Škoda restores 110-year-old car

MOTORING NEWS - Czech automaker Škoda is a surprising 122 years old. Although not available in South Africa, the brand is a common sight on roads in Europe.

After starting as Laurin & Klement it built a sporty model in 1908 - the 1 400cc (12hp) BSC model. Only 12 were manufactured and now the company has restored the last surviving one for display. Restoration took two years.

The restored BSC's 1,399cc twin cylinder engine is said to fire up after just a few turns of the hand crank. When Škoda bought the car in 2016, researchers found it had always been kept in roadworthy condition.

When Václav Laurin and Václav Klement first started the company in 1895 in Mlada Boleslav in the Kingdom of Bohemia, they made bicycles. By 1899, they were making some of the world's first motorcycles and in 1905 they started production of cars. Production ramped up and they were building 500 cars a year by 1908, when the BSC was built.

This was the fastest car in the early L&K catalogue. The regular BS series cars produced 10hp, but this model was a 12hp "monster" in comparison.

At the time, it sold for 5 500 Austro-Hungarian krone as a complete vehicle. The estimated cost today would be US$75 000 or a bit over R1-million, allowing for inflation.

It was a highly collectable car which was owned by several filmmakers and appeared in many movies, including Alfred Radok's Grandpa Car in 1957, before making its way to the Škoda museum.

Due to modifications over the years, Škoda decided to overhaul the motor, transmission and chassis using as many original parts as possible, and built a new body for it using historical plans and sources.

The BSC is now on display in the Škoda museum in Mlada Boleslav, the very same building it was produced in about 110 years ago. It has pride of place among many other historical vehicles, motors and memorabilia.

With the political changes after 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell, Škoda searched for a strong foreign partner to secure the company's competitiveness. In December 1990 they agreed to a joint venture with Volkswagen and became the fourth brand in the Volkswagen group, alongside Volkswagen, Audi and Seat.