The names had already been changed, from the impersonal '440' to the 'Octavia' and from the '450' to the 'Felicia'. Indeed, the '59 model still lacked the final touch, which together with the change of name, would have been fitting. Although the car, which by the way, was solidly manufactured by one of the largest weapons-manufacturers in Europe, was simply not cosy enough.

Above all, the bench seat was criticised, the steel springs, which could be felt everywhere, made any sort of adjustment very difficult. Indeed, in the course of its model-development, although it was never given a padded dashboard, it was given a lid for the glove compartment. The heating could be had for DM 150 extra. Although it was effective, its operation was somewhat crude.

Anyhow, the price of the car was simply pandering to the West, probably for the purpose of drawing foreign currency. Fortunately, one could not measure the exact production costs against the western economy. In addition, one could only hope that the local population wouldn't revolt because of the price of the car, not to mention the long waiting periods.

Now, how did the buyers in the west react? Despite the fairly attractive price, they gave the car the cold shoulder. It turned out to be not a great success, at least not in the federal republic of Germany. Thereby, Skoda had the best reputation of all the eastern-bloc countries, indeed, only in those countries. This was however, really an injustice against the Octavia. At that time it was an appealing car without any obvious disadvantages, also not as far as durability was concerned.

Ok, not everyone can come to terms with a bare gearbox-tunnel and having one hanging-mounted pedal next to one that is mounted in the flooring, is indeed, somewhat unusual. Although, this didn't hinder it in its function at all. The very wide spreading of the gear speeds with the lower three being very short and the top-gear very long, may strike one as being a bit strange, indeed, decades later something similar was offered as the 'Formula E'. Whatever the reason was, the consumption of the Skoda was fairly good.

Certainly, if the long indicator lever sticks out from the dashboard it does look a little odd but it was just as reachable as those mounted on the steering column. Those who were a bit familiar with having the gear lever on the steering column, also managed this quite easily, except for the fact that it always seemed to want to return to the first or second gear position. Indeed, changing up to a higher gear by mistake is less damaging than changing down to a lower one.



Here you can see the predecessor, the '440'. In contrast to this one, the Octavia did not have the divided radiator grille. In the course of its development it would also lose the centre-brace and be given other mudguards. The front axle was also reconstructed, whereby the rear still had transverse leaf-springing.



'Felicia' is the feminine form of 'Felix' and probably originates from 'Felicitas', which is the Latin word for 'Happiness'. It is seldom that a convertible, which is derived from a saloon car, is given a completely different name, indeed, if it was that successful, why not? Picture 2 shows it with a hardtop. Invariably the car had a stronger engine, which could be recognised, as in the saloon, by the two tubular air-filters, lying one behind the other and the respective carburettors. The dashboard was also formed somewhat differently.