Hungarian coachbuilders

[pnegyesi]

I just opened a topic on books related to coachbuilders.

To supplement it, here's a little info on Hungarian coachbuilders.

Previously the following stuff was published on Hungarian carriage manufacturers and coachbuilders (all are in Hungarian):
- The story of the Kölber coachbuilding company. 3rd Yearbook of Közlekedési Múzeum (Hungarian Museum of Transport), 1974-1975. Briefly mentioned their automobile-related activities.
- The story of the Misura coachbuilding company. 5th Yearbook of Közlekedési Múzeum (Hungarian Museum of Transport), 1979-1980. Briefly mentioned their automobile-related activities.
- Aurél Jurek's drawing while he worked for Géza Nagy: http://automobilizmus.hu/auto/jurek/jurek.html
- Géza Nagy. A two part article by Gyula Burányi with lots of photos. Veterán Autó és Motor magazine. 2004/No 1 and No2
- Hruska and Perger by Zsolt Farnadi. Veterán Autó és Motor magazine. 2008/9
- Lajos Zupka and Son. Veterán Autó és Motor magazine. 2011/6
- Rolling legends - the history of Ikarus works. With a chapter on the history of Uhri/Uhry - in English. Published in 2004.Its second edition is only published in Hungarian
- So far 3 volumes have been published of László Finta's massive work on the history of Uhri/Uhry[url=http://in Hungarian.   Here's one of the covers:
[url=http://www.marotikonyvker.hu/products/product_8150.html]http://www.marotikonyvker.hu/products/product_8150.html in Hungarian.   Here's one of the covers:
http://www.marotikonyvker.hu/products/product_8150.html

Now you can find a lot of photos and info here:
http://magyarjarmu.hu/ipar/karosszeriakeszitok/

(I am sure at least one of my old puzzles will be dealt with swiftly )


And for those who don't speak Hungarian, here are some excerpts

Lajos Zupka and Son


Lajos Zupka set up his carriage company in 1886. His son, Lajos Zupka jr. attended coachbuilding courses in Paris at the turn of the 20th century. When he returned home and joined his company, he persuaded his father to work on automobiles.
Eventually in 1922 a new company, Lajos Zupka and Son was registered. Lajos Zupka sr died in 1923. Lajos Zupka jr. led the company, who was joined by his son, Lajos and daugher, Margit before the 2nd World War.
The Lajos Zupka&Son company shot to fame when they bodied a Mercedes-Benz for Count Joseph Habsburg, who was a prominent figure in Hungarian politics. They were also regular participants at the Budapest Concours d'Elegance events between 1928-1931 and from 1934 again.
A Zupka-bodied Mercedes was awarded in 936. In the late 1930s Zupka built a few steel bodies based on MAVAG-Mercedes chassis. The company survived the 2nd World War, partly because Margit was married to a Swedish businessman and the Zupka company received some protection.
The family emigrated to Switzerland, except Lajos Zupka jr who tried to save his company. Eventually it was confiscated by the Hungarian state in 1949. The last member of the Zupka family left Hungary in 1956.

Győri Általános Közlekedési Vállalat

The General Transportation Company of Győr was an off-shoot of the Star Garage, which was set up by a local businessman named Csillag and Elemér Békeffy. Békeffy was also instrumental in setting up a bus company which organised a network around Budapest from the late 1920s.
General Transportation Company of Győr organised local bus network and also sold Studebaker and Weiss Manfred cars. Over the years they expanded their reach to Sopron.
Their buses recieved self-made bodies. In the second-half of the 1930s the company launched small scale production of steel bodies.
Star Garage survived the 2nd World War and was put into state care in 1949.

Ludovika Autókarosszériaüzem

This company existed only in the 1920s. Unfortunately there's not much info surviving on them, but a photo from the collection of Karoly Pecz shows a lot of workers there in around 1928. The company bodied OM and MÁG Magosix cars.

Géza Nagy


Géza Nagy (1895-1959) was one of the most profilic coachbuilders in Hungary. He received widespread media coverage in the late 1920s and 1930s as he built a lot of different one-off bodies for the rich and famous. To a degree he was similar to Castagna, Saoutchik, Figoni&Falaschi, though his work was never that artistic.
He opened his own shop in 1925 and due to the number of orders have moved to bigger premises two years later. His clients included Miklós Horthy, the governor of Hungary (Minerva), Count István Bethlen prime minister (Lancia Lambda), Count Józsefné Pálffy-Daun (Bugatti), wife of Walter Delmár (Steyr Sport) and many others.
He bodied a lot of Mercedes and Lancia cars.
In the 1930s he was forced to work on light commercial vehicle bodies. From the late 1930s he opened a second company, which worked on small railcars.
He and his company survived the 2nd World War. Naturally his workshop was confiscated by the state in 1949. His tools and workers were transferred to Vác, where boats and a few years later motorcycle sidecars were produced by a state-owned enterprise.

Nay&Róna

Nay&Róna was a dealer of tools, mining machines etc. From there they evolved into a manufacturer of conveyors used at construction sites. Then they assembled a bunch of Goliath trucks and also built a few bus bodies in the late 1920s.


Sometimes we only have contemporary advertisement...

[woodinsight]

Excellent Pal, I shall spend some time going through all the information over the next few days.

I'm busy working on a couple of coachbuilding titles myself and hope that these will be finished in the not too distant future.
When I say finished I mean in a state to be able to publish a first edition, leaving the way open for future updated versions.

Keep up the good work