Ten Skodas You (Probably) Didn't Know About
Skoda's Vampiric coupe? An armoured car that suffocated its occupants? It's all true...
These days, Skoda may be a producer of some decent cars but, with the possible exception of its vRS offerings, it's still a marque that's hardly likely to set the petticoats of most enthusiasts alight.
So the prospect of a factory tour followed by a visit to the Skoda museum when you really want to be heading out to the Czech countryside to see some rallying is not going to fill you with glee. (Riggers, don't forget your bobble hat! Ed.)
But things have a habit of being most interesting when you least expect it. Tucked a stone's throw away from Skoda's Mlada Boleslav HQ, where Octavias and the VW Group's 1.2-litre engines (exciting, I know) come to life, is Skoda's modest museum. And it contains - to paraphrase the company's 1980s slogan - some very surprising Skodas indeed...
| First up is this motorcycle, one of Laurin and Klement's (for this was name of the company that would eventually become Skoda Auto) first motorised vehicle. An interesting technical highlight is the hand-pump for the engine oil, which had to be used 'every two to three villages', with the result that the engine could often use more oil than petrol. |
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| Next in the tour of Skoda's weird and wonderful past is this, the 7hp Voiturette, which appeared in 1905 and was Skoda's first car (Skoda, incidentally is the oldest brand in the VW portfolio, and early Skoda's were exported as far away as Japan.) |
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| In at number eight, pop pickers, is this pair of dashing lovelies - Skoda Populars, one from 1936 and one from 1939. The difference? The 1939 car is left-hand drive while the earlier car is a right-hooker. Following the annexation of Czechoslovakia by the Germans, the Czechs switched road sides on 1st May 1939. The changeover happened in one night. |
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| Now we come to a post-war communist gem. This is a rare presidential limousine, a 3-ton armoured behemoth called, without a trace of irony, L - for 'light'. Stopping this monster was tricky enough, but its bulletproof interior also caused a spot of bother for its occupants. The thick glass not only stopped bullets, but it also stopped air entering the car, with the result that the rear-compartment had to be retro-fitted with an air conditioning system to stop El Presidente from suffocating. Genius. |
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| This curiosity might look like a cross between the Batmobile and a DeLorean, but it is in fact the closest Skoda has ever come to creating a supercar. The 1971 Super Sport Type 724 had a 75hp mid-mounted engine, was made from fibreglass and could hit 112mph flat out. Originally white, the 720 was given its current livery, and a new name - Ferat - a decade after its creation when it was the star of a film about a car that ran on its driver's blood instead of petrol. Why this film didn't get an Oscar is frankly beyond us. |
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| This concept Favorit merits inclusion here for a unique 1.6-litre engine (production Favorits never grew beyond 1.3 litres), a heater system separate from the engine (for cold morning starts), and a leather interior. |
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| The top spots in our countdown are held by racing cars. While Skoda is well known for its rallying past, it seems to have dabbled in some rather lovely sports and racing cars, too. This curvy 1958 Skoda 1100 Type 968 could have come from any of the great European sporting marques... |
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| As could this stunning Spider model from the early 1970s, which has more than a whiff of mini Porsche 908 about it. |
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| But the top two spots have to go to this pair of single seaters. The left one is a Formula Skoda MTX, one of 10 examples built in 1970 and 1971, while the one on the right is a Skoda Formula 3 car from 1964. |
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This is nice too:
Possibly a bit harsh. To me the Favorit is that awkward inbetween phase at Skoda when they stopped making interesting cars but hadn't quite got to the good ones.
This is nice too:
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