Jon Searles' photos

Over the years, Skoda have produced at least four generations of the Octavia, which has also been available as a 4-door sedan (in its post-1996 incarnation), as a 2-door sedan, seen here, and as a 2-door or 4-door wagon. The first generation of the Octavia was produced from 1959 until 1971, surviving after 1964 despite the introduction of the 1000MB. This survival was likely because the Octavia was slightly larger, and was available as a wagon, making it more appropriate for users (private and government) who needed a bigger car. The Octavia weighed 1270Kg, compared to the 1000MB's 700Kg. The Octavia sedan was discontinued after the introduction of the 1000MB, however. Weirdly enough, the 1959-1971 Octavia was not available as a 4-door, but only as a 2-door sedan or a 2-door wagon. Whenever Octavias have been in production, it has been common to see them as fleet vehicles, so this meant that the Czechoslovak Verejna Bezpecnost or "public safety" force used them as patrol cars. Under Communist Party doctrine, it was generally not allowed to call them "the police," as police were said to only exist under capitalism. In earlier years, the full words "Verejna bezpecnost" were spelled out on on the patrol cars, but later this was appreviated to large "VB" lettering, which coincided with the VB adopting a orange-yellow and white livery for their vehicles, which had been preceded by a blue and white livery. Therefore, I assumed, when the extra lights on the front bumper are taken into account, that this Skoda Octavia is a retired VB cruiser. 1959-1971 Skoda Octavias generally came with either a 1089cc I-4 engine as standard, in a front/rear layout, while a 1221cc I-4 was optional. The wagon came with the 1221cc engine as standard. The 1221cc engine put out about 53 horsepower, which could give the Octavia a top speed of about 115 Km/h. I haven't found in my research whether the VB cars had more powerful "interceptor" engines of any kind, but as I've said in my captions on the Tatra 603, the Czechoslovak Communist Party had access to more powerful cars than the Octavia if they were needed. Skoda have basically disowned the earlier 1959-1971 generation, so sometimes it can be confusing tracing the history of the brand. Skoda normally start with the 1996-2010 Octavia in their official chronology.

Here's the promised rear view of the 1973 Ford LTD, showing the dual exhausts. As I've said elsewhere, I'm more than 90% certain these are aftermarket, firstly because they're stainless steel (a great idea, but not one that Ford had adopted in 1973), and secondly becuse their tips protrude to a degree that OEM Ford exhausts generally didn't. Still, they did improve the sound of the Ford, to be sure. The Tatra 603 seen out of frame on the left also had a similar mod, with similar results, although the exhausts were much less visible. There is a big difference between the needs of a 2.5L V-8 and a V-8 that's 5.0L (the smallest possible engine that this LTD could have had), so the Tatra's exhausts were so small that they're hard to see in my photos. In hindsight, I should have taken photos from much closer, but I didn't think of it at the time.

I wasn't originally going to post this photo, but I changed my mind when I realized it gives a much better representation of what the 1973 Ford LTD looks like. Here you can see the distinctive "opera windows" over the back deck, behind the back seat. Most of the car, as I've said before, looks stock, with the exception (I think) of the fake wire wheel hubcaps and the dual exhausts (which protruded from the rear in a way that OEM ones wouldn't). I'll post a rear view next.

