It doesn’t happen everyday; meeting two old Skoda station wagons in Beijing, at the same time, standing together, at a stone throw from Volkswagen’s China headquarters in the Sanlitun area in Beijing.
There had been a large Skoda P.R. event weeks earlier, with a bunch of old Skoda’s driving around town. But those were shipped in from Europe and were perfectly restored. The wagons, however, looked abandoned and crappy, with lots of rust and thick layers of dust.
The Forman had a very old and discolored 京A blue license plate. These were the first plates issued to private cars in Beijing in the 1990’s. The Skoda Forman was the wagon version of the Skoda Favorit. The Forman was made from 1990 until 1995. Power came from a 1.3 liter petrol engine with an output of 62 hp and 100 Nm. The motor was mated to a 5-speed manual sending horses to the front wheels.
The Skoda Forman was semi-officially sold in China via country-to-country import deals. There were service centers in several cities but no dealer network. Later on, when Skoda entered China as part of the Volkswagen empire, it established a real dealer network, but that network does not service the older Skoda’s.
The Skoda Felicia was the successor of the Skoda Favorit. Basic design remained largely the same but it looked more modern, especially up front. The Forman name was cancelled and the wagon version was called the Felicia Combi. ‘LX’ was a trim level.
It looked like the front passenger door was repainted at some point in time. The Skoda Felicia Combi was made from 1994 until 2001. It was available with various engine, including a reworked version of the 1.3 and a Volkswagen-sourced 1.6. Transmission was still a five-speed manual.
The sticker is interesting. The little panda-like figurine is Huanhuan, one of the Fuwa’s, the official mascots for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Fuwa’s were unveiled in 2007 so we can assume this sticker dates from 2007 or 2008. club.auto.sohu.com was a very popular car BBS at the time but it doesn’t exist anymore.
The Skoda Felicia Combi is far more rare than the Skoda Forman. Over the years I must have seen a few dozen of the latter but only a few of the former. Sadly, it seems, these two Skoda wagons in Beijing were destined for the scrap yard. So that’s two less, again.
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