Back in the 1950's when television had little penetration into the homes of Eastern Europe. Vehicle makers would advertise with pin badges that over time became the schoolboy collectable of choice. Particularly behind the iron curtain where capitalism and advertising barely existed. Successful manufacturers relied on trade shows and the distribution of pin badges to the masses. Famous Czechoslovak brands such as Jawa motorcycles, Skoda cars and Tatra trucks became internationally famous and a source of pride to the people.
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Vintage Povazske Strojarne Slovakia Manet Babetta Moped Motorcycle Pin Badge
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Vintage Jawa Motorcycles Czech Motorbikes Double Circle Enamel Pin Badge
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Vintage Large Jawa Motorcycles Czech Motorbikes Double Circle Logo Pin Badge
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Vintage Coloured Jawa Motorbike Motorcycles CZ Logo Pin Badge
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1950's Large Red Jawa Motorcycles Czech Motorbikes CZ Logo Pin Badge
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1940's Jawa Motorcycles Czech Motorbikes FJ Logo Pin Badge
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1950's Red Jawa Motorcycles Czech Motorbikes CZ Logo Pin Badge
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1950's Blue Jawa Motorcycles Czech Motorbikes CZ Logo Pin Badge
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Vintage Jawa Motorcycles Czech Motorbikes Double Circle Logo Pin Badge
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Vintage Coloured Jawa Motocross Road Motorcycles Double Circle Logo Pin Badge
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1958 Jawetta Scooter Jawa Moped Czech Motorbike Motorcycles Logo Pin Badge
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Vintage Slovakia Motorcycles Motorbikes Tatran Scooter Logo Pin Badge
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Jawa Racing Motorcycles Motorbike Chequered Flag Logo Race Pin Badge
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Vintage Slovakia Jawa Motorcycles Motorbikes Tatran Manet Scooter Pin Badge
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Vintage Jawa 90 Roadster Motorcycles MX Motorbikes Logo Pin Badge
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Vintage Small Red Jawa Motorbikes Motorcycle Firm Logo Pin Badge
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Collection: Automotive
As World War 2 drew to a close. Many of the more Westerly Eastern nations; notably Czechoslovakia and East Germany with well developed industrial and manufacturing plants found themselves aligned with the Soviet Union.
In the early years of the Soviet Union, science, socialism and the general feeling of a bright new future saw the Soviet union launch the first satellite into space, the mechanisation of agriculture, the first lung transplants were performed and nuclear power plants became the power source of the future.
Czechoslovakia already had a fully fledged manufacturing base, full of innovation with leading names such as Skoda cars, Jawa motorcycles, CKD engineering works (trains, trams and tanks), Tatra heavy trucks and luxury cars, Liaz buses, Zetor tractors, Aero, Letov and Zlin aviation, Avia commercial vehicles and CZ weapons that became CZ motorcycles.
During the 1950's these industries flourished. But as communist doctrines increased these agile and enterprising companies began to flounder with quotas, government interference and a brain drain of the best minds to the west.
By the 1970's, after the brutal communist supression of the Prague spring in 1968, these previously world renown companies were reduced to manufacturing in it's most mundane form. Producing items for mass production and lacking the spirit of freedom and adventure that had driven the early post war years.
In the 1980's Skoda were exporting cheap cars to Western Europe that were the brunt of many a joke. The motorcycle industry was in unstoppable decline and most manufacturers had to rely on the home grown market for sales. Few of these names survived past the 1989 dissolution of communism, with Skoda, Tatra and Aero aviation being notable exceptions.