This car was one of the easier ones to date at the Josefuv dul show, as it had spotting features distinct to 1973, namely the 5-m.p.h. bumpers combined with the older pre-1974 grille. It wasn't entirely clear how stock it was, as it appeared to have aftermarket dual exhausts. It was restored to look stock, at least. Given the Cold War, these Fords were never exported to Czechoslovakia (or Europe generally), so it's clear that, in spite of its Czech registration, this one would have been imported later. They were very popular in the United States, and have often been preserved, so they can't be said to be rare, although they are desirable, to be sure. In general, American cars predating 1975 are much more popular than those built after, largely due to much lower performance between 1975 and 1993 or so, as well as much lower build quality in those years. There also is the perception that pre-1975 American cars look better, although that's entirely subjective. I prefer them myself, having said that. Built between 1965 and 1986 as a full-size sedan (with the exception of the 1983-1986 models, which are mid-size), the LTD was never really intended as a performance car, although it did see extensive use in police departments, and were occassionally raced. The LTD name lived on from 1986 to 1991 as the LTD Crown Victoria, which had already split off from the regular in LTD in 1983, using the platform of the 1979-82 LTD. The 1973 LTD could be had with a number of engines, all of them OHV V-8's. The most powerful engine, the 460cid C-code with the 4-barrel carburetor, could put out about 260 net horsepower, and could give the LTD 0-60 m.p.h. times in the 8 second range, with a top speed of around 133 m.p.h. (214 km/h). Most LTD's had the smaller and less powerful 351cid "Cleveland" or the 302cid "Windsor," which was famous for being used in the Mustang and the GT40, albeit at higher horsepower ratings. As I've already said, I have no idea which engine was in this LTD, if it was even stock. In all, there were 7 different models of V-8 offered between 1968 and 1978, most of them with variants within the model. To this can be added the detail that pre-1975 engines could run on leaded gasoline (petrol) while engines built from 1975 onward had to be unleaded-only due to the introduction of catalytic converters (often called "catalyzers" outside of the United States). The transmissions in 1968-82 LTD's were more predictable, being one of three models of 3-speed automatic. A 1973 LTD could have been equipped with either the FMX model, which was based on the original 2-speed Ford-O-Matic from 1951, the newer C4, introduced in 1964, or the even newer C6, introduced in 1966. The C6 was generally used for the higher-powered engines, as it was the heavy-duty model, while the C4 eventually came with overdrive, being more common from 1981 onward. Some LTD's also had 3 or 4-speed manual "Toploader" transmissions, but it has to be assumed that these were race cars, as full-size American sedans of the 1960's and 1970's were almost always automatic. Finally, there is the detail of body styles. Ford have long offered more than one body style for the same model of car, as have many American (and foreign) companies. The LTD was usually offered as a 4-door sedan, but 2-door sedans, 2-door convertibles, and even 4-door wagons were offered (sometimes given fake wooden paneling and branded as the LTD Country Squire). This 1973 LTD was a 2-door with the distinctive 1970's-style "opera windows" over the back deck.

The motorcycle in the foreground appears to be a Jawa Type 353 motorcycle. I don't know a lot about motorcycles, but Wikipedia will indicate that (if this is a Type 353), it would have been built between 1954 and 1962. Wikipedia claims that the displacement of the single-cylinder engine visible in this photo would have been 249.5cc. These motorcycles actually remain fairly common in everyday use in the Czech Republic, although the Jawa Moto company has long since moved on to more modern designs. About 10 or 15 years ago, I saw a much newer Jawa (I have no memory of the model) on sale in a Tesco supermarket for around 10,000Kc, or roughly $442 U.S., so their popularity may be down to their being spectacularly inexpensive, even if it could be presumed that a new Jawa today would be more than 10,000Kc. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jawa_353

IMZ-Ural were a Soviet manufacturer of military motorcycles based originally in Irbit, Russia, but now in Petropavl, Kazakhstan for assembly, and Redmond, Washington State, USA for administration. IMZ-Ural are entirely unrelated (beyond their Communist origins) to UralAZ, who build trucks in Miass, Russia. Wikipedia claims that Ural are the oldest manufacturer of motorcycles equipped with sidecars from the factory, but I can't confirm this. I don't know a lot about the history of Ural motorcycles, or motorcycles more generally. However, the military livery of this one may be authentic, given that originally these motorcycles were intended for the Red Army in World War II. This looks like an M-72 model, although I may be missing key spotting features.

Here's a rear view of the Singer Porlock Plus "Tiny Tot" race car at the Josefuv Dul car show. I've given more detailed descriptions in my other photos of it. Weirdly enough, it seems to be hard to find on the Internet, with only one website in Czech. I have no idea of when it was modified (if it was modified from a stock model at all), its race history, or anything. Further information would obviously be welcome.

I deliberately uploaded this cameraphone shot in full resolution so that people could make sense of it. I didn't realize that I shot it how the sunlight was wrecking its legibility in the photo. As you can see, the car was built in 1929, but restored in 2007 by Bernie Jacobson. The name given at some point was "Tiny Tot," although it's not legible in this photo. It's crazy that the chassis number would be there, but not more fundamental things like whether it was originally built as a race car, who it was originally built for, etc. The Internet, as I've said already, has been surprisingly devoid of information, something that I'm finding increasingly common. I've found a website in Czech here: auta5p.eu/zavody/zbraslav_2015/zbraslav_28.php ...which gives some, but not a lot, of additional information. The most interesting thing on the site is that the photo, also from 2015, shows the car with Czech license plates, so apparently this open-wheel racecar is actually street legal in the Czech Republic. It's only capable of 80Km/h, though, which makes it, in spite of its racing heritage, slower than many production cars of its era.

