Skoda winged Hispano Suiza celebrates 85th birthday today

Published: 10/05/2011 at 16:04:51
Posted by Sherri Sutton

If you're the proud owner of Skoda nearly new cars then you may be interested to hear that the company's famous winged arrow is celebrating its 85th birthday.

On this day in 1926, the first Skoda to wear the winged arrow logo came was delivered to the president of Czechoslovakia, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk.

Vehicle production, of a design by leading coachbuilders of the time, Messrs Brozík & Jech, had started in the spring of 1925 but wasn't completed until May of 1926.

But each Hispano Suiza was custom-built, meaning that no two cars were the same.

It was priced from £6,785 and could reach a top speed of 86 mph – a speed which can be topped by Skoda used cars UK today.

On delivery, the accompanying Skoda brochure read: “The Skoda Hispano Suiza is a luxury car designed by a brilliant engineer who put his stamp on the smallest details and manufactured with the utmost care and with finest materials."

More recently, Skoda has been enjoying successes this year as it announced record sales in the first quarter, as well as being named best manufacturer for the third year in a row by the Auto Express Driver Power Survey.