Skoda Škoda 1000 MB

Škoda 1000 MB at a glance

A new factory for a rear-engined Škoda

The 1000 MB, project name NOV, replaced the front-engined Octavia that had been built since 1959. Škoda looked at front-wheel drive and rejected it as too costly and complex, and the rear-engined Renault Dauphine, the air-cooled Volkswagen Beetle, Fiat 600 and Hillman Imp served as points of reference. The letters MB stand for Mladá Boleslav, the town that built it.

Testing was thorough for the time. By May 1962, fifty prototypes had covered 1,598,840 km, including brake, fuel and cooling trials in the Caucasus at up to 45 °C. To build the car, Škoda added a whole new part to the Mladá Boleslav plant. More than 300 companies, 134 of them from abroad, delivered equipment for over 40 halls on an 80-hectare site with 13 km of roads, 10 km of railway track and 11 km of overhead conveyors.

The monocoque body used 665 pressed parts held by 6,900 welding spots. The radiator and an engine-driven fan sat at the back, so cooling air entered through slats in the rear wings and tail panel. Suspension was independent all round, with swing axles at the rear and drum brakes on every wheel. The front boot held up to 220 litres. The car was shown at the Brno engineering fair in September 1964 and in Paris and London a month later. By the end of 1965 the line built at least 150 cars a day. The wider story of the company is in our history of Škoda.

Engines and versions, from 1000 MB to 1100 MBX

The crankcase, cylinder block and gearbox bell housing were die-cast in aluminium, which Škoda says shortened production time and saved energy. The head was cast iron, bore and stroke were 68 x 68 mm, and the four-speed manual gearbox had synchromesh on all forward gears. The same engine family stayed in production into the 1990s, after Škoda joined the Volkswagen Group.

Power figures vary between sources because period data mixed SAE and DIN ratings. Škoda's own heritage material gives 27 kW (37 PS) for the 1964 car, 32 kW (43 PS) from 1966 and 38 kW (52 PS) for the 1100 MB. The twin-carburettor MBG saloon and MBX hardtop used a 9.2:1 compression ratio; Wikipedia DE quotes 34 kW (46 PS) at 4,800 rpm for this engine, while Wikipedia EN gives 38 kW. The MBX coupé weighed 815 kg according to Wikipedia DE, and Škoda notes that this two-door version is the one collectors look for.

Exports, prices and the Embéčko at home

Exports took a large share from the start. In 1965 seven of every ten cars went abroad, and over the whole run more than half of the saloons left Czechoslovakia. In Britain an early-1965 1000 MB cost GBP 579, against GBP 592 for a Ford Cortina 1200 and GBP 636 for a Hillman Minx Deluxe. In West Germany it cost DM 4,980 in 1967, more than the DM 4,485 asked for a Volkswagen Beetle 1200. East Germany imported more than 60,000 cars, all basic versions, and Australians knew the car as the Škoda Sabre.

At home the price was Kčs 44,000 at launch. Czechs and Slovaks called it the Embéčko, after the letters MB, and joked that 1000 MB meant "a thousand little pains". Period tests judged it modern by Eastern standards and average by Western ones; Wikipedia DE notes that the Renault 8, with its five-bearing crankshaft and disc brakes, was considered more advanced. A 12,000 km test returned 7.9 l/100 km.

The 1000 MB in rallying

New FIA rules in 1966 created Group 5 of Class B, and the factory built the 1000 MB B5 for it. With twin Jikov 32 SOPc carburettors the one-litre engine made 55 kW (75 PS) at 6,500 rpm and 88 Nm at 5,000 rpm. The car reached 100 km/h in 14.2 s and 160 km/h on a long straight. In 1967 Vladimír Krček and Milan Žid ran an 63 kW (85 PS) car and beat two V8-engined Tatra 603 B5 racers in the six-hour race at Brno. For 1968 the engine grew to 1,143 cc and 1,150 cc, and twin Weber carburettors brought up to 71 kW (97 PS), which made it the most successful B5 season.

Škoda 1000 MB today: what to check when buying

Wikipedia DE lists rust as the first known problem, so check the sills, floor and wheel arches of any car before looking at the mechanicals. The same source names overheating, which leads to head gasket failure and, in bad cases, cracks in the aluminium block. Ask whether the cooling system has been flushed and the thermostat renewed. Radio Prague recalls that the rubber fuel hoses running from the tank through the engine bulkhead dried out and cracked quickly; replace any original-looking hose before the first drive. Above 80 km/h the swing-axle rear can feel unsettled, so tyre pressures and suspension bushes matter.

Survival is good in the home country. A ČTK report of March 2024 counted more than 16,000 cars still registered in Czechia, including 122 MBX coupés and 80 MBG saloons. Because the engine family stayed in production for decades, mechanical parts are easier to find than trim. Values from the same March 2024 report: about CZK 50,000-70,000 (about EUR 2,000-2,800) for an unrestored saloon and up to CZK 300,000 (about EUR 12,000) for a restored one. Cebia wrote in December 2023 that an MBX hardtop rarely sells below CZK 1 million (about EUR 40,000) and that buyers should budget for about CZK 1.5 million (about EUR 60,000). Other Škodas are listed in the Škoda catalogue, and more cars of the decade are in our classic cars section.