By Antti Kautonen
Along with the Samara and the Peugeot 404, the local auto club has a third donated car they want to offload. This was left on the auction/show venue’s parking lot on Sunday as a decorative element of sorts, and no-one really wants it too much. So, since I’m probably one of five club members born after 1980 and thus computer savvy enough, the job of putting it up for sale came to me.
It’s a 1960s Skoda Octavia Combi, and it used to be red. It’s spent years and years in a forest, so it’s a little bit earthy to say the least. It’s not worth too much, but it’ll make a fine parts car for someone with a classic Skoda Octavia wagon. Even if it’s extremely rusty and very, very mossy, it’s all there, and all original. All the chromework is present, if not necessarily attached.
My grandfather used to have an Octavia saloon, some 50 years ago. Let’s say it was enough to keep my dad buying one of the recent Skodas, even if they barely share the badge these days.
The 1221cc four-cylinder engine in these produced some 45-55 horsepower when operational. I don’t vouch for the one in this.
The tires are quite dry-rotted like on the Peugeot, but they seem to hold air better.
Every slam of the tailgate makes a little bit of Czech steel fall off. From the rear, the car kind of looks Saab-like and Volkswagen-ish. The plates are so old and the car’s been taken off the road so long ago, I couldn’t secure any information with them.
The interior’s filled with spare parts and stuff that’s fallen off, but looks fairly compete.
The Skoda’s situated on the west coast of Finland, in Kokkola. The club entertains offers higher than scrap value (read: should be three-digit), since they’d rather help preserve the car or have it give up useable parts, than to just haul it to the skip outright. It’s not really their style to scrap cars.
Oh, what about the Peugeot 404 and the Samara? The Peugeot sold for 120 euros, and went to a Peugeot guy – just like it was supposed to do. The Samara was a tougher sell, as the first bid ended up being from within the club. “100 euros.” That almost sealed the deal. “But I don’t… I don’t really want it”, the bidder horrified. The club chairman offered 150 after a tense while and got the Lada. It’s still not inspected, but it should be difficult to get it running. I want to drive it, if not own it.
[Images: 2013 Antti Kautonen]
Jeff Glucker
Interesting, from the side the greenhouse looks almost exactly like a VW Type 3 Squareback. Also the patina of assorted lichen and moss looks like a lot of cars left outside in Oregon.
Ran when parked.
As in "The driver ran from the area immediately after parking this".
The split front bumper is cool.
Both Peugeot and Lada owner got a good deal!
Wanting to just drive a car without needing to own it sounds nice and modern. Could say that about most vehicles on the road, actually.
The dash still looks cherry…
Skoda Octavia, a two-door coupe, was my father's first car.
He told me that the front and rear windshields were exactly the same, and therefore interchangeable in case of an accident. They could have been swapped on the side of the road with basic tools. Cool!
Just my .02, but you may have more luck in dismantling the car and selling off the parts. Or if you really want to raise some money, sponsor an event where people pay to whack the crap outta this thing with a sledgehammer. It seems there are a lot of people in the world with pent-up aggression over cars/mechanical things and would love to destroy them. Maybe it won't fly over there but here in Anytown, USA, there'd be a line…
Nah, the vehicle belongs to an auto club that does its best to preserve old cars and not destroy them. That's why selling it for scrap is a bridge too far, too.