Spyker or Spijker was a Dutch carriage, automobile and aircraft manufacturer, started in 1880 by blacksmiths Jacobus and Hendrik-Jan Spijker. Originally located in
Hilversum, the company relocated to Trompenburg,
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
in 1898.
Notable products of Spyker were building the
Golden Coach for state ceremonial use by the
Dutch house of royals in 1898. In 1903, the
Spyker 60 HP race-car was the world's first
F4 layout
In automotive design, an F4, or front-engine, four-wheel drive (4WD) layout places the internal combustion engine at the front of the vehicle and drives all four roadwheels. This layout is typically chosen for better control on many surfaces, a ...
,
four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer cas ...
car, featuring the first application of a
six-cylinder engine
The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized.
Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categorize ...
, as well as the first four-wheel braking system. The 1919 C1 “Aerocoque” was one of the world's first cars with aerodynamically streamlined bodywork.
History
![Gouden koets](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Gouden_koets.jpg)
In 1880, Dutch brothers Hendrik Jan and Jacobus Spijker, blacksmiths by profession, start their company for building and maintaining carriages in Hilversum, The Netherlands.
In 1898, Spyker manufactured the "
Golden Coach", still in use as one of the two prime ceremonial state coaches of the
Dutch monarchy
The monarchy of the Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy. As such, the role and position of the monarch are governed by the Constitution of the Netherlands. Consequently, a large portion of it is devoted to the monarch. Roughly a third of ...
.
In 1899 they started building
automobile
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarde ...
s, and in 1900 put their first models on display, two-cylinder 3 hp and 5 hp similar to the
Benz.
Four-cylinder models were introduced in 1903, along with the six-cylinder ''Spyker 60 HP'', a racer which was the world's first ever
four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer cas ...
car with a single engine and four-wheel
brakes. It was the first ever car built with
front-engine, four-wheel-drive layout
In automotive design, an F4, or front-engine, four-wheel drive (4WD) layout places the internal combustion engine at the front of the vehicle and drives all four roadwheels. This layout is typically chosen for better control on many surfaces, ...
, and its engine with six cylinders was also a world's first.
The 1905 cars featured a round radiator grille, which became a feature of many of the pre war cars. In 1907, an 18 hp model competed in the 15,000 km
Peking to Paris
The Peking to Paris motor race was an automobile race, originally held in 1907, between Peking (now Beijing), then Qing China (now the People's Republic of China) and Paris, France (then the Third French Republic), a distance of .
The idea for ...
monster race, finishing second in the most grueling race of its time.
[
Hendrik-Jan Spijker died in 1907 on his return journey from England when the ferry he was on, the SS Berlin, sank, and this loss led to the ]bankrupt
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
cy of the original company. A group of investors bought the company and restarted production, but Jacobus Spijker was no longer involved.
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 1914, Spyker merged with Dutch Aircraft Factory N.V. and the company motto became ''Nulla Tenaci invia est via'' latin for "For the tenacious no road is impassable". During World War I, in which the Netherlands were neutral, some 100 Spyker fighter aircraft and 200 aircraft engines were produced.[Spyker's Interesting History – Autobahnbound.com]
/ref>
In 1919, after World War I, a two-seater car, the C1 "Aerocoque", featuring aerodynamically streamlined bodywork influenced by aircraft design, was shown for the first time. It was intended as a show car, but was also produced on a very limited scale.[Heritage – Spykercars]
/ref> The car's bodywork, featuring swooping fenders and an aircraft-like tail, infused by the company's knowledge of aircraft aerodynamics, was mainly designed by Jaap Tjaarda van Sterkenburg, brother of John Tjaarda
Johan "Jan" Tjaarda (1897–1962), later known as John Tjaarda van Sterkenburg, was a Dutch product and automotive designer and stylist in the United States.
Tjaarda was born in 1897 in Arnhem, as the son of Henriette Elisabeth Thieme and the p ...
and uncle of Tom Tjaarda
Tom Tjaarda (born Stevens Thompson Tjaarda van Starkenburg; July 23, 1934 – June 2, 2017) was an American automobile designer noted for his work on a broad range of automobiles — estimated at over eighty — from exotic sports cars inc ...
, both also car designers.
On November 27, 1920 the first Spyker 30/40HP C4 was completed, sporting a 6-cylinder Maybach
Maybach (, ) is a German luxury car brand that exists today as a part of Mercedes-Benz. The original company was founded in 1909 by Wilhelm Maybach and his son Karl Maybach, originally as a subsidiary of ''Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH'', and ...
engine of . The car was nicknamed "Tenax" (latin for "tenacious") and improved the long-distance endurance record, held since 1907 by the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost
The Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost name refers both to a car model and one specific car from that series.
