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| Snuffling in the feed-box, kicking the stable walls, eager to be saddled, LBJ recently went to the dump |
Both the medical folk and my insurance company have signalled the green light: I may now resume car driving. I was able to drive to the dump – with VR in the passenger seat, desperate for an experience denied her for weeks and weeks – and get rid of all those bags of garden waste. Whooo-pee!
It was an affectionate reunion. Skoda LBJ (the last three symbols of the registration and a reminder of a president who might have done well for the USA had he not become ensnared in Vietnam) is the best car I have ever owned. And that makes sense. The current car should always be the best, otherwise there’s no proof that the owner is heeding the lessons handed out by history.
It’s an Old Man’s Car. At a certain age drivers should discard stick-shift; working the clutch and the gear-lever become unnecessary distractions. Better I devote my full attention to the road and the others I share it with. Especially since the seven-speed auto with its two pre-selector clutches actually changes gear faster than anyone other than a racing driver could.
The Skoda is, by UK standards, medium size. The boot (US: trunk) is huge and I’m not tempted by smaller cars even if they are notionally easier to park. Better I’m never short of carrying space, as with the bags of garden waste. Besides which, bigger capacity cars are, on the whole, more relaxing. Less revving, less engine noise, they sort of loaf along. In fact the engine is comparatively small (a mere 1.4 litres) but you wouldn’t know it. Performance is readily available.
Best of all the Skoda doesn’t encourage sentimentality. It’s practical and well-thought-out. No need to forgive its compromises, there aren’t any. A car for going somewhere, not dreaming about.
LBJ also stands for Little Brown Job. There are a host of birds that conform to that description which twitchers find difficult to identify one from the other, hence this generic term.
ReplyDeleteSir Hugh: This sounds slightly wrong. The definition of a twitcher was that he/she was part of a band that could identify all LBJ variants. Those that coudn't weren't real twitchers.
DeleteI've never heard of a Skoda. I don't know why it never occurred to me that there were actually cars in other countries that I've never heard of.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you're able to drive again. Take care there and stay safe and well.
robin andrea: I'd have to say Skoda makes Ford, GM, and Chrysler look like Johnny-come-latelies. The Skoda Works were established in what was then Czechoslovakia as an arms manufacturer in 1859. Skoda Auto (and its predecessor Laurin & Klement) is the fifth-oldest company producing cars, and has an unbroken history alongside Daimler, Opel, Peugeot, and Tatra (None of which you'll be familiar with; Daimler is the parent company of cars now better known as Mercedes).
DeleteSkoda Works became state owned in what is now known as the Czech Republic in 1948. After 1991, it was gradually privatized by Volkswagen, becoming a subsidiary in 1994 and since 2000 a wholly owned subsidiary.
Skoda cars are sold in over 100 countries and in 2018, total global sales reached 1.25 million units. The operating profit was €1.6 billion in 2017. Skoda's profit margin was the second highest of all Volkswagen brands after Porsche.
While it was state-owned Skoda's cars had a shocking reputation as unreliable and horribly old-fashioned. After VW took over the company these failings became just a memory. This is my third consecutive Skoda (the Octavia model) and I wouldn't have any other. Their automatic gearbox is technically complex and hard to explain to anyone without some engineering knowledge, but because it has seven speeds it automatically ensures optimum performance and what is known in the USA as "good gas mileage". If I flick the selector lever over to the left, the gears can be selected manually, which means individual gears can be "held" when going down steep hills, thus using the engine as a brake and saving pad wear on the disc brakes
Huzzah! It has taken me two days after the ice storm to dig my car out. Tomorrow I may actually be able to make it through the side streets to the main road. Here's to spacious cars!
ReplyDeleteZu Schwer: And then - in the Spring - from the main road to your place of work. It's called Gradus ad Parnassum.
DeleteOh! I love these latin phrases so I can surprise my good friend when she least expects it. I looked it up so I am certain to pronounce it well.
DeleteModern Skodas are excellent cars since VW took over the East German make- I think they are a better bargain than actual VWs. The communist company was eager to get back to making the good motors that they made pre-war.
ReplyDeleteMy wife had four of them. The first was a Skoda Rapid from the old East German company - it showed! Then two saloons and one estate, which showed improvements as the company emerged from the dead hand of Russian control. That she now has a Kia is a financial choice rather than a reflection on Skodas.
I always enjoyed SAABs until GM took them over, with the intention of taking them off the market, some say - they succeeded. Now, in old age, a small Toyota does me, but it would be a Skoda Octavia estate if I still towed caravans.
Avus: I think Skodas were always made in Czechoslovakia or, more recently the Czech Republic. GM is no doubt guilty of many undesirable short-cuts but they didn't acquire Saab merely to close them down. Attempts were made to rationalise Saab manufacture (eg, by using Vauxhall/Opel floor pans) but this didn't work. Saab always had only niche appeal (for instance, by sticking to two-stroke engines long after this was seen as commercial suicide) and it seemed they were mainly bought - outside Sweden - by those who appreciated their quirky details. Or, like you, their comfortable seats. In the early days of Top Gear Clarkson poked fun at a Saab regarding a feature that prevented the engine from being started under a certain weird and unexpected sequence of events regarding reverse gear. Saab enthusiasts liked this kind of thing but it was never going to sell many cars.
DeleteYou are right about eventually having to give up a stick-shift. I really loved driving with a manual transmission and I miss all the hoopla and activity. It always made me feel like I was a race car driver. I also never heard of a Skoda, I enjoyed reading your answer to robin. I once had a car salesman tell me he wanted to sell me my "dream car." I quickly made it clear that there was no such thing. I just wanted a reliable car with a heater and a clock.
ReplyDelete