The Škoda 1202 is a 4-door estate / 3-door van / 2-door pick-up from Škoda Auto, built from 1961 to 1973, in the decade that gave the world the pony car and the mid-engined supercar. Under the bonnet: 1.2 L I4.
How it came about
The Škoda 1202 is a family car that was produced as a station wagon, light panel van and pick-up (utility) by Czechoslovak automaker AZNP at their subsidiary plant in Vrchlabí. The station wagon had an unusual "asymmetric" body with one door on the driver's side and two doors on the passenger side. There was no saloon (sedan) version. Škoda introduced the 1202 in 1961 as a successor to the station wagon and pick-up versions of the Škoda 1201. It closely resembles the slightly smaller Octavia Combi.
The car is powered by a 1221 cc four-cylinder ohv water-cooled engine delivering 34.5 kW (47 PS), inherited from its predecessor, and which later also was used in the Škoda Octavia. The four-speed gear-box included synchromesh on the top three ratios, power being delivered to the rear wheels via a jointed prop shaft. A top speed of 100 km/h (62 mph) was quoted. Production volumes were never high, but Škoda continued to make the 1202 until 1973. The more modern Škoda 1000 MB and Škoda 100 models, produced at main plant in Mladá Boleslav, had a rear engine, which was not suitable for station wagon and van bodies.
The hardware
Power comes from 1.2 L I4. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Škoda 1201. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Volvo P1800, the Jaguar E-Type, the Ferrari 250 GTO — show what else the money bought that year. Its Škoda Auto stablemates include the HZS-1 and the Trekka.
What it costs now
There is no federal ownership record for the Škoda 1202 — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.