Estelle, subject of many jokes is 30 this year..launced in 1976...a very special car in my opinion,lets wish the dear old girl a happy birthday!

A great car 30yrs too late.

Happy Birthday Estelle! Remember seeing loads of them around when i was a kid and the Skoda jokes were everywhere! Are Estelle's really that bad? What are the good points and bad points!

Happy birthday 'Stelle!

If I'd have known they were RWD (only found this out recently) I'd probably have had one a few years back!

Problem was the 1st cars weren't brilliant. Box steering, poor rear suspension geometry, 14 inch 155 Czech tyres, swing axel. They also rotted quickly.

Problem was our 'Friends' in Moscow. Skoda had a hatch and a front engine saloon, not a million miles away from the Audi 80 back in 1974, but Moscow said no. So the Estelle was designed and built on a shoestring.

The Kings Lynn import centre did a lot to sort the car, changing the geometry, wheels and tyres, getting rid of the box steering and on some cars, replacing the swing axel with trailing arms. But the damage was done.

The cars weren't that bad. Have fond memories of driving Mum's 120 LS, the 1st non dual control car I drove on a public road. Ok it was rough and ready, but hey - it was fun.

Problem was the 1st cars weren't brilliant. Box steering' date=' poor rear suspension geometry, 14 inch 155 Czech tyres, swing axel. They also rotted quickly.

Problem was our 'Friends' in Moscow. Skoda had a hatch and a front engine saloon, not a million miles away from the Audi 80 back in 1974, but Moscow said no. So the Estelle was designed and built on a shoestring.

The Kings Lynn import centre did a lot to sort the car, changing the geometry, wheels and tyres, getting rid of the box steering and on some cars, replacing the swing axel with trailing arms. But the damage was done.

The cars weren't that bad. Have fond memories of driving Mum's 120 LS, the 1st non dual control car I drove on a public road. Ok it was rough and ready, but hey - it was fun.[/quote']

So they weren't as bad as the Skoda jokes around at the time would suggest?

The Estelle was dated even when first launched, and frankly the very 1st ones were pretty poor with quite dodgy handling. Skoda realised this and updated the car fairly quickly, but as JMK2 said...the damage was done. The later Estelle 2 cars with rack and pinion steering instead of a box,and in particular the 130 range with semi-trailing arm rear suspension were actually very good competetive cars with excellent handling, a real drivers car in fact. The reputation of the earlier cars remained however,and tbh the concept was even more dated by the mid 80's when the 130 range made the car more acceptable. Despite the jokes,and the early cars poor handling, the later Estelles were a very strong,well engineered reliable car,and a car that an enthusiastic driver can have a lot of fun in.

Happy Birthday!

Steve

Happy Birthday !

Remember having a test drive in a 130, was far better than I expected, quite quick and enjoyable to drive, didn't buy one though, there just wasn't enough storage space in it for the gear I used to haul around. I may even still have the brochure somewhere!

aj