Former Skoda Octavia VB Car at the Josefuv Dul Car Show, Liberecky kraj, Bohemia(CZ), 2015

Over the years, Skoda have produced at least four generations of the Octavia, which has also been available as a 4-door sedan (in its post-1996 incarnation), as a 2-door sedan, seen here, and as a 2-door or 4-door wagon. The first generation of the Octavia was produced from 1959 until 1971, surviving after 1964 despite the introduction of the 1000MB.

This survival was likely because the Octavia was slightly larger, and was available as a wagon, making it more appropriate for users (private and government) who needed a bigger car. The Octavia weighed 1270Kg, compared to the 1000MB's 700Kg. The Octavia sedan was discontinued after the introduction of the 1000MB, however. Weirdly enough, the 1959-1971 Octavia was not available as a 4-door, but only as a 2-door sedan or a 2-door wagon.

Whenever Octavias have been in production, it has been common to see them as fleet vehicles, so this meant that the Czechoslovak Verejna Bezpecnost or "public safety" force used them as patrol cars. Under Communist Party doctrine, it was generally not allowed to call them "the police," as police were said to only exist under capitalism. In earlier years, the full words "Verejna bezpecnost" were spelled out on on the patrol cars, but later this was appreviated to large "VB" lettering, which coincided with the VB adopting a orange-yellow and white livery for their vehicles, which had been preceded by a blue and white livery. Therefore, I assumed, when the extra lights on the front bumper are taken into account, that this Skoda Octavia is a retired VB cruiser.

1959-1971 Skoda Octavias generally came with either a 1089cc I-4 engine as standard, in a front/rear layout, while a 1221cc I-4 was optional. The wagon came with the 1221cc engine as standard. The 1221cc engine put out about 53 horsepower, which could give the Octavia a top speed of about 115 Km/h. I haven't found in my research whether the VB cars had more powerful "interceptor" engines of any kind, but as I've said in my captions on the Tatra 603, the Czechoslovak Communist Party had access to more powerful cars than the Octavia if they were needed.

Skoda have basically disowned the earlier 1959-1971 generation, so sometimes it can be confusing tracing the history of the brand. Skoda normally start with the 1996-2010 Octavia in their official chronology.