Vintage Praga cars go on display at National Technical Museum
Eight vintage Praga cars have gone on display at the National Technical Museum in Prague as part of a new temporary exhibition. The vehicles come from the private collection of Emil Příhoda, who spent over sixty years preserving the legacy of one of Czechoslovakia’s most iconic car brands.
In the 1920s and early 1930s, the Prague-based carmaker Praga led the Czechoslovak market in both passenger and commercial vehicle sales. Until the 1940s, the company produced its own highly reliable designs.
One example is the popular Praga Super Piccolo, a version of which became the first car with an aerodynamic body mass-produced in Czechoslovakia.
Since 1957, Emil Příhoda from Prague devoted his life to documenting Praga’s history. Over more than sixty years, he built a remarkable collection of more than one hundred Praga vehicles.
With support from the Ministry of Culture, the National Technical Museum recently purchased fifteen of them. Eight are now on display in a new exhibition titled A Life Dedicated to Pragas: A Tribute to Emil Příhoda.
The exhibition features touring and utility vehicles made between 1921 and 1946. It also includes a loaned bright-yellow Praga Alfa from 1926—the first Praga Mr. Příhoda ever bought—says Arnošt Nezmeškal, head of the museum’s transport section:
“The collection includes cars from various eras. The Pragas from the 1920s are still relatively easy to operate by today's driving standards. There shouldn’t be any major issues, except for one quirky feature: the accelerator pedal is placed in the middle, between the brake and clutch.”
The 1926 model also features a gate-style gear shift operated with the left hand, while sitting on the right side of the car. That’s because Czechoslovakia followed the British system and drove on the left until May 1939.
“You’ll also notice the car has no turn signals. Instead, there’s a small arrow on the windshield that the driver would manually move to signal direction. But in the 1920s, road traffic was still light and when drivers did meet, it was often a chance to stop and talk.”
The exhibition also goes beyond regular passenger cars. Among the highlights are a Praga Lady converted into what is likely the oldest surviving ambulance in the country, and a Praga Mignon turned into a funeral car.
“Emil Příhoda frequently lent his cars to filmmakers. If I’m not mistaken, this Mignon played a role in the film The Assassination, and definitely appeared in other movies too. It’s an amazing, slightly eerie vehicle. I don’t feel particularly comfortable inside it,” says Mr. Nezmeškal.
Other vehicles on show include the luxury Praga Grand, the iconic Super Piccolo, the utility model Praga AN, and the Praga AN bus.
The display is rounded out with two prestigious First Republic-era motoring trophies. The rare Praga vehicles will remain on view at the National Technical Museum until March 1st next year.
