About Us
In Moravia, in the city of Zlín, you can find the Samohýl family’s Collection of Historic Vehicles. This passion of Mr. Alois Samohýl, a well-known Zlín entrepreneur and patriot, was sparked by the British film Genevieve, which was shown in 1953 in the Great Cinema in then-Gottwaldov during the six-day motorcycle race. The main theme of the film is the veteran car rally London–Brighton, which has been held since 1926. Mr. Alois Samohýl eventually took part in this famous rally in 1963.
A year later, he bought his first vintage car, a Ford Model T, for 300 Kčs — previously owned by Tomáš Baťa. An additional 20 Kčs paid for the truck Erena, which transported this pile of scrap to Březolupy, where the Samohýl family then lived.
The second vintage car in the collection came from Mladá Boleslav: a Laurin & Klement Type S. Mr. Samohýl acquired it in 1962. “At first, people laughed at me, and my wife asked if I needed a doctor,” he later recalled about the beginnings of his collecting.
Over time, Mr. Alois Samohýl’s passion determined the scale of the present-day collection, which includes about 300 cars and 150 motorcycles. His son, JUDr. Ing. Ladislav Samohýl, continues and expands it with great enthusiasm. It includes rare cars like the Benz Parsifal, a wide array of Mercedes-Benz cars, a large collection of Laurin & Klement vehicles, the largest Bugatti collection in the Czech Republic, rare motorcycles from the early days of motoring, and as a curiosity, several Russian government cars — Čajka and ZIL.
Vehicles from this private family collection are often loaned as unique exhibition pieces to auto shows, fairs, and similar events all over Europe, and they frequently appear in films (All Quiet on the Western Front, Slovak National Uprising, Czech TV series Četnické humoresky, and various Indiana Jones films).
The collection is not yet housed in suitable exhibition premises where these rare exhibits could be presented as a whole. Currently, due to a complete reconstruction, the Mercedes-Benz building — where a small sample of the vast collection was available to view — is also closed.
The activities also include a restoration workshop in Otrokovice, focused mainly on building completely new cars under the Nostalgic-Edition brand — faithful replicas of Bugatti 35s. The current project plans to build 20 such cars (8 are complete), which participate annually in famous vintage car races such as the Bugatti Grand Prix Zlín, 1000 Miles of Czechoslovakia, or the Zbraslav–Jíloviště run.
Other vehicles from the collection are continuously being restored in the workshop, currently focusing mainly on Mercedes-Benz cars from the 1930s.
Contact Us:
The car and motorcycle collection is currently closed due to the reconstruction of the Mercedes-Benz building!
Collection of Historic Vehicles
Tomáše Bati Avenue 764
763 02 Zlín-Prštné
Radek Šrubař
+420 777 338 446
[email protected]