In fact, it was a “spartacus” facelift, but it is much better known today. We are talking about the original Škoda Octavia, which first appeared to the world in January 1959. Today, however, the anniversary celebrates something else – the end of its production, which fell on December 21, 1971.
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In the 1950s, the Mladá Boleslav carmaker marked its new cars with numbers, which it gradually replaced with verbal names. The Škoda 440 became the Octavia, the Škoda 445 the Octavia Super and the Škoda 450 the popular Felicia convertible. “Our new type of car has also been given a new name. It will be called the Škoda Octavia, because it is the eighth type of our nationalized industry, ”said the then company magazine Ventil in its issue of January 6, 1959.
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Škoda Octavia
Photo: Miroslav Chaloupka, CTK
At first glance, the octavia differed from its spartak predecessor mainly in the shape of the front grille (it was oval and lacked “whiskers” above the radiator grille), the changes also affected the chassis, where the front axle finally got coil springs instead of a leaf spring and just as the spartak had octavia independently suspended all wheels, which gave it decent driving characteristics.
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Under the hood of a 4.07 meter long car, a four-cylinder engine with a volume of 1.09 liters and an output of less than 30 kW remained, with which the car reached a maximum speed of 110 km / h with an average fuel consumption of 7.7 l / 100 km. The Super and Touring Sport versions received a more powerful, 40 kW unit, of which the latter reached a maximum speed of 128 km / h and cost over 40,000 crowns.
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Skoda Octavia TS 1200
Photo: Škoda
In September 1960, a station wagon was introduced, which had been manufactured at the Kvasiny plant since the summer of 1961. The car had the same external dimensions as the Tudor (two-door sedan), but stood out on the flat floor of the large luggage compartment. In 1961, the Octavia underwent a visual modernization, and elegant “fins” topped with new drop-shaped taillight covers were added to its sterns, modeled on ships from hated imperialist America.
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In the early 1960s, the Octavia took part in various car competitions, including the famous Monte Carlo Rally. In 1961, the Finnish crew Esko Keinänen-Rainer Eklund in Monaco with the Octavia Touring Sport took first place in the group and finished sixth overall. A year later, the crew took part in the Finnish Rally of Thousand Lakes, where they finished second overall.
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Škoda Octavia Combi at the International Engineering Fair in Brno in 1965
Photo: Alexandr Hampl, CTK
In the spring of 1964, the Škoda introduced a new 1000 MB model, popularly called the “embéčko”, which marked the beginning of a new era for cars with a rear engine and rear axle drive. People nicknamed him in various ways, including “a thousand small pains.”
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However, on a platform with an in-line engine behind the rear axle, it is very difficult to build a station wagon or any commercial vehicle. Although Volkswagen managed to do this with the Type 2 and adhered to it for many years, it was not tied to the centrally planned economy of the Bolshevik state system.
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Skoda Octavia Combi
Photo: Jaroslav Sládek, ČTK
In Czechoslovakia, on the basis of the “embéčka”, despite a number of prototypes, a station wagon or van was not created, but a commercial vehicle was needed, so the station wagon Octavia continued production until the aforementioned December 21, 1971. Forman station wagon derived from the Favorit model.
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At present, there are still almost 10,000 Škoda Octavia cars registered in the Czech Republic from 1959 to 1971. Of the exact 9762 octaves, only 133 of them are registered as historic vehicles. The remaining pieces are on standard “white notes”, ie with registration marks intended for cars in normal operation.
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Production of the Škoda Octavia Combi in Kvasiny in 1961
Photo: Jan Tachezy, CTK
The reason why this is the case, when perhaps no one drives the original Octavia daily, may be that such cars may have the original license plate from when it was new. With such brands, old cars are more prized by collectors. And they can still have a so-called small veteran test. The obligation to have a regular MOT remains, but the insurance is governed by the rules for historic vehicles. Of course, it is not clear how many cars are actually mobile.
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