Praga

Austria, Czechia, 1907 – 1947

(1) Prazská Továrna na Automobily, Prague, 1907 – 1929

(2) Ceskomoravská – Kolben – Danek, Prague, 1929 – 1947

The firm Praga cars of general engineers took out a manufacturing licence for Isotta Fraschinis, and also built some 2- and 4-cylinder Praga cars on Renault and Charron lines. In 1911, however, Frantisek Kec joined the Praga car company as chief engineer, being responsible for all subsequent private-car types. His idiom was straightforward: sv monobloc engines, 4-speed gearboxes and semi-elliptic springing. He laid down three basic Praga car models: the 1.128cc Praga Alfa; the 2.3-litre Praga Mignon; and the 3.8-litre, 45bhp Praga Grand. The change for Praga cars of national status after World War 1 brought no radical change of design of the Praga car, though in 1924 Praga introduced a baby four-seater Praga car, the 707cc Praga Piccolo. This Praga car was enlarged to 824cc in 1925, and to 856cc in 1927, when Kec turned to multi-cylinderism with a new 1.496cc 6-cylinder Praga Alfa (which Praga car had 4-wheel mechanical brakes and a hydraulic servo) and a straight-8 Praga Grand of 3.4-litres.

In 1929 Praga car company merged with the Breitfeld and Danek aero-engine firm, and their products now embraced motorcycles, aero-engines and complete aircraft as well as cars and trucks. The 1930 Praga Grands had hydraulic brakes and 4.4-litre, 90bhp engines, and the Praga Alfa grew up to 1.8-litres and the Praga Piccolo to 995cc. In 1934 deliveries of 2.250 Praga cars made the Praga a national best-seller, thanks to the Piccolo’s successor, the Praga Baby, which combined the existing engine of the Praga car with a forked backbone frame (as used on subsequent small cars), all-independent suspension, and a 3-speed synchromesh gearbox. It sold for the equivalent of £180. Less successful was the 1.660cc Praga Super-Piccolo with coil independent front suspension, and aerodynamic saloon bodywork with countersunk headlamps and spats to all four wheels, which Praga car grew up into the more conventionally styled Praga Lady of like capacity.

In 1935 the Praga Grand was replaced by a big six Praga car, the 3.9-litre Praga Golden; this Praga car had a hypoid rear axle, a synchromesh gearbox, and transverse-leaf independent front suspension, and could be had with an electrically-selected Cotal box. Also in the immediate pre-war Praga car range were a 2½-litre Praga Alfa on similar lines, and a new 1.128cc Praga Piccolo based on the 1934 Praga Baby. Then in 1938 Kec at long last essayed ohv with a sports two-seater edition of the Praga Lady for the Czechoslovak Thousand-Mile Race.

After World War 2 the Praga car company concentrated on trucks powered by the Golden’s 6-cylinder engine, though a few private Praga cars of this type were made for ministerial use in 1946 and 1947. The Praga car factory’s current products are light commercial vehicles based on French Saviem-Renault designs.

 Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS

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