I’m not even sure where the joke began. Volkswagen has owned Skoda partially since the 1990s and outright since the early 2000s and has slowly transitioned the brand into another series of vehicles based on their basic platforms. They have their Polo (Fabia) and their Golf (Octavia) and on and on and on. Maybe it started as a joke? I’m not sure. But I went to the Czech Republic and borrowed an Octavia vRS and, you know what? They are actually fantastic. It’s my sincere belief that almost every Skoda is the best looking version of any VW platform, which is probably a prove-me-wrong in the making.
But the Skoda 120? Despite its rear-mounted engine it is not at all a Volkswagen. Instead it’s a home-grown vehicle, based on the earlier Skoda 100/110 and, though much improved, not exactly a world-beating car. It may be apocryphal, but is alleged that Skoda wanted to design a new front-engine, front-wheel drive car but the Soviets wouldn’t let them because they didn’t want a non Russian country to have a more advanced car. Still, there’s something charming about the Skoda 120. It debuted in 1976 and carried on until 1990 under various names. I saw a Skoda 125 in Budapest and I thought it looked great, having modernized some of the earlier car’s styling. The old one still has its charm, too. All photos Skoda via Wheelsage That left Skoda to develop the Favorit which was slated to go into production in 1985 but was delayed two years due to arguments between them and Bertone which was hired to do the styling. By that time the Lada Samara was in production, which probably was what led to the rumors regarding the Soviets not wanting their satellites to pass them by. Give that a look on YT. It’s in Czech, but some people in the comments have put in great translations. I do wish we could have some Skodas here in the US, but VW of course doesn’t want to cannibalize their fleet. Just an FYI, in your article, you state that the VW’s Golf (168″ long) is Octavia (185″ long), which isn’t the case. The Octavia is more like the Jetta, the Skoda Superb is the Passat, etc. Recently there was a model announced that is kind of on its way out, the Scala. That’s more like the Golf proportion-wise. Perhaps the shoes were graciously provided (temporarily) by The People, for the glory of The People, before being repossessed by The People? He called it the Scrotum. Well I’m not sure if that’s true or not…. but there was a FWD Skoda developed in the Soviet era… The Favorit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0koda_Favorit Keep it up! Best memory of it was when 6 of us (yes 6) did a road trip through Italy in one of these. Me being the youngest/smallest one, sat on someones lap the entire trip. My ass did not touch the seats the entire trip, and the engine seemed to overhead almost daily, but man…what memories! It was called “The Unbearable Likeness of Bean”. and, yet further to the east there were building front engine front wheel drive cars since 1969
