favmac

The Favorit Forum Hatchbacks colour was “moonstone” like a pinkish beige. A very odd colour, I never saw any others We did see Forums in a deeper beige, white , red, or blue but didn’t see any other forum hatchbacks in moonstone: I thought it a bit “girlie” but my wife liked it .

The colour was “Moostone” like a hearing aid beige with a hint of pink . Very 1980s “Miami Vice”

I had a real good lookinside the engine bay and couldn’t see where it would have fallen off from. I pulled the air cleaner so I could get a good look around the back of the carb and couldn’t see anything wrong. Maybe the MOT guy has a twisted sense of humour

The first owner bought it new but although he tried hard he never passed his driving test. Finally as old age caught up with him he realised he would never legally get behind the wheel, so he put it up for sale . I bought the Favorit five years ago on 450 miles, the intention was for my wife to use it as we had owned them 30 years ago. But times move on and she won’t drive it. She is now use to having power steering and all the electric gadgets, she prefers her modern CPU on wheels. So I keep the Favorit for nostalgic reasons, content to do around 1000 miles a year hence the low miles.

That’s interesting as I had a Forum hatchback from new for a year and that started to run hot but it went for trade in against a estate . Which I had for ten years with no issues. ( Skoda must have changed the antifreeze by then)

Hi not very good ones I’m afraid, but the orange plastic end looks to have a coiled spring inside it but my close up vision isn’t as good as it use to be so take that observation with a pinch of salt. It could be something broken inside. Thanks .

When my Favorit went in for its MOT the tester checked the car and passed it. But when I went to collect the car he gave me a long white tube with an orange end on it . He found it laying on the steering rack at the rear of the engine. “ You may want to fit this back on “ he said . “What is it” ? I asked. “No idea but it didn’t effect the MOT.” He answered. It is a long white tube with an orange coloured sleeve at one end. I have looked over the Jacov carb and not found any obvious place this tube fits . The car runs fine, I have i idea where it has come from. Has anyone any idea please ?

Don’t know if this story is true but a Skoda main dealer smiled when he saw my car pull onto his four court. ” Ha ah a Favorit, not seen one of these for a long time, we sold loads of them back in the day. Changed the coolant I hope “ No I answered . ”I would if I was you, we had a batch of 120 Estelles and a fair few Favorits eat head gaskets by 15,000 miles. We couldn’t understand it and when we pulled the head off it was carnage, the heads was ruined and had to be replaced under warranty.” Wow that’s unfortunate I answered. “The U.K. importers contacted the factory to ask what’s going on and they investigated “. What did they find? I asked. ” Well old boy, the story is that cars coming to the milder climates like the U.K. had some coolant taken out and the line workers topped up with Vodka as that was inexpensive. The workers had a little thing going selling coolant from the cars on the black market out side the factory “ . This maybe one of those tall stories who knows. Needless to say I changed my coolant that weekend to a 50/50 mix.

According to “how many left” only three 1992 Favorite Estate ( Forman) LS like mine remain, but middle of August 2018 I found another which was about to be scrapped . I have emailed the Skoda GB club about it and sent some pictures as it’s too good to scrap and hopefully someone will save it. It’s a blue LS estate with original alloys, sun roof, fog lamps and Phillips radio , The bodywork needs a good polish but no dents or damage . It has the brown dash like mine and has very dusty but un damaged brown seats. (Mine are blue in a red car ?). The one elderly owner sadly died 2016 having asked to see the car one last time. So it was driven to the hospital for him to see. It had four new tyres fitted for the short ride to the hospital. Then it was parked up and left at his home. June 2018 the family asked the local garage to take it away. The garage was going to scrap it but I happened past and noticed it and convinced him it was worth saving. It started immediately after standing out side for some weeks and it runs sweetly, all gears select and it drives okay, (last MOT 2016). It even has the torch and it’s original bill of sale. £6,450 and was bought new from Double S Services (Skoda) Ashton near Helston so it has a Cornish reg. It has a blowing exhaust and the rear passenger side sill where it meets the lower wheel arch needs a little patch. A quick look underneath looked all good. The garage that now has it is Hayle Motor Services ,Cornwall and is located just off the A30 behind Marks and Spencer’s. It is tucked away in the industrial estate at the side of Hayle rugby club. . He will sell it for £400 or will if required do the small welding patch and put it through MOT so it can be driven home for a little more. I would have bought it myself but I don’t have the room or time to bring it back to its former glory. Also I would be tempted to rob it of parts to keep my 6,508 mile Favorit in spares and that would be a shame as the blue car is basically sound and with some elbow grease it could be back on the road looking very smart. . The elderly gentleman obviously loved his Favorit, something which I can understand. I hope some one saves it soon.