This car took some research to write a caption on. It's obviously an open-wheel race car, made by Singer Motors, not the sewing machine company, in Coventry, the West Midlands, England. Originally, Singer Motors was a bicycle company trading under the name "Singer Cycle Company." George Singer, the founder, actually died in 1909, six years before the company switched exclusively to automobile production. More confusingly, George Singer had been a foreman of the Coventry Sewing Machine Company, which also had no relation to the Singer Manufacturing Company that produced sewing machines, and was in fact more closely related to the later Swift Motor Company, that also produced cars. Singer Motors was one of the automakers, along with Ford and Sears Roebuck, that produced early economy cars, even if Ford utterly dominated in this market from 1914 onward. The first Singers were three-wheelers, like a lot of British cars, with the first one, the Tri-Voiturette, entering production in 1902. Four-wheeled Singers debuted in 1905, and the first Singer sports car was probably the Ten, introduced in 1912, which remained in production in various facelifts until 1949 (although over the years it evolved into more of a saloon than a sports car). The Junior Porlock, which this race car was based on, was produced (from what I can determine) from 1926 until at least 1931, with this car being supposedly built in 1929, but information on the original stock version of this car is very hard to find online. My research exposed the considerably limits of the modern-day Internet, as only information about current cars in preservation was easy to find, and this was very patchy. I'm assuming that this race car was built by the team that originally used it, rather than solely by the Singer factory.

Here's a rear view of the Tatra 603, showing the dual exhausts (just barely). I don't know if these were OEM, but they're appropriate for a V-8, obviously. The sound was what alerted me to get the photo, as the Tatra was driving away. To reiterate, though, the exhausts are very hard to see in this photo, and appear to be curved to the side, a feature that I don't remember. I thought I had a better photo.

In spite of the famous Tatraplan of 1948-1952, Tatra didn't discontinue the old Tatra 87 until 1950, and from 1952 until 1956, they had no flagship model of car, concentrating their road vehicle production on trucks and trams. Tatra, as I've said in other postings, actually engaged in a number of industries beyond cars, and still survive today as a truck manufacturer. This changed starting in 1953, when the Czechoslovak Communist Party decided to domestically produce a luxury car for their officials. The procurement of luxury cars for the Communist Party has a long history, and during the Cold War it usually involved importation of Mercedes for the elites, and in later years Saabs for some officials (see Gene Dietch's autobiography For the Love of Prague for the backstory on this). However, there were large, arguably American-style, luxury cars produced in Communist countries as well. The Tatra 603, with its tail fins and V-8 engine, may seem to be in this vein, but it actually doesn't resemble any American car if you dig deeper. After all, even the East German Trabant 601 had tailfins. The Soviet GAZ Chaika was a more direct copy of American design, being based on Packards of the same era. By comparison, the Tatra 603 had a rear/rear layout, with an air-cooled HEMI V-8 of only 2.5L displacement. This engine was descended from the last engine used in the Tatra 87, albeit with a smaller displacement, HEMI heads, and a conventional pushrod valvetrain. The end result was that it produced only 104 horsepower. This is derisory for a V-8 engine until you consider it had only 2.5L displacement to work with, no supercharging, and no turbo. Turbocharging wouldn't debut in any production car until 1962, when this innovation was shared by the Chevy Corvair Spyder and the Oldsmobile F-85 Turbo Jetfire. Due to its small displacement, it would be far better to compare the 2.5L HEMI to a large 4-cylinder or smallish 6-cylinder, rather than a small-block HEMI V-8. Still, the exhaust note is very much a V-8 sound, and this specific Tatra 603 had dual exhausts. I was unable to determine the model year of this specific car, but this three-headlight design was used in the 1956-1962 model years (this arrangement actually dated back to the Tatra 77 of 1933, and was also used on the Tatra 87, although not the Tatraplan). Some pre-1963 Tatra 603's were sent back to the factory to be given the later dual-headlight setup, to this means that the original unrebuilt three-headlight models are somewhat rare, in spite of overall Tatra 603 production for 1956-1974 exceeding 20,000 units. Other features of the Tatra 603 included disc brakes from 1968 onward, along with seatbelts on all seats, making it arguably safer than American cars of the time, which still usually included them only in the front (seatbelts of any kind wouldn't become mandatory on American cars until 1968). The Tatra 603 also came with a 4-speed transmission as standard before they were standard in most cars. For comparison, the 1956 Chevy Corvette came with a standard 3-speed or an optional 2-speed auto, with the 4-speed only being an option starting in that year. Air conditioning wasn't an R.P.O. (in 1956, it wasn't common in any cars other than Cadillacs and such) but was sometimes fitted for certain buyers such as Fidel Castro. The resulting performance doesn't sound impressive by modern standards, but for the time it was very respectable. The top speed was officially published as 170Km/h, which was faster than any (Eastern or Western) European economy car of the time, and faster (surprisingly, in my opinion) than some slower Cadillacs and other luxury cars. Actually, there were even some popular sports cars in 1956 that couldn't reach 170Km/h in stock trim, either, like the MGA, the Austin Healy 100-6, or even the Porsche 356. In the modern-day Czech Republic, the Tatra 603 is now a desirable collector car, in spite of its Communist background. Many stories have been told, however, about how the use of the 603 by the Communist StB regularly blew their cover, as whenever an unmarked 603 appeared on the street, everybody presumed they were being staked out by the secret police. Weirdly, the regular "public safety" officers, or VB, drove marked Skodas, which means that they would have been stealthier than the StB had they simply used unmarked ones.

