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 Skoda Automobiles Car Winged Arrow Logo Pin Badge
Regular price £5.00 GBPRegular priceUnit price / per -
Vintage Skoda 105 120 130 Estelle Czechoslovakia Family Saloon Car Pin Badge
Regular price £8.00 GBPRegular priceUnit price / per -
Vintage Tatra Trucks Model T 815 Paris Dakar Rally Heavy Duty Lorry Pin Badge
Regular price £9.00 GBPRegular priceUnit price / per -
Vintage Tatra Car Classic Czech Motor Factory Company Firm Auto Logo Pin Badge
Regular price £7.00 GBPRegular priceUnit price / per -
1947 Tatra 50th Anniversary Motor Vehicle Car Company Automobile Pin Badge
Regular price £40.00 GBPRegular priceUnit price / per -
1975 Tatra Car Company 125th Anniversary Horse Drawn Carriage Coach Pin Badge
Regular price £8.00 GBPRegular priceUnit price / per -
Tatra Trucks Construction Lorry T 815 Czech Heavy Duty Vehicle Pin Badge
Regular price £8.00 GBPRegular priceUnit price / per -
Vintage Tatra Car Truck Maker Czech Motor Factory Auto Company Kolín Pin Badge
Regular price £8.00 GBPRegular priceUnit price / per -
Vintage Tatra Trucks Czech Construction Lorry Model T 815 Front View Pin Badge
Regular price £8.00 GBPRegular priceUnit price / per -
1980 Tatra Car Company 130th Anniversary Horse Drawn Carriage Coach Pin Badge
Regular price £8.00 GBPRegular priceUnit price / per -
1967 Tatra Company Veteran Vintage Classic Car Rally Czech Automobile Pin Badge
Regular price £8.00 GBPRegular priceUnit price / per -
1962 Tatra 65th Anniversary Motor Vehicle Car Company Automobile Pin Badge
Regular price £8.00 GBPRegular priceUnit price / per -
Vintage ЦAMK Russia Soviet Union Automobile Association Logo CCCP Pin Badge
Regular price £9.00 GBPRegular priceUnit price / per -
Vintage DAS Deutscher Automobil Schutz German Auto Association Logo Pin Badge
Regular price £12.00 GBPRegular priceUnit price / per -
Vintage Michelin Man French Tyre Manufacturer Logo Pin Badge
Regular price £12.00 GBPRegular priceUnit price / per -
Vintage Michelin Man French Tyre Manufacturer Rolling Tyre Logo Pin Badge
Regular price £10.00 GBPRegular priceUnit price / per
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.