How accurate is the “How many left “ data base ?. It takes its information from the U.K. DVLA data on cars registered in the U.K. including cars showing as taken off road (Sorn) . I looked up numbers for the Favorit Estate /Forman and it looked to be very low for what was a very popular selling car. Looking at the registered date of my car it came up as two estate cars on the road, one listed as a Favorit Forman and one listed as Favorit Estate (but not showing LS) Other later estate Favorits are listed under model designation like LXI, GLXI etc. But in total it was not a huge number for any of the Skoda Estate bodied cars showing registered on the road. I feel sure more cars must be on the road than the twenty or so shown. Am I reading the data wrongly? Or are they fast disappearing from U.K. roads (Like the Fiat Strada)

Agreed the signage and road markings are in place down here . Often however the lighting is insufficient, especially in rural villages where the road has had a island placed on one side of the carriageway to stop the normal flow of two way traffic in an effort to slow speeds. ( which have increased over the years) The guy who did the you tube post failed to show what happens when you take the second or third exit off, you are coming out of the roundabout and fast traffic from the off ramp of the A30 duel carriageway heading west enters the roundabout via a tight bend. They enter the roundabout too quickly and have to brake hard or fail to give way ! . If traffic from this off ramp wish to take the first exit left then they are separated from roundabout traffic. This is done by a sharp bending small curbed island which they often hit or mount. Merging traffic then causes tail backs into the off ramp behind . ( Unsuprisingly last night 1st of May 2018 we had a multiple accident at 17.00 hrs on the west bound off ramp heading onto the Avers roundabout involving five vehicles. This is on a bright sunny day with dry roads . Prior to the “improvements “ Avers roundabout had stood for thirty years as a normal run off for the main A30 duel carriageway and had no problems. Cornwall County Council of late have a history of authorising poor road design.

My local unified county council are obsessed with putting up random and strange traffic calming measures that motorists run into on dark foggy nights. Roundabouts with poorly placed road markings. (See You tube Avers Roundabout) Speed humps the size of Snowdon and bus lanes which are abandoned within weeks as they are not required. It didn’t surprise me to learn that the county council portfolio holder for roads does not have a drivers licence and that road improvements are carried out by an outside contractor using cad traffic flow software. And that all these schemes are completed by the Councils own roads construction company. So be warned anyone driving in Cornwall this summer be wary of any roundabouts, traffic calming, lane markings or speed humps. They all show a distinct lack of common sense.

Hi Robert Back in the 1977 and newly married I wanted a bank loan for a decent car to get me to work. The banks back then did not like to take risks on loaning people money. (Wow how times change.) So I could only have a personal loan if it was for a car under five years old. my first Skoda was a 1975 110L , I wanted a coupe but couldn’t find one in my price range. That Skoda was the first of four. I’m also in Cornwall hope to see you driving about keep an eye open for a maroon Favorit Estate and give us a toot. I’m also near Penzance .

Not sure if I can post this, if not acceptable please remove, but I like to praise good service when I can. As part of the ongoing up keep of my Favorit I decided to get the original KN five spoke alloy wheels blasted and powder coated to as near to the original colour and finish as possible, then put new tyres on ready for the summer. Having obtained quotes from wheel refinishers throughout Cornwall I opted for “ Duchy Wheel Refinishers” based in Redruth. A small company which can blast, paint or powder coat and also do steel banded wheels. ( I had seen the work they did on a friends track day race car which helped me decide as my friend was most impressed. ) I took my wheels in and discussed with the companies owner Jamie what finish I wanted. The turn around was just three working days. The powder coated finish is excellent and exactly what I required as I did not want overly bright silver. The blasting did not damage the wheels or Skoda lettering which is cast into the wheels. As for cost they quoted £30 per wheel less than the other quotes I had obtained from larger wheel refinishing companies. I can recommend Duchy Wheel Refinishers whole heartedly for anyone in the Cornwall area. ( I have no ties to this company other than being a happy customer) The contact details are on line and on Facebook.

My wife had owned the exact same model for ten years whilst our children was growing up . We owned that Skoda for ten years, even pulled a small caravan with it, and it never let us down or gave us any problems at MOT testing time. We only had the normal costs of running a car as daily school run transport. It wasn’t as sophisticated as my own cars of that time but it provided many happy memories. So for nostalgic reasons I paid what it was worth to me. Anything is only worth what one is willing to pay. And like it’s predecessor it has again proved to be very reliable .