We love Skoda

The Comtourist crew loves communist era cars from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and especially Czechoslovakia. Comtourist owned a Skoda 105 until we sold it since we could not store it indoors and feared for the condition of this classic car. We do have great memories of the Skoda and now we will buy another one in the future.

Many great cars have been produced in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe during the communist era. Famous car plants from the USSR are VAZ (Lada), GAZ (Wolga), Moskvitch, ZIL (limousines) and ZAZ from the Ukraine. East Germany also produced various great cars like the Trabant and the Wartburg. Comtourist has always favoured cars produced in Czechoslovakia especially Skoda and Tatra. In 2004 we decided to buy our own Skoda 105 as a hobby car. We do not own our Skoda anymore since we did not have a garage to store it and feared that the car would deteriorate.

Our Skoda 105

The Skoda 105 is a variation of the 120 series produced between 1979 and 1990 in the Czech city Mlada Boleslav. The engine is placed in the rear resulting in excellent driving characteristics. The Skoda 120 models were some of the best cars produced in Eastern Europe and were very well suited for the primitive roads in these countries. The Skoda 105 was also exported to Western Europe competing against the Lada Riva, another great car. Sales in the west were disappointing mainly caused by unfair criticism from biased car journalists often bribed by German car manufacturers like Volkswagen and Opel. Our Skoda 105 named “Catharina” was one of those exported cars sold in the Netherlands during the 1980s.

Skoda fun driving

Our plan to do a Grand tour Eastern Europe with the Skoda never materialized but we still had a lot of fun with it. Especially driving in the snow or on rough terrain was great fun and allows the 105 to do what it does best. The Skoda always managed to turn many heads when taking it for some parading in a place to be seen like a beach area or nightlife district. It should be noted that the Skoda 105 is a great car to attract woman but this was not our main reason for driving this car!

Skoda 105 and 120 promotion material

Comtourist does not own the Skoda anymore but we have collected some original Skoda 105 and 120 series promotion material from the early to the late 1980s. Most of these brochures are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The publisher of this promotion material is Motokov, the Czechoslovakian company responsible for Skoda export in during communist times.

What will be the next Comtourist car?

Will Comtourist buy another classic Eastern Bloc car I the future? The answer is: yes that is very likely, although it may well be any other type besides a Skoda. Maybe we will by a ZIL once driven by a Soviet dignitary, a beautiful Tatra, a practical UAZ 452 van or the all time Soviet classic Lada Riva. Whatever we end up driving, you will find out via this website!