Sam Glover
A Škoda from a derelict dealership starts a new life
Confession time: why Sam’s going rallying in a fossilised Favorit.
The ‘dealership that time forgot’ in Castle Gresley, South Derbyshire, closed for business in 2002. It’s been a lucrative source of internet clickbait and space-filler for local newspapers ever since. Its closing stock of unglamorous secondhand cars – a Vauxhall Astra MKII, a Cavalier MKIII, a crusty Beetle, a Rover 800, a Lada Samara, two Metros and a Maestro, a Volvo 440, a Renault Master and a battleship grey Škoda Favorit – attracted dust and photographs, then gradually vanished as enthusiasts or, more likely, breakers, dragged them away.
By 2014, only the Cavalier, Maestro, Rover and Škoda remained. It was at this point that the establishment came to the attention of my friend Paul Johns, who’s an inveterate Favorit-fancier. Where the unenlightened had seen a poor example of a worthless banger, Paul saw the only right-hand drive Favorit in Moonstone grey still known to exist – and in poverty-spec 135L trim, too. Excited, he called the phone number displayed on a handwritten sign within. He got through to the dealership’s former proprietor, a Mr Grenville Isham. Though he'd been out of the motor trade for 15 years, Grenville still drove a hard bargain: Paul towed it home £450 lighter of pocket.
Paul made good use of his Favorit honeymoon, enthusiastically welding on patches, replacing all the braking components and rubber gaiters, fitting new fuel lines and overhauling the cooling system. This was enough to make it broadly functional and win it an MOT, but a body of work remained to make the driving experience satisfactory. At this point he became distracted by better cars.
A firm Favorit
For the past four years, Paul and I have taken part in the Autumn Sun Run, a four-day classic rally that thrashes along some of the finest routes that south-east France has to offer. It’s become customary to take it in turns to provide the rally car. This year, it was Paul’s turn. It’s also become customary for Plan A and Plan B to fail, leaving Plan C to be hurriedly prepared immediately before the event. In this case Plan A was a terminally unfinished Skoda 130 and Plan B an excessively derelict Yugo 65. Plan C was the Favorit.
We spent three happy weekends administering improvements. Paul has an easy method of making a Favorit handle even more like a rally car than it does as standard: Monroe shock absorbers at the front and Bilsteins at the rear. He made this so.
The timing chain of Škoda’s OHV engine has no tensioner. It becomes slack and rattly over a distance of around 50,000 miles. When the noise becomes an embarrassment, this indicates that replacement is due. Our Favorit’s had reached this point, so we burrowed in through the offside wheelarch and installed a new chain and sprockets, plus an assortment of fresh gaskets, seals and fasteners. Paul wrestled a new exhaust into place while I freed the manifold and replaced its rusty studs. Not one of the cursed items came out intact, so all had to be drilled and Heli-coiled. We replaced the head studs, stripped and cleaned the carburettor, unclogged the lazy accelerator pump and refitted the manifolds with a fresh gasket. We replaced the top engine mount and water pump, the fuel pump, the servo hose and the duff electric fan switch.
We adjusted the valve clearances, presented the engine with a picnic hamper of service items, plus fluids, and set the ignition timing and idle mixture. We exercised and lubricated cables, adjusted the clutch, titivated electrical connections, changed the gearbox oil, re-greased the wheel bearings and welded some extra tank-patches underneath for good measure. A set of nearly-new tyres completed the ensemble. It passed an MOT with flying colours, much to the tester’s amusement. ‘They really knew how to do ‘miserable’ in Czechoslovakia, didn’t they?’ he commented. A week of test-hammering has brought nothing but unmitigated pleasure. So: we’re off to France. I’ll let you know how we get on in the next issue of Practical Classics.n