Skoda Rapid OHV Prototype 1938 Black

Skoda Rapid OHV Prototype 1938 Black by Autocult

The Name lives on …

In 1934, Škoda launched the first model with the suffix ‘Rapid’. Initially equipped with a 1,195cc engine, a water-cooled four-cylinder engine with 31 hp was enlarged to 1,386cc. The passenger car remained on offer until 1938, when Škoda officials planned to replace it again and to continue the Rapid product line.The main feature of the new model was the installation of a more powerful engine, but this was not done by simply increasing the displacement, but by completely redesigning. While the previous four-cylinder engine a side-controlled valve train, the new engine featured a ohv valve control. This was generally very progressive – even more so for a car in the middle class. Fron then on, 43 hp were available from a displacement of 1,564cc.The factory offered the car in a tried and tested look – with free-standing fenders, upright radiator section and two or four doors as a sedan. This variant was probably intended to continue to win over the previous buyer clientele of the Rapid line, and yet there were also very serious efforts within the factory to approach a new group of buyers, namely those who followed the trend for an aerodynamic look. The initial contour of the streamlined Rapid provided for concealed rear wheels and the windscreen was also divided with a central strut. The headlights sat quite low in the two fenders, but all this was ultimately not taken over for series production.The name Rapid remained in very good memory at Škoda, because exactly 50 years later the advertising strategist remembered it again and added the addition to the Type 130 in 1984. Since 2010, the name Rapid has been synonymous with the modes manufactured in Pune, Inida.