Image: Skoda, Juraj Herz
I wrote an article yesterday that uses an interesting car in the main picture, and a number of readers noticed. It’s hard not to notice – it’s a pretty eye-catching car. It is a Skoda 110 Supersport, a 1971 koda concept car based on a rear-engined koda rally car, but with a much more dramatic style. But the car is actually better known for an acting role than it is in the 1982 Czech horror film, Ferat vampire. It is as good as you think it is, whether or not your idea of “good” is ironic.
Before we get to the vampire version of the car, let’s take a look at how the 110 Super Sport was launched. The car used the drivetrain of the 110-liter rally car from koda, which in turn was based on Škoda’s workhorse, the 3-box rear-engined sedan 100/110.
Image: Skoda
In rally trim, the 1.1-liter engine put out a respectable 73 horsepower for the era, and when it was transplanted into the 110 Super Sport, the drivetrain was flipped to provide a mid-engined layout and the battered body was made entirely by a very futuristic, wedge-shaped design, complete with six fold-out headlights, a lifting canopy for entry and exit, and a cheerfully wacky sixteen taillights.
I mean look at this:
Image: Skoda
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Fantastic.
Well, early 1970s Czechoslovakia wasn’t really the time or place to build a dramatic looking, low volume sports car, so the 110 Super Sport remained a one-off prototype that was put in storage and probably admired the odd occasional koda- Employee who once wanted to dream.
However, about a decade later, the super sport was literally and figuratively brought back from the dead for being selected as a movie star and playing the role of a vampire car in the film Ferat Vampire.
Every acting role requires special costumes, and transforming the futuristically shiny white 110 Super Sport into the evil Ferat Vampire RSR required quite a bit of work.
Image: Skoda
The car received a black paint job with red pinstripes, the sextet of pop-up headlights was replaced with a more conventional, no-nonsense face from the 80s, and all of those taillights were replaced with a pair from the upcoming Škoda 120 with some gold BBS wheels, to top it off.
For a car designed in the early 1970s, the transition to a modern (you know, 80s) look had been done remarkably well, and the thing had the kind of imposing, malicious presence you get from one evil vampire car that drank blood.
How bad was it? Well here is a clip:
Ouch! What the hell is going on in that engine? Well, I don’t know Czech, but based on some things I read and this organ-filled poster, I think Ferat Motors company (the name is from Nosferatu, you see) was experimenting with some kind of biological machine:
Image: Juraj Heart
This is a concept that I’ve actually explored a bit here, and I can absolutely confirm that, yes, something like that would be terrible, whether it consumes blood or just cat food or something.
Here’s a longer clip with more shots of the car, along with one even more great Eastern Bloc iron:
The film is also notable for showing an actress Dagmar Havlováwho later became the First Lady of the Czech Republic as you probably know she was married to Václav Havel.
It’s interesting how often the concept of bloody cars comes up as horror movie conceit; there was one named, wisely, Blood car, and only a Blood Drive a few years ago. For some reason people keep coming back to the blood fuel issue.
Image: Skoda
Swallowing blood or not, this is a really strikingly designed concept car, and it’s amazing that it has a second life as a horror movie villain, an honor far too few forgotten concept cars ever get.
