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A Sound Czech: 1960 Škoda Felicia Cabriolet

050316 Barn Finds - 1960 Skoda Felicia 944 convertible - 1

Škoda G here with another unusual vehicle, this one being a 1960 Škoda Felicia Cabriolet that’s found on eBay in Luton, United Kingdom. The seller is asking £6,000 ($8,722). Even though the seller says that it needs “fully restored”, it looks pretty good to me.

050316 Barn Finds - 1960 Skoda Felicia 944 convertible - 2

This isn’t a car that a person sees every day, at least in the US we don’t. Do these wheels look almost unnaturally huge to you? I thought so; they do to me, too. These cars were made by Škoda Auto in Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic between 1959 and 1964. The Felicia name was reborn in 1994 for a new car by Škoda. There is a fully-restored car for sale in Las Vegas for about $23,000, so there’s some room here to work on it and still come out ahead.

050316 Barn Finds - 1960 Skoda Felicia 944 convertible - 3

Maybe I read the ad wrong, this interior looks like it’s perfect! I’m guessing that the materials here aren’t original, they look too new to be from 1960, but I could be wrong.

050316 Barn Finds - 1960 Skoda Felicia 944 convertible - 4

This looks fairly original. This is the smaller engine, a 1.1L four-cylinder with a single-carb and about 53 hp. Here is a 1961 Škoda Felicia Cabriolet on YouTube just to hear what they sound like; pretty interesting. This is a pretty interesting car, almost Borgward-like in appearance. Have you seen this model before?

Comments

  1. Avatar Blyndgesser

    Very cool.

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  2. Avatar Francisco

    Very ugly.

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  3. Avatar Van

    Take all the badges off
    Add Cadillac hubcaps
    Tell everybody to guess

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  4. Avatar Fred

    Looks like something you would see in the Lane Motor Museum here in Nashville. I kinda like it.

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  5. Avatar Frank martin

    I’m curious, does anyone know if you purchase out of states if you can bring it in? I suspect the emissions are different.

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    • Avatar Scotty G Staff

      Frank, I think Van may be right. Just so it’s 25 years old (production date, I think?), it’s legal to import any vehicle, as far as I know, even if it burns coal and has razor blades for bumpers. Well, maybe not that last part.

      I would guess that shipping for this car (from the UK to the US, with customs, duties, etc.) will be about half of the asking price of this Škoda, so be prepared to dig very deeply into your wallet. Let us know if you’re thinking of going for this one!

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      • Avatar Stephen Taylor

        Since it’s more than 25 years old, you’d just need proof of ownership.

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      • Avatar Brakeservo

        Shipping is about $2000 more or less, depends on how you get it to the port in Southampton and where you pick it up here. Duty is only 2.5%.

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    • Avatar Brakeservo

      ANY car over 25 years old can be legally imported and is DOT and EPA exempt. You still have state regs to deal with, but none apply to something this old.

      Like 1
    • Avatar Bill

      I have one in Milwaukee with 4,000 miles on it. No emissions in 1960. Not even seat belts. We were still a free country back then.

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      • Avatar Brakeservo

        I’m sorry but your freedom to pollute the air ends where my freedom to breathe begins. And that’s no “Chinese hoax.”

        Like 1
  6. Avatar Van

    The car only has to have the safety and emissions standards it was born with “1960”

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  7. Avatar Brakeservo

    ‘Skoda work now, gonna take the white car . . .

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  8. Avatar rusty

    Big wheels..no they look correct size to me 15″. They look like what’s on my Felicias.

    Only thing is I can’t tell if they are correct Felicia wheels with strengthened stud area or weaker sedan wheels. Both look same from distance or when hubcaps are installed

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  9. Avatar Mark S

    Eastern block vehicles are topically VERY POORLY built. And you can expect to spend as much time repairing it as you do driving it. When you go out for a drive be sure to have your wife fallow you in your 3/4 ton truck pulling your car hauler trailer.

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    • Avatar brakeservo

      You describe many American cars of the 1980s.

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  10. Avatar Jesper

    Mark S. Thats not true. So bad its also not. I have some of these cars, and the building quallity is ok. Compared to old English cars, its wery good.
    I have one there need rebuild of brakes, and a tune of the engine. Its a 1963 model, with zero rust. And thats good here in Germany with our climate.
    Its a sedan- coupe.

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  11. Avatar Paul B

    Many of the eastern bloc cars were indeed poorly built, but the Skoda was above the norm, both technically and in build quality. I recall when Skoda was making an effort to export to the U.S. in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and I would see the cars around from time to time. Mechanics told me they were easily better than comparable Fiats and BMC products. Probably not as tough as a Rootes product or the later 1960s Japanese cars. But good. Swing axle independent suspension; look out. Of course as with a lot of imports then, Skoda had a tiny dealer network and sketchy parts and service availability. The U.S. was and remains a huge country and a difficult place for a small automaker to gain a toehold.

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  12. Avatar brakeservo

    Not only did Skoda build good cars, but even more so did TATRA which evolved from such inspired design that all VW and Porsche cars are descended from TATRA DNA, indeed the argument is made that had there been no Tatra there would have been no VW Beetle and with no Beetle obviously no Porsche 356 or the 911 variants that came later and had not Volkswagen risen to such a late 20th century industrial powerhouse there may have been no other corporate savior for marques as diverse as Audi, BMW, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Seat and – Skoda. Who or what have I left out?

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  13. Avatar Jesper

    Most of the old eastblock cars, where build to last forever becourse you coulnt not buy a car whenever you wantet. You signd up for a car (Trabant)
    And wait for 12 years, before it was given to you. A used Trabi cost 2-3 dobb. Price as a new, becourse you could buy it private.
    They where made so Grandmom could repair it herself.
    Ofcourse a Westgerman cars was better, but also much more expensive.
    Anyway, so bad they where also not. In DDR. A skoda was a rich man’s car

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    • Avatar Bill

      Not only could Grandma (they don’t make Grandmas like they used to) fix it, she could crank start it if the battery was too low. Flip down the license tag, insert the crank from the complete toolkit in the boot, turn on the ignition and crank away. In the Spring I will crank it (key off) with oil in the combustion chambers to lube the cylinders. I also use the manual primer on the fuel pump to save on cranking time. Mine is reliable enough to take for ice cream on Sunday. I found parts at http://www.osttimer.de.

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  14. Avatar Jim

    I have one I brought back to the US in 2000. Restored it in Czech when I lived there, and frankly have not had an issue with it since other than some repair work to the muffler. Dual carb. Bring it to car shows all the time and it wins alot of awards.

    Like 0

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