The Czech streamliner

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We do like a good example of international or even intercontinental alliances in automotive history — The British car with American power or the French car with an Italian body. However, the Belgian car with Czech body is perhaps not quite the first one you would have thought of, but it does exist and it’s the car seen here.

1932 Imperia Coupé

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a 1932 Imperia, made in Nessonvaux, Belgium, with coupé body by Karoserie Uhlík of Prague, in then-Czechoslovakia. How did that come about? We can’t tell you precisely but do know that Oldřich Uhlík bodied a number of fascinating cars in his part of the world.

In the early days of motoring Uhlík worked for Laurin & Klement in his home country but also for Armbruster in Vienna and for Parisian coachbuilder Belvallette. But it was only a matter of time before he would return to Prague and take over the family-run workshop. Under Oldřich the business was relocated and became more and more of a coachbuilding company, with several Tatras and Pragas clothed in the fashion of the day. Included among the Tatras was a Type 72 six-wheeler. It was built for explorer and photographer Jiří Baum and had a dark room in the back! But there was also a pretty little MG, a Rolls-Royce, a Minerva, a Lancia, an Isotta-Fraschini and at least two Bugatti Type 46’s, one of them with remarkable sliding doors.

The Imperia Coupé was based on the six-cylinder 1624cc chassis and received its body, with ultra-low windscreen and windows and a round and rakish back, in full airline/streamline/flow-free fashion. The picture of the car made under construction gives a particularly nice insight into what it looked like before the aluminium body was applied. The car’s proportions are a bit odd, but some of us (we) just like it when Michelangelo’s ideals or Pininfarina’s philosophies are thrown aboard for once to come up with something that’s not perfectly aligned or in utter balance. The badge bar between the headlights and further placing of badges along the bonnet suggests that this was a well-travelled car (we only recognised the Nürburgring one). Wouldn’t it be nice to learn a bit more about its past?

Words Jeroen Booij. Pictures autozurnal.com.

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