ColinD

Volkswagen 1932 Made in Mladá Boleslav

Wait a minute… isn’t it confused? Volkswagen in Mladá Boleslav? And in 1932 in addition? Well, the genuine Beetle made its official debut in Germany as late as 5 February 1936, which means that nobody had any idea of a Volkswagen in 1932. But yet we insist that we are not daydreaming.
The world depression arrived in Czechoslovakia with a delay, it is true, but it was no less aggressive. The years of 1932 through to 1934 belonged to the worst ones, and the automotive industry was among the most affected lines. No wonder – apart from Škoda, it was also Praga, Tatra, Aero, Walter, Wikov, and Z that offered their cars in the country with a relatively small market in 1932. That was a power of manufacturers at a time when most potential customers wondered about how to pay their house rents rather than about how to choose among four-cylinders. It must be admitted that all those brands were part of concerns or at least great companies with a wide manufacturing programme that had not built their prosperity only on motor vehicles. No surprise about that - it had to be that way. In early 1930, just the 100,000th motor vehicle was registered in Czechoslovakia, which meant a vehicle ownership rate of 1:147 while the number of passenger cars was even lower: only 42,000. In this respect, we lagged behind Europe, which resulted from many circumstances. The major ones still included a deep-rooted opinion that owning a car is a gesture of asocial luxury, and further the government’s excessive desire for squeeze as much tax money as possible out of automobile owners. Ranging from a paving fee (for example, also in Prague in 1932) to imposing a tax on public utility vehicles, politicians constrained the motorists so intensely that they simultaneously destroyed related branches including services - to the detriment of the entire economy. Moreover, this was even aggravated by the wicked Act No. 85/1932 on compulsory mixing petrol with spirit in the range of 20 to 25%. Officially, the Parliament passed this act in order to enhance the country’s defensive capacity because oil was imported for the most part while domestic distilleries produced abundance of spirit. Besides, this should have helped small sugar-beet and potato growers. If only the farmers battered the deputies’ heads with their sugar-beet. The purchase prices did not increase but the price of spirit was raised on the other hand. Those who licked their lips were the distillers and those deputies who allowed themselves to be persuaded not by the alleged convenience of the mixture but rather by fat envelopes in their pockets. Some statistical figures show the consequences: Whereas Europe was overcoming the crisis as early as 1933, Czechoslovakia was head over heels in it. As compared to the previous year, car sales increased by 100% in Germany, by 53% in Italy, by 21% in England and by 11% in France while the number of vehicles dropped by 30% in Czechoslovakia – it still paid off to deregister a car rather than drive it! And now please go and stand at a drawing-board and design a car intended for people from all walks of life. Do you think it is impossible? Yet it had to be possible – as long as the motor company’s management looked farther than the next quarterly settlement. The executive staff in Mladá Boleslav really viewed the future, which, of course, also applied to Praga, Tatra, and Aero, then the strongest competition. In contrast with it, however, the ASAP car maker disposed of the most up-to-date manufacturing technology, especially thanks to a new car-body workshop and mechanics. Now a new car was wanted.

The path to this goal led across weight reduction that would have even allowed a less powerful (and cheaper) engine without dramatically deteriorating dynamic performance. One of the possible ways was a rear-engined car without a driveshaft. Such an aggregate is then not only cheaper but also lighter. Tatra and Daimler-Benz worked on this concept as well at that time; Škoda had its keen patron in the form of Ing. Karel Hrdlička, its company director. Under the impetus, the year 1932 saw a car nicknamed Kadlomobil after the first name of its godfather by the insiders. It was a two-door four-seater powered by air-cooled flat SV four-cylinder rear-mounted engine with a capacity of 1,498cc (Ø 72 x 92 mm) delivering 22.1 kW (30bhp) /3,500 1/min. A central-tube frame was made up by two steel side members, forked in the front as well as the rear. All wheels were independently suspended on double transverse leaf springs shaping a trapezoid. The car designated 932 was officially homologated on 26th October 1932; apparently, two units were built. The chassis weighed 550kg while the body as many as 350kg, which resulted from the then usual wood framework covered with sheet metal.

For its time, the car had an unusual shape without losing a kind of elegance. Left-hand steering was worthy of notice because the traffic kept left in the country at that time. This proves that serious discussions about a change were carried out even then. And when else test a left-hand drive than on a prototype? A picture featuring a car with its luggage-compartment lid open showing a hidden spare wheel highly reminds the shape and layout of a Volkswagen. The air-cooled flat four-cylinder rear-mounted engine is also a very familiar design. At any rate, this does not mean that Ferdinand Porsche copied a car made in Mladá Boleslav. After all, the Kopřivnice-based manufacturer came up with a similarly designed prototype, V 570, one year after Škoda and more than two years ahead of Porsche. What does this mean? No more and no less than the fact that designers from various corners of Europe took one of the right routes to a people’s car, and that Škoda was among the first ones. This proves creative ability, technical potential and anticipation of the then design and management that belonged to the best of its day. Thus the crisis contributed to the fact that the manufacturer ASAP brought its project of a people’s rear-engined car as far as the stage of a prototype that was ahead of the later world-famous Beetle in some aspects. But general manager Karel Hrdlička was supported only by his financial manager while Ferdinand Porsche was pushed to development of a people’s car by the Chancellor of the German Reich and the Ministry of Transport. On top of that, development of the Beetle advanced to a higher level, particularly in terms of chassis and body design.

In Mladá Boleslav, testing rear engines and rear-wheel drive did not end with the type 932 but continued. This concept simply had its points. However, what got green light was a design featuring central frame and a conventional drive treatment: Škoda 420 Popular and other types of the same design. That was a proper decision that moved the Mladá Boleslav-based automobile factory from third place into the lead among the local manufacturers in the second half of 1930s.

__________________

anonymouse

Thought I'd best not 'Quote' - might cause server to pack up

b00dy el, Colin, could you not post a longer piece

__________________
"Stupidity, if left untreated, is self-correcting." - Heinlein

andy2407

So 1932 cars were designed for bio-fuels

__________________
The future's bright
The future's mellow

gcr31463

Andy, groing crops for transport fuel is an old issue, in Victorian times, oats for horses was Britain's biggest crop!

Colin, there was a big feature in one of the classic mags a few years back with a Tatra (T91 I think) & an early Beetle.
VW paid Tatra out of court years later.

The number of times people say ...
"oh I didn't know Skoda made cars back then"
and they're only referring to my old Octavias.
Can't wait for the show next week in Tabor CZ!

__________________
... owner of a "rare" TDI Sport
(and also a couple of common as muck old RWD Octavias)

daverapid

I'm so very poud to be a Skoda fan and owner, and this thread reinforces that pride.

__________________

David McKinney
TREASURER OF SKODA OWNERS CLUB GREAT BRITAIN
www.skoda-owners-club.org.uk

swedishskoda

__________________

It's feral ! It's fervid! It's a Felicia!