Ask any car enthusiasts aged 30 or more about Skoda cars of their youth and the chances are they’ll still remember a joke or two about the Estelle and Rapid models that were a common sight on the roads back in the 70’s and 80’s.  How do you double the value of a Skoda? Fill it with petrol!! What do you call a convertible Skoda? A skip!!  Why do Skoda’s have heated rear windows? To keep your hands warm when you’re pushing them!! Oh how we used to chuckle whenever we saw somebody actually driving one.

Back in 1894 when a Czechoslovakian bookseller named Václav Clement had difficulty obtaining spare parts for his German-made bicycle and wrote to them, he was so disgusted by their reply that he decided to start his own bicycle repair shop. Despite having no technical knowledge, he went into partnership with a bicycle manufacturer from a nearby town who’s name was Václav Laurin.

Now manufacturing bicycles, in 1899 they debuted their ‘Slavia’ motorcycle and by 1900 they had 32 employees and were exporting machines to the UK and were a moderate success in Europe. They were even credited with producing the first motorcycle by the press. By 1905, they were beginning to produce cars and their first effort, the Laurin & Klement ‘Voiturette A’ was a great success and established them as serious car makers. The onset of WW1 saw them switching to production of trucks for the military but in 1924, after running into financial problems and being hit by a fire, they sought a partner. Enter the Skoda Works, a Czech arms manufacturer with multiple concerns and then the biggest industrial enterprise in the land.

Through the 1930’s, Skoda continued to produce successful cars until the onset of WW2 in which German occupied Czechoslovakia switched the factory to producing machinery to help the war effort. In July 1945, the factory was reconstructed and production began of their first post WW2 car, the 1101 series. Throughout the late 40’s through to the 60’s, they produced a whole range of cars, many whose names are once again familiar today such as the Octavia and Felicia.

Despite being pretty popular in the 70’s and 80’s, their quirky rear-engined cars famed for their alarming handling and somewhat basic interiors and equipment were the butt of many jokes in the UK, where they were considered by many to be inferior to our own Fords, Vauxhalls, Rovers and Austin/Morris machines. The most popular model was the ‘Estelle’ range from the basic 105 to the top-spec 130S and despite the jokes, many owners loved the simplicity and honesty of their Czech cars and many found homes with ‘working class’ families that wanted a bit more for their money.

The next step came in 1987, when the company launched the ‘Favorit’ model which was styled by the renowned Italian design house, Bertone. The Favorit was a conventional front-engined, front wheel drive hatchback with a ‘normal’ shaped body and improved interior. These became quite popular and were deemed almost acceptable to UK buyers as they weren’t much different from most European hatchbacks of the era.

The transformation of Skoda really happened in April 1991, when they obviously buried the hatchet with their old enemy and became the fourth member of the Volkswagen group. Their 1994 Felicia model, although still based on the older Favorit was much improved and became fairly popular with buyers throughout Europe. Having access to the technology and development expertise of the mighty Volkswagen group meant that their range of cars improved all the time and were able to share floorpans and mechanical components from their German ’sister’ cars.

No longer did people snigger at the mention of the name Skoda, and a clever advertising campaign on TV and in the press ensured that soon, instead of seeing Skoda as a maker of poorly-built basic cars from the former Eastern Bloc, they were now more of a ‘cheaper Volkswagen’. Whatever they did, it seemed to have worked and now they are everywhere. In many cases, they actually beat their equivalent Volkswagen and Audi alternatives in terms of value and reliability!

As I write this, the Skoda Yeti has just been voted ‘Car of the Year’ by Auto Express, and even Evo magazine, more akin to running Ferrari, Aston Martin and Lamborghini cars on their long term fleet have just taken delivery of a new Yeti! It’s even got to the stage where I’ve been looking enviously at them whilst driving around, and have been tentatively browsing Skoda’s excellent website, trying to choose between the 1.2 TSi or the 2.0 TDi model.

The very thought brings back memories of a 1988 Skoda Estelle 130 that I briefly owned around 15 years ago. I bought it from one of our customers for (as I recall) £250.00 and sold it to an elderly gentleman for a £50 profit in my early days of motor dealing.  It’s unfortunate he lived locally, as he was back every other day to have a fuse wiggled, water leak fixed or choke cable tightened. I hated working on it as it had horrible sharp edges on all the metalwork and I’d always cut my hand when reaching into the depths of the rear engine bay  to fix something. The rubber hoses and pipes were of such poor quality that I was fighting a losing battle to stop its various fluids oozing onto the tarmac beneath. The electrics were a law unto themselves and the switchgear for the lights and wipers etc. was of such dismal quality that they might have been made from chocolate. Fortunately, he soon became too old to drive and the Skoda was duly disposed of and I never saw it again. The next Skoda I owned was a 2002 Fabia and apart from sharing the same name, they were truly worlds apart. Despite having covered 119,000 miles, it drove like new and was barely different from the VW Polo on which it is based.

Finally, sitting in the leather upholstered rear seat of a 2007 Skoda Superb V6 TDi on my way to Hamburg airport, I could have just as easily been in an Audi A6, BMW 5-Series or Mercedes E-Class, such was the quality of the ride and the finish. The Superb really does live up to its name, and any minicab driver that spends his day behind the wheel of one is generally a happy chap these days.

So, the old jokes are no longer in fashion now that Skoda is now another quality product of the VAG group. Since Lada stopped selling cars in the UK, and Zastava (due to the war in Yugoslavia) ceased production of the terrible Yugo and Sana models, what does the average Brit have to take the piss out of these days? Well, my vote goes (again – see my previous post) to the Ssanyong Rodius, or maybe the pitiful French-built Aixam microcar – Google it and see if you agree!

You Should Also Check Out This Post:

More Active Posts: