Velorex: The Czech Designed & Produced Three Wheel Leather Car

Museum website: http://mmct.cz/index.php

In this video I discuss the history of a Czech designed and manufactured 3 wheel leather car! The Velorex. It is best remembered for its appearance in classic 1981 comedy “Run, Waiter, Run” (Vrchní, prchni!), where the star of the film ackwardly drives the backfiring vehicle around Prague.

0:00 Czechs have invented many things
0:19 Vrchní prchní
0:33 Birth of the Velorex
0:58 Czech Radio interview with Mojmir Stránský
1:33 Velorex gets a leather covering
2:23 Communist takeover of Velorex factory
2:39 The fate of František Stránský
2:44 The fate of Mojmir Stránský
3:11 The fate of the Velorex
3:38 Velorex clubs and exhibitions
3:58 How you can ride in a Velorex | Municipal Museum in Česká Třebová
4:30 Subscribe to Czeching with Katrina

The birth of this vehicle started in wartime Bohemia, in the the town of Česká Třebová. In 1943, brothers and bicycle repair shop owners, František and Mojmir Stránský decided to construct a motorised tricycle. They used a motorcycle engine and constructed the frame with spare bicycle parts. They covered it in a dural sheet and named it OSKAR.

The brothers continued to work on the vehicle and changed its cover from metal to leather. In the interview with Czech radio, Mojmir recalls how he convinced his wife to sew the covers.


In 1950, the brother’s company became nationalized, that is to say, taken over by the communist party, and moved to Hradec Králové. A year later production moved to a new factory in nearby Solnice.

In 1954, František Stránský died after his Oskar skidded on the ice and crashed. A year later Mojmír Stránský was forced out of the company because he refused to join the Communist Party. Yet, that didn’t keep him from continuing to work as an engineer. In later years, he began to devote himself to the processing and production of laminate and thermoplastics and was the author of several patents and improvement proposals in this area. He died at the age of 87 in 2011 in Česká Třebová and is buried there.

In total 15,300 of these vehicles were produced between 1951 and ’71. Approximately 50% of the vehicles made were exported to other countries within the Eastern bloc.

The cars were popular with people looking for budget transportation, and many wound up in the hands of the general public through the second-hand market. More than 60 percent of the Velorex’s made for the Czechoslovak market remain as registered vehicles until today.

There are several Velorex clubs, where owners regularly meet up to show off their vehicles. There have also been driving expeditions through the deserts of Africa or the polar regions. In 2008, Velorex owners organised a 5,000km trip along the famous Route 66 highway in the US.

Would you like to take a ride in a Velorex? Well, if you happen to live or be visiting the Czech Republic this September (2022). The Municipal Museum in Česká Třebová will offer city tours in a Velorex. The tour will take passengers to see the highlights of Česká Třebová. Yet this tour is by appointment only. So if you’d like an appointment, I suggest you quickly visit this museum website and contact them by phone to schedule a tour in this fascinating vehicle!