Originally named the " 40/50 h.p." the chassis was first made at Royce's Manchester works, with production moving to Derby in July 1908, ...
by some 6,000 km. The C4 completed 30,360 km in the Dutch winter weather in just over a month.[
In 1922, racing driver ]Selwyn Edge
Selwyn Francis Edge (1868–1940) was a British businessman, racing driver, cyclist and record-breaker. He is principally associated with selling and racing De Dion-Bouton, Gladiator; Clemént-Panhard, Napier and AC cars.
Personal life
Edge ...
took to Brooklands in a Spyker C4 fitted with streamlined racing bodywork, setting a new "Double 12" average world speed record, covering 1,782 miles (2,868 km) at an average speed of for the 24 hour aggregate of two 12-hour periods.[
Also in 1922, the company went bankrupt again and was acquired by Spyker's distributor in Britain, 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.
In 1999, a new company, ]Spyker Cars
Spyker Cars (, ) is a Dutch sports car marque. The modern Spyker Cars held the legal rights to the brand name. The company's motto is "''Nulla tenaci invia est via''", Latin for "For the tenacious, no road is impassable". The marque's logo dis ...
, was founded, unrelated to the original company but for the brand name, motto and logo.
License production and auto rental
Before Hendrik-Jan Spijker's death, he and his brother had developed a special relationship with Dutch electrical pioneer, Rento Hofstede Crull. The Spijker brothers had known Hofstede Crull already when he was a young man racing on the velocipede circuits in the Netherlands and in Germany while he was an engineering student first in Mittweida and later in Hannover at the Technische Hochschule in the 1880s. Hofstede Crull had already owned his first automobile in the 1890s. In the first decade, he had accumulated a collection of automobiles which included a number of the Spijker racing models. He housed the collection in one of the wings of the Heemaf, one of the companies he had founded. Although this was all a hobby for him initially, he began assembling Spijkers at Heemaf with the approval of the Spijker brothers and subsequently with that of those who had taken over Spijker. He provided them with improvements on the automobiles. Heemaf's board of directors complained that Hofstede Crull was using a part of the factory as his personal garage and auto park. To circumvent the criticism, he established the ''Spijker Automobiel Verhuur Maatschappij'' which along with Amsterdam's ''Trompenburg Bedrijf'' became the first auto rental companies in the Netherlands. One of his other companies was the ''American Refined Motor Company'', which helped improve mechanical motor parts. This all stemmed from an automobile accident that he, Hofstede Crull, and his chauffeur, a man named Poorthuis, had in 1909 when he subsequently discovered a defect in the Spijker's steering mechanism which he improved.
Car models
Aircraft
* Spijker V.1 - 1917 single seat fighter
* Spijker V.2 - 1917 trainer
*Spijker V.3
The Spijker V.3, sometimes anglicized to Spyker V.3 or Spyker-Trompenburg V.3, was a Dutch single-engine, single-seat biplane fighter, designed and built just before the end of World War I.
Design
The Spijker V.3 was a conventionally laid-ou ...
- 1919 single seat fighter
*Spijker V.4
The Spijker V.3, sometimes anglicized to Spyker V.3 or Spyker-Trompenburg V.3, was a Dutch single-engine, single-seat biplane fighter, designed and built just before the end of World War I.
Design
The Spijker V.3 was a conventionally laid-out ...
- two seat reconnaissance aircraft, construction abandoned before completion.
Spyker on stamps and in film
Both Spyker brand automobiles appear on Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...
s (first day of issue
A first day of issue cover or first day cover (FDC) is a postage stamp on a cover, postal card or stamped envelope franked on the first day the issue is authorized for useBennett, Russell and Watson, James; ''Philatelic Terms Illustrated'', Stanl ...
: May 10, 2004).
The car driven by Kenneth More
Kenneth Gilbert More, CBE (20 September 1914 – 12 July 1982) was an English film and stage actor.
Initially achieving fame in the comedy '' Genevieve'' (1953), he appeared in many roles as a carefree, happy-go-lucky gent. Films from this per ...
in the 1953 film ''Genevieve
Genevieve (french: link=no, Sainte Geneviève; la, Sancta Genovefa, Genoveva; 419/422 AD –
502/512 AD) is the patroness saint of Paris in the Catholic and Orthodox traditions. Her feast is on 3 January.
Genevieve was born in Nanterre a ...
'', about the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run
The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run is the world's longest-running motoring event, held on a course between London () and Brighton (), England. To qualify, participating cars must have been built before 1905. It is also the world's largest ...
, is a 1905 Spyker 12/16-HP.
See also
* Spyker Cars
Spyker Cars (, ) is a Dutch sports car marque. The modern Spyker Cars held the legal rights to the brand name. The company's motto is "''Nulla tenaci invia est via''", Latin for "For the tenacious, no road is impassable". The marque's logo dis ...
References
{{Spyker
External links
Company history at RitzSite
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1880
Manufacturing companies based in Amsterdam
Car manufacturers of the Netherlands
Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1926
1926 disestablishments in the Netherlands
Bus manufacturers of the Netherlands
Dutch companies established in 1880
Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the Netherlands