Škoda 860 Cabriolet
100 years ago, Czechoslovakia was founded as a country, thus giving the still young car brand Laurin & Klement a new home state. Today, children learn the map of Europe with the individual states Czech Republic and Slovakia, while the double-named car brand became a part of the engineering company Škoda in 1925. Since the 1990s, the Czech carmaker is part of the Volkswagen Group and thus active in many world markets. At the same time, the head office in Mladá Boleslav also deliberately dedicates itself to the long tradition and shows selected pieces in the factory museum.
Škoda has now completed a unique vehicle in their in-house museum workshop for the country’s anniversary. In the years before World War 2, the brand was also active in the luxury car class and therefore presented at the Prague Motor Show in October 1929 the new model series 860. It was the top-of-the-range model of the Czech-made vehicle generation produced for the first time on an assembly line. Its designation gives an indication of the number of cylinders and the power. So the 860 got 60 hp (44 kW) from eight combustion chambers and 3.9 liters of displacement. Combined with a three-speed manual gearbox the car is able to reach a topspeed of 110 kph (68 mph). Front and rear rigid axles were used on long and wide leaf springs and hydraulic shock absorbers, which were mounted on the rugged ladder frame. Without a body, the chassis already weighed in at 1,460 kilograms, completed it was more than two tons, depending on the design and equipment.
While the chassis were manufactured only from October 1929 to the summer of 1931, the sale of new bodied cars ran until the beginning of 1933. In total, only 49 copies of the 860 were created, which was mainly due to the Great Depression. With 125,000 crowns for the sedan and 140,000 crowns for the Cabriolet Škoda was in the absolute top segment of the then upper class. In addition to the two mentioned body styles Škoda also offered bare chassis and the factory Faux Cabriolet, a sedan with fixed roof that was outfitted with fabric like a fake convertible roof.
Today there are only a few cars of the 860 series still known to exist, including a Faux Cabriolet and one car converted into a fire engine. The factory museum of Škoda owns the only known Cabriolet left in existance since 1998 and has now extensively restored it over two years to its delivery condition. Once it had already served as a demonstrator vehicle for the factory. Incidentally, this model was not the first eight-cylinder car for the Czechs. As early as 1907 there was the Laurin & Klement FF with an inline eight-cylinder engine, probably the first in Central Europe. Also in the 860 the innovation of the brand shows in different details. Thus, there is a tilt indicator on the dashboard, which is considered as a forerunner of today’s gearchange indicators. In the vehicle floor is an annealing heater, in addition to a cigarette lighter there is also one for cigars and the side windows have blinds. Optionally, a retractable window between the front seats and the fond was available.
Images: Škoda
