I'm a huge car-lover. When I was a small boy; these old Škoda 105s/120s were roaming the streets of Slovakia. You can still see them sometimes.
Lately; I've come accross a really interesting fact. I've found out Škoda automobiles were actually sold in North America during the 1980s.
Any older folks around here that actually remember?
I'd like to know whether it was a thing or not...
They were never sold in the U.S. but were sold in Canada. Funny you should ask, while cleaning some stuff out just this last weekend I stumbled on Skoda brochures that I picked up at a Skoda dealership in Vancouver back in the early 1980s. (I saw the dealership while on a trip up that way and was curious, so stopped in, checked out the cars, and picked up the brochures.) I liked the cars, felt very solid like an old VW, but it was not possible to bring them into the U.S.
bonus points if you know what the logo is.
Although not imported here in the 1980s, a few Skodas were sold in the U.S. in the late 1950s. (Back then there were few regulations and one could import and sell almost anything here.) Very few made it here and I do not recall ever seeing one being driven on the road. However there is a junkyard not far from me that has (or at least had as of several years ago) the remains of an old Skoda Felicia convertible.
The January, 1959 edition of "Popular Mechanics" magazine has a short section on the Skoda in its annual auto section, noting that it is "one of the few vehicles now being imported into the United States from behind the Iron Curtain":
Afraid all I know about the logo is that it's a winged arrow.
I could look it up easily enough but that would be cheating. 😯
I think it's a hedgehog, which is/was the national animal.
Ack, looking at that price sheet I see it is dated 1988, could have sworn the trip was earlier than that. That's two senior moments, I'd also initially forgotten Skodas were sold here in the 50s.
Memory is the second thing to go. I forget what the first thing is.
{pear}:exhausted:
It's true. I've met people who owned them. You don't see them much in the wild though.
Interesting, logo hasn't change much over last few decades
https://www.skoda-auto.com/world/logo-history
I test drove one of those 10 years ago
Weren't they made in the old USSR?
No, you may be thinking of Lada which was also sold in Canada. The Skoda is a Czechoslovakian car, probably built by these guys:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGv6uo89yMY