Obviously, I didn’t have a bloody clue what this was before looking at the information board, but for my riveted two loyal blog readers, I can confirm that it’s a MNA 1000 produced by the Bratislava Automobile Company, a rather bold and ultimately doomed attempt to drag Czechoslovak van production into the modern age. It was rather a modern design, especially with the wraparound windscreen and the single windshield wiper valiantly attempting to clear a vast surface and the headlights that seem to be playing peek-a-boo from behind slightly sulky eyelids. The design process kicked off in 1983, with the aim of replacing the ageing and increasingly sub-optimal Škoda 1203 van, a workhorse that was apparently not considered as particularly glamorous.
What’s rather touching, and is what intrigued me, about the whole story is how much hope was poured into this little van. Engineers had ambitions, there was talk of a front-wheel drive layout, sleek design and even collaboration with Moscow-based AZLK to push things forward. But then the Iron Curtain came crashing down, the market economy swept in, and the idea of building something locally that looked like a squashed spaceship became less appealing and it never made it to full production. A few prototypes were made and this is one of them, parked up in a museum but at least it survives.