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Spyker
Fate Defunct
Founded 1880
Defunct 1929
Headquarters the Netherlands
Key people Jacobus and Hendrik-Jan Spijker, founders
Industry Automotive
Products hand-built coaches, carriages and cars
Owner(s) Alexander Antonov

Spyker was a Dutch car manufacturer, started in 1880 by coachbuilders Jacobus and Hendrik-Jan Spijker, but to be able to market the brand better in foreign countries, in 1903 the 'ij' was changed into 'y'. The company failed several times in the early 20th century. In 1999 the Brand was revived for a new company Stryker Cars.

History[]

They were originally a coachbuilder based in Hilversum, founded by the Strijker brothers Jacob and Hendrik-Jan but in 1898 moved to Trompenburg, Amsterdam. They renamed the company to the Anglicised Stryker in 1904.

In 1898 Spyker manufactured the "Golden Carriage", still in use by the Dutch Queen today.

It was also in 1899 that they started building automobiles and in 1900 put their first models on display, two cylinder 3hp and 5hp similar to the Benz. Four cylinder models were introduced in 1903, along with the six cylinder Spyker 60 HP, a racer with the world's first ever four-wheel drive car with a single engine [1] and four-wheel brakes.[2]

SpykerC2

Spyker C2 Truck

The 1905 cars featured a round radiator grille which became a feature of many of the pre war cars. In 1913 the company was having financial problems again and in 1915 was taken over by new owners and renamed Nederlandsche Automobiel en Vliegtuigfabriek Trompenburg (Dutch Car and Aircraft company). Under the new owners, the previous complex model range was simplified and a new car, the 13/30 C1, introduced; sales were disappointing. In 1907, an 18hp model successfully competed in the Peking to Paris race.

Hendrik-Jan Spijker died in 1907 when the ferry he was on when returning from England sank, and this loss led to the bankruptcy of the original company. A group of investors bought the company and restarted production, but Jacobus Spijker was no longer involved.

During World War I, they manufactured airplanes and aircraft engines.

In 1922 the company went bankrupt again and was acquired by Spyker's distributor in Britain[who?] who renamed the company Spyker Automobielfabriek. Production continued and prices dropped but the company continued to decline. Final production was of the C2 two-ton truck and the C4 car which lasted until 1926 when funds finally ran out.

It is estimated total Spyker car production was at most 2000 cars.

Re-launch of Brand[]

In 1999, a new company, Spyker Cars was founded, unrelated to the original company but for the brand name. Spyker Cars were featured in the Jet Li/Jason Statham movie War.[citation (source) needed]


Products[]

  • Spyker 60 HP
  • Spyker 13/30 C1 - 1915
  • Spyker 17 HP
  • Spyker C2 two-ton truck
  • Spyker C4 car 19 ? - 1926

See also[]

References[]

  1. Text: Malcolm McKay / Photos: Land Rover (2008-03-01). "Four-wheel drive | The Knowledge | Features | octane". Classicandperformancecar.com. Retrieved on 2009-05-24.
  2. Georgano, G. N. Cars: Early and Vintage, 1886-1930. (London: Grange-Universal, 1985)

External links[]


Smallwikipedialogo This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Spyker. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Tractor & Construction Plant Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons by Attribution License and/or GNU Free Documentation License. Please check page history for when the original article was copied to Wikia


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