Since the 19th century, Mladá Boleslav has been known mainly for the production of bicycles, motorcycles and eventually also cars under the brand name Laurin & Klement or later Skoda . In addition to the vast factory, today we can also find a brand museum here, which also includes the smaller of the two well-known depositories of the domestic car manufacturer.
As a lover of some lesser-known cars of domestic and foreign production, after properly paying the entrance fee, I headed right to the depository . It surprised me right from the start with its size – I didn't expect it to be so small, on the other hand, Skoda has another really large depository at its disposal, but it will most likely remain hidden from the eyes of ordinary visitors forever. In the depository, as I have been told several times, we will mainly find Skoda concepts from the beginning of production to the recent past . If I go against the flow of time, the most modern concepts are clear – the Skoda Tudor from 2002, which is based on the Superb and has a six-cylinder under the hood, and the Skoda Roomster from 2003, which first heralded the arrival of the compact MPV three years later. The blue Skoda Yeti concept from 2005, which has its place in the depository, was unfortunately missing.
However, I was more interested in the past than the current concepts. The Skoda Favorit sedan version , as well as the Favorit design with a coupe body , unfortunately never made it into production, but these two variants (especially the coupe with the unusual glass design) would be very suitable for series production. In addition to these two prototypes of the already produced Favorit, the depository also contains concepts that foreshadowed the Favorit. Namely, these are types 781 in several versions (a total of 10 pieces of this prototype are said to have been produced). Even before the Favorite, Skoda's first front-engine, front-wheel-drive car, Skoda tried to apply its concept to the previous Skoda 120. The Type 742 C has rear-wheel drive, but the engine is in the front, rack-and-pinion steering from the Fiat 128, and the front axle moved 200 mm forward , type 742 P already has an all-front concept, an engine from a 120 LS and front-drive components from a Renault 12. This brings me to the most interesting part of the depository – in it we can find a total of three models: Skoda 760 , Skoda 763 and Skoda 720 . The first two named types were to be produced in cooperation with the GDR, have a front engine and rear (763) or front (760) wheel drive. Skoda 720 was created as a rear-wheel-drive, front-engine mid-range sedan to compete with western-made cars of the time. However, the production of a car with a design by Giugiaro was stopped by the communists, who transferred it from the Czech Republic to Bratislava to the then BAZ (Bratislavské Automobilové Závody), where, however, they had no space, equipment or money for production or development, and only a few more prototypes were created. The sedan displayed in the warehouse is in the Standard version, which you can recognize by the simple front lights, and comes from the end of production at BAZ.
The military cars are represented by the prototype 973 alias Babeta , while the pre-war models are represented by the concept of the predecessor of the Popular, which is said to be the only preserved piece in the world. The sports section is made up of the circuit Favorite 1600 H with a 175 hp petrol six-cylinder, also the circuit coupe 738 A5 1600 DOHC , which became an experimental model with a laminate body, the Fabia WRC rally special from the Welsh rally, the MTX 1-01 Skoda formula with a power of 65 horses from the Metalex workshops and finally also the ÚVMV 130 RS coupe from 1978, which received a modified body of the legendary 130 RS and was supposed to meet the conditions for racing in Group A.
A separate chapter is the movie coupe Ferat , created by re-bodying the Super Sport 724 prototype . Ferat was created by Theodor Pištěk, who built the car for the movie The Vampire from Ferat (the coupe got its new name after it was remade). Compared to the Super Sport, the Ferat has a different front part with fixed headlights, the rear part with reflectors from the Skoda 120 and a massive wing, as well as wheels from the BBS company. An interesting fact is that the Ferat standing in the warehouse no longer has the rear lights from the 120, but from the original 724 coupe. For some reason, the Ferat was not even displayed in the warehouse or the museum at all for a while (allegedly this happened on the instructions of the parent Volkswagen), this "embargo" thankfully it has already passed.
For the Public Safety at the time, Skoda, or rather its development department and training center, allegedly developed and produced five pieces of the 736 Buggy without doors and a trunk, with rear-wheel drive and 45 horsepower. An equally interesting concept is the 989-4 sedan with rear engine and rear-wheel drive from 1958, which even remotely resembles the 1000 MB model celebrating this year. For example, the 440 Spartak or the pre-war Favorit comes from the world of serial models, just after the war the prototype and the subsequent serial model 1200 were created. The exhibition ended with the 633 and 422 Tudor models from the early 1930s.
