There's nothing like marrying…for advancement!
The Mercedes-Benz 770 (W150), body by Sodomka
Autocult has produced for Masterpiece the 1:43 model of the 1939 Mercedes-Benz 770 (W150), with bodywork by Sodomka(ČZ). Once more Autocult created a real masterpiece!
Originally, the Mercedes was left behind in Czechoslovakia as spoils of war but was quickly put back into service. On May 1, 1948, for example, during the great military parade, the then Minister of Defense (and later first Communist president) Klement Gottwald reviewed the front of the lined-up soldiers, in good Communist tradition standing and saluting, whilst being driven along in the Mercedes 770.
Then, once Gottwald became president of the newly formed “Czechoslovak Socialist Republic”, his son-in-law, Alexey Čepička, an obscure but ambitious lawyer, a mere follower in the communist party prior to marrying Marta Gottwald, the daughter of Klement and Marta Gottwald, suddenly climbed in the hierarchy of the “party”. Voted into parliament in 1946, he was named Minister of Domestic Trade in 1947. In 1948, after the communist take-over, he became Minister of Justice, in charge of prosecuting political opponents, and in 1950 he was named head of the state commission dealing with suppressing any sign of resistance from churches, especially from the Catholic Church.
During the period from 1950 to 56, Čepička served as Minister of Defence. According to historian Karel Kaplan, Čepička was ordered by Joseph Stalin personally to beef-up and prepare the Czechoslovak Army for incursion into Western Europe areas.
He may have been getting ready to be part of an invasion of Western Europe, yet as is the case so often with strongmen, he loved the good life power brings with it. He had his official car, the
Mercedes 770, sent (it is not quite clear if it was in 1948 or in 1950) to the famous coachworks of Jozef Sodomka. There the car received a more modern body, in line with the tastes of the times, nevertheless re-using many of the car’s original parts. Once finished, it did not look like a Mercedes-Benz 770 from the dreaded capitalist West, but offered all the luxury of it…In fact, all traces of the Mercedes star, be it on the hood, on the wheel covers, and on the instrument panel had been carefully removed. On the instruments the Mercedes stars had been replaced by filigree 5-pointed stars.
Next, we see the newly rebodied car at the 1952 May 1st parade, featuring a red star in the middle of the radiator grille. In 1953 general Čepička’s star on the other hand started fading rapidly following the death of his father-in-law, and the death of Josef Stalin in Moscow. Made a scapegoat for the cult of personality around Gottwald, he was dismissed from all functions in 1956, and “promoted” to head of the state patent office. After suffering a heart attack in 1959, he retired. Finally, in 1963, Čepička was expelled from the Communist Party for his role during the 1950s. He died at age 80 in 1990, in complete obscurity in the small town of Dobříš, 40 km south of Prague.
However, the Mercedes parade car continued its life, and was used as a state car for visiting presidents, dignitaries and international rulers, including Nikita Khrushchev in 1964.
The repair and maintenance work seems to have been done at the Tatra Belsky Repair Works, as one picture taken there indicates.
Nowadays, it is on display in the National Technical Museum in Prague, right underneath the nose of a Czech made Aero L39 jet trainer…
Small addendum: Although the Mercedes 770 with Sodomka body is sometimes referred to as the presidential state car of Klement Gottwald, Gottwald's official car was a Škoda VOS. In fact, a production of 100 of these cars was made, and were put into service in 1950. One of two for the president was armored, the other one was not. There are plenty of pictures showing Gottwald at some parade with this Škoda VOS. For the technically interested reader, it should be mentioned that the chassis was made by AZNP (Škoda), the body by Sodomka, which was nationalized in 1950 and renamed Karosa, the engine (6 cylinder, type N4TA) by the Praga works, and the interior by Tatra. Final assembly at the Škoda factory in Mlada Boleslav. By the way, VOS stands for: "Vládní Obrněný Speciál", or: "Government Armored Special". The car is displayed in the Škoda Museum in Mlada Boleslav nowadays. Located nearby, in Vratislavice, you also find the Ferdinand Porsche birthhouse.
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(с)BERND D. LOOSEN
