NTM Participates in the 1000 Miles of Czechoslovakia Historic Car Competition

"This year, the National Technical Museum is coming as an active participant with two novelties. I am very pleased that our museum’s participation in the 1000 Miles of Czechoslovakia has a very spontaneous character and that, besides enthusiastic colleagues, two enthusiastic female colleagues will be tackling the challenging route for the first time. This year, for the first time, the museum is sending three cars with two-stroke engines on the track. Alongside the proven Jawa Minor from 1939 and the Aero 50 HP from 1938, the recently repaired Aero 662 from 1931, previously owned by Jaromír Nezval, will appear at the start for the first time," highlights Karel Ksandr, General Director of the National Technical Museum.

The Aero 662 represents not only pre-war Czechoslovak automobile production and the characteristic phenomenon of small Aeros but also the phenomenon of domestic activities of collectors and restorers of historic vehicles. The car was owned by Jaromír Nezval, a prominent figure in our vintage scene. In 2021, the car came into the National Technical Museum and was made operational in the condition in which its long-term owner participated in vintage events. So at the start, when looking at this car, we can remember that the world of lovers, collectors, and restorers of historic vehicles has itself become a part of history.

“It is very interesting to compare both two-stroke two-cylinders with open bodies, this small 'Aero' with the Jawa Minor from 1939. They differ significantly not only in the shapes and proportions of the body. The nearly ten-year gap is also revealed in the construction of both engines. While the Aero 662's engine has an older design with a so-called deflector, the Jawa uses an engine with a so-called loop scavenging, which recalls the early days of car manufacturing by this brand under the license of the German company DKW. This principle, patented exactly one hundred years ago by Ing. Adolf Schnürle, allowed two-stroke engines to compete in the tough post-war market against more sophisticated, less noisy, and less smelly four-strokes. And while in West Germany (Auto Union/DKW) and Sweden (SAAB) the sale of two-stroke engine cars ended in the 1960s, in East Germany it continued for another two decades. It can therefore be said that the Jawa Minor engine is closer to the engines of the first post-war DKW or East German IFA cars, and thus also to the first Saabs from the 1950s, and consequently to the 'modern' Trabants, which we can still see in everyday traffic today,” describes Jiří Hulák, head of the NTM industrial design department.

We will keep you informed about the success of our crews.