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BrabusAMG
Posted: Dec 18 2016, 05:21 PM
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I only learnt about this a few days ago. 2 December 2016 was the 50th anniversary of a little-known vehicle called the Trekka, New Zealand's only locally designed and mass-produced vehicle. It was first released in 1966 and the chassis and engine from the Škoda Octavia Kombi. You can imagine how reliable it was laugh.png.

Roughly 2500 were made (I'm not sure if I would call that "mass-produced"). Because the parts from Czechoslovakia were cheap, the Trekka was almost the cheapest vehicle in the country.

Quite a few have survived. There are two of them in the area where I live: one is sometimes seen driving around; the other is in a transport museum (and in much better condition).

More information can be found here.


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Paul Spain
Posted: Dec 19 2016, 12:33 PM
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QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ Dec 19 2016, 01:21 AM)
I only learnt about this a few days ago. 2 December 2016 was the 50th anniversary of a little-known vehicle called the Trekka, New Zealand's only locally designed and mass-produced vehicle. It was first released in 1966 and the chassis and engine from the Škoda Octavia Kombi. You can imagine how reliable it was laugh.png.

Roughly 2500 were made (I'm not sure if I would call that "mass-produced"). Because the parts from Czechoslovakia were cheap, the Trekka was almost the cheapest vehicle in the country.

Quite a few have survived. There are two of them in the area where I live: one is sometimes seen driving around; the other is in a transport museum (and in much better condition).

More information can be found here.

It seems they copied the classic Land Rover jeep in design tongue.png .


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Dark One
Posted: Dec 19 2016, 06:56 PM
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Octavia is our national treasure. cool.png
Also, I heard that kiwis loved it. tongue.png

Our country actually have long tradition of making "off road" cars. Going all the way back to Austria-Hungary, or Skoda armored cars from the interwar period, or Tatra field cabriolets for our army and gendarmerie, delivered right before the German occupation.

In the same spirit Skoda designed the "battle Tudor" after the war, and our own take on the Jeep, remembered by the nickname "Babeta", that unfortunately never entered the production, thanks to the unification of equipment in soviet sphere of influence.

So, I am rather impressed, that kiwis took the Octavia, and as a kind of successor to the battle Tudor turned it into jeep. laugh.png


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BrabusAMG
Posted: Dec 20 2016, 05:26 PM
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Five of them went to Vietnam, too, so I guess it is almost a successor.

I read that a handful have been bought by Škoda collectors in Czechia, so you might not have to come to NZ to see one happy.png.

And yes, the Octavia is highly respected here. I was hoping that the NZ Police were going to adopt it when the Holden factory closed, but it looks like they're just going to get the new Opel-based Commodore dry.png.


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