A 1954 Skoda 1200 "Love & Peace" Special

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 In 1971 a young painter, Marja-Liisa Ilvesjärvi, in the Vaasa region of Finland bought herself a 1954 Škoda 1200 Kombi. Since she’d already cut her teeth in the family’s painting business, the old wagon received a new and psychedelic paintjob in the hippyish fashion of the day. 

The road safety inspection officials didn’t quite agree with it, claiming that more than two colours would be a road hazard. The car failed it’s MOT, but that didn’t stop the youngster driving around local b-roads in it for a while. Then after a summer of love, the Škoda was laid up to rest in a shed. 

For decades it sat there, until Marja-Liisa’s sons decided to sell it, for the shed was being demolished. It ended up wih Jari Valtonen, a car enthusiast in the neighbouring town of Seinäjoki. The floor had totally rotted away, but rest of the car was quite sound. The seats, from a Volvo Amazon were swapped for original ones and the engine and brakes overhauled. In the spring of 2016 the Škoda passed it’s MOT for the first time since 1969, still wearing the faded hippie colours, both inside and out. Colours are no longer a road hazard. The times they are a-changing.

Full feature story in the recent print edition
of Mobilisti, Finlands' leading classic car magazine 

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