Automobile Walter Royal

The most luxurious Czechoslovak cars of the interwar period were two, the   Tatra 80 made in town Kopřivnice and the Praha-Jinonice Walter Royal, both powered by unique twelve-cylinder engines of their own design. Although Tatra was established a year earlier, its production did not start until 1931, when the Walter Royal, the masterpiece of the Walter factory in Praha - Jinonice for cars and aircraft engines, was shown at the Prague Motor Show.

Pride of Czech designers - Twelve-cylinder  Walter Royal

The twelve-cylinder cars were not widespread cars in the production programs of the cars of the time, as well as the even more complex and expensive sixteen-cylinder cars, but their properties directly predestined them for the most luxurious models. Most came from the US, European V12 cars were like saffron.
Walter Royal is demonstrably created in only three pieces.
One thing is certain, however, a larger series of these V12 engines followed for express buses and fire specials. Tatra and Walter thus joined the elite company, which included only Rolls-Royce, Daimler, Hispano-Suiza, Horch and Maybach from European brands.

The Walter factory in Prague's Jinonice has focused on aircraft engines of various types since the 1920s, which belonged to the world's top and were exported worldwide. Aviation technology, quality of production and the necessary precision were a welcome help in the creation of the luxury car Walter Royal.
On the occasion of XXIII. Prague Motor Show in  1931, four twelve-cylinder cars from Jinonice shone at Walter's large stand! The new Royal introduced itself as a polished chassis for custom bodies, a four-door white convertible body-operated by the Vrchlabí company Peter and a black six-seater sedan; the fourth use of the twelve-cylinder documented truck chassis, designed for bus and fire engines.
Limousine and convertible Royal took part in the popular Elegance Competitions (Concours d´Elegance), members of the Kumper family - owner of the factory - in the early 1930s collected the first prizes.

Beginning and history of the Walter factory (called Waltrovka) - Josef Walter (1873-1950), founder of the factory, was from a relatively poor family with 5 children. He began his career in a simple bicycle  repair shop. In 1901 he made his first motor bike.

The production of motor tricycles, which Josef Walter started in 1908, was a great success. At first glance, they looked a bit exotic for their driving, but they proved to be excellent and widespread. Initially they were two-seater, later four-seater. Due to the reasonable price and quality, they were very popular, they were also exported abroad. Josef Walter did not forget about promotion, so in 1911 he set out on one of his tricycles on a promotional trip to Kiev to win the local market.
Walter factory was founded by Josef Walter in 1911. In 1913–4, car production was successfully launched.In 1923, Walter began manufacturing aircraft engines.
After WW II, the factory became the property of the state.

After the war, the Kumpers family (owner who took if over from the founder Josef Walter)  emigrated to South America, Walter was renamed Motorlet after nationalization and successfully continued to manufacture aircraft engines. It has rejoined the production of jet engines M-701 and turboprop M-601, because only a few countries produce turbine engines of their own design.

In 2008, the production of engines was sold to the American company GE Aviation, transferred to the Letov complex in Letňany, Prague, and the Walter brand, renewed after 1995, definitively ceased to exist. Based on the M-601, a new series of GE (General Electric) H-80 engines was created (first year 2011). The factory in Jinonice was demolished, including Kumper's villa, and an office complex, aptly named Waltrovka, was built in its place. Walter's historic engines and cars survived in various collections; Royal is among them as a reminder of the abilities of Czech designers.



 

                     Happy driving 

                                                         Margaret