The Audi 50 At 50, Germany’s First Small Car
15/04/2024
Skoda Museum Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic
2017 marked quite a year for Skoda cars as one if it’s most successful creations, certainly one which gave it a newer customer base in the UK, was launched. The second generation Favorit was the more conventional front wheel drive car that us Western Europeans had grown accustomed to. It took until 1989 for the car to reach us in the UK and it became a success, selling over 50,000 examples up to 1995, of which I wish I’d bought one.
So, over 30 years ago one of the best products to come from the central Bohemia car manufacturer, and it gave me a reason to visit the museum. Actually, this is my second visit, but the first to its new location and it’s worth the trip.
But, there is more to the museum and much more to Skoda than the recent Favorit, did you know that the company is one of the oldest car manufacturers? Founded in 1895 as Laurin and Klement, bicycle manufacturers, they turned their attention to powered vehicles and made motorcycles, then in turn cars as early as 1905. Václav Laurin’s talent for designing and making thing simpler and lighter made it possible to produce, well, people’s cars. The most well known of these being the Popular of 1934. Anyway, I’ll let some of the exhibits tell the story as we go round.
The first thing you see is the Popular Sport Monte Carlo, produced from 1936 it featured a larger engine, wider track, but shorter wheelbase than the standard car. But look at it, it’s stunning. The positive camber of the rear wheels rather evident, but the suspension was all fully independent.
Skoda, Over 100 Years Of History
Once in the museum, the exhibits are beautifully arranged and accessible.
Some of the earlier works were there, from the Slavia bicycles to the Laurin & Klement motorcycles and the first car, the Type A introduced in 1905. Emil Škoda, the industrialist bought the company and started producing cars under the Skoda name, still with Laurin & Klement doing as they did before. It was kind of a Rolls-Royce relationship, one highly technical, the other the people person and sales side. It’s appropriate too as they did make some exceedingly luxurious cars in their time.
Including this, the rather imposing Superb. First appearing in 1934 and ending in 1943, reappearing again in 1946 and lasting up to 1949. The one below being from 1939 as they carried the spare wheel behind the front mudguards. not only was this a large luxury car, but it also has an overhead valve V8 engine of 4 litre capacity.
Before the state ownership of Skoda, they produced the rival to any of the other large Western European marques. Things however were going to change. A little before that they developed something of a success in the form of the Popular. They managed this by making a simpler cheaper to produce backbone chassis. This formed the basis of several different vehicles, the Type 953 below being one. There were also very pretty convertible versions of the same car. More commonly found was the Estelle, in rather a nice green colour on the left.
The Estelle sold quite well in the UK, but with their rear engine, rear wheel drive configuration, they were different to much of the Western cars that had become popular. But these were seriously competitive in rallying winning many of their classes, especially on the RAC rally, in which they won the under 1300 trophy seventeen years running.
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Enter the Favorit
This was the car that was replaced by what we consider conventional, front wheel drive hatchback, the Favorit. The development story starts much earlier in 1983 with the rather attractive Bertone prototypes arriving in 1985.
The interior trimmed nicely in leather too. Thankfully much of the Italian style was retained for production.
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It’s worth remembering that Skoda did the design and development work before VW bought into the company and well before they became a controlling interest. Raising the capital to involve an outside design studio, especially one outside the country was quite some undertaking. This company was well inside the iron curtain and was under communist rule. Development of cars wasn’t easy with models usually retaining the underpinnings of the previous model, the Estelle being closely related to the 1000MB. Not what Skoda had wanted, but the Favorit was.
It took a little while, but the Favorit continued the success on the rally scene, the Estelle retaining class honours in the rally of Great Britain whilst the Favorit got into its stride. But in typical Skoda fashion they comprehensively beat the competition. Great stuff.
There were a few derivatives of the little Favorit and the Foreman pickup was one, usually finished in bright yellow. The estate version was a good seller, but there was no saloon version in the line-up. But they did develop one. I remember being a guest of the company many years ago and they had them running around the factory site.
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Maybe a missed opportunity? Perhaps, there were a few more of those of course, there was a good representation in the museum.
Not everything they own was on display, so that means I’m going to have to go back, it’s worth the trip. As you may have guessed, I’m a bit of a fan of the marque, their cars and their history. I have only covered a fraction of what is Skoda, I’ve more to learn myself, I did buy the Path to the Favorit book so there’s no excuse.
If you find yourself in Prague, catch the train to Mladá Boleslav and have a look round. Say Jalopy Magazine sent you.
Head to Facebook to find a few more images in the gallery here.
Simon
Many thanks to Skoda Cars and the museum in Mlada Boleslav.
