Exactly 90 years ago, a Škoda Hispano-Suiza became the official car of the first Czechoslovak President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk.
Since then, a wide variety of Škoda models have served as the official vehicles of several Czechoslovak and Czech heads of state and government.
The most technically advanced and fastest car of the 1920s
The creation of the first Škoda state limousine coincided with an important period of upheaval for the car manufacturer: in 1925, the Laurin & Klement company from Mladá Boleslav merged with a strong partner, the engineering group Škoda, based in Pilsen. In western Bohemia, the Škoda plants produced an exclusive small series under license from the renowned French brand Hispano-Suiza. As a result, 100 examples of one of the most technically advanced and fastest cars of the 1920s were built in Pilsen: the Škoda Hispano-Suiza.
At the beginning of May 1926, the first example was sold to the office of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1850-1937) for 280,000 crowns. The corresponding order was placed on July 25, 1925, and included several individual requests from the head of state. After approval of the customized body design - a limousine with a glass partition wall between the cockpit and the passenger compartment in the rear - the Parisian specialist company Carosserie Kellner Frères produced the beautifully shaped exterior. The original registration number 'N-1' was replaced in the 1930s by 'P-118', where 'P' stood for Prague. After the then 85-year-old president resigned from office in December 1935, the Škoda Hispano-Suiza remained in the garage of his official residence, Prague Castle, until March 17, 1936. The car was then returned to the manufacturer - its fate is not known.
The Škoda Hispano-Suiza was characterized by advanced technology, which further emphasized the luxurious character of the model series. A seven-bearing crankshaft contributed to the exceptionally smooth running of the in-line six-cylinder engine with a displacement of 6,654 cc. It was manufactured from a 350 kilogram cast part and still weighed a considerable 45 kilograms after the complex machining process. The unique mechanical brake booster of the saloon, which weighed up to 2.7 tons, used the kinetic energy of the car and progressively supported the drum brakes: its effect increased with increasing pedal pressure, allowing the braking power to be better controlled.
Škoda VOS - the prestigious notchback saloon
After the end of the Second World War and the far-reaching social changes, Škoda once again produced a vehicle for the Czechoslovak president in 1950. The armored Škoda VOS (for 'Vládní osobní speciál', meaning 'Government Special People's Car') was a prestigious notchback sedan with lavish chrome trim at the front. The extended version of the Škoda VOS, with armor plating and 52-millimeter-thick bulletproof windows, weighed up to 4,440 kilograms with impressive dimensions of 5.70 meters long, 1.95 meters high and 1.75 meters wide. Between 1950 and 1952, around 100 vehicles of this model series were produced in various versions. Two Czechoslovak presidents, Klement Gottwald (1896-1953) and Antonín Zápotocký (1884-1957), drove one of these limousines.
In the following decades until the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, the state cars at Prague Castle were predominantly Soviet models of the ZIS and ZIL brands. Four years later, after the establishment of the independent Czech Republic, Škoda vehicles returned to 'state service'. The human rights activist and later President Václav Havel (1936-2011) was a great automobile fan. He took the opportunity to personally test numerous new Škoda models, including the Felicia and the first generations of the Fabia, Octavia and Superb. His successor in office, Václav Klaus, used the Superb I and Superb II sedans for two terms of office (2003-2013).
The current Czech President Miloš Zeman took delivery of his new official car, a third-generation Škoda Superb, at Prague Castle on June 5, 2015.
