Oldtimer Express: A great journey with roots in Most

The grand journey of more than twenty veteran cars, which started on Wednesday, May 17th from the National Technical Museum in Prague, reached its destination in Istanbul last Saturday. The cars, which are over thirty years old, have covered a route of more than 2,200 km.

The ride of 23 Czech veterans culminated with a joint arrival at the square in front of the Hagia Sophia mosque on Saturday, May 20. The route, divided into four stages, led from Prague through Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey. "I am of course tired, but also excited that the whole journey was successful and that all the cars reached the finish line," said Josef Zajíček, the main organizer of the race, after arriving, who came up with the event with his long-time Turkish business partner and together created the crew of the 1959 Tatra 603. "I want to thank all the participants and congratulate them on their great performances. A big thank you also goes to the service teams, because they did a great job and without them many crews probably would not have reached the finish line, and of course I would like to thank our partners who helped us turn this crazy idea into reality," adds Josef Zajíček, who has been around cars all his life and, in addition to the Most Autodrom, is also the owner of the Czech watch brand ROBOT.

The convoy of Czech cars arrived in the historic center of Istanbul at the Hagia Sophia mosque on Saturday evening. The crew of the oldest car, the 1951 Škoda Tudor Roadster, was also present, which managed to arrive at the finish line of the stages several times as the first. "Success lies in the preparation and we prepared the car carefully. The advantage of older Škodas is that many parts are compatible and so our preparation was not as complicated as with other cars," commented Alois Krejčí on the ride during Sunday's gala evening, at which all crews ceremoniously received a trophy made of Czech crystal from the Pačinek glassworks.

Another notable participant was Ivo Tůma, who was the only one to complete the entire route in a car alone, driving a 1960 Škoda Octavia. He only started the car up just before the race and completed the entire route without a single technical problem. “My biggest fear was that I wouldn’t make it to the start,” described his performance behind the wheel of Ivo Tůma, who often had to set off as one of the first and usually arrived at the finish line later than the main part of the starting field.

During the journey, the crews tried out driving in the Romanian and Bulgarian mountains, lowlands, on highways and winding districts. In addition to the aforementioned cars, the starting field included other cars of all categories, from a pair of MINIs to several Skodas, Porsches, BMWs, Jaguars, and even a Citroen CX Pallas or a Rolls-Royce Corniche, driven by Jiří Jirovec, a former racer, collector of historic rally cars and owner of the Invelt company.