Skoda 1100 OHC coupe, restored using spare parts and digital modeling.

Czech car manufacturer Skoda has restored one of its rarest racing cars to commemorate 120 years of motorsport activity.

Only two Škoda 1100 OHC coupes were built between 1959 and 1960, and both were later destroyed in crashes. The cars you see here have been reproduced using original technical documentation and original parts.

The Škoda 1100 OHC project, code-named 968, began in 1957 with two open-top racing cars, one at the Škoda Museum in Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic, and the other with the Škoda U.K. heritage fleet It has become.

In 1959, Škoda followed up the two roadsters with two closed-roof cars. According to Skoda, these cars had an aluminum body over a truss frame made of thin tubing and had an unladen weight of only 1,223 pounds. They also had a trapezoidal front suspension with two triangular wishbones above and below and a rear trailing arm suspension.

Power was derived from the inline four-cylinder engine of the Skoda 440 Spartak sedan. As its name suggests, this engine had a displacement of 1,100 cubic centimeters and an overhead cam (OHC); it produced 92 hp and, according to Skoda, had a top speed of 124 mph (about 157 km/h). The engine was mounted behind the front axle and drove the rear wheels via a five-speed manual transaxle.

Two Skoda 1100 OHC coupes raced from 1960 to 1962, when rule changes eliminated the 1,100 cc class; both were sold to private owners, one with a Skoda Felicia overhead valve (OHV) four-cylinder unit The original engine was displayed at a technical school for a number of years. The original engine was used for recreation in an 1100 OHC coupe after being displayed at a vocational school for a number of years.

In addition to the engine, the Skoda Museum was able to obtain the original transaxle, complete front axle, and frame (which had been cut into three parts), laying the groundwork for restoring the complete car.

The frame refurbishment was completed at the end of 2015, along with the fabrication of a new radiator, fuel tank, and other components. Initially, the rolling chassis was to be displayed next to the open-body 1100 OHC at the Škoda Museum. However, Škoda later decided to rebuild the body as well.

Škoda's prototyping center scanned the original 2D drawings and created a digital 3D model. Restoration personnel then pounded and welded aluminum sheets and sourced the parts needed to complete the restoration, such as the Skoda 1200 door handles and the Skoda popular steering wheel, from the Skoda production models of the time. red used during the 1962 racing season. The finished car, clad in the red livery used during the 1962 racing season, recreates a once-lost piece of racing history.