After visiting the depository, I moved to the main building of the museum , which I was looking forward to perhaps even more than the depository. Reason? For one thing, the last time I visited it was five years ago, and then Favorit Pickup Fun is located there! But again, we have to go in order, so as soon as you enter, you will be greeted by the beautiful red Felicia with a white retractable roof. The first part of the exhibition is marked by Skoda with the word "Tradition" and here you will find three pairs of models that are connected in some way. The first pair was procured by the unique and huge model 860 Phaeton from 1932, which somewhat resembles the British Rolls-Royce cars, and the Superb 3000 OHV type 924 from 1939, which already belongs to the models that were produced in our country during the war. The second pair consists of the Popular 995 from 1939, which, like the models with the same name produced since 1934, was a people's car during the war, and the 125 L from 1989, which is one of the last Skodas with a rear engine and rear-wheel drive and at the same time the youngest representative of the 742 series. The last pair are the racing types 130 LR and Fabia WRC , which are about 20 years apart, but both fought with more or less success on the "eRZets" of world rallies.
The second part of the exhibition is marked by Skoda with the word "Evolution" and it contains everything from Laurin & Klement bicycles and motorcycles , to the first car from Mladá Boleslav, called Voituretta A , to the Vision D concept from 2011. The visitor can view in detail, except above mentioned models, also the Laurin & Klement Sg from 1913, the Skoda Laurin & Klement 110 from 1929, the Skoda Superb V8 from 1940 or the first car with the Octavia designation from 1960. Of course, the Skoda 1000 MB cannot be missed, which celebrates its fiftieth birthday this year . A kind of memento is the Skoda Favorit and Skoda Felicia pair, which indicates Skoda's transition not only to a new concept of front engine and front-wheel drive, but in Felicia's case also a transition under the wings of the Volkswagen concern (originally negotiations were with Renault, which was already close to an agreement, but due to failure to maintain the production of the Favorit model eventually gave up cooperation with it). However , some models that I remember from before the museum was rebuilt are completely missing , such as the 130 RS , Favorit 1.6, Rapid or 110R Coupé .
I think you will be more annoyed by the presence of a huge rack of 20 cars than the absence of some models. In them, only the first and second rows of cars can be properly seen, the third row can only be viewed from the side or from below, and the fourth row cannot be seen at all. "Cleverly" hidden captions , which you only notice after the umpteenth attempt, can also make your day pretty unpleasant. Considering that I already wrote in the introduction that I am looking forward to the so far hidden Favorit Fun concept and I haven't mentioned it yet, you can probably guess where this unique car, allegedly made in only two pieces, is located. It's actually in the rack in the third row, so I had just the right side profile and chassis from the Fun. Big, really big disappointment. In addition to the Fun, there is another unique item from Skoda's golden fund – the Favorit Tremp , which is a hatchback with a cut-off roof behind the front seats, an arched frame and a bed instead of the rear seats. The car is said to be fully functional even today. From other hard-to-reach exhibits, I can choose, for example, the Skoda 110 LS , several versions of the Popular, the first Octavia or several Laurin & Klement models on the top floor. So one can only really see the bottom floor, at the time of my visit a quartet of racing models consisting of a 1957 1100 OHC that regularly takes part in vintage races, a 1972 Spider B5 1500 , a 1993 Favorit 136 L/A Rally for racing class A and finally Jan Kopecky's modern Fabia S2000 . However, the display changes regularly, so it is possible that in a few weeks there will be completely different cars on the shelf and Fun will finally be properly available.
The last part of the exhibition called "Precision" , where there was a demonstration of the restoration from the practically destroyed skeleton of the body to the polished exhibit, which is exhibited not only in the museum, but also in various veteran gatherings and exhibitions, I only went through quickly.
After a complete tour of the museum , the depository and the adjacent branded car showroom , several feelings were mixed in me, among which disappointment prevailed. I can't say that I didn't like the museum, by no means, and perhaps the depository exceeded my expectations in terms of the interestingness of the exhibited specimens . However, I expected that in the museum itself there would not only be more space around the cars, but also that they would be clearly visible. I was really looking forward to both Fun and Trempo, but in the end I didn't really enjoy either model. I was also disappointed by the significant reduction of interesting exhibits , among which I searched in vain for the extended Octavia Long or the already mentioned 110R Coupé, Rapid, Favorit 1.6 and 130 RS models, as well as the shelf that has been mentioned several times. I wouldn't be afraid to call this the worst way to display cars that I've seen in any museum or at any car show. Nevertheless, I can recommend a visit to the museum and, above all, to the depository, if only for the reason that Skoda is, in short, a Czech and Czechoslovakian automotive pearl, even though it is in the hands of the German Volkswagen.
Photo: author
