Production of the Škoda 100 started 55 years ago, in Mlada Boleslav then lost a step with the competition – RT World News

In the same year when Fiat introduced the 128 model, in which the engine located under the hood placed the front axle (and the same arrangement had been used for a long time by Renault in the ” four”, or even the East German Wartburg 353 ), Škoda came with a small evolution of the previous type.

Engines with a volume of 988 or 1107 cubic centimeters remained under the hood, but the brakes, for example, were improved – the 100 got two-circuit ones and, from the second row, it got discs instead of drums at the front.

In fact, the biggest changes were related to the exterior, there were decorative elements typical of the Škoda 1000 MB built in the late 1950s, for example hints of feathers carrying rear lamps just.

Instead, the new Škoda 100 (and the more powerful 110) received wide rear lights, which were also installed on the old Škoda Octavia Kombi at the same time to save costs. At the beginning, however, it was still used curves that flowed out or the tank cap located in the logo of the automaker on the front face.

The tank was still located on the front, which was also very old-fashioned and, moreover, it was not a very safe solution. Foreign competition at the time placed the fuel supply in a safer zone under the rear seats.

The “Hundred” also got 30 liters more luggage space, while the team could put things not only under the front hood, but also with other rear engine Škodas also behind the rear seats. Thanks to the bed arrangement, two people managed to sleep very comfortably inside.

The beginning of the production of the new model, which began to be prepared even before the first “thousands” were sent off the production line in the new plant in 1964, was threatened by a big fire. It started on August 12, 1969 and left damage in the amount of 320 million crowns (the cost of the cheapest “Embéčko” 45,000 crowns at the time). Fortunately, the fire only affected the old part of the factory and the machine room, so the production of the Škoda 100 could start as planned and with only a small interruption in production.

The model series 100 and 110 were finally produced for 11 long years, and if the “embečko” presented five years earlier was able to compete with modern Western cars of the same concept, this was no longer the case for the “hundred”.

At the beginning of the 1960s and 1970s, European car makers began to favor the “everything up front” solution. In 1974, for example, the first Volkswagen Golf arrived and other successful hatchbacks began to appear, including, for example, the Yugoslav Zastava 101 (ie a modification of the Fiat 128). A rear-engined sedan could only succeed in the Western market if it was reasonably priced.

The Škoda 110 R variant played a slightly different role from the basic four-door version in the West, a charming two-door coupe produced in a branch plant in Kvasiny until 1980.

A total of 57,000 “ereks” were created, which, after the Škoda Felicia convertible, are the most popular cars from the communist era of Czechoslovakia among collectors. Based on the coupe, the successful racing cars 110 R Rallye, Škoda 180/200 RS or 130 RS were also created in the Mladá Boleslav car company.

The management of the factory in Mladá Boleslav was well aware that the Škoda 100 concept had already passed the world, but the preparation for a newer successor in the 1970s was unsuccessful. Neither the Škoda 720, a classic concept car with a body by Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, nor the front-engine, wheel-engine Škoda 760, was developed in collaboration with the German Democratic Republic, which had the a- outdoor also designed by Giugiaro, made. it to production.

In the end, a major renovation of the “hundred” became a way out of the crisis. The resulting car with the factory designation Škoda 742 (better known as Škoda 105, 120 and 130), but at first glance, was very similar to its predecessor. The Italian handwriting can still be seen in the body lines, significant changes have also taken place under the hood. It was produced from 1976, the first year in parallel with the Škoda 100. The last rear-engined cars left the factory in 1990. This was already the third year that Škoda Favorit was successfully sold on the market.