CarBrandLogos archive · Praga · 1912

PragaGrand

Praga's flagship — Czech aristocracy on Bohemian roads.

Photo: Matěj Baťha · CC BY-SA 3.0

The story

A defining chapter in Praga history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Praga Grand, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Praga személyautó az olasz fronton. Fortepan

Origins

Praga, Prague's great engineering combine, entered the luxury market with the Grand in 1912: a large four-cylinder automobile built to standards that quickly made it central Europe's establishment carriage — Austro-Hungarian officialdom, and after 1918 the new Czechoslovak state's ministries, rode on Grand chassis for two decades of continuous refinement. The company's aircraft and machine-tool disciplines showed in the construction; a Grand was engineered rather than assembled. Alongside the smaller Alfa and Piccolo lines it established Praga as the Škoda rivalry's senior partner in prestige, if never in volume. The marque's car ambitions faded after the Second World War as trucks and aviation consumed the nationalised works, leaving the Grand era as Czech motoring's half-forgotten patrician chapter — Prague's own answer to Austria's finest.

Praga személyautó az olasz fronton. Fortepan · FOTO:Fortepan — ID 20443: Adományozó/Donor: Krepsz Zoltán. · Public domain

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

1912–1935

Engine

3824 cc inline-four engine

Designer

František Kec

Body

4-door 6-seat limousine

Technical specification

The Grand, in detail.

Production: 1912–1935
Body style: 4-door 6-seat limousine ; 4-door 6-seat Phaeton body; phaeton ; 4-door 7-seat limousine
Layout: FR layout
Engine: 3824 cc inline-four engine; I4 (1912) ; 3392 cc Straight-eight engine; I8 (1927) ; 3580 cc Straight-eight engine; I8 (1929) ; 4429 cc Straight-eight engine; I8 (1930)
Transmission: 4-speed manual
Designer: František Kec
Assembly: Libeň, Prague, Czechoslovakia
Manufacturer: Praga