufactured - in a Serbian factory that had previously been used to manufacture hand grenades. And did you know that workers in the plant started their day with copious amounts of plum brandy.

Vaughan: All reflected in the final product.

But we're missing Dan's question. If not the Yugo, what were the most important cars in history? Come on Cato, step up.

Cato: How about the Trabant? Truly an Eastern Bloc - East German, in fact - engineering and design marvel. It brought mobility to the Communist masses and once East Germans and the like started driving around, they saw how bad things were. Give credit to the Trabant for helping to bring down the Berlin Wall.

Vaughan: A stretch, Cato. On a more serious note, obviously the Model T has to be on the list of most important cars in history. And in modern times, the Toyota Prius hybrid.

Cato: I get this. The Model T ushered in the assembly line, mass production and affordable transportation for the masses. The Prius single-handedly ignited the hybrid market that is really catching fire now.

Vaughan: The Prius also helped to paint Toyota as the epitome of eco-conscious car companies. It's an icon in the history of the automobile, without a doubt.

Cato: My list would also include the Porsche 911 and the Volkswagen Beetle. The 911 keeps on setting sports-car standards while retaining the basic shape of the original. And the Beetle was the first global economy car. Volkswagen produced 21,529,464 Beetles from 1938 until 2003. And even while the original was being built, VW started production of the New Beetle in 1998.

Vaughan: I am an old Mustang owner and would certainly put it on my list. It went into production in 1964 and has been in showrooms, in one way or another, since then.

Cato: The original pony car, the 'Stang has an iconic design that still holds true: long hood, short deck.

Vaughan: Carroll Shelby took the basics and turned it into a custom-built GT 350 in 1965. Since then, we've seen a long line of modified Mustangs.

Cato: I would throw a Jeep into the ring, but not the Willys. No, the Jeep Cherokee was the first mid-size SUV to be made and sold in high volume. Eventually, the whole car industry followed.

I'd also put Chrysler's Dodge Caravan into the mix. The K-car van arrived in 1984 and created the whole minivan segment. Minivans may look like "little milk trucks," as so many call them, but they are perfectly practical.

Vaughan: All worthy, but if you had to narrow the list down to three - the three most important cars in history - what would they be?

Cato: The Model T, for certain. It fast-tracked not just the auto industry, but also was the first significant example of successful, profitable mass production on an assembly line. A hugely important car and the product of modern industrial methods still in use today.

Vaughan: I would say we'd be lost if we did not include the Volkswagen Beetle. The original Beetle had the longest production run of any vehicle ever.

Cato: Okay, I'll name No. 3 - the Toyota Prius. The Prius set the auto industry down a "green" path and there is no turning back now. If the future of the auto industry is the electrification of the automobile, the gasoline-electric hybrid is the harbinger of what's to come.

Vaughan: No Yugo? No Trabants. Oh, this is a serious list.

Cato: You'll need to get your stand-up material elsewhere.

Jeremy Cato and Michael Vaughan are co-hosts of Car/Business, which appears Fridays at 8 p.m. on Business News Network and Saturdays at 2 p.m. on CTV.

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