Skoda Octavia Super
Skoda Octavia Super Skoda Octavia Super
Well, a little out of breath? Yes, 100 km / h for such a motor, and most importantly, at this age - serious speed. But we were late, and your owner Miroslav encouraged: they say, you can even faster! The reserve on the gas pedal, indeed, was not exhausted, but still the car is a pity - not young after all, although it looks great.
FACING THE PEOPLE
It is hard to believe, but from 1949 to 1955 in Czechoslovakia cars were not sold to private traders. They managed to get the car only for great services to the state and the party. In 1952, there were only fifty-three such citizens! Moreover, half of them went to foreign cars. Well, the vast majority of cars produced in the country (including the Skoda factory in Mladá Boleslav) ended up in state and party institutions.
The relaxation came in 1955. A warm breeze of change blew from the USSR, and Czechoslovakia required normal commodity-money relations. The first national car of the post-war era was the Skoda-440 Spartak (this name did not take root and did not last long): a nice two-door sedan with a 40-horsepower engine. The car cost 27, 900 kroons with an average salary of 1, 300. In 1959, the Skoda Octavia, the heiress of the 440th model, made its debut.
Finishing elements have changed (however, they have been changed regularly anyway), but the main thing is that instead of archaic cross springs, springs appeared in the pendants. By the way, the Skoda company built folk cars with completely independent suspensions before the Second World War.
ABOUT PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP
Our car closest to Octavia is Moskvich-407. They are united by a cramped landing, closely placed pedals: pressing the gas, from the habit, sometimes touched the brake.
There are two gear levers in this car! It turned out to be difficult to repair the steering column drive, so Miroslav installed the floor one (as on all Octavia cars since 1963). But the native, not attached to anything, left
There are two gear levers in this car! It turned out to be difficult to repair the steering column drive, so Miroslav installed the floor one (as on all Octavia cars since 1963). But the native, not attached to anything, left. There are two gear levers in this car! It turned out to be difficult to repair the steering column drive, so Miroslav installed the floor one (as on all Octavia cars since 1963). But the native, not attached to anything, left.
However, when testing the Skoda in the USSR (Soviet citizens weren’t spoiled with foreign cars - they bought cars as analogues, mainly for MZMA), our engineers noted: in terms of acceleration, brakes and economy, the Czechoslovak car is superior to the Soviet one. But the Skoda was a two-door and the rear even closer.
This Czech “lady” is in the “Super” version, with a 1.2-liter engine; in 1962 he developed 47 hp (at first it was 45). The main thing is to get used to the gear shift algorithm: the first is from yourself, forward, backward - towards yourself, back. Synchronizers - at all levels except the first (it requires particularly careful handling and, preferably, a complete stop), for the second half of the 1950s this is the norm.
With the "Muscovites" "Skoda" met not only on city streets and during comparative tests, but also on racetracks. Another sign of the warming in the world of socialism is the rally "For Peace and Friendship", which debuted in 1960: a kind of analogue of the world championship, only, as a rule, with the participation of pilots only from the CMEA countries. Stage race (the first rally started in Prague, and finished in Moscow) the first two years unconditionally won the athletes of Czechoslovakia. By the way, this abbreviation (if anyone forgot - the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic) appeared in the same year, after the adoption of the new constitution.
The constitution, a wave of rehabilitation, in 1962 the body of the former leader Gottwald was taken out of the local mausoleum … The pretty Skoda Octavia was perceived as one of the symbols of an improving present and bright future.
Fashionable in the early 1960s appliances today look modern. Only now speedometers now mark up to much greater speeds
Fashionable in the early 1960s appliances today look modern. Only now speedometers now mark up to much greater speeds. Fashionable in the early 1960s appliances today look modern. Only now speedometers now mark up to much greater speeds.
FROM SPRING TO SPRING
The plant in Mlada Boleslav received a lot of currency from good exports. "Octavia" dispersed around the world - from Ecuador and Japan to the Canary Islands and the United States. But the main markets were European. And not only eastern ones. In 1961, 3, 963 cars were sold in the GDR, 4, 061 in Finland, and 1, 624 in the FRG, whose citizens knew a lot about cars. True, the standard 40-strong version cost very little there - 3995 marks, only 200 marks more expensive than the cheapest "Beetle". And Opel-Olympia and Ford Taunus 12 M, the more prestigious counterparts, cost 5785 and 5555 West German brands, respectively.
After 50 years, when completely different “Octavia” ride along the roads of the world, we drive along the first, hilly paths in the spring filled with sunshine near the city of Liberec, not far from Mladá Boleslav. We are looking for suitable places for taking pictures. This is not very difficult, because outwardly everything has not changed much here: meadows did not occupy the pompous newfangled castles of the nouveau riche, and towns did not occupy the tasteless palaces of officials.
Carried away, we forgot about time. On the way back, they spurred Octavia slightly, mobilizing it and its capabilities. Not a rally, of course, but the motor, gearbox, brakes and narrow tires had to work hard.
The engine does not really like high revs. On long steep climbs, where you need to turn on the second, and on the back (Czech highway), where they kept 100 km / h, the arrow of the water temperature gauge, although not critical, but inexorably went to the right. The gas pump, unsuccessfully located between a hot radiator and an equally warm engine, is prone to overheating. The comfortable speed of the Octavia is 80–90 km / h.
Skoda Octavia Super
Skoda Octavia Super Skoda Octavia Super
But I liked the brakes. Of course, in the absence of a hydraulic vacuum and, all the more so, a vacuum assistant, a considerable effort must be made to intensively slow down, but the machine does not scour, it does not force you to catch yourself with the wheel.
Light bagel work is enough. Do you want to go through a sharp narrow turn quickly - if you please choose a play in advance, quickly turn the steering wheel where necessary and, as soon as the hood has gone there, rotate it back. A little squeak of high tires, and “Octavia” again carefully accelerating. And at a distance, where 130 km / h are allowed, our "lady" even overtook a couple of trucks. Like in youth!
Well, all the photos have been taken, the engine has cooled down - it's time to say goodbye. It's a pity! It seems to me that she is ready to go even to Moscow. Indeed, spring is now quite the same as half a century ago …
