NW Präsident Car

When Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau-Fabriks-Gesselschaft decided to make a car in 1897, it faced a huge challenge. The car, which was later named Präsident, became the first factory produced by a car in the Czech Republic and the entire Austrian-Hungarian monarchy. In Czech countries, only the experimental car of the designer Marcus, built between 1888 and 1889, never reached regular production. The spiritual father of the project was Leopold Sviták, around which was grouped a team involving engineers Rumplera, Sagea and young Hans Ledwink, the future creator of the so-called Tatra Concept.

The designers did not go the way of complete originality. The vehicle was partly based on a car called "Instructor" in Kopřivnik called Benz Phaeton, which was built by the famous Mannheim designer Karl Benz. The Liberec industrialist Theodor von Liebieg, who was friends with Benz, deserved the engine. In Kopřivnik, however, the team significantly modified the construction, added its own elements and improvements so that a completely different car was created. The new feature was, for example, a protective lining around the front wheels, which was used for the first time on cars.

The first big test was a promotional ride in early June 1898. The four-passenger vehicle went from Kopřivnice to Vienna to present itself at the exhibition on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the reign of Emperor Franz Joseph I. The route measured 328 kilometres and the car completed it in 24 and a half hours, while the net time of the journey was 14 and a half hours. The average speed was 22.62 kilometers per hour - a very impressive performance for a machine whose maximum speed was only 22 kilometres per hour. After reaching Vienna, the Austrian car club won it, and it is after its president that the vehicle still carries its name.

The car installed the factory with technical solutions that were in advance of its time. A two-cylinder engine with a capacity of 2.7 liters and a power of approximately five kilowatts was located in the rear, under the rear seats. The luggage compartment of the traditional carriage thus served as a motor compartment. The fuel tank fit under the front seats. The gearbox was two-stage and belt-mounted, the rear axle drive provided two independent chains. The vehicle had a complex brake system consisting of a foot belt brake on the gearbox and a hand friction brake on the wheels.

The original Präsident, gradually modified during its operation, finally returned to Czechoslovakia as a museum exhibit and today you will find it in the National Technical Museum in Prague, where it is protected as a national cultural monument since 2006. The functional replica from the 1920s, built according to the original documents, is part of the collection of the Tatra Personal Car Museum in Kopřivnik. The success of the vehicle prompted the production of other improved versions, which in 1899 received their own names - Meteor, Nesselsdorf, Wien and others. NW Präsident remains proof of how the Czech industrial tradition participated in the birth of the car age.