Photo galleryView photo gallery | In addition, they were used to repairing each car at home in the garage. And there was no competition back then. However, there were fewer spare parts for cars of foreign brands.Is it still possible to find an old car today under bales of straw in a barn, like it used to happen?Radek: Such cars are mostly renovated these days, I don't even remember barn finds. However, we happened to work on a Praga Grand car that was found in a junkyard and only the chassis was left.
How do you find materials for interiors that are perhaps no longer produced today?Radek: We try to preserve originality and fidelity, but if this is not possible, we replace it with something visually similar. It's also about what the customer wants. And he almost always wants skin.
Leather is a good choice, isn't it?Radek: Of course not. Leatherette was originally used, but customers want better quality leather. But then the car is not faithful. Moreover, with pre-war cars, leather was like something inferior, so it was only on the driver's side and there was textile in the back. After the war, that changed.
How do you imitate parts that have not been preserved and there is nothing to copy them from?Radek: You have to find documentation, it is based on photos. But not all automakers are shared. We simply do everything to make the result look like the original.
And what about cars, where there are only a few pieces and there is nothing to compare them with?Radek: This is where books and period magazines come into play. And I admit, so does the internet.
How many percent of the car can be replaced so that it can still be considered an original and not a copy?Jiří: The most important thing is the frame, it has its number and you can't do without it. It is good if the chassis, engine and at least a piece of the body remains. But sometimes it is complete archeology when nothing is left of the car and there is no documentation. Then you are actually building a completely new car.
Have you ever rejected someone? Jiří: It doesn't happen often, only a few times. It turned out that the car was in such bad shape that the restoration would be so expensive that it would exceed the car's final value many times over.
Why do people actually buy these wrecks for renovation ? Radek: They are usually fans who have an emotional relationship with history and cars, they are collectors and they add to their collection. Sometimes it's about people who just inherited it. And last but not least, people take it purely as an investment.
Do you have to guide them in their ideas?Radek: There must always be a correction between us and the customer. We have the knowledge, he has the idea. We must meet each other then.
How much does the renovation of such cars cost?Radek: That is individual. Maybe 20 people take turns on the car, renovation takes an average of two years, so it's not a cheap thing. In general, it can be said that a normal renovation of a veteran will cost between one and two million.
Two years is a long time. Are the owners in a hurry with the renovations?Radek: They are in a hurry, everyone wants to have it right away, preferably finished before spring, so that they can leave immediately. But you can't make a veteran in a hurry.
What was your most expensive?Radek: The most expensive was a replica of a pre-war BMW 328, only the frame and a few parts were original. A new body was being made, it cost 5 million.
Is investing in vintage cars advantageous?Radek: Yes, in certain types and brands. If you want to make money from it, you need to have knowledge, not all cars can be valued well. However, in general, the price of vintage cars goes up, some models will double their value in two years, which was an example of the Mercedes 190 SL or Porsche 911. In short, a vintage car is a good investment and it is better to save money in it than in a savings account. And you will also enjoy it. Such an antique painting, you can just look at it. You will drive with a veteran.
Which car have you worked on the longest?Jiří: Na Tatra 80. Which was the most luxurious Czech car and today it is the most expensive vintage car. We and other companies worked on it for 11 years. All the details were taken care of, it is a jewel of Czech motoring, so there was no rush. We remember this order fondly, today the Tatra 80 is with a private collector in Holland. (Tatra 80 cost 195,000 crowns in 1932, for comparison - the construction of a family house cost 50,000 crowns at the time, editor's note)
Do some cars also have an interesting history?Radek: When a specific owner is associated with a car, it always increases its price. Here we renovated the armored Škoda VOS, which belonged to Klement Gottwald's castle fleet. It had a tank engine in it to make such a heavy car go at all. Today it is in the Škoda museum. We also repaired Jan Masaryk's Praga Grand and we are still renovating the Tatra 603 from the fleet of President Gustáv Husák.
Have you calculated how many cars have already left your workshops?Jiří: Now we are doing about 460 orders, of which 350 were completely renovated cars. Lots of Czechs, Škoda Populár, old Felicias, Aerovky, then Wikov, BMW, Mercedes...
Do you recognize renovated cars at various exhibitions and gatherings?Jiří: You recognize your work. It's a warm feeling when we see that a customer shows up with a car and thus presents our work. In exactly one month, there will be a meeting of historic vehicles in Liberec, we are registered there, there are two vehicles renovated by us. But we meet them every day, because they are serviced and oil changed. Even at this year's exhibition in Essen, Germany, cars repaired by us will be exhibited this year.
Work certainly takes up a lot of your time.Radek: That's right, we're usually here all day until night. If you want to do this job, you have to completely fall for it, dedicate your whole life to it. Fortunately, my wife also comes from a family of veteran collectors, so she's tolerant of it.
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Do you also develop a relationship with renovated cars that you then regret handing them over to the owner?Radek: We are not sorry, because we are happy that the car has turned into a gem and is finally going to drive. We are happy about that.
Will you also let us ride in it before it leaves your workshops?Radek: Of course, we even have to drive it before handing it over, it is driven 250 to 500 kilometers to fine-tune everything. So we will enjoy it to our heart's content.
You employ 15 people here, all professional professions. Isn't it a problem to find suitable people?Jiří: The problem is huge. You have to have a relationship and a feeling for this work. Car work has its continuity, car mechanics have to communicate with car repairmen... nothing can be slacked off.
You are selling car owners an item worth close to a family home. Do you give them any recommendations?Radek: We advise them to drive those cars. There is nothing worse than being parked somewhere in a garage. This causes the car to deteriorate. We renovate cars to show how beautiful they are, to make people admire the golden hands of their creators.
Today, a car over 30 years old is a vintage car. So can we expect that cars, which we still see on the roads regularly today, will also start to be renovated?Radek: Favorites have been produced since 1988, so next year they will already be veterans. However, the value of such cars is not so great that there is a demand for their renovations. Moreover, there are a lot of them, they are not rare. The youngest car we renovated here was a Škoda Felicia from 1965.
If you could choose the three most beautiful of the 350 cars that you have renovated in 26 years and keep them, which would they be?Radek: I would choose the pre-war Tatra 80 car, it is exceptional car, then the BMW 327, I have an emotional relationship with them, they drive nicely. Of the newer cars, I like the Ferrari 330 GT from the 1960s.
How much does it cost to operate such veterans?Radek: You mustn't look at the consumption, it ranges between 10-20 liters per 100 km. Compulsory liability is cheap, accident insurance is offered by only one insurance company and is very expensive.