This Skoda 1000MB (or possibly 1100MB) had clearly been rally prepped, although my understanding is that it would not have been a factory race package, as Skoda didn't start producing race packages until the 1970's. Anyone with further knowledge of this history can comment.

As mentioned in my caption for the Skoda 1000MB, the 1000MB was replaced in Skoda's lineup in 1970 by the 100, seen here. The 100 was very (visibly) similar to the 1000MB, but incorporated a number of improvements, and was sold more extensively in the West, a trend that was to continue over the years regardless of politics, at least in Europe. The 100 was so-named in reference to its 1.0L I-4 engine, and in fact it was also possible to order a 110 model, that came with a 1.1L I-4. These engines, like their predecessors on the 1000MB and 1100MB, were air-cooled, and mounted in a rear/rear layout. The physical appearance of these cars, perhaps as a consequence, resembles that of later Chevy Corvairs, which were exactly contemporary with them. In an unusual development for a Communist-run company, two race versions were also built, these being the 120S and the 130RS, both of which are understandably rare today, and easy to confuse with later models due to the numbering. These cars are actually fast by Communist standards, being capable of 7-second 0-60 times (and in all likelihood, they were even faster once prepped for racing). While Skoda 100 production ended in 1977, the 110R coupe survived until 1980. All other cars built in the 100 series were actually sedans, with the exception of the 130RS, which used the same coupe body (more or less) as the 110R. In any case, to make a long story short, when the 100 was exported to Western countries, it often got bad reviews for both performance and handling. However, as with the 1000MB, these cars have enjoyed much longer lifespans than most cars (at least from a Western perspective). Although they're not as common as they used to be, in the Czech Republic they can still be found in regular use from time to time. I'm not clear on how many Chevy Corvairs you would still see as daily drivers, by comparison.

It's a common misconception that MG Cars (trading under various specific names over the years) only build sports cars. In reality, MG have also been building hatchbacks since the 1982, and sedans ("saloons" in the UK) since 1927. This MG is a Magnette ZB, which was the saloon manufactured by MG from 1956 to 1958, replacing the earlier, but similar, Magnette ZA. The ZB used an Austin-made BMC B-Series 1.5L I-4 with dual carburetors that produced only 64 horsepower. This meant that the ZB ultimately wasn't very fast, but not being a sports car, the pressure for higher performance was arguably off, and indeed many 1950's-era British cars, including sports cars, were very slow. One innovative feature for the 1957 model year was the option of one of the world's first semi-automatic transmissions. This is more significant in hindsight, as semi-automatics are now the standard of the automotive world (at least for internal-combustion-engined cars), even if they took decades to catch on.

When I spotted this 1930's-era BMW 328 (it wasn't 100% certain what the model year of this one was), I immediately assumed I had found the rarest and most valuable car at the show, although my research now indicates that the Morgan +4+ was actually much rarer. In any event, this well-known sports car was also relatively limited production, with only 464 built. This generation of the BMW 328 is not to be confused with the popular (and high-volume production) 328 sedan produced today, as the model number is only a coincidence. Although the original BMW 328's history will be forever tainted by its association with interwar Germany, this sports car was one of the most capable of its day. It only had a 1,971cc I-6 engine with three carburetors, and ultimately 79 horsepower, but its 830-kilogram weight meant that this didn't have to matter, especially since its competition mostly didn't offer a better power-to-weight ratio. This was borne out in race results, which can still be reviewed online, including on Wikipedia. The officially-published top speed of the BMW 328 was 150Km/h (93 m.p.h.), notably slower than the Tatra 87, but still faster than most sports cars of its era, and like the Tatra, also faster than a stock V-8 Ford.

