My name is Stefan Ivanov. I was born in January of 1987 and am from small and quiet town in the center of Bulgaria called Dryanovo. For 17 years I have been doing something never done before, creating the whole history of the Laurin & Klement (Skoda since 1925) Auto Company by illustrating it. The story behind this is as unusual as my hobby.
In November of 2005, I crashed with motorcycle. I spent two weeks in a coma with two skull fractures, back and neck injuries, partial loss of memory, and many more secondary injuries. After that I spent most of my time in bed at home, thinking about life and how for a moment everything goes upside down. Before the crash I was a two time national champion in athletics, athlete of the year for 2001 in my town, so I never quit, always fighting my way out.
Six months after the crash I started drawing to I improve my brain and motor functions. Since the summer of 2006 I have not stopped drawing. Along with the drawing, I started researching the history of L&K and became something like an amateur expert of the Czechoslovakian auto industry. L&K has a very interesting story, which shaped the face of the European auto industry. I was fascinated by it. Unfortunately, this brand is well forgotten, so I dedicated many years so people could see and hear about one of the pioneers of auto industries, about countless race winnings.
They were racing in the Austro-Hungarian empire, Germany, France, Italy, Russia. They built the first inline 8-cylinder car in Central Europe, and their first hybrid in 1908; they developed military vehicles and were the first to export cars to the Empire of Japan. The major of Tokyo had one. One-third of their production were exported for Russia before first World War. They broke the speed record in their class on the Brooklands racetrack in England. L&K also produced trucks, delivery cars, vans, autobuses, firetrucks, ambulances, and aircraft engines.
Vaclav Laurin and Vacav Klement started the company in 1895 as a small workshop for bicycles. Later, they presented their first motorcycle, which was called Laurin & Klement-Slavia. Ten years later, their first car was presented, the Laurin & Klement Voiturette A. Since that moment, L&K was established as one of the leading car manufacturers in the Austro-Hungarian empire. After WW1, Austro-Hungary existed no more, and new countries were established. The new countries like Czechoslovakia were in crisis as the car manufactures. Lack of material and man power forced some factories to close. Others, like Tatra, Praga, and Laurin & Klement, were slowly recovering. In 1924, the L&K plant was affected by a fire which caused a lot of damage and loss of material. They had to find a strong partner, so they could survive. Meanwhile the industrial giant Skoda Works from Pilsen, an arms manufacturer and multi sector concern, sought to enlarge its non-arms manufacturing base and acquired Laurin & Klement in 1925. It also started manufacturing cars in cooperation with Hispano-Suiza.
This year, I opened two exhibitions. One in a private classic car museum and one in the National Poly Technical Museum in Sofia. I have an invitation to open an exhibition in Czech Republic in L&K hometown in front the Bulgarian society there. It would be very exciting event. I wish to have the opportunity to open exhibitions around the world, especially in the USA because I know how much American people appreciate classic cars and their history. I wish to have the chance to tell the story of Laurin & Klement and show my artworks.
In the past four years my artworks became familiar in auto societies mostly in Bulgaria and Czech Republic, but also in small circles in Germany, England, Netherlands, and USA. I have been in touch with several automobile magazines, persons, and classic cars museums. I even have so far three invitations for some kind of mutual events in the near future (I hope) from museums. Two from California and one from Las Vegas. I am looking out for sponsors who would believe in my work and dreams and support me if/when the opportunity for big events comes.
I also have the idea of creating an automobile institute in Bulgaria, like the countries from Central and Western Europe, USA, Japan, Dubai, and more. It is very important automobile history to be studied in the universities. Some people would later become automobile historians. We can’t know our modern history if we don’t know the automobiles which crossed our lands.
Feel free to contact Stefan Ivanov on atletic_87@abv.bg