The Tatra 87 (a.k.a. T87), may have been the most famous car that Tatra produced in the pre-Communist era, with production running from 1936 to 1950, with production actually continuing during World War II. The somewhat sinister reason for this was that it was a very popular car with German officials during the occupation of Czechoslovakia, until it was banned from German government use over safety fears. Czechs sometimes joked, if privately, that the Tatra 87 was their "secret weapon" since so many Germans were killed in accidents with it (a fact that, oddly, is not an undisputed fact among historians). The reasons for this story (and the German ban, which is well-documented) were both that the Tatra 87 had its weight distribution too far to the rear, a common problem in rear-engined cars, and that it was fast for its time, being capable of over 160Km/h (99 m.p.h.), in an era when only the fastest cars were. The Tatra 87's engine was actually an 85-horsepower V-8, but the obvious parallel to the Ford flathead end there, as this was a SOHC V-8 with 2969 cc displacement, making it considerably smaller than the Ford 221cid (3.6L) flathead. Another difference was that the Ford flathead, in line with conventional practice, was water-cooled, whereas the Tatra 2.9L SOHC was air-cooled, like other pre-war Tatra engines. Another dissimilarity was that V-8 Fords, while fast compared to other mass-market cars, could only top out at about 75-84 m.p.h., depending on which year and variant. Hot rods don't count, of course. This difference was due largely to the lower weight, and more sophisticated aerodynamics, of the Tatra. The similarity in appearance to the Volkswagen Beetle also isn't a coincidence, actually, as Ferdinand Porsche studied the Tatra 87 as one of the models for the Beetle. One more thing that might be worth looking at, if you're interested, is Wikipedia's list of famous (and unexpected) people who drove Tatra 87's, including people like John Steinbeck, King Farouk I of Egypt, and maybe less suprisingly, Felix Wankel, inventor of the Wankel or "rotary" engine used in Mazdas. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatra_87

The Morgan Plus Four Plus (a.k.a. the +4+) was introduced in 1963, but only 26 were built, making this car one of the rarest ones at the Josefuv Dul show. In spite of Morgan usually building cars deliberately designed to look pre-World War II, this one featured more or less modern styling for 1963, arguably copying a bit from Jaguar. The engine was only a 2138cc I-4 with 110 horsepower, which had actually been sourced from Triumph, rather than built in-house. In fact, many Morgans over the years had Triumph engines before Truimph got out of car building. In spite of Triumphs and Morgans of that era not being very fast (more recent Morgans, in spite of their appearance, have often been very fast, with 0-60 times under 5 seconds), the +4+ was considered good for its day (I haven't been able to find specific data for the +4+ specifically, though). Its low production (due to low sales, rather than a deliberate limit) remains a mystery to automotive historians. It may have been that Morgan buyers specifically wanted a retro car, and the +4+ wasn't it.

The Skoda Felicia nameplate has been revived many times by Skoda, but the original production run was in 1959 to 1964. Rather than being a direct predecessor to the 1000MB sedan, the original Felicia was effectively a sports car, something very unusual in the Communist Bloc. It isn't so much that it was fast, of course, as there have been a number of "fake" sports cars made over the years that were slower than normal cars. The 1959 Skoda Felicia (it wasn't clear whether this one was a real 1959, or a later one) originally came with only a 1.1L I-4, with a front-rear layout and water cooling (in contrast to Skodas made from 1964 to 1987, which were largely air-cooled with a rear/rear layout). The 1.1L engine produced only 50 horsepower (although a 1.2L was introduced in 1961), which resulted in a 24.5 second 0-60 time, very slow, but faster than some Western economy cars of the time, like the Citroen 2CV or the Morris Minor. Whether a Volkswagen Beetle would be faster would depend on the year and engine, but it's clear that a Karmann Ghia would be much faster than a Felicia. Sports cars are often an image thing, although I'm not sure if I would have wanted to make my only car under Communism a fake sports car without a real, metal roof. On the other hand, public transportation was free in Communist Czechoslovakia, and more extensive than today, so it may not have been for "transportation" to have a sports car, or any car at all. These cars, like other Communist-era Skodas, have survived very well over the years, although many Felicias have ended up serving in the fleets of antique cars used for tours in Prague, being among the newest cars used. Many 1920's-era Skodas, Tatras, and Fords (mostly Model A's rather than Model T's) make up the bulk of the real antique cars (many of the cars used in the Prague tours are easily-identified fakes), so this makes the Felicias into